Thomas Henry Ransom was born as a slave in Winchester, Virginia, January 22, 1855, to Thomas Ransom and Margaret Ransom, maiden name unknown. He first appeared in official Lykens Valley records in Millersburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, in the 1880 Census, where he was single and living in a hotel owned by Thaddeus S. Freeland. Ransom’s occupation was given as barber. He remained in Millersburg continuously working as a barber through about 1922 when he retired to Philadelphia.
On May 22, 1915, the Harrisburg Telegraph published the following story about Thomas H Ransom:
BARBER IN BUSINESS FORTY-ONE YEARS
Thomas H. Ransom Leads All Others in Continuous Service at Millersburg
By Special Correspondence
Millersburg, Pennsylvania, May 22 [1915] — Thomas H. Ransom, the Union Street barber, has fitted his shop out with new chairs and furnishings and repainted and renovated the interior of the building. Last month, Mr. Ransom completed 41 years as a businessman in Millersburg, being the oldest in point of continuous business in this place.
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The Harrisburg Evening News, April 6, 1920, told this story:
When Hair Cuts Were 10c
Millersburg — April 6 [1920] — It is interesting to note that T. H. Ransom, one of our tonsorial artists, has been in this business in Millersburg forty-six years. When Mr. Ransom came to town in April, 1874, the prices for hair cuts was ten and twelve cents and a shave five and six cents.
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In an article on the Millersburg Pharmacy that appeared in A Celebration of Millersburg’s Bicentennial, 1907-2007, a mention was made of T. H. Ransom in a brief biographical sketch of F. W. Steever:
In March 1888, F. W. Steever had a building erected adjoining the drug store on Union Street for T. H. Ransom‘s barber shop. The buildings still stand next to the Millersburg Post Office….
The photo at the top of this post was cropped from a photo of both the pharmacy and the barber shop and the estimated date was in the early 1900s. The address of barber shop was 237 Union Street, located just off the main square of town.
Ransom’s reason for leaving his original location, the Freeland House, southwest corner of the square, was made clear in a story about the Millersburger Hotel, the site of the building previously owned by Thaddeus Freeland:
By October 1886, the Freeland properties were offered at public sale. The hotel and adjoining dwelling occupied by barber Ransom were sold to Mary L. Freeland, wife of Thaddeus S. Freeland for $5,225. The property was then sold to a Mr. Miller from Gratz, who in the spring of 1888 sold the hotel to Isaac Koppenhaver….
Thus, T. H. Ransom was dispossessed and F. W. Steever, pharmacist across the square came to the rescue by constructing a building adjoining his pharmacy. The hotel then went though an extensive renovation where old portions were torn down and a new brick section was built. It is that brick building that still stands on the square today.
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In 1880, a few years after Thomas H. Ransom arrived in Millersburg, he was involved in a legal scheme to hold speculative life insurance policies on individuals. The story was reported in the Sunbury Gazette of December 10, 1880:
The jovial host also told me of several persons here who hold large amounts of speculative insurance. One of these is Mr. J. S. Gilbert, cashier of the Millersburg National Bank, who has his investments pretty well divided up among different companies. He is also a director in the Northern Pennsylvania Relief Association, just organized at Berrysburg, Dauphin County, and is reported to have made several good strikes lately. This morning Mr. Gilbert came up to the Freeland House, in the office of which I was sitting talking to the proprietor, and called the latter outside. “You’d better keep your mouth shut about this insurance business,” said Mr. Gilbert. “That may you’re talking to inside there is an agent of one of the old companies, and he’ll go right back to Philadelphia and give the whole thing away in an article to some paper and spoil our whole business.” Captain Freeland replied that he had done nothing to be ashamed of and nothing that he wouldn’t do again, and that the business isn’t insurance at all and can’t be broken up by the old companies.
Thomas H. Ransom, a young, bright little negro, who keeps the barber shop in the Freeland House, also has the speculative fever. He holds policy No. 788 in the Mahanoy Company, which he bought of an agent named App for $7. It is for $1000 and is on the life of Jacob Steffer, of Pleasant Valley, husband of the woman on whom the Freelands hold policies. He is 78 years old.
This policy “Tommy” showed me and said several people had tried to buy it, but he didn’t want to sell.
They tell me here of an old man named McConnell, who died lately at Montgomery Ferry, just across the river in Perry County, upon whom, it was said, $175,000 was held by various companies.
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On July 1, 1902, the Harrisburg Telegraph reported on an accident that occurred a few miles from Millersburg:
What might have been a very serious accident occurred a few miles out in the valley on Friday morning. Mr. W. J. Day and T. H. Ransom were out driving when suddenly the axle of the buggy broke in the middle, causing the vehicle to strike the horse, which started at once to run away. Fortunately, the harness came off after going a short distance. Beyond a few bruises and a shaking-up the occupants escaped uninjured. The horse came on into town, stopping at the stable. He escaped with a few slight cuts.
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Both the Harrisburg Evening News and the Harrisburg Telegraph noted on October 2, 1922, that T. H. Ransom had transferred his real estate in Millersburg to S. E. Hanestad for $4500. This may have been Ransom’s home rather than his business, but could have been both. Further research is needed to determine the location of the property in question.
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The obituary of Thomas H. Ransom appeared in the Harrisburg Telegraph on September 16, 1933:
THOMAS H. RANSOM
Millersburg, September 16 [1933] — Thomas H. Ransom, a well known barber, formerly located for many years at Millersburg, died at his home, 646 North Fifty-Seventh Street, Philadelphia, early this week. Burial was in the Mt. Lawn Cemetery, Philadelphia, yesterday.
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News articles from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.
[African American]