A Black man, approximately 40 years old, accidentally drowned and was buried this date, October 12th, in 1847 at Bethel Burying Ground. The process by which a stranger to everyone can evidently be buried at Bethel is unknown. The majority of those with no given name buried at BBG are for the most part infants or babies born dead and have not yet been given a name. The circumstances around this man’s dead suggest suicide in my experience. Yet I have not been able to locate any newspaper account of such an event. Did one of the Church’s beneficial societies learn of his death and agree to bury him? Normally in a case like this he would have been buried in Potter’s Field. Hopefully, his story will not end here and further evidence will surface in the future.
Bethel Burying Ground Project 