MG-320. EDWARD STOVER PAPERS, 1857-1935.
Edward Stover was a Middletown lumber merchant who built the Memorial United Brethren Church in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, which was dedicated in 1872 in memory of the premature death of his son, Edward Stover Jr. Most of the papers consist of business records such as agreements, bonds, insurance policies, leases, mortgages, a deed, and a release for property he owned near Hummelstown. Information found includes the nationalities and races of his workers, and a record of wages paid for planting trees, setting posts, moving rocks, digging ditches, threshing grain, and sawing, hauling and carving wood on the Stoverdale Farms in Dauphin County.
A. ACCOUNTS, 1857-1935
In several of the account books, banking books, and ledgers there are references to "Darkeys" and "Collored" persons employed by Stover. Among these is an 1857 list of names of "4 Darkeys" and the number of hours they worked. A bank book that is dated April 24, 1879 and inscribed "Harrisburg" lists "one collored laborer; one day taring [sic] off plaster 1.50." There are several entries identifying "collored" laborers giving the number of hours worked and how much they were paid.
C. PRIVATE PAPERS, 1870, 1912-1935
Amongst the papers is a pamphlet entitled Forest Leaves, which contains an ad for ten cent books including a Joke Book that has Negro, as well as Irish, German, Yankee, and Hebrew jokes and funny sayings.