Two-month-old Charles Bulah* died this date, September 9th, in 1846 of Convulsions and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. After comparing census records and city directories, I believe that the infant’s parents were William and Ann Bulah. Mr. Bulah was thirty-six-years-old at the time of his son’s death while Ms. Bulah was twenty-one-years-old. He was born in New Jersey and she was born in Delaware. The Bulahs also had a five-year-old daughter Elizabeth who was born in Philadelphia, according to the 1850 U.S. Census.
The red pin illustrates the location of the Bulah home on Quince Street. The narrow thoroughfare extended from Lombard Street to Walnut Street, west of 11th Street. The red star illustrates the location of Penn Square, the future location of Philadelphia’s City Hall.
The Bulah family lived in one room at #25 Quince Street for which they paid approximately $4 a month. Working as a coachman, Mr. Bulah would have earned anywhere between $4 and $7 a week. Ms. Bulah worked in the home. She would give birth to another daughter, Mary Ann, in late 1849 or early 1850, according to the federal census.
Quince Street in 1915
In the state of Ohio, on the day that the Bulah infant boy died, the Ohio State Supreme Court upheld the United States Supreme Court decision to allow enslavers to pursue, arrest and return alleged slaves to the state from which they allegedly fled. All this without notifying the local government that had no real authority over the situation. This court decision further set the stage for the draconian 1850 Fugitive Slave Law.
Two-month-old Charles Bulah died on a “cool and raw” day.
“. . . a violent gale blew all day, and many of the wharves were even with the water – for 10 years so violent a wind has not been known on the Delaware [River] – it was so rough that the steamboats rocked on it like small vessels.” (North American, 1 October 1849)
This rough weather may be the reason the physician was not able to visit the body and sign the death certificate for two days while the small body lay in the home.
*The family name is spelled “Beulah” in the 1850 U.S. Census.
Bethel Burying Ground Project 