Daniel J. Flood, Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County

Before we get into the meat and potatoes of this week's quest, I do want to share something of historical interest with my readers. My acquaintance Mary, who manages the Facebook account Photos of the Lehigh Valley, is as passionate about preserving local history as many of us here. She has established a petition to try to save the farm which once belonged to Rev. Abraham Blumer. If that name sounds familiar, it may be because I wrote about him a few years ago; he was one of the courageous farmers who smuggled the Liberty Bell out of Philadelphia and into Allentown for safekeeping. His farm along Lehigh County's Jordan Creek has been neglected and is in danger of being demolished, but we're hoping it can be preserved and restored for use as an educational site. If you'd like to help us with this goal, please check out Mary's petition by clicking here and adding your name.

On with the blog post, then. This week I'm heading up to scenic Luzerne County, which I've not visited in quite some time, to learn about a man whose claims to fame include controversy, folk heroism, and one extraordinary mustache.

George Ross, Lancaster, Lancaster County

I very much appreciate the kind interest people are taking in my secondary history blog. It's getting off to a slow start, of course, but I have to remind myself that so did this - and look where we are six years later.

For this week's quest, I'm heading back to one of my favorite cities, Lancaster, to talk about another one of those gentlemen who put their signatures at the bottom of the Declaration of Independence. 

Christopher Sholes, Danville and Mooresburg, Montour County

Well, my friends, this is it! Today's quest is the final one for 2023. Next week I'll be doing my annual wrap-up and looking at all the weird and wonderful things I've experienced through this blog over the past year (there have been a lot!) and also examining the stats to see which posts have resonated with my readers the most, or at least went the most viral on social media. I'm continually befuddled to see which posts are getting hits, and I wish Blogger had a way to let me know how people are finding them, but it's exciting nevertheless.

Meanwhile, today's quest is a double whammy in Montour County. (Special hello to Shane Kiefer, at the Columbia-Montour Visitors Center - I promised I'd get one for you before the year was out! Thanks for your ongoing support.) Quite literally, the work I'm doing as I write this post would not be possible without the subject of today's post, and he's so important that he has two markers.

Harold L. Ickes, Altoona, Blair County

Back in the saddle this week - I ended up having to take last week off from blogging, as my Facebook followers know, because I was hit with a sudden and unpleasant stomach bug. I did manage to get the February newsletter out at least, though, so if you didn't get your copy of that you can find it here.

So let's get into what would have been last week's post if I'd felt well enough to pull it together! The gentleman being profiled today was a key member of Franklin Roosevelt's cabinet and a fierce defender of the great outdoors. He also has a fictional claim to fame that I think might be unique to him among all Pennsylvanians, although I could be wrong.

Thaddeus Stevens, Lancaster, Lancaster County

And here we are for part two of the 230th birthday celebration for Mr. Thaddeus Stevens! I very much would like to thank everyone who has shared the previous post, especially the Thaddeus Stevens Society. This past weekend, they celebrated his birthday by putting up a new statue of the gentleman outside of the Adams County courthouse, and I'll look forward to seeing that the next time I go to Gettysburg. I'm also grateful to my fellow Zenkaikon attendees who expressed interest in this, and who have been so kind as to click the links I'm giving them.

This post will be a little more image-heavy than the first one was, because I have more pictures from Thaddeus's later life. I made them smaller than usual for the post, but you can click on any of the pictures if you want to see the larger versions.

Thaddeus Stevens, Gettysburg, Adams County

As my Facebook followers are aware, I went radio silent for much of the past week due to being on a desperately-needed vacation. For the first time since 2019, my beloved Zenkaikon once again took place at the Lancaster County Convention Center and I was there for the whole thing, participating in discussions about my favorite media and admiring the colorful costumes and hugging people I had not seen in far too long. It is my happy place and I missed it more than I can say. (To use a modern colloquialism: If you know, you know.)

It was originally my intention to do this as a double marker post. However, there is simply too much to say about this particular subject; I can't confine myself to just one. So since there are two markers, in two counties, and a lot to say... you get two posts. The timing of this is deliberate, because the gentleman in question is observing his 230th birthday this coming week, and the two posts will be examining his life and legacy in both Gettysburg and Lancaster. 

Matthew S. Quay, Beaver, Beaver County

I'm almost afraid to say anything and possibly jinx things, but we're finally starting to have some decent temperatures around here. I had to skip last week's post because I was down with a severe head cold, no doubt at least partly because of the roller coaster weather we had throughout the month of February. But I did get the March newsletter out on schedule yesterday, so if you aren't subscribed to that and want to check it out, you can find it here.

Meanwhile, let's take a trip out to Beaver County, which I had intended for the end of February, and have a look at the last of the markers sent to me by my kind friend John Robinson.

Thomas Mifflin, Shillington, Berks County

My best friend Andrea and I have both been feeling a little nostalgic for our annual trip to Lancaster, as I wrote in my last post. By happy coincidence, our boss asked us to drive down there last week to get some supplies from one of our sister stores. Naturally, that involved some marker hunting on my part, and I came home with a nice big haul of marker pictures. I think I got seven or eight in Lancaster itself, and also today's marker, which was only slightly out of our way in Berks County. It's been several months since I did a Berks marker, so we're overdue!