This is the legal document that was signed by the attorneys for Richard Allen and the original trustees of Mother Bethel when they purchased the property for the burying ground in April of 1810. Somewhere along the line the document was stolen and eventually resurfaced in a North Carolina flea market where it was purchased! It was donated to the Smithsonian several years ago by the daughter of the woman who acquired it. (Personal communications between myself, the Smithsonian and the donor.)

On April 28, 1810 the Reverend Richard Allen and the trustees purchased a plot of land for $1,600 to be used as a cemetery not only for congregants, but for any Black man, woman or child that wanted a respectable Christian burial; as opposed to an unmarked grave in a potter’s field.

October 10, 1914 “Pencil Pusher Points” column of Black journalist William Carl Bolivar in the Philadelphia Tribune.

In 1823 Rev. Richard Allen wrote that Bethel Church had spent between $1,200 and $1,500 in charitable relief for those who could not afford to pay for a burial on Queen Street.* 

*Richard S. Newman, Freedom’s Prophet, p.150.

                                          

In Loving Memory

Amelia Brown

She died April 3, 1819

Aged 26 years old

He that believeth in Me, though he was dead, yet shall live

Twenty-six-year-old Amelia Brown died this date, April 3rd, in 1819 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. The official death certificate or “Cemetery Return” for Ms. Brown is not in the public record. Whether it did exist at one time and was destroyed through the decades is unknown. Consequently, we do not have a cause of death for the young woman. I do not have any other specific information on her. The search for addition data on the young woman is hampered by the commonality of her last name and that she was a Black female who, in general, have left very little primary source material.

Amelia Brown’s gravestone was unearthed at Bethel Burying Ground on July 25, 2013 by archeologists. It is currently on display at Mother Bethel Church.

The Health Office, on a weekly basis, would make the causes of death for the previous week public and the local newspapers would publish the record. Four people in Ms. Brown’s age range died in the week of March 27th to April 3rd. That this leaves us guessing about her cause of death. It was most likely Consumption/Tuberculosis, but we may never know for certain. 

“Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser,” April 5, 1819.