A Stereoview of Woodward Hill Cemetery

Stereoview of Woodward Hill Cemetery by William Gill, c. 1866
Dennis Collection, New York Public Library

On Sunday, June 9, 2019, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church will hold a tour of Woodward Hill Cemetery focused on members of the church family who happened to live in the 19th century as part of its "Sneaker Sunday" series. My father is organizing the program, and I've helped him with the content although will unfortunately not be in Lancaster to attend. Full details are:

The destination of Holy Trinity’s Sneaker Sunday on Sunday, June 9 is Woodward Hill Cemetery. Walkers will leave between 9:35 & 9:40 from the Duke Street steps of the Parish House. The distance is .9 miles. Those driving should park at the end of the straight road at the cemetery, away from Queen St. We will lead tours highlighting the history of Woodward Hill, gravesites of four Trinity pastors – Muhlenberg, Baker, Krotel, & Greenwald, other notable Trinity families such as Hager, Eicholtz, Fondersmith & Heinitsh, and notable Lancastrians such as President Buchanan, Watt and Steinman. Total tour walking distance in the cemetery will be less than .5 miles. Please join us!

Anyway, I thought I'd use the occasion to present a stereoview from around 1866 of Woodward Hill Cemetery and list the biographies of some pastors and members whose life stories will be highlighted. The cemetery was founded by Trinity Lutheran Church in 1850 as an alternative to the church's graveyard, but was quickly converted to an independent organization. It is a fantastic example of the rural cemetery movement, although the last several decades do not appear to have been kind to Woodward Hill's maintenance or appearance. For more information, check out the cemetery's registration form for the National Register of Historic Places.

The stereoview is part of the Dennis Collection at the New York Public Library. It is the only one of about ten views created by William L. Gill around 1866 as part of his series of Lancaster stereoviews (see here for a list). I will have to check it out in person, but I believe the image is looking north from the path on the west side of the cemetery's chapel. You can view it as an anaglyph or a wiggle 3D photo -- although I struggled to get the 3D working right on this one.

Anaglyph of Woodward Hill Cemetery

Wiggle 3D Animated GIF of Woodward Hill Cemetery

The following pastors of Holy Trinity will be featured on the tour:

• Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg
• John C. Baker
• Gottlob F. Krotel
• Emanuel Greenwald

The following members will be featured, as well: 

• Reuben and Mary Baer (second link); John and Frances Baer; The Rev. Charles A. Baer (another link)
• Charles A. Fondersmith
• Christopher and Catherine Hager
• Charles and Maria Heinitsh
• Dr. John F. Huber
• John B. Kevinski
• Dr. Frederick A. Muhlenberg
• Horace Rathvon

The good deeds and extensive committee work of many of these members are documented in a history of the congregation written by Pastor Krotel in 1861 as part of its "Centenary Jubilee" celebrating the 100th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone. Besides the pastors, the set of names that have been selected above for the tour is somewhat random based on whom I've happened to run into in my research and whose plot is along the tour route. Some, like Charles A. Baer and John F. Huber, had their lives cut short by diseases acquired in Civil War hospitals. Others like Frederick A. Muhlenberg and Christopher Hager presided over the church vestry and played leading roles in the city's economy. Heinitsh and Kevinski supervised the shipment and distribution of supplies to soldiers after the Battle of Antietam. A few of the rest helped with church Sunday School efforts that led to the establishment of new Lutheran churches in Lancaster. 

I hope everyone involved in Sunday's tour enjoys the chance to get out and see Woodward Hill Cemetery, as well as hear some stories that can help inspire service to their church, community, and country. I'll try to provide some of those stories in future posts, particularly a post about Charles A. Baer's 1862-1863 fascinating diaries and the wartime diary of Horace Rathvon's sister-in-law (whose husband was a Lutheran pastor in Virginia and whose elderly father owned the Forney farm at Gettysburg where fighting occurred on July 1, 1863). 

Book Published on The Camp Kettle and 100th Pennsylvania

The Camp Kettle
Library of Congress

Congratulations to long-time friend and talented genealogist Gary Hawbaker on publishing a book containing on the Camp Kettle newspaper published by the 100th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. The full text of the newspapers is presented along with detailed biographies of soldiers associated with it. There aren't too many direct Lancaster connections, but anyone interested in the 45th Pennsylvania (which at times was brigaded with the 100th Pennsylvania) would appreciate the material. Here are further details about the book:

THE CAMP KETTLE

Civil War Newspaper

100th Pennsylvania Volunteers

The Roundhead Regiment

With selected biographies of members of the 100th Pennsylvania and the 8th Michigan who fought with them After years of research, the complete collection of The Camp Kettle has been transcribed (with photographs and letters from the editor’s collection included). Pension records for seventy-five soldiers were researched and valuable information found in them has been included. Of special interest are the original soldier letters that families sent to the Pension Office to prove that a son had provided for the family before or while he was in the service which were never returned to the family.

Background on other newspapers printed by soldiers during the Civil War is included as well as references to The Camp Kettle found in other newspapers across the United States. Where available, images of the soldier and of his grave stone are shown.

Biographies and family histories of 75 soldiers (47 Pennsylvania and 28 Michigan). Over 8,000 references in the index. Major surnames: Atherton, Ayers, Badger, Bailey, Baker, Banks, Barton, Bell, Bidwell, Bonner, Borden, Brown, Browne, Campbell, Church, Clements, Condon, Crawford, Crowl, Cubbison, Dunlap, Eichbaum, Emery, Evans, Ferren, Fisher, Foote, Gilmore, Gordon, Graul, Gross, Gulmire, Hamilton, Hanna, Hart, Hobbs, Holton, Johnson, Kelly, King, Lobinger, Lock/Locke, Marshall, McClain, McClure, McCracken, McCreary, McKeever, McMillen, Miel, Miller, Mills, Mire, Nelson, Nicklin, Noah, Otto, Parkhill, Pentecost, Quest, Rhett, Rogers, Romberger, Semple, Shelter, Smith, Stevenson, Stewart, Stoner, Sutherland, Thurston, Waddington, Wagner, Watt, White, and Wood.

Publication is 5½ x 8½ inches. Perfect Bound. Laminated Soft Cover. Illustrated. 510+ pages. Index.

Gary has made available an order form available, which I have uploaded and made available at this link.

Newly Discovered Stereoview of West King Street

Stereoview of West King Street. Likely by B. Frank Saylor in 1866 or 1867.
Sold on Ebay in 2018.

A few months ago an intriguing photograph of a Lancaster street scene sold on Ebay. The photo shows West King Street from a vantage point above street level. In the foreground appears a sign for the Sorrel Horse Hotel with a date of "1857" and "C. Shenk" appearing on the sign. The image shows the intersection of Prince Street and King Street, and looks west along W. King Street going out of town. Snow appears on the rooftops and on the side of the streets.

My hypothesis is that this photo was taken by B. Frank Saylor in early 1866 or 1867. Here's Saylor's background according to the 1903 Biographical Annals:

Benjamin Franklin Saylor was born Feb. 24, 1838, and was educated in the public schools of Montgomery county, and left Trappe for Philadelphia when he was twelve years old. In 1858 he became a student of photography at Ninth and Spring Garden streets. In 1865 he came to Lancaster to take charge of the late Charles Eberman's gallery, which he later purchased. This gallery was on the north side of West King street, and in 1882 he bought the building where his residence and gallery are now found on the south side of the same street. It is one of the fine buildings of the block, and contains two stores besides the gallery and the residence.

I believe Eberman's photographic gallery was located approximately where the stereoview was taken. His carte de visite backmarks list his address at "No. 26 W. King St.," although that address currently corresponds to the Pressroom Restaurant/Steinman Hardware store. Could the numbering system for street addresses have changed sometime around the 1870s? If so, that would explain why the entry above mentions the photo studio as on the north side of the West King Street (whereas the modern No. 26 is on the south side of the street). Later photographs by Frank Saylor have an address listed of 45 West King St., and the 1886 Sanborn maps show a photo studio still at that location.

First block of West King Street showing Sorrel Horse Hotel and photo studio at No. 43/45 (1886 Sanborn Map)

Besides the circumstantial evidence of the location, I also believe that Frank Saylor made stereoviews with this style of mounting in 1866. There is a pair of CDVs of the interior of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church during a June 1866 celebration event with a Charles Eberman backmark (although he had died in April 1866), and there is a stereoview of Holy Trinity of that same event which I presume to have been made by Frank Saylor. Saylor's biography notes that he was involved with Lutheran churches -- particularly their choirs -- in the city, and he even married the daughter of Pastor Emanuel Greenwald (a poignant and tragic story, as she was known to be terminally ill when they married).

Anyway, enjoy this look at a Civil War era street scene from Lancaster! The depth of the 3D is great if you have a chance to look at the anaglyph below or can view the original stereoview with a VR headset, and the animated gif below can give a partial sense of the 3D.

Hopefully future posts can look into the magnificent series of William L. Gill stereoviews showing other street scenes from Lancaster.

Animated GIF created from stereoview of West King Street, c. 1866-7 by Frank Saylor

Anaglyph created from stereoview of West King Street, c. 1866-7 by Frank Saylor

Verso of stereoview

The 79th Pennsylvania's 1st Reunion in 1877

On the morning of October 8, 1877 -- the fifteenth anniversary of the Battle of Perryville -- the veterans of the 79th Pennsylvania assembled for the first time since the war's end. Colonel Hambright led a parade through the streets of Lancaster that culminated in a meeting at Fulton Hall that featured singing, a history of the regiment by Sigmund Wisner, and an oration by E. K. Martin.

The Daily New Era reported, "Long will live in memory the recollection of the 8th day of October, 1877, for it was a gala day in Lancaster -- a day when the survivors of as brave a regiment as ever fired a gun met in fraternal good fellowship for the first time since the close of the bloody war which called them into existence."

A full report of the day's proceedings and speeches appeared in the New Era. See the following link for a scan of these newspaper articles: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R_iwUQ48iwORhy832tYRUhhEWMgwSasc/view?usp=sharing

Recently, I acquired some ephemera related to this event on eBay. Appearing here are scans of the envelope, ticket, and program that were presumably saved by one of the veterans attending the event.

Hopefully a future post could go further in depth on the content of the speeches and the people present.

79th Pennsylvania Reunion Program, 1877