On This Day: Hershbergers keep hotel in Christiana

Christiana will soon have new hotelkeepers, it was reported On This Day in 1880. J. Hope Hershberger and his wife would be moving to Christiana, Lancaster County, “in a few days” to keep hotel. The Hershbergers are currently the host and hostess of the Kennett Square hotel.

About the Hershbergers

From 1867 to 1872, Hope held a tavern license for the White Horse Inn (White Horse Hotel) in Londonderry. He then held a tavern license for the Kennett Square Hotel, in Kennett Square (Chester County), from 1873 to 1879.

By June 1880 they were in fact at the hotel in the then Village of Christiana in Sadsbury Township. He was 53 at that time. His wife was 42. Living with them was his six year old niece Bertha Cox, four borders and two servants.

The 1870 Census shows Hope as being a farmer in Cochranville, Londonderry Township, Chester County. His wife, Vienna, keeps house. They have a domestic servant and a farm laborer living with them.

Vienna passed away on 6 November 1891. Hope passed on 1 March 1893. They are buried together at the Upper Octorara Cemetery in Parkesburg, Chester County.

Sources:

Ancestry.com. U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Chester County Tavern Petitions, 1700 – 1923. http://www.chesco.org/DocumentCenter/View/4010

Lancaster daily intelligencer. (Lancaster, Pa.), 27 March 1880. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

Year: 1880; Census Place: Sadsbury, Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1143; Family History Film: 1255143; Page: 498C; Enumeration District: 174; Image: 0699

Year: 1870; Census Place: Londonderry, Chester, Pennsylvania; Roll: M593_1323; Page: 336A; Image: 672; Family History Library Film: 552822

On This Day is a prompt I started this month to further explore historical events.

Comments

Coatesville's First Serial Killer

Young Alexander Meyer was a disturbed and angry young man with some major issues. He had failed sixth and seventh grade, and instead of having to repeat eighth grade again, he finally gave up on school. At age 16 he quit Downingtown Junior High. Meyer is not a relative, nor are his victims (that I am aware). I stumbled upon young Alex while reading Tortured Minds: Pennsylvania's Most Bizarre - But Forgotten - Murders by Tammy Mal. On 11 February 1937 Alexander Thweatt Meyer killed young Helen Moyer as she walked home from school in Coatesville along Modena Road. She was not his first. The jury was out only three minutes after hearing Dr. Michael Margolis' testimony on the death of Helen Moyer. The jury determined Meyer had murdered Moyer and should be held for first degree murder. The jury also condemned the parole system which had released Meyer back into the public, after having served just 14 months in Huntingdon Reformatory, for the murder of two other girls - Anna Blasc...

Thaddeus Stevens at the Lancaster Convention Center

Within the Lancaster Convention Center (Lancaster, PA) is a small section dedicated to Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith. The section is known as the Stevens & Smith Historic Site. It is scheduled for development this year. At the moment one can only get a glimpse of it through the Convention Center or by peeking in from the outside. Here at Queen and Vine Streets in Lancaster City, Pennsylvania, Thaddeus Stevens had his law office. Stevens was an abolitionist. An abolitionist is a person who favors the abolition of a practice or institution, especially capital punishment or (formerly) slavery. Stevens was born 4 April 1792 to Joshua Stevens and Sarah (Sally) Morrill in Danville Vermont. One of four children, he attended Vermont University from 1810 to 1812 when the War prompted its closure. He then went to Dartmouth, where he graduated in 1814. He then studied law and found himself set up in Gettysburg, PA in 1816. He practiced law there until 1828 when he...

52 Ancestors: Remembering the King

Today is Elvis’ birthday. He would have been 80 today. I was only eight when he died so obviously I am too young to have seen Elvis perform. However, when I hear his music, I go back in time. I am once again that young girl dancing in the living room to Elvis and other greats with my father. Back then girls learned to dance by dancing with their fathers not some video of scantly dressed people doing all sorts of things young ladies should not be doing in public! What is YOUR favorite memory - either of your father or of Elvis? 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is a weekly genealogical challenge issued by Amy Johnson Crow, of No Story Too Small . Look for my weekly posts each Thursday! © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015

Genealogical Gems

Search This Blog