Bethel Burying Ground Project

Sixty-one-year-old Stephen Henry died this date, January 8th, in 1854 of Enteritis* and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. Mr. Henry and his spouse Ann Marie (49 y/o) were both bakers of cakes and pies that they sold on the street around the local farmers’ market. The family included one child William (14 y/o) and one-hundred-year-old Rachel Thompson who appears to be Ms. Henry’s mother as they both were born in Maryland. The males were born in Pennsylvania. According to the 1847 Philadelphia African American Census, Ms. Thompson was formerly enslaved and had suffered a stroke.

Philadelphia was peppered with farmers’ markets where citizens daily bought their meat, vegetables and dry goods such as candles and brooms. These markets were massive open-air structures with iron sheeted roofs. They would run for blocks often situated in the middle of the street. The vendors would rent stalls from the city that made and enforced laws governing the day to day operation of these markets. City officials would enforce the quality of the products being sold and also make sure that weights and measures were being honestly kept. There was one of these bazaars only a couple blocks from the Henry’s residence in Gray’s Alley and likely a place where they peddled their cakes and pies. 

These “Market Houses” were open Monday through Saturday. On Sunday mornings and early afternoons, the massive sheds were used by itinerant preachers that held impromptu services. They were also a favorite place for politicians to hold political meetings and rallies.

With the death of Mr. Henry, the family would have needed fourteen-year-old William to work full time if he hadn’t been already. The family now faced not only a “spartan” existence but one where life itself hung precariously in the balance. 

19th century “Pie Boy.”

As Mr. Henry’s coffin was lowered into his final resting place, Ms. Henry may have been silently reciting Psalm 44 to herself.

Our most gracious Lord

Life has beaten me down today

Lift me to see You in moments of my day

Let me feel Your presence in my pain 

Amen

*Enteritis: Inflammation of the intestine and possibly the stomach.

The above Death Certificate is extremely faded but states that the six-month-old son of Elizabeth and James Massey died this date, January 2nd, in 1854 of swelling of the brain (“Dropsy”) and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. James (34 y/o) was employed as a coachman and Elizabeth (29 y/o) as a laundress. He was born in Maryland and she was born in Pennsylvania. According to the 1847 Philadelphia African American Census, they had a male child under the age of five years old. In the 1850 Federal Census, this child is no longer reported and presumably had died during that time period.

The family lived at 14 Burd’s Court in a small room for which they paid $3.33 a month. The narrow block-long thoroughfare was near 10th and Spruce Streets in center city Philadelphia.

19th century African American coachman

From the available census records, it is apparent that Mr. Massey was a public hack driver as opposed to a private driver who is employed by a wealthy family and also has domestic duties in the family’s home, such as being a butler. Public drivers are divided into those that own their horse and carriage and those that work for a company that operates coaches, much like the taxi companies of today. Mr. Massey likely would have been the latter. The 1847 African American Census lists 106 Black men employed as coachmen. 

“The Laundress” by Robert Henri

Elizabeth Massey worked as a laundress. A job that taxed her body and spirit. Water had to be drawn and carried from the nearest hydrant, firewood had to be obtained, fires had to be started and heavy bundles of clothes had to be picked up and returned to her customers after the clothes and sheets were hung up, dried and folded. All this in the heat and cold, while taking care of children and shopping for and preparing the family’s meals, often while pregnant. It was an undertaking for only the strong and strong-willed.

After 1854, Elizabeth and James Massey disappear from public records. Their child died of swelling on the brain from either Meningitis or Encephalitis. The adults may also have succumbed to the infection, although there are no surviving death certificates on record of that occurring.

Twenty-month-old Anna Matilda Rolley died this date, December 19th, in 1848 of burns from accidentally being scalded by boiling water and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. The child’s family was one of the wealthiest African American families in Philadelphia.* Abner, the child’s father, was a barber who owned his own shop in a popular location and took on apprentices including his son. Mary Ann Rolley, the child’s mother, was a laundress and seamstress who also had employees. In addition to their large family, they took in an orphaned child. Below is how the 1847 census takers recorded the family.

1847 Philadelphia African American Census

Name:             Abner Rolley

Residence:      112 N. 5^th Street

# in family:     9

Males:             5

Females:         4

Under 5 yrs.   1

    ”15 yrs.     3

     ”50 yrs.    4

Over 50 yrs.   1

Orphans         1

Can read        7

Can write       5

Male occupation: Barber

Female occupations: 1 laundress 1 dressmaker

Children under 20y: 2 apprentices

# at school: 1

Schools attended: 6^th and Lombard Streets

Value of real estate:  $2,200 (Approximately $64,200 in today’s currency.)

Attend church: 8 (Bethel AME)

Remarks: The orphan boy’s mother died from a cold taken at the time of the 1^st of August riot. His father died while in service.

          (The riot mentioned would have been in 1844. The father was a servant of some sort when he died.)

ANTEBELLUM BARBER SHOP

Barbershops owned by African Americans during this period had to choose whether they were going to service Black or white customers. The shop was “a kind of men’s club, where a customer above all felt at home.” That was only going to be achieved with one race or the other. It appears, given Abner Rolley’s success, his shop catered to white men.** It seems likely that the location of the shop also had to do with the business’s success. The Rolley family owned the building at 112 North 5th Street in center city Philadelphia. The shop was on the first floor and the family lived on the above floors. In addition, the address was in the middle of the largest market in the city. In the map below the white area represents the “Market House” on High Street, later named Market Street. The red arrow indicates the location of the Rolley’s business and home, one block north of Independence Hall.

The 1850 Federal Census record on the Rolley family is below. Abner’s spouse, Mary Ann, is much younger than he is. It is very likely that she is his second wife, given the older children’s ages. Robert Miller appears to be the orphan mentioned in the 1847 Census and William Stevens is possibly another barber that lives at the residence. Mary Ann Means may be a daughter of Ms. Rolley from a previous marriage who works in the family businesses as a seamstress. 

Tragically, Mr. Rolley died suddenly at seventy-three-years-old while he was at work in his shop on December 3, 1860, leaving a thriving business to his son William. 

***

*Roger Lane, Forging Freedom, 267.

**Roger Lane, William Dorsey’s Philadelphia and Ours, 115-118.

Ten-day-old James Hill died this day, December 4th, in 1828 of Convulsions and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. He was born and died at the Philadelphia Almshouse Infirmary located in the 300 block of Spruce Street in center city. His unnamed mother would have had to beg for admission to the poorhouse. She would have been destitute, homeless and in immediate need of shelter, food, and medical attention. Fortunately, the institution offered these women specialized medical attention and postnatal care by midwives along with a temporary refuge and a diet of “hearty and nutritious food.”

In 1828, 13% of the inmates of the Philadelphia Almshouse were African American, however, only between 6-9% of the residents of the city and districts were non-whites.

How was it that a financially destitute young woman was able to afford the cost of burying her son at a private cemetery? It is very likely that there were other Hill family members already buried at Bethel Burying Ground. It was a common practice for graveyard managers to allow families to inter young children in the same grave of a sibling or parent, thus lowering the cost for the impoverished family. The body of the child would simply be shrouded and laid in the open grave. Even the labor cost for this would have been out of reach for Ms. Hill and it was likely paid by an African American charitable organization. 

Below are Hill family members who are buried at Bethel Burying Ground and who may be related to Ms. Hill.

There is no mention of William Hill in any federal or local censuses or city directories. Further research at the Philadelphia City Archives in the “Daily Occurrence Dockets” of the Philadelphia Almshouse for the months of November and December in 1828 may reveal Ms. Hill’s first name. 

“Mother and Child” by Elizabeth Catlett

Suggested reading on the history of the Philadelphia Almshouse: “Welfare and the Poor in the Nineteenth-Century City: Philadelphia 1800-1854” by Priscilla Ferguson-Clement.

The two-year-old son of Sarah Marshall died this date, November 25th, in 1848 of Tuberculosis and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. Ms. Marshall was a single mother working as a laundress residing at 10 Pleasant Avenue with a female child whose age was between six and fourteen years of age, according to the 1847 Philadelphia African American Census. This Census reports the younger child as a female, whereas the attending physician states that the child was a “son.” It appears that neither Dr. Lehman nor the manager of the cemetery was very familiar with the family as evidenced by the “Cemetery Return” (see below) filled out by the Bethel Church sexton Shephard Gibbs.

Ms. Marshall lived in crushing poverty and received assistance from an aid organization in the form of firewood for her stove. In a good week, she likely earned $2-$3 and she paid $3.50 a month for a 10’x10′ room. Despite her situation, she sent her older child to one of the several private schools that took African American pupils. Ms. Marshall would not have been able to afford the burial expenses of buying a plot, having the grave dug and purchasing a coffin. It is possible that she had her child interred in an already existing grave of a spouse, another child or other family members. She would have needed assistance that was most probably from an African American beneficial society.

Pleasant Avenue was a dead end alley that ran north/south between Lombard Street and Minister Streets and between 7th and 8th Streets in center city Philadelphia. This street rarely appeared on a city street map. The ghettoization of African Americans in the city forced the poorest white and Black families to live on streets like Pleasant with notoriously crowded dwellings where diseases were quickly spread. What is missing from the above illustration is the piles of garbage laying in the street, clogging the gutters with black water that was home to numerous diseases that would kill hundreds. The city government would pay contractors to clean these alleys but it rarely happened unless an epidemic broke out in the neighborhoods and threatened adjoining white districts. 

The day that the child was buried, there would have been a Bethel Church minister over the grave. He may have recited the prayer that Rev. Richard Allen wrote for the death of a child. 

The tyrant, Death, came rushing in,

Last night his power did shew,

Out of this world this child did take,

Death laid its visage low.

No more the pleasant child is seen

To please the parent’s eye,

The tender plant, so fresh and green,

 Is in eternity.

Rev. Richard Allen (Hymn XLI, p. 64, “A Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs”)

Twelve-year-old Robert Sadler died this date, November 17th, in 1846 of Pneumonia and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. He was the son of William H. (37 y/o) and Hester Sadler (27 y/o). In addition, Robert was the brother of Ellen (possibly a twin) and three-year-old Rosana. Mr. Sadler worked as an oysterman and, during the winter months, as a waiter. Ms. Sadler worked as a laundress. All the children attended private daycare and school (Shiloh Infant School and Ms. Mary Till’s private school). The 1850 Federal census also lists Mary Davis (22 y/o) and Anna Harris (15 y/o) living with the Sadler family in the rear of #40 Bonsall Street (now Rodman Street). All of the Sadler family members and Ms. Davis were born in Pennsylvania. Ms. Harris was born in Delaware according to the 1850 Federal Census.

As a 20-year-old young man, William Sadler was a seaman as evidenced by his application for a U.S. Citizenship Affidavit of U.S. Born Seaman. This document was a nineteenth-century version of a passport that would assist an individual if an attempt was made against him to be kidnapped or “pressed” into service by the British. 

Below is the approximate location of the Sadler home at 40 Bonsall Street. They lived in a shanty behind the main house that was little more than a shed or old stable for which they paid $4.85 a month for rent. The Sadlers were a proud family who regularly attended church services at Bethel AME and belonged to a beneficial society which likely assisted in paying for young Robert’s funeral expenses. William and Hester Sadler both were members of a temperance society, according to the 1838 and 1847 Philadelphia African American Censuses. 

Ms. Sadler died in January of 1869 of “old age” at 60 years of age. Living to sixty was well beyond the average life expectancy of a Black female of that era which was 35 years of age. For a Black male, it was 32.5 years; white female/ 42.9 years and white male/40.4 years. Mr. Sadler’s death certificate was not found.

Sixty-two-year-old Hannah Claxton* died this date, October 29th, in 1848 of a uterine hemorrhage and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. She was a widow who lived with her son Nathaniel Claxton at #22 Ball Alley. She was employed as a “pastry cook” earning $6 a week. Nathaniel worked as a painter, according to the 1846 Philadelphia African American Census and 1847 Philadelphia City Directory. The 1837 Philadelphia African American Census states that Ms. Claxton’s deceased husband was occupied as a painter and glazier. His name was also Nathaniel. 

Eighty-seven years before Ms. Claxton’s death, Ball Alley was a center of entertainment for well-to-do white men of the colonial city. According to historian and author Michael Schreiber, “the long narrow alley” was surrounded by taverns where locals gathered for “ball games, drink, and gambling. On at least one occasion, even the president of the United States, John Adams, was entertained in Ball Alley. . . the long narrow Ball Alley would lend itself perfectly to forms of bowling – such as nine pins and skittles.” Groups could rent the whole alley for celebrations, dinners, and political meetings. The large sails of ships would span “the alley to give shelter to the dinner tables below.”**

Fast forward to the 19th century and the environment that the Claxton family lived in was very different. Schreiber comments that the alley now was known for its rowdiness, brothels, and alehouses with a very different clientele than its 18th-century cousins. A census taker for the 1847 Philadelphia African American Census commented that the buildings on Ball Alley were “very old tenements” and housed the “most destitute persons in this vicinity.” 

The blue arrow indicates the location of the Claxton’s home and the red arrow indicates the location of the local market where Ms. Claxton probably sold her baked goods.

Ms. Claxton was a successful businesswoman earning $6 a week when the vast majority of African American men who labored for a living were lucky to be making $4-$5 a week, according to the 1847 Philadelphia African American Census. It is likely that Ms. Claxton’s living only a short distance from the Washington Market (see map) added greatly to her success. The Washington Market was a two block long covered shed with stalls. The structure contained designated stalls for everything from fresh produce, meats, and seafood to household items such as brooms and soaps. In the Washington Market, the stalls for “bread and cakes” were located at the far western end where Ms. Claxton probably could be seen daily hawking her fresh baked goods. 

In July of 1844, the entire structure was burned to the ground by anti-immigrant nativist rioters on their way to attempt to destroy St. Philip Neri Roman Catholic Church where Irish immigrants worshipped. After the smoke cleared, the market was rebuilt and the routine of daily life returned to the 19th-century bazaar. 

Nineteenth-century market vendor

*Other spellings of the name include “Clacton” and “Claixton.”

** For further reading on Ball Street go to Mr. Michael Schreiber’s essay at https://southwarkhistory.org/2014/05/the-black-bear-tavern-and-ball-alley/.