Bethel Burying Ground Project

Five-year-old James Paschale died this date, May 9th, in 1836 of Tuberculosis and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. The 1837 Philadelphia African American Census points to Joseph Paschale being James’ father. The mother’s name is not recorded, which was standard protocol until the 1850 U.S. Census. Mr. Paschale worked as a porter while Ms. Paschale was employed as a “day worker.”  There was a total of three family members and all were not born in Pennsylvania. It is not possible to tell if the third individual noted in the Census was five-year-old James. Censuses typically were taken during the Spring months, right around the time of the child’s death.

The Paschales lived in a room on Twelve-Feet-Alley for which they paid $2.15 a month in rent. Black and poor white Philadelphia citizens were forced to live in these airless, fetid pestholes and they bore the brunt of the diseases that haunted these tenements. This particular death trap was located between 5th and 6th Streets and South and Bainbridge Streets, just over the city boundary into the Southwark District.

These narrow alleys were unpaved paths that were badly drained and often blocked with filth and garbage of all kinds. No one chose to live in these plagues spots.

The 1837 Philadelphia African American Census reports that, in addition to the Paschale family, there were twelve other Black families on Twelve-Feet-Alley with a total of 46 family members. The males were employed as waiters, laborers, and seamen, whereas the females were employed as cooks, day workers, and servants. 

Five-year-old James Paschale was buried on a day in May by his parents at Bethel Burying Ground. It appears that Ms. Paschale had given birth to a stillborn child on March 5, 1826. The child whose gender was not recorded also was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. 

Fifty-year-old Rev. Ralph Hite died this date, May 8th, in 1848 of a Psoas Abscess* and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. Rev. Hite lived with his spouse, Mary Ann Hite and their thirteen-year-old son Ralph Hite, Jr. 

Rev. & Ms. Hite had another son who was reported to be “at sea” earning $18 a month. All of the Hites were not born in Pennsylvania. Ms. Hite was occupied as a “house cleaner,” according to the 1847 African American Census. The family lived in the rear of a house on Lisle Street, which was likely a former shed or stable. For this, they paid $3.75 a month. 

Rev. Hite fell ill in 1846 and had not been able to attend to his religious duties. He was put on a half salary which was $100 a year. Although not stated, I believe he was affiliated with Richard Allen’s African Methodist Episcopal Church. 

The red arrow indicates the location of the Hite’s home on Lisle Street in the Moyamensing District. The yellow arrow indicates the location of the Bethel Burying Ground in the Southwark District.

The above is a 1920 photo of Mildred Street (formerly Lisle Steet). By this date, the neighborhood residents were predominately Italian-American.

Below is a current photo of Mildred Street in South Philadelphia.

Rev. Ralph Hite was buried at Bethel Burying Ground on a clear cool May day in 1848. Six years later, Mary Ann Hite would lose her nineteen-year-old son, Ralph, Jr., to Tuberculosis. He was buried at Lebanon Cemetery in December of 1854.

*A Psoas Abscess is a rare infectious disease where a Staphylococcus bacteria invades the muscles and bone of the hip. The causes are numerous and include cancer and injury. Today, the disease would be treated with antibiotics. In 1848, there was no cure for this debilitating and very painful disease.

Ms. Ledman gave birth to a dead son after it was asphyxiated during birthing on May 6th in 1851. Ms. Ledman’s spouse was Abel Ledman. 

Tragically, Ms. Ledman gave birth to a stillborn child fifteen months previously due to convulsions on February 8, 1850. (see Appendix)

A year previous to this occurrence, Ms. Ledman gave birth to a female stillborn child on January 5, 1849. (see Appendix)

All of the children were buried at Bethel Burying Ground.

Abel Ledman and his spouse did not participate in any local or national censuses. They also refused to have their names and addresses published in the city directories over the decades. It is probable that one or both of the adults were fugitives from slavers.

After the Civil War in 1868, there is a lone entry for an “Abel Leadman” in a city directory in which he is listed as “colored” and a “laborer.” There are no death certificates that I can locate related to the adult Ledmans. The couple’s last name has been also spelled “Leduum,” “Ledaman,” and “Leadman.” His first name has also been spelled “Able.”

APPENDIX

Resolved that the defective retaining wall of the African A.M.E. Church Burying Ground west of 411 Queen Street . . . are on account of their condition, nuisances prejudicial to public health, and as such the owners or agents thereinof have failed to abate the nuisances in the manner hereinafter specified in accordance with the law, and the rules of the Board. 

Source: Philadelphia Board of Health Minutes, 5 May 1885; entry #1521, p. 273.

Eighteen-year-old Henry Harman died this date, May 1st, in 1853 of Tuberculosis and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. At the time of his death, he likely still lived in the “Colored Division” of the Pennsylvania House of Refuge. The “House” initially was established for white “juvenile delinquents” in 1825. It took another twenty-five years before the authorities created one for Black boys and girls. The residents usually were arrested for petty crimes or vagrancy. Sentences were indeterminate. 

The above is from the 1850 U.S. Census and shows Mr. Harmon as a resident of the “Colored House of Refuge.” He may have been infected with the Tuberculosis in this institution that proved to be fatal to him.

Below is an undated photograph of two African American boys at the “Refuge.”*

There is no certainty in identifying Henry’s parents. Looking at the 1847 Philadelphia African American Census, the most likely are Levi and Harriet Harman living at 19 Middle Alley. Both were born in Delaware.

Eighteen-year-old Henry Harman died on a day where the weather “was truly spring-like and lovely – every way appropriate to the first of May.”** He was buried at Bethel Burying Ground.

*https://images.app.goo.gl/RoAePgB8sbCcA6x99

**Philadelphia Inquirer, 1 May 1853.

Twenty-three-year-old Cornelia Fletcher died this date, April 29th, in 1848 of Tuberculosis and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. The 1847 Philadelphia African American Census reports Ms. Fletcher was the head of a household that included three other Black women. In addition, the Census states that Ms. Fletcher was the owner of 8 1/2 Barley Alley.  The house was valued at $750 or $23,250 in 2019 currency. Her monthly mortgage payment was $4 or $124 in 2009 currency.

The 1848 Philadelphia City Directory shows an Elizabeth Fletcher residing at the same address as Cornelia Fletcher. Both are employed as seamstress/dressmaker. Elizabeth could be Cornelia’s mother or sister. The two other women living in the home are working as domestics and their names are not recorded. The 1847 Census reports that only three of the women were born in Pennsylvania. All of them could read and write and they regularly attended religious services. 

Barley Alley was considered to be a cartway being only 6’10” wide. In this small thoroughfare, there were 56 other Black families in addition to Ms. Fletcher’s with a total of 245 individuals, according to the 1847 Census. These individuals were employed in 25 different occupations.

It is shocking to contemplate that, during Cornelia Fletcher’s short life, she was witness and victim of five race riots in Philadelphia. A sixth riot occurred the year after she died. Black business and civil rights leader Robert Purvis wrote in 1842 that the white mob violence destroyed a great deal of what the Black community built and created a constant “Hell on Earth” for Black Philadelphians. Despite this, the four women at 8 1/2 Barley Alley fought back to preserve their right of self-determination.

Cornelia Fletcher was buried at Bethel Burying Ground on a clear warm April day with the winds coming out of the South.

Two-year-old Margaret Jane Smart died this date, April 20th, in 1851 of “Convulsions”* and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. Her parents were Mary Smart and her late husband Charles, according to the 1850 U.S. Census. Ms. Smart was 38 or 39 years old at the time of her daughter’s death. Mr. Smart died 18 to 19 months before Margaret Jane’s death. His death certificate is below. He died of Cholera at 35 years old in September of 1849. Employed as a laborer, he had lived in Philadelphia for fifteen years at the time of his death. He likely was born in Delaware, as was his spouse, according to the 1850 U.S. Census. 

Two-year-old Mary Jane died on Mary’s Alley. A narrow, dark plague spot, where it isn’t surprising to find the dead, but it is a surprise to find the living.  Ms. Smart lived with her children in a room or part of a room for which she would pay $0.25 to $0.75 a week in rent. The 1847 Philadelphia African American Census reports that, for several years, there was sickness in the family for which they received medical attention at the local public clinic. 

Mary Jane Smart is one of the 919 babies two-years-old and younger who have been identified from surviving records as having been buried at Bethel Burying Ground.

Mary Jane Smart was buried at Bethel Burying Ground on a rainy, overcast day where the temperature reached 56 degrees in the afternoon. I was unable to find any further mention of Ms. Smart in available records.

Seventy-year-old Rachel Williams died this date, April 16th, in 1824 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. Her death certificate was written by Peter Mifflin, a Black man, who worked as a carpenter and lived around the corner from Ms. Williams. He stated the cause of death as Typhus Fever. However a Board of Health official changed the cause to Debility. (See below)

Debility is not a cause of death. The decline in Ms. Williams’ health was secondary to an undiagnosed illness.

Ms. Williams lived at 158 Lombard Street. According to the 1824 Philadelphia City Directory, this was the business address of a druggist Jacob Bigonet, a white man. Ms. Williams could have been a live-in domestic and may have also worked in the store. As the map below illustrates, she resided a half a block from Bethel A.M.E. Church and across Lombard Street from Wesley A.M.E.Z. Church. This area was the epicenter of the Philadelphia Black community at this time. W.E.B. DuBois later labeled it the “Negro Quarter.”

The red pin indicates the location of Ms. Williams residence while the red arrow indicates the location of Bethel Church.

The above is a 1910 photo of the block of Lombard Street in which Ms. Williams resided. The wooden frame building she lived in had long since been replaced by a brick structure.

Ms. Williams is not mentioned in any censuses or city directories, so we don’t know where she was born in 1754. No matter, it is highly likely she was born to enslaved parents. In 1780, Pennsylvania passed the Gradual Abolition Act which established as free those children born to slave mothers after that date. They had to serve lengthy periods of indentured servitude until age 28 before becoming fully free as adults. Emancipation proceeded and, by 1810, there were fewer than 1,000 slaves in the Commonwealth. None appeared in records after 1847.

The stillborn son of Sarah and Abraham Field* was delivered this date, April 11th, in 1842 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. Ms. Field took in wash and ironing, while Mr. Field earned a relatively good take-home pay of $8 a week as a waiter. They lived on Christian Street between 8th and 9th Street in the Moyamensing District of the county. They paid a hefty $6.60 a month for rent, according to the 1847 Philadelphia African American Census. Both attended church services and belonged to a beneficial society.

Above is a circa 1920 photo of the same Christian Street block where Mr. Field lived and had his small grocery store in 1865. By the time of the photograph, the neighborhood was mostly Italian immigrants.

Abraham Field died at the age of fifty on May 9th in 1869 and was buried at Lebanon Cemetery. His obituary below is from the Christian Recorder, May 22, 1869. Mr. Field was active in local civil rights efforts and was a steward and Sunday School teacher at Bethel A.M.E. Church. Later in life, he opened a small grocery store. 

“This inestimable brother breathed his last at the sunset of Sunday, May 9th. Born in Delaware nearly half a century ago, and early losing his parents, he made his way to Philadelphia. When quite a young man, he joined the A.M.E. Church, and for thirty years he maintained a character that the best of us might envy. As a man of thought he stood head and shoulders above the majority of his generation. He was one of those rare men who used the ears and eyes, and mind (but seldom his tongue) that God gave him. From our hearts we say peace to his ashes.”

Two years later in August of 1844, the Field family would lose a one-year-old daughter to Cholera. She was buried with her brother at Bethel Burying Ground.

*The family’s last name has also appeared spelled “Fields.”