The original official emblem of the Bucks County government was lost for decades until Harman Yerkes, president judge of county courts, set out to find it, writes Carl LaVO for the Bucks County Courier Times.

Yerkes shared the remarkable story of his search with members of the Bucks County Historical Society in mid-July 1895.

The hunt started after Yerkes received a telegram from Dr. William Egle in Harrisburg, who asked for a copy of the original Bucks County government seal rumored to have a “tree and a vine” motif to adorn the new capitol building.

However, the only seal Yerkes knew had no such engraving on it. So he set out to solve the mystery.

The judge ran into many difficulties, with people often expressing doubt about the existence of such a seal.

But after searching old records in county and state archives, he located proof of the “tree and vine” seal on official documents up until the end of the American Revolution.

After his discovery, he requested the original seal be restored. The seal still remains in use.

Read more about the judge’s quest to find Bucks County’s lost emblem in the Bucks County Courier Times.

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