by
Marcellin Coté Adams
This brief explanation is given to aid the reader in understanding the re1ationship of these several correspondents. These letters are all on file in the Historical Society in Philadelphia. There are many gaps to be filled, but even as they are, they are most valuable in making the writers real persons, and we further find many items that substantiate what had been formerly considered mere1y family tradition.
George Anshutz, Jr. was the oldest son of George Ludwig Anshutz and came from Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, to act agent in selling the iron made by his father at the Huntingdon Furnace.
The letters of George Anshutz, Jr. have been copied exactly, although it is evident that tne spelling is often incorrect and that the construction of sentences is sometimes quite odd. This goes back in some degree to his early German training, since in German, nouns are always capitalized and words are not placed in the same sequence as in English. George, Jr. was ten years old when the family left Alsace, and at the time most boys would have been studying in some regular school. His family was moving to Pittsburgh, from there to Laughlintown and the Westmoreland Furnace, and finally to Huntingdon Furnace. It is easy to appreciate why his letters seem lacking in the essentials of good English when we understand that in all these places the life of the family was lived under conditions where school facilities had to be created and were then most primitive. In order, therefore, that these letters should not lose their flavor they have been kept in their original form, spelling and all. At any rate, we like George, Jr., just as he is and make no apologies for him. We think he is a fine type of a progressive person to claim as an ancestor.
Martha Simpson of Huntingdon and George Anshutz, Jr. were married June 6, 1806 and lived for a short time in Huntingdon. Martha's letters to her family give many details of Pittsburgh life.
After her death George Anshutz, Jr. married for his second wife. Eve Hamsher, sometimes called Hampshire, widow of John Hamsher.
George Simpson Anshutz, Oliver Anshutz, Edmund Anshutz, and Margaretta, were all children of the first wife, Martha Simpson. Alfred, Augustus, and William Henry were the children of the second wife, Eva Hamsher Anshutz.