In the year and a half I've been blogging on Bucks County History, I've mostly abstained from writing about the Doan Gang. I'm wildly curious about them, but, as it sometimes happens — especially with interesting historical stuff — there's just so much information about them that it's difficult to sift through and separate fact from fiction.
The Spruance Library probably has some good primary source documents, but, to tell the truth, I'm a little intimidated. I'm sure they've already been pored over by historians much wiser and more savvy than myself; picked apart and extrapolated and spun into dry, dense publications.
So yeah. I'm a romantic, but a realist. I don't like to deceive myself, so I end up peering suspiciously at things until it all feels like myth. And that fuels the curiosity even more. What would you call that? Irony? A Catch-22? A vicious cycle?
Only time will tell.
Not sure if the link will work, but it's the image of a postcard showing the grave of Moses Doan under a hickory sapling in Plumstead. From the Spruance Library's online archive.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't work, but I found the photo (it's small) and uploaded it to the end of the post. Thanks! ~ Rayna
fun post - I'm a doan myself still living in bucks county (unfortunately not from the side that escaped to the North with the money;)- to my family the gang ancestors are very real for better or worse I guess. :) http://www-tc.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/static/media/transcripts/2011-04-01/110_rifle.pdf
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http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM1A01_The_Doan_Gang
Thank you! I love the History Detectives transcript.
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