The 12-hour-old twins of Mary Ann and Isaac Webber were born and died on this date, October 10th, in 1824 and were buried at Bethel Burying Ground. Ms. Webber delivered a boy and girl after only seven months of pregnancy. Sadly, Ms. Webber would die fourteen-months later of Typhus Fever. She was buried at Bethel Burying Ground with her children – see below.
Mary Ann Webber was twenty-five-years-old at the time of her death. Mr. Webber was twenty-eight-years-old. The family lived at 290 South 7th Street.
It appears from census records that Mr. Webb remarried a woman whose first name was also “Mary.” The 1837 Philadelphia African American Census shows this couple living in a room on Osborne’s Court with four other individuals. The family paid approximately $2.85 per month in rent. Mr. Webber worked as a porter, likely making $3-$5 a week. Ms. Webber was employed as a seamstress, likely making around $2 a week.
Only two of the six family members were born in Pennsylvania. There were three children, two of whom were attending school. The family worshipped at Bethel A.M.E. Church.
Although working poor, it appears that Mr. Webber had fought back from filing for “Insolvency” (bankruptcy) in 1830.*
The red pin in the map above shows the location of Osborn’s Court located near both Pennsylvania Hospital and Washington Square. Osborn’s Court is now named Darien Street.
A 1945 photograph of Darien Street.
The 1850 U.S. Census shows Isaac and Mary Webber in their early 50s with six-year-old Mary A. Watson. The child may be a grandchild, named after her deceased maternal grandmother.
I was unable to find death certificates for either Isaac or Mary Webber.
The graves of Mary Ann Webber and her children still exist in the Bethel Burying Ground.
*Philadelphia Inquirer, 12 January 1830.
Bethel Burying Ground Project 