Skip to main content

On This Day: Lancaster widow left destitute

A Lancaster widow has been left destitute. Mrs. Peterman, of 321 Concord alley in Lancaster City, lost her husband a few months ago. Three months ago she lost a child. Another child died last week and On This Day in 1880 another child lay dying.  

The Peterman family reportedly has nothing to eat. Neighbors help where they can but are said to be scared to visit since the children are believed to have died of diphtheria. Contributions for the family were being accepted at several locations in the City. 

The Lebanon Daily News published an article of “an unusually sad case” involving the Peterman family which gave more details. The article notes that the father, George Peterman, was alive just eight months prior. He was in ill health and barely able at that time to feed his wife and their nine children. This article, published only a week after the one in Lancaster paper, states that the children died one by one, starving to death. After the sixth child died, money that had been collected in the community was taken to the widow. Upon reaching the house however it was noticed that a crape was upon the door. The day before another child – a four year old boy this time – had died of diphtheria. This poor widow, who had reportedly enjoyed good health before the death of her husband, now had but two children left alive. 

George Peterman, according to the US Federal Census Mortality Schedule, was 45 when he died in March 1880 of dropsy. He was born in Germany and made his living as a brewer. 

Sources
Lancaster Daily Intelligencer. (Lancaster, PA), 17 November 1880. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress.  

Lebanon Daily News (Lebanon, PA), 24 November 1880. Newspapers.com. 

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Non-Population Census Schedules for Pennsylvania, 1850-1880: Mortality; Archive Collection: M1838; Archive Roll Number: 10; Census Year: 1880; Census Place: Lancaster Ward 9, Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Page: 1 

 

On This Day is a prompt to further explore historical events.
                

© Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
5 comments
Read more

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
2 comments
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more