Thanks for writing about this article - lots of fun to read! I looked at
the article - found it on Green Free Library's web site. This is just
speculation, but I wonder if Harry was intending to say that the older brother
parted Joseph & James, went on to Pittsburgh and never met them again? A newspaper
punctuation typo could change the entire meaning of the sentence. Guess
that's the challenge of trying to figure this stuff out!
Betsy
You wrote:
That leaves us having to figure out Harry's "They made their way to
Jersey Shore the older brother parting. Joseph and James going on to
Pittsburgh, never to meet again." Both father and son Joseph went to
Nelson, not to Pittsburgh. Joseph "Sr."'s son John (1781 - 1866) left
Lancaster Co. for Pittsburgh abt 1806, and never came to Nelson or
Jersey Shore. To go from Lancaster to Pittsburgh he would have followed
Forbes Rd, now approximated by US 30 and the PA Turnpike.
Was Harry just confused/wrong when he wrote of"Joseph and James going on
to Pittsburgh, never to meet again"? 'Joseph' doesn't make sense here.
Is 'James' just a mistake too? Or was another brother of Joseph "Sr"
present? It doesn't seem likely, because Joseph Sr.'s diary mentions
meeting up with his brother John at Sam's farm, but doesn't mention any
other brothers joining (or leaving) them.