Bethel Burying Ground Project

Twenty-four-year-old Thomas Houghten died this date, May 6th*, in 1852 of Small Pox and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. I am unable to locate any additional information on Mr. Houghten or by using variations of his last name. Dr. Ashton, who has signed many of the death certificates for those buried at Bethel Burying Ground, lived in center city Philadelphia and also practiced in the city’s dispensaries or clinics on south 5th Street and Shippen Street (now Bainbridge). 

What we do know about Mr. Houghten is that he died because he was Black and poor. Vaccine for Small Pox had been around for decades and had been used successfully if administered correctly. The wealthy rarely died of the disease because they had private physicians who followed the appropriate protocols. The Philadelphia Board of Heath was responsible for vaccinating the city’s citizens and fatally failed the poorest among them. It was not until thousands had died that the Board established a free public vaccination program (1853-54). Other major cities had established this type of program years before. It was not always the Board’s fault. The City Council would either fail to allocate funding or approve only a fraction of what it would take to run an efficient program. ** 

Deaths in Philadelphia due to Small Pox***

1851 – 216

1852 – 427

1853 – 57

1854 – 40

Mr. Houghton was not to be one of the last victims of a corrupt and incompetent public health system in Philadelphia. After the threat of the disease diminished the City Council cut funding to the program which caused the disease to come back with a fury and cause the needless deaths of thousands of the city’s poorest citizens.  

The cause of death due to Small Pox can be from heart failure, dramatic loss of fluids, sepsis (blood poisoning) or pneumonia. Death from ordinary Small Pox usually occurs after bitter suffering between the 10th and 16th days of the illness. In early hemorrhagic Small Pox, death occurs about six days after the fever develops. 

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For further reading on the subject, I suggest Smallpox: The Death of a Disease – The Inside Story of Eradicating a Worldwide Killer by Henderson and Preston. 

*It appears that Dr. Ashton wrote the wrong month. This death certificate was filed by the Health Department with thousands of other that were dated the first week of May 1852. Regardless it stands as the sole documentation of Mr. Houghten’s life.

**Philadelphia Board Annual Reports for 1851, 1852 and 1853.

*** The Swift Progress of Population, Susan E. Klepp. 

Sixteen-year-old Joshua Morris died this date, April 20th, in 1846 of accidental drowning and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. The young man was fishing off of Bolton’s Wharf* and fell in the Schuylkill River on a Friday afternoon and drowned. His body was found the next day with his fishing line still “clenched” in his hand. His body was transported to the City Coroner’s Office where it was determined that his death was an accident. Drownings in Philadelphia were very common in the 18th and 19th centuries. As early as 1774 there was a call for guardians to be more aware of their children’s whereabouts because of the high rate of deaths.** Children would routinely bath and swim in the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers and men working on the docks, wharves and ships would fall into the swift waters and drown. In addition, suicide by drowning was also a common occurrence. In the year that young Joshua died, he was one of 50 recorded deaths by drowning in Philadelphia. For the period 1845-1847, there was a total of 175 deaths. 

Public Ledger April 21, 1846

This is a depiction of the Spruce Street Wharf during the same period. It would have been very close to what Bolton’s Wharf would have looked like.

*Bolton’s Wharf was the third wharf above Market Street and before Arch Street.

**The Pennsylvania Packet, May 9, 1774.

Twenty-five-year-old Fanny Stockely died this date, April 7th, in 1829 from a hemorrhage after giving birth to a stillborn child. They would be buried together at Bethel Burying Ground.

I am unable to locate any more definitive information on Ms. Stockely. Her doctor lived at 89 Pine Street in the Old City District. So she may have resided nearby. For further reading on “childbed” deaths and hemorrhaging during childbirth during this period you can go to pages 226-230 at https://archive.org/details/textbookofmidwif001spie.

Two-year-old Robert Ashton died this date, March 29th, in 1852 of an unknown disease that infected his brain and lungs and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. Little Robert’s parents John (47) and Catharine (44) also had four other children: John, Jr. (11), Catharine (9), Maria (7) and Henry (5), according to the 1850 Federal Census. John worked as a waiter making $15 a month or about $493 in modern currency, according to the 1847 African American Census. 

The Ashton family lived at 9 Ronaldson Street that runs from South to Bainbridge Streets, between 9th and 10th Streets. The house sat up the street from the large Ronaldson Cemetery.

The arrow indicates the approximate location of the Ashton home. It consisted of one room for which they paid $5 ($125) a month. Ronaldson Street was also home to the father of the Underground Railroad William Still. Therefore, the street likely saw a good deal of recently liberated African and African Americans who were formerly enslaved on the run. Ronaldson was also the home to Reverend Benjamin Templeton, pastor of the Second African Presbyterian Church and, at one time, to the offices of The Christian Recorder.

Sadly, the Ashtons would lose their 11-year-old son John, Jr. to a wasting disease the very next day. His biographical sketch is also on this website. The brothers are buried together at Bethel Burying Ground.

Mother and children

Sixth-five-year-old Ann Wiggins died this date, March 24th, in 1850 of Typhoid Fever and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. The 1847 African American Census reports that Ms. Wiggins was a washerwoman “when she can get it.” She resided in an 11’x11′ room at 3 Pleasant Avenue with a 15-year-old female who works “in-service” so is probably not there very much. They pay $2.30 a month for rent which is roughly equivalent to $50 in today’s currency. 

The Times (Philadelphia, PA), 13 October 1898.

Pleasant Avenue was a dead end alley that ran north/south between Lombard Street and Minister Streets between 7th and 8th Streets in center city Philadelphia. Pleasant Avenue rarely appeared on a city street map. Ms. Wiggins died from Typhoid Fever which is caused by ingesting a certain strain of Salmonella bacteria present in water contaminated with diseased human excrement. Between 1852 and 1854 three hundred and fifty-five citizens died of this disease. This is different from Typhus Fever which is spread by fleas from diseased rats. Certain breeds of ticks also carried the disease. 

The above article appeared in the March 14, 1848, edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer. No death certificate that has survived and he is not listed in any city directories, local or federal censuses. He resided near 6th and Fitzwater Streets only two blocks from Bethel Burying Ground. He was buried with full Masonic honors “in a costly manner.”

Mr. Bliss was a musician in the renowned Frank Johnson’s Band.

Gary B. Nash, Forging Freedom: The Formation of Philadelphia’s Black Community 1720-1840, p. 151.

Frank Johnson (1792-1844)