MG-339. CORNWALL ORE BANK COMPANY RECORDS, 1802-1935, 1954.
The Cornwall Ore Bank Company was formed in 1864 by Robert W. Coleman, Robert H. Coleman, Anne Coleman, Robert Coleman, George Dawson Coleman, Edward B. Grubb, and Clement B. Grubb to manage mining operations at the Cornwall Ore Banks in Lebanon and Lancaster Counties. This land had provided iron ore to various furnaces since the eighteenth century and under a reservation contained in the deed of Peter Grubb Jr. dated May 9, 1786 the owners of Robesonia Furnace were entitled to continue to take enough ore from the banks to supply their furnace. The new arrangement stood until the Bethlehem Steel Company purchased most of the ore rights held by the Coleman and Grubb heirs by 1920. The records are divided into Business Records, 1862-1924, Legal Papers 1859-1929, and Accounts, 1802-1935. These sub-series include such diverse material as minutes, letter books, and telegrams, 1862-1924; articles of association and agreement, 1854-1864; agreements, deeds, leases, powers of attorney, and releases, 1859-1929; cash books, 1802-1921; construction ledger sheets, 1907-1912; day books, 1824-1921; iron books, 1828-1880; records of iron ore shipments, 1864-1919; journals, 1805-1924, ledgers, 1802-1922; ore books, 1854-1864; powder reports, 1886-1911; and sales receipts, settlement papers, records of shipments, and time books, 1823-1935. Also included are eighteen rolls of 35mm microfilm produced in 1954 that contain blueprints, tracings, and drawings of open pit cross sections, buildings, and structures, and mine and railroad maps; underground and surface survey calculation books; and diagrams of mining equipment such as electrical shovels, magnetic separators, scrapters, and hoisters. Only a small sample of the records were inspected and the following African American references were found:
A. BUSINESS RECORDS, 1862-1924
Letter Books (Received), 1864-1886. On page 232 of the book covering September, 1876-Dec. 7, 1881 is an entry that reads "1 car of Negro strads(?) and oblgr(?)" Lebanon, Pa., March 15, 1878, Ephraim Light. A similar entry is made on page 30 of the same book dated Oct. 10, 1877.
C. ACCOUNTS, 1802-1924
Day Books, 1824-1921.
Day Book, 1850-1862 (Mt. Vernon). Contains several scattered listings for a John Eisenhour (black) who appears to have been part of the work crew in the Blue Mountain Coal Depot. The earliest mention of his name appears in an entry dated Sept. 19, 1850.