Public Ledger, August 13, 1841, p. 2.

Twenty-three-year-old Josiah Durham drowned in the Delaware River on this date, August 12th, in 1841 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. While working on the steamboat “Ohio” Mr. Durham fell overboard in the dead of night and drown. The steamboat was an excursion vessel that was “one of the most beautiful boats on the river.” (Philadelphia Inquirer, May 3, 1833.) Mr. Durham lived in Prosperous Alley which ran south from Locust Street, above 11th Street.

I certify an Inquest on the body of Josiah Durham age 23 years Colored/Verdict of this Jury Accidental Drowning. August 12, 1841

Charles Jones, 30, died this date, July 30th, in 1813 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. He died after being crushed under the wheels of a cart. The City Coroner ruled the death an accident. Mr. Jones was occupied as a woodsawyer and lived at 328 S. 6th Street only two blocks from Bethel Church. 

A portrait of Rev. Richard Allen painted in 1813 the year of Mr. Jones’ death.

Seventy-year-old Henrietta Stokely died this date, July 26th, in 1854 of Cholera and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. Ms. Stokely was vacationing at Cape Island, NJ (now Cape May)and contracted Cholera. The doctor who wrote the death certificate believed Ms. Stokely caught the disease from prolonged exposure to the “Heat of the Sun.” Even for 1854 this was quackery. Mainstream medicine at the time believed the disease was caused by miasma or exposure to an unpleasant smell or vapor. Perhaps similar to the smell of a decaying corpse or rotting fruits or vegetables. It wasn’t until 1884-85 that science was able to identify the Cholera bacteria as the source of the deadly illness. The disease was commonly brought on by drinking water contaminated by the feces from a person who already had the Cholera bacteria. The bacteria could also come from raw or undercooked fish and seafood caught in waters polluted with sewerage. The crippling symptoms of Cholera came quickly, first diarrhea and vomiting, abdominal cramps, shock, then death. 

Harriet Tubman worked as a cook in Cape May in 1852, earning money to help runaway bondsmen. She developed fugitive slave routes in Salem, Cumberland and Cape May counties, including obscure Indian trails. – See more at http://www.capemay.com/blog/2001/09/cape-mays-role-in-history-pathway-to-freedom/#sthash.97naePSS.dpuf.

Robert Howard, 63 years old, died this date, July 21st, in 1849 of Cholera and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. From the records of the 1847 African American Census, it appears that Mr. Howard lived with his spouse, several children and possibly his or her’s parents and/or grandparents. There was one female in the family over 100 years old. The Howard family lived in Acorn Alley (now Schell St.) which ran between 8th and 9th streets and Bainbridge and Fitzwater streets in south Philadelphia. He worked as a cook and Ms. Howard took in washing to add to their income. The Howards were neighbors of the Reverend John Boggs an AME minister of some prominence. Rev. Boggs died a little over a  year before Mr. Howard. 

Tragically the city was being ravished by Cholera in the summer of 1849. Mr. Howard was one of 196 individuals that died in the city and county of Philadelphia the same week as he did. Twenty-eight people a day were dying from the disease. (Public Ledger, 25 July 1849, p. 2.)

Three-year-old Mary Ann Jones died of Cholera on this date, July 12th, in 1812 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. I could not find any further information on her family, however, historian Gary Nash* had this observation about Gaskill Street.

“Gaskill Street, A narrow street running only three blocks from 2nd to 5th between Cedar and Lombard, had only one black household indicated in the 1793 yellow fever survey, only two listed in the 1795 directory, and only three recorded in the directory of 1811. But five years later 24 black families were spread along Gaskill, 22 of them in the block between third and fourth Street. . . . The 24 black families on Gaskill Street in 1816 lived in a neighborhood formed a nearly perfect cross-section of Philadelphia’s industrious middle and lower classes.”