Winters Heritage House Museum

Published by the Elizabethtown Preservation Associates, Inc. March, 2013

Upcoming Museum Events

April 6 — Sewing Skills Workshop
Inside—
April 19 — Philadelphia Day Trip  Museum News
April 20 — Museum Project Day  Our College Interns
May 1-31 — Annual Quilt Show  Museum Events Calendar
May 17 — Gardening Workshop  Dear Elizabeth (Our advice-from-the-past column)
June 26 & 27 — Summer History  Our Wonderful Seibert Library
 ….And more!
Fun Findings in the Seibert Library
The Romance Quilt a guest post by Mary Conrad and Liz Leech
Quilt so that she would never forget the story (the original
having been given to a museum in Malden,
Here’s a fun convoluted trail of history for you to follow;
Massachusetts). This past May, Mary displayed the replica
(George) Wilton Lewis was born in Fredonia, New York, quilt in the Winters Heritage House Annual Quilt Show. In
March 11, 1847. At the age of 16, he ran away from home turn, because of its
to enlist in and fight for the Civil War Union Army. On July interesting tale, the quilt
5, 1864, at Petersburg, Va., while running secret papers was featured on the
behind enemy lines, he was wounded by a shot to the museum website.
elbow. He lingered at the (camp-style) General Hospital in
Hampton, Va., for three months between life and death.
As you may know, a shot to Enter Liz Leech of
the elbow is hardly life- Washington State. Liz first
threatening today, contacted the museum
however, in 1864, such an this past summer. She was trying to locate information on
injury invited certain a George Wilton Lewis. A Google search of the name had
infection. Additionally brought her to our website and the quilt’s story. Liz’s
compromised by interest in Lewis arose from a bundle of letters she had
exhaustion and poor inherited from a passing family
rations, it often took member. The letters were
soldiers many months to written by civil war hospital
recover from their injuries. camp nurse, Miss Emily Amies,
to her friend, and describe in
great detail one of the hospital
Meanwhile, as the Civil camp’s “pet” patients, George
War was raging, teenage Wilton Lewis. Liz was having
girls G. Wilton Lewis, 1869 in a Sunday school class in Essex, trouble locating the right G.W.
VT were busy making quilts for wounded soldiers. Wilton Lewis, as quite a few enlistees
received one of them. His was a signature quilt of a design share that name in records
called the Christian Cross. He decided to write a letter of from that era, and many of
thanks to each girl who had signed his quilt. Only one girl, them ended up in camp
Mary Morse, wrote back and a romance started to bloom. hospitals along the way. If you Mary Morse c. 1870
After Wilton was discharged from the Army he returned have ever done any genealogy research, you may know it
home and continued his education. He also continued to is very frustrating to try to prove a certain so-and-so is the
write to Mary. He pursued a college degree at MIT in exact so-and-so you are hunting. We put Liz into contact
architecture and started his career in Boston. He traveled with Mary Conrad to try to determine if there was a viable
to Essex, VT, took Mary to the top of Mt. Washington and link between G. W. Lewis of the quilt and G. W. Lewis of
asked her to marry him. Ever since that day they called the letters. As it turns out, it took no second-guessing.
their quilt the Romance Quilt. Mary’s great grandfather had credited Miss Emily Amies
for saving his life in the hospital camp. To honor her, it
became a family tradition to name a child after her.
Wilton and Mary are the great grandparents of one of our
Mary’s family history is ripe with girls named Emily and
museum’s dedicated volunteers, Mary Morse Conrad.
Amie!
Mary’s mother had made her a replica of the Romance
Our Wonderful Seibert Library members are allowed unlimited free research time.

Are you interested in researching your family history but don’t know Recently, through tremendous volunteer efforts by the library staff,
where to start? Or are you well underway, but think you’ve hit the our database has undergone computerization and modernization.
end of the trail? Are you new to town and wonder what this place is Photos, articles, and newspaper clippings have been scanned into our
all about, or do you live in a house that may have some history to it? system and digitally enhanced. Currently, accession numbers are
Well, it sounds like you may need to come in for a visit! being assigned to all items and
eventually, an index and a
The Seibert Library and Resource Center is one of the busiest parts of description will accompany
the Winters Heritage House. We have information on just about each as well.
anything that happened here in Elizabethtown. Family histories can
be traced through our collection of immigration lists, surname The operations of Seibert
Library are supported by our
records, obituaries, and marriage records, some dating back to the
benefactor, Ruth Seibert, who
1700s! Information on Elizabethtown’s organizations, churches,
was a local resident very
schools, businesses and properties also makes up a substantial
interested in Elizabethtown’s
amount of our holdings. Many of our documents are unique with
history. Ruth, who passed away
information that may not be available through online services such as
in 2011 at the age of 92,
[Link], but we’re happy to help you research using online
genuinely loved the Winters
tools as well.
Heritage House, and we are
If you’re just getting started in your research, are new to our library, very thankful to her, her family,
or have a quick specific project to do, we have librarians on hand to and others like them, who have
help you find what you are looking for. Calling ahead to be sure helped us in our mission to
someone is there to help you, or to give us a head start on the search preserve this community’s Young Ruth and Her mother, Lillie
is appreciated, but generally librarians are in during all museum hours. past. Dieffenbach, 1923
The museum requests a daily research fee of $5. However, museum

Museum News planning to create a virtual tour of the

“Donegal to Donegal” mural for us to include
For an appointment to
tour the museum or do
in our website. We are very excited to see
Hello, again! The museum certainly hasn’t what Tyler can do. When the project is some local research,
slowed down at all! We have two wonderful completed, we’ll be sure to invite everyone to please call the museum
interns from Elizabethtown College, Rachel check out the results.
Barnes and Sarah Thomas, working with us at
through the spring. Rachel and Sarah have The application process for registering our 717 367-4672
probably already learned more than they buildings with the National Register of Email:
wanted to know about bulk mailings, data Historic Places is off to a great start. Currently, winters-hh@[Link]
entry, and how to un-jam a copy machine, but we are filling out the initial Historic Resource
we are certain these skills will serve them well Survey. We’ve been busy taking photos, Website:
in the future. Rachel is helping us with odd measuring logs, rounding up documents and [Link]
jobs here and there (and there are always generally proving from all angles that yes,
plenty of those!) and Sarah has taken on the we’re really old. Once the survey is
Museum and Library hours as
enormous task of documenting all our worldly submitted, they will decide if we qualify to
of March 6, 2013;
possessions, assigning them numbers, and apply. At that point the real work begins.
Wed., Thurs., and Fri.,
entering them into our computer data system. Museum hours resumed on March 6, and are 9:30am to 3:00pm.
When she is finished we will have a great list Wed., Thurs., and Fri. from 9am-3pm. No
of what we have, where it is, where it came promises on our culinary expertise, but we do
from and its historic information. make a mean cup of tea if you’re in the
The museum is also the subject of an neighborhood. Stop in for a tour and a review
Elizabethtown College senior’s senior project! of our locally handmade store items!
Tyler Drolet, a communications major, is
 Dear Elizabeth
Dear Amanda,

My, oh my, Amanda, you have me splitting

my sides up here!! Actually, you are right,
Our Historic Advice Column but not by much. People were smaller, but
only by an average of ¾ of an inch! Studies
If you have any advice needs from or a on European graves from 1400s through
history question for our very own town 1800s as well as colonial military records,
founder, Elizabeth Hughes, please send ships’ records, and other sources prove that
them to Elizabeth, c/o Winters Heritage people were certainly not all that different.
House Museum’s email; (and I’m sticking with Europe as the source
of the population to whom you are
winters-hh@[Link] referring) I fear the misconception arises
from what we have saved from those days –
Dear Elizabeth,
upper stone is turned, the grain is crushed what do you think has a better chance at
I have noticed several large round stones between them and driven by the grooves to being handed down through the ages – Big
on display at the newly refurbished Aunt Gertie Bertie’s over-sized
the outer edge of the stone where it
intersection of College and Market Streets. underdrawers, or Tiny Minnie Heehaw’s
emerges as a fine powder, generally flour or
Why are they there? teeny button shoes? Truly, if I could do it
cornmeal. I see that they have not aligned
Stona Miller all again, I would save you some samples
the stones well for milling, but perhaps this
from our larger citizens! Houses were not
Dear Stona, is the modern way of doing that.
standardized, and were built in part at the
Hovering above town, in my current state as Regards, mercy of the materials at hand. If you only
Elizabethtown’s historic spirit, I was thrilled Elizabeth have 8 logs for your wall, well, the wall
to see these massive stones pulled from the might just have to be a bit shorter. One
Dear Elizabeth, could argue that folks who lived during the
ground during the reconstruction of that
corner. The stones are actually mill stones I have heard that long ago people were Victorian times were giants, if you went by
that were the functioning grinding tools of a much shorter. I know this is true because ceiling height. Ducking through a doorway
grist mill that sat at that location in 1876 doorways in old houses are much lower, as was common, as shorter doorways lent
and up through at least 1906. If you notice are the ceilings, and the clothing from then more structural soundness to the wall they
the grooves carved into the stones, you will is always so gosh darn cute and tiny. My occupied. Next thing you’ll be telling me is
note that they are cut at an angle to the question is, how small were you folks? that a person rarely lived past 40!! How
stone edge. Lay two stones flat, cut sides Were you as little as, say, hobbits or more funny you all are!
together, and pour your grain into the like elves? Yours truly,
center hole of the top stone. (There’s no
Amanda Bhig
hole in the lower stone, mind you.) As the Elizabeth

add them to our collection if you need a good home for them. Your
The Great Elizabethtown contribution will be acknowledged alongside any donation made.

Photo Hunt is On!

Calling all History Buffs – or anyone with boxes
in the attic – Winters Heritage House is planning Corner of
a photo exhibit of Elizabethtown for this coming East High
September. We would love to gather more photos of the town and and North
her citizens, and we are looking to the community as a resource for Market
such. We’re primarily interested in photos from WWII or earlier. If streets,
you have any you would like to share, please call the museum to
c. 1900
make an appointment (717 367-4672) or stop in during museum
hours. We can scan them and return them, or would be happy to
You can miss your dinner, you can miss Just for fun— Mary Karnes, our Seibert Library
your mark, you can miss your mama,..but librarian extraordinaire, found this column
whatever you miss, don’t miss our
squished between pages of one of the library

May Quilt Show! books;

Grandmother’s Recipe for washing clothing.

Now being assembled piece by piece, and hand arranged
Presented by a grandmother on the frontier to a young bride,
throughout the rooms of the Winters Heritage House Museum.
retaining the original spelling:
Every year, the Winters Heritage House Quilting Committee
takes over the museum for the entire month of May to display Bild a fire in back yard to heet kettle of rain water.
a fabulous collection of antique through modern quilts. Every
Set tubs so smoke won’t blow in eyes if wind is pert.
quilt is unique, and has its own wonderful story to share. Bring
yourself, your friends, or your group for a fun hour or two to Shave one hole cake lie soap in biling water:
oooh and ahhhh over these lovely handmade works of art. Sort things making three piles, 1 pile white, 1 pile collored, 1 pile
Deemed by Pete Whipple as “The most colorful show on work britches and rags.
earth!!” May 1-31, 2013 during museum hours or by
Stur flour in cold water to smooth then thin down with biling
appointment. Please call for group (over 10) tour reservations.
water;

Rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, then bile. Rub collores but
don’ bile. Just rench and starch;

Take white things out of kettle with broomstick handle then

rench, blew and starch;

Spred tee towels on grass;

Hang old rags on fence.

Pore rench water in flower bed.

Membership Form Scrub porch with hot soapy water.

Turn tubs upside down.

Name: _________________________________________
Go put on clean dress, smooth hair with side combs, brew cup of
Address: _______________________________________
tee, set down and rest a spell and count blessins.
Phone: ________________________________________
Email: _________________________________________
Membership level (circle one)
Individual—$20 Patron — $100
Family — $40 Sponsor — $250
Sustaining — $60 Benefactor — $500
Set me up as a Nogging Brick Membership at $_______/ Month

Thank you for your support!

Check enclosed # ______ Amount : ____________
Or Credit Card: __________________________________
Expiration: _____
 Museum Project Day
On Saturday, April 20 we will spend the morning spiffing
up the museum. If you can help us we have projects
aplenty, ranging from washing windows and cleaning
floors to painting. Call ahead so
we’re ready with supplies.

Date: Saturday, April 20

Time: 9am to 1pm.
Upcoming Museum
A Day in Philadelphia
Classes and Events
Travel with us by train to visit two outstanding historic
Vegetable Garden Planning buildings in Philadelphia; The Masonic Temple, and the
Philadelphia City Hall. Guided tours of each are
Workshops
included in the cost. Lunch is on your own, though a list
of restaurants will be provided. With Tom Campbell as
our fearless guide, we will be taking the train into the city
and using the SEPTA service from there. We will be
walking several blocks between sites.

Garden Planning Workshop — Our second Date: Friday, April 19

workshop (in a series of three) will be held Friday, Time: 8am depart E-town Station, return by 6:30pm
May 17, from 7pm to 9pm. Our gardening Cost: $75 includes all traveling expenses and tours.
committee will discuss chemical-free weed control Please register by
strategies, canning and freezing how-to’s, and late April 5.
season planting. We will also have some recipes for
garden herbs and vegetables to share!
Sewing Skills Class
Date: Fri., May 17, Time: 7pm to 9pm
Learn some basic new and time-tested tools of sewing. We
Cost: $10 includes recipes and information packets
will cover basic hand stitches and their uses and discuss
common fabric characteristics. You will learn how to read a
pattern, and say "hello" to your sewing machine. During the
“Historic Trades Camp,” this class we will make a small secret-compartment pouch by
hand. Ages 10 and up. Parent-child
year’s Summer History Day Camp teams encouraged.
for children ages 7-12 will be held Date: Sat., April 6
June 26 and 27! Time: 10am to noon
Cost: $12 or $20 for a team of
Save the dates, more details soon! two. Please register by March 22.

To register for classes or events, please contact the museum by calling (717) 367-4672.

[Link]