Twenty-seven-year-old Sarah Ann Prettyman died this date, November 26th in 1853 of Tuberculosis and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. Information is limited on Ms. Prettyman. She appears in the 1850 U.S. Census, three years before her death.
Sixty-two-year-old Louisa Prettyman was the head of the family. She was born in Delaware, as were all the family members. Ms. Prettyman was blind, according to the Census. Sarah Ann was not employed and may have taken care of the elder Ms. Prettyman at home. Brother James was twenty-two-years-old and was employed as a seaman. Lot Prettyman was twenty-years-old and worked as a laborer. Additionally, the Census reports that eighteen-year-old Elisha Prettyman was employed as a laborer. I could not find any information on the spouse of Louisa Prettyman.
The 1851 Philadelphia City Directory shows Sarah Ann and Louisa Prettyman resided in Wilson’s Court (red pin). The location of Bethel A.M.E. Church is encircled in red.
Wilson’s Court was a small out-of-the-way alley on Carpenter Street between 8th and 9th Streets in the Moyamensing district of the county. The name of the thoroughfare was changed in 1858 to Gramment.
The wonder cure for “Spitting of Blood
The Catholic Herald, 5 February 1853
Ms. Prettyman was inflicted with Tuberculosis. A disease that was described by the ancient Greeks and known also as Consumption and Phthisis. It was a cruel disease that often took years to kill its victim while he or she coughed up blood from hemorrhaging lungs. The rich could ease some of the sufferings by “taking the waters” at a resort or at a mountain top spa with its clean dry air. The poor were stuck in smokey, soot-filled rooms that only ascerbated their misery. But they did have the dozens of “snake oil” concoctions like the one above that promised a cure from their sickness.
Sarah Ann Prettyman died on a late November day in 1853 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground.
Note: The Census record above is somewhat confusing on the names of “Louisa” and “Lot.” I have confirmed this spelling through other documents.
Bethel Burying Ground Project 