Pennsylvania History

At the end of the last century, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was a booming coal-and-steel town filled with hardworking families striving for a piece of the nation's burgeoning industrial prosperity. In the mountains above Johnstown, an old earth dam had been hastily rebuilt to create a lake for an exclusive summer resort patronized by the tycoons of that same industrial prosperity, among them Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon.

If you’re looking for a book that gives you a great snapshot into what was going on in Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War, and for that matter the newly founded United States, I think you’ll find this book ideal. Going through the state of Pennsylvania’s Revolutionary War Pension Archives I picked out, what I felt, were interesting and detailed stories of our forefathers’ efforts in fighting that war. As you read their detailed stories in their own words, as they told them to the court in order to obtain pension benefits, I think you will be amazed at the wide range ...

How much do you know about the state of Pennsylvania? There’s so much to learn about the Keystone State that even its residents don’t know. In this trivia book, you’ll learn more about Pennsylvania’s history, pop culture, inventions, sports, and more! This book is full of facts about Pennsylvania. Some of the facts you’ll learn in this book are surprising, some are sad, and others may give you the chills. But the one thing they have in common is they’re all interesting!

A Heinz 57 selection of tales of the strange, unexplained, and unsolved from the great Keystone State of Pennsylvania.

The early settlement of the region around Pittsburgh was characterized by a messy collision of personal, provincial, national, and imperial interests. Driven by the efforts of Europeans, Pennsylvanians, Virginians, and Indians, almost everyone attempted to manipulate the clouded political jurisdiction of the region. A Colony Sprung from Hell traces this complex struggle. The events and episodes that make up the story highlight the difficulties of creating and consolidating authority along the frontier.

Ossman & Steel's Guide to Health or Household Instructor (its original title) is a collection of spells, remedies, and charms. The book draws from the old Pennsylvania Dutch and German powwow healing practices that in turn helped shape Appalachian folk healing, conjure, root work, and many folk healing traditions in America. Jake Richards, author of Backwoods Witchcraft and Doctoring the Devil, puts these remedies in context, with practical advice for modern-day "backwoods" healers interested in using them today.

As English and German settlers migrated to Pennsylvania, they brought their beliefs in magic with them from the Old World—sometimes with dangerous consequences. In 1802, for example, an Allegheny County judge helped an accused witch escape an angry mob. But Susan Mummey was not so fortunate. In 1934, she was killed in her home by a young Schuylkill County man who was convinced that she had cursed him.

In the shadows of Northeastern Pennsylvania, a clandestine empire emerged—one that would become synonymous with the essence of organized crime. The Bufalino Mafia Crime Family takes you on a gripping journey through the tumultuous history of the notorious Bufalino crime syndicate. This meticulously researched and fascinating narrative unveils the hidden layers of a mafia family that left an indelible mark on American criminal history.

As Seen in Scream Magazine Disturbed is set in the Coal Region of Northeast Pennsylvania, a grimly haunted region with a bloody history of conflict between oppressed miners and wealthy coal barons. Many believe that even today, the ghosts of the Molly Maguires – a secret Irish organization that waged war against oppressive labor practices in the 19th Century – still roam the landscape. Into this setting arrives Jonah Frost, a young man with a history of mental illness. Little does he know his new home is inhabited by its former resident, hell-bent on continuing her life’s vendetta. ...

Gen. Robert E. Lee began moving part of his Army of Northern Virginia from the Old Dominion toward Pennsylvania on June 3, 1863. Lee believed his army needed to win a major victory on Northern soil if the South was to have a chance at winning the war. Transferring the fighting out of war-torn Virginia would allow the state time to heal while he supplied his army from untapped farms and stores in Maryland and the Keystone State. Lee had also convinced Pres. Jefferson Davis that his offensive would interfere with the Union effort to take Vicksburg in Mississippi.

Known to history as "Dunmore's War", the 1774 campaign against a Shawnee-led Indian confederacy in the Ohio Country marked the final time an American colonial militia took to the field in His Majesty's service and under royal command. Led by John Murray, the fourth Earl of Dunmore and royal governor of Virginia, a force of colonials including George Rogers Clark, Daniel Morgan, Michael Cresap, Adam Stephen, and Andrew Lewis successfully enforced the western border established by treaties in parts of present-day West Virginia and Kentucky.

Rebecca Mendenhall is counting the days to Christmas, when she'll wed Johnny Whittier in their Quaker Meeting House. But in September, a division is formed between Rebecca and Johnny. The Fugitive Slave Law is enacted, making it illegal to aid runaway slaves in Pennsylvania, punishable by heavy fines and prison sentences. Rebecca's parents are avid abolitionists and Johnny' father is not, believing Quakers must abide by the laws of the land. Division's among the Quakers on how to deal with this new law splits their Meeting House in two: Rebecca in one house and Johnny in another. Will ...

After her disastrous coronation, Diem finds herself at the center of the conflict between the Descended and the Guardians. With her newfound friends and the man she's falling for on one side, and the mortals she has vowed to protect on the other, Diem must walk a careful line to save the people she loves…even from each other.

In this social history of the impact of railroads on American life, H. Roger Grant concentrates on the railroad's "golden age," 1830-1930. To capture the essence of the nation's railroad experience, Grant explores four fundamental topics - trains and travel, train stations, railroads and community life, and the legacy of railroading in America. Grant recalls the lasting memories left by train travel, both of luxurious Pullman cars and the grit and grind of coal-powered locals.

What begins as yet another assignment for a reporter, a young millennial who relies happily on email and texting as the primary means of communication, develops into a heartfelt mission to tell the story of the people and places in the letters. Dead Letters is an intimate portrait of small-town America and the people who, at times, risked everything in pursuit of economic prosperity, religious freedom, and social equity.

East to west, north to south, Pennsylvania is filled with unexplainable phenomena. Best-selling author Tony Urban has researched more than 50 purportedly haunted locations from all corners of the keystone state and is here to tell the tales.

When George Washington was 21 years old, he went on a dangerous mission into the wilds of the Ohio River Valley to deliver a message from the Virginia colonial governor to a French military base, Fort Le Boeuf, a message to prevent war between England and France. The journey was harrowing and dangerous as Washington, joined by frontiersman Christopher Gist and Iroquois leader Tanacharison, also called the Half-King, braved the bitter cold of an unforgiving winter. Washington wrote of his journey as a report to the governor, but he gave an incomplete portrait of the goings on of his journey,...

In this breakthrough book, clinical psychologist Lindsay Gibson exposes the destructive nature of parents who are emotionally immature or unavailable. You will see how these parents create a sense of neglect and discover ways to heal from the pain and confusion caused by your childhood. By freeing yourself from your parents' emotional immaturity, you can recover your true nature, control how you react to them, and avoid disappointment. Finally, you'll learn how to create positive new relationships so you can build a better life.

Many other mainline Christians viewed the Quakers as a dangerous sect, so much so that they pressured the British Parliament to pass the Quaker Act of 1662. This act set forth in law the “prescribed form” of prayer and worship as designated by the state. It was a formula that specifically left the traditions of the Quakers out. Unable to gain acceptance in England, the Quakers would soon leave the place of their origin altogether and try their luck in a brave new world on another continent.

Nothing Like It in the World is the story of the men who built the transcontinental railroad. In Ambrose's hands, this enterprise comes to life. The U.S. government pitted two companies - the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads - against each other in a race for funding, encouraging speed over caution. As its peak the work force approached the size of Civil War armies, with as many as 15,000 workers on each line. The surveyors, the men who picked the route, lived off buffalo, deer, and antelope.