Bethel Burying Ground Project

Forty-year-old Levin Custis died this date December 8th, in 1842 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. Dr. Boardman did not see the corpse until the next day – if at all. He omitted Mr. Custis’s age which was eventually added to the weekly Board of Health Summary. According to the 1838 Philadelphia African American Census, the good doctor also misspelled the deceased last name.

Mr. Levin Custis was formerly enslaved and gained his freedom through manumission, as did his spouse, according to the 1838 Census. Mr. Custis was employed as a laborer, while Ms. Custis took in laundry.  I have not been able to identify her first name. The 1838 census also reports a third individual living with the family, possibly a child.

The red arrow points to Mr. Custis’s home on Flower Street near Ninth and Christian Streets in South Philadelphia. The red circle illustrates the location of Bethel Burying Ground, only four blocks away.

The Custis family lived in a room on Flower Street in the Moysmensing District of Philadelphia County. Through the 19th Century, Flower Street (now South Fallon Street) saw its tragedies, including starvation, exposure, riots, and epidemics. March was a cruel month for the poor in the city. Work was either slow or non-existent. Consequently, money for food and wood or coal for heat was a problem. In desperation, some would break up furniture to burn for heat. In March of 1835, even that couldn’t keep Flower Street resident Ms. Amy Grant and her baby son from freezing to death in their room. (1)

Flower Street was also the target of rampaging racist mobs in the summer of 1835 and in 1842.

In addition to the seasonal rampages of white racist mobs, the residents of Flower Street also fell prey to the criminal gangs that daily roamed the neighborhood unchecked. (2)

Above is a 1920 photo of Flower Street now South Fallon Street. The majority of residents at this time are Italian Americans.

Current photo of South Fallon Street.

Mr. Levin Custis died on a cold December day that saw snow fall all day. It was especially heavy in the evening. This may have delayed the physician and may have been the reason why the death certificate is dated the day after he died.

(1) Daily Pennsylvanian, 4 March 1835.

(2) Daily Pennsylvanian, 11 September 1848

The death certificate is in error. The deceased was not William Valentine. I believe it was Surry Valentine. William was Surry’s father and Sophia Valentine was Surry’s mother. The image below is from the 1853 Philadelphia City Directory. It states that William Valentine is the head of a household at #10 Little Pine Street. The same address that is on the death certificate.

Consequently, I believe the actual deceased family member was four-month-old Surry Valentine, a girl, who died of an illness that had as a symptom uncontrolled diarrhea. She was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. 

At the time of the death of their daughter, William Valentine was thirty-years-old and Sophia Valentine was eighteen-years-old, according to the 1850 U.S. Census. Both parents were born in Virginia. Ms. Valentine worked taking in laundry and ironing, while Mr. Valentine was employed as a waiter earning $3 a week. The family lived in a room at #10 Little Pine, paying $3 a month in rent, according to the 1847 Philadelphia African American Census. 

The red arrow illustrates the location of the Valentines’ home at #10 Little Pine Street. Later it would be renamed Minster Street. The yellow circle illustrates the location of Bethel A.M.E. Church.

In 1847, Little Pine Street was home to an industrious fifty-two families with a total of one hundred seventy-nine individuals who held a wide variety of occupations. The 1847 Philadelphia African American Census also shows that nineteen of the residents reported that they were formerly enslaved.

All the residents of the crowded Philadelphia streets, courts, and alleys lived in fear of fire. The thousands of old wood-frame buildings were all possible sources of fuel for a configuration. On a cold day in late January in 1848, the Valentine family and the rest of the residents of Little Pine Street heard the cry of FIRE! 

Philadelphia Inquirer, 31 January 1848.

The Valentines’ home escaped the blaze this time but the fear must have always remained.

Four-month-old Surry Valentine died on a late November day in 1853 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground.

Thirty-three-year-old Eliza Gale died this date, November 12th, in 1853 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. Dr. Samuel Tucker assigned Ms. Gale’s cause of death as “Sudden Death.” It appears that the doctor did not take the time nor the care to investigate her medical history with her family. Dr. Tucker had a prestigious address at 212 Walnut Street and likely volunteered at the Southern Dispensary, a clinic for the poor. It could be that Tucker never saw Ms. Gale and simply signed a vague death certificate. 

There is very little information on the Gales. The 1853 City Directory reports an Edward Gale living at the same address as Eliza Gale. He was employed as a drayman. A drayman was historically the driver of a dray, a flat-bed wagon pulled by horses or mules, that was used for transport of all kinds of goods. There is no information on any employment for Ms. Gale. It appears that the Gales may have been recent residents of the city. They lived on Duponceau Street – an infamous location.

Duponceau Street was located between Spruce and Walnut Streets and 8th and 9th Streets, very near Washington Square. For decades, the street was home to numerous bordellos or houses of prostitution. In addition to the local clientele, it was popular with traveling merchants, salesmen, and freight wagon drivers. (1) The previous name of the narrow thoroughfare was Blackberry Alley. In 1849, the city fathers thought that, by the act of changing the name, the Alley would somehow magically erase the problem. This was not the first nor the last time that this was attempted. It never worked and certainly did not work this time.

“Dollar Newspaper,” 6 September 1854, p. 2.

The police were always being called to Duponceau Street the “shame and disgrace of the city.”(2) At all times of the day and night, there were screaming, drunken brawls that spilled out on to the street from the brothels at #3, #4, #5, #6, #8, and #24 Duponceau Street. The Gales lived at #2 Duponceau! With the disturbances, the police would come and arrest a couple of the participants and leave the street to business as usual. 

According to the Philadelphia Board of Health records, there were 214 deaths in 1853 attributed to “Sudden Death” or cause of death “Unknown.” Forty out of the 2, 486 so far identified at BBG have the cause of death as “Unknown” or “Sudden Death.”

Eliza Gale died on a cold, wet day in November and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. I could not locate any further information on Mr. Gale.

(1) Philadelphia Inquirer, 7 April 1852.

(2) Philadelphia Inquirer, 6 September 1854, p.1.

For further reading, please go to – Ill-Fame on Blackberry Alley