Bethel Burying Ground Project

Two-year-old Mary Lavinia* Singer died this date, July 14th, in 1849 of “Tabes” (Tuberculosis) and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. The research materials available pose a mystery – who were Mary’s parents? In the 1847 African American Census, the Singer family headed by Theodore Singer contained him and three others. There were two females and two males; two under 5 years and two under 50 years. Only one was not a native of Pennsylvania. We don’t know Mary’s exact birth date so she may or may not be included in this survey. 

Theodore was a waiter making a reported $12 a month and his spouse worked as a laundress, likely earning $1-$2 a week depending upon demand. The family lived in desperate poverty with the whole family living in a 10 ft. by 10 ft. room with no running water. They paid $3 a month in rent or an equivalent to approximately $75 in today’s cash. This room was located at 322 Cedar Street above 7th Street. Cedar is now called South Street. 

Mother and children

Name                                    Age        Place of Birth     Occupation

Theodore Singer               45           PA                          Waiter

      Rebecca Singer                 27           NJ                           Unknown

         John Singer                         17           NJ                           Barber        

James Singer                    5           PA                          N/A

Eliza J. Singer                   2           PA                          N/A

Lavina Thomas                           48           NC                          Unknown

                                                         (Source: 1850 Federal Census)

Ms. Thomas died on January 2, 1854, of kidney disease and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground, likely with or next to Mary Lavina Thomas. Her age was reported to be 56 years old.

Tuberculosis accounted for less than one percent of deaths in children two years old and under. The majority of childhood deaths during the first year of life accounted for 47% of all childhood deaths during this era. Convulsions were the major cause of death in the first year of life and Cholera was the most prevalent in the second year of life. (A Biohistory of 19th Century Afro-Americans, Lesley M. Rankin-Hill, p. 77-78.)

*The correct spelling is likely “Lavina.”

North American, 7 July 1842

Ten-year-old Alexander Samons died this date, July 4th, in 1842 of accidental drowning while bathing in the Schuylkill River. On the night on July 1st, a violent storm hit the Delaware Valley causing the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers to overflow their banks flooding hundreds of homes in Philadelphia. The newspapers reported, “torrents of rain” from a storm that was the “severest” to occur in the area for many years – this by way of explaining what may have caused the boy to be swept away from the Grays Ferry Wharf by a swirling, powerful current. 

“Schuylkill River at Gray’s Ferry”, by P. Clark, (1835)

Above is a painting of the wharf from which Alexander may have been diving before he went under. There are others in the background to the left. The painting was done 6 or 7 years prior to his death in 1842.

It is not possible with any certainty to identify Alexander’s parents. The spelling of the last name by the coroner is probably incorrect. The name was “Sammons” and was an old African American family name in Philadelphia. There are several people with that name buried at Bethel Burying Ground.  

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NOTES

It looks like the boy’s body was pulled from the water by boatmen the same day he drowned and was brought to the Pine Street Wharf upstream from Grays Ferry where the City Coroner examined the body. If you look closely at the death certificate the ink looks like it has been smeared by water droplets. 

It is unlikely that Alexander was buried on the 4th of July. Black Philadelphia citizens would head out early morning on the 4th to do any food shopping so as to avoid the roving drunk violent white gangs who believed it was their patriotic duty to try and kill any Black man, woman or child they saw on the streets just going about their business. Churches, meeting halls, and homes were looted and burned. A funeral procession of Black citizens would surely have been attacked in Southwark where Bethel Burying Ground was located.

The 10-day-old son of Sarah Bailey died this date, June 24th, in 1854 of Asthenia and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. Asthenia occurs at the end of the first or beginning of the second week of the infant’s life. It is an infection of the umbilical cord and causes severe symptoms that included a rash and swelling downwards over the lower abdomen and limbs with sloughing of the skin and exposure of muscles. Symptoms also include vomiting, diarrhea, drowsiness, and seizures. It is fatal in newborns.

Ms. Bailey sought help for her baby at the Southern Dispensary (clinic) at 318 Bainbridge Street and saw Dr. Andrew J. Smiley. There was nothing known to medical science at that time that could have saved the infant. 

I cannot determine with absolute certainty Ms. Bailey’s identity in city directories or local/federal censuses. It appears she may have been the spouse of Richard Bailey who lived at 263 Spruce Street, only three blocks from the clinic according to the 1847 African American Census (AAC).  Richard was a coal carrier and Sarah would have been a laundress. The Bailey’s were impoverished, according to the 1847 AAC.

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.”)

Twenty-year-old Elizabeth Brown died this date, June 12th, in 1846 of Tuberculosis and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. She died at the house of her parents, Marcus (66 y/o) and Louisa Brown (59 y/o). She is also survived by her brothers Lewis (23 y/o) and John (18 y/o) who also lived with their parents. Marcus was a retired shoemaker who passed the business on to his sons who ran the business from their home in the 900 block of Bonsall Street (now Rodman) near the intersection of 9th and South Streets in the south area of the city of Philadelphia. Louisa Brown worked as a domestic as a younger woman according to Federal and local census records. 

In the Fall of 1860, Frederick Douglass visited Philadelphia and was taken on a tour of the many neighborhoods populated by African Americans. He visited the specific block that the Browns had lived on in 1846 and wrote this in an article for his October 1860 edition of his newspaper the “Douglass’ Monthly.” The city directory for 1860 does not list the Browns living on Rodman Street at the time of the article.

We passed with our guide up South Street to Ninth, and thence to Rodman street— Several fine dwellings. of three and four stories, fronted with white marble, and having doors of carved stone were exhibited upon those avenues. Rodman Street runs parallel with South Street, one-half square above it. It is peopled almost entirely by colored families.— We gazed with curiosity at its rows of tall, beautiful houses, and saw, with some interest, the clean pavements and street. In some places, fine ornamental trees stood upon the sidewalks, and in the doorways, the families of colored men are seated. By the imperfect moonlight, they seemed to be neatly dressed. There was no loud laughing or talking; in fact, it seemed to us that we had not remarked for the early evening such general decorum in any street in the city.

These photographs were taken in 1964 of the block that the Brown family lived on at the time of young Elizabeth’s death. The first photo is of 904 Rodman and the second is of 912 Rodman. The Browns lived at 906 according to the 1846 city directory. By 1964 it appears that address had been demolished. 

Fourteen-year-old John Fletcher was a waiter on the Delaware River steamboat New Philadelphia. On the 3rd of June in 1852, he went missing while the steamboat was docked at Bordentown, New Jersey. His body was discovered in the river on June 7th and transported to Philadelphia where the coroner ruled the death an accidental drowning on June 9th. He was subsequently interred at Bethel Burying Ground.

 During the work week, the steamboat ferried customers to railroad connections in Trenton and the Upper Delaware River. During the weekend the vessel was an excursion boat that took passengers on day trips to picnic locations such as Burlington and Bristol, both in Pennsylvania. The boat had a lively music band and refreshments were provided including ice cream that the young Mr. Fletcher would serve.

Mr. Fletcher lived at no. 28 Stanley Street which was a short thoroughfare between 3rd and 4th Streets just south of Bainbridge Street in the old Southward District of South Philadelphia.  It is not conclusive although it appears that John was an orphan adopted by Anthony Fletcher (drayman) and his spouse a laundress (name not recorded) according to the 1847 African American Census.

Nineteenth century African American teenager

Fifty-eight-year-old Rebecca Boardley died this date, May 21th, in 1848 of Cancer and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. “Rheumatic Metastasis” is an archaic term no longer used. It most commonly meant cancer of the brain but could also mean cancer of the heart. 

When Ms. Boardley was forty-seven-years-old, eleven years previous, she reported her occupation as the proprietress of a clothing store according to the 1838 African American Census. Additionally, it records that she was not born into enslavement and owned $1,000 in personal property or approximately $5,000 in today’s currency. It is likely she was born in Delaware.

In the 1847 African American Census, Ms. Boardley reported her occupation as dressmaker and tailoress. She resided at 361 Lombard Street Alley near the intersection of Lombard Street and South 10th Street in the Cedar District of center city Philadelphia. 

Unidentified 19th Century African American woman

Ms. Boardley was a widow and the matriarch of a large industrious family. Her seven adult children and their spouses lived with her and were employed as a lathe turner & wood carver, a tailor, two waiters and two who worked as domestics. All could read and write and attended religious services at Bethel A.M.E. Church (now Mother Bethel).

Approximate location of the Boardley household.