Bethel Burying Ground Project

Ms. Ardica’s age was not known. Her physician guessed 50 years but also stated it could be upwards of 60-70 years of age. The death certificate states that she had been suffering from Dysentery for about six weeks when she passed away. She was born in Guinea, African and very likely kidnapped and enslaved and survived the Middle Passage. She does not appear in any census records or city directories. It is probable that she was taken in chains to Haiti and eventually came to the United States after the rebellion of the enslaved from 1791 to 1804.  By 1793, Philadelphia became the center of French refugee life in America primarily due to the revolt of the enslaved in Haiti. Black Saint Dominguans were arriving at the Port of Philadelphia by the hundreds. They had been the domestic slaves of the white plantation owners and now in Philadelphia, they were freed. However, most were forced into indentures that would last for many years

 By 1793, Philadelphia became the center of French refugee life in America primarily due to the revolt of the enslaved in Haiti. Black Saint Dominguans were arriving at the Port of Philadelphia by the hundreds. They had been the domestic slaves of the white plantation owners and now in Philadelphia, they were freed. However, most were forced into indentures that would last for many years. Ms. Ardica may well have been one of those individuals.

Ms. Ardica was a practicing Roman Catholic. She regularly attended Holy Trinity Church at 6th and Spruce Streets. This Roman Catholic church was founded by Germans in 1789 was used by Frenchmen and French-speaking people of color since the arrival of white Canadian Arcadians in 1755. Holy Trinity Church was known as early as 1801 for refusing Black congregants burial in the church’s graveyards. That is why she is buried at Bethel Burying Ground. The apartheid continued even after death. 

Below is an image of the Holy Trinity church registry for 1814, the year that Ms. Ardica died. It shows her in good standing in the congregation. It also shows that her description as a woman of color was noted in Latin so the public would not immediately understand that she was black.  They also gave her an anglicized name – “Mary Jane.” The description reads “mulier nigra 50 vel 60 anorum quar etiam Mary Jane nominata fuit.” roughly translated it says “black woman 50 or 60 counted also named Mary Jane exists.”

Research is ongoing. 

For further reading on the St. Domingan refugees see Haiti’s Influence on Antebellum America by Alfred N. Hunt.

*Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in Olden Time by John Watson,p. 559. (Available on Google Books)

**1789-1914: A Retrospective of Holy Trinity Parish, p. 61. (Available at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania)

***Gary B, Nash, “Reverberations of Haiti in American North: Black Saint Dominguans in Philadelphia,” PA History (1998), 44-73. 

The six-month-old son of Samuel (46) and Elizabeth (33) Edwards died this date , October 1st, in 1848 of Tabes Mesenterica* and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. The baby had three siblings Seaima (13)**, Mary Elizabeth (4) and Samuel (2).  A year later Ms. Edwards would give birth to a daughter Emma. There is evidence from the 1847 African American Census that the Edwards had two sons in their late teens that by this date may now be living on their own or “in service.”

The family lived in one room on Eutaw Alley close to the intersection of 8th and Race Streets in center city Philadelphia near where the Philadelphia Police Administration Building (“The Roundhouse”) has sat since 1963. Mr. Edwards worked as a porter and a whitewasher and Ms. Edwards as a laundress. 

Nineteenth-century African American family.

*Tabes Mesenterica is an obsolete termed that was used for a tubercular infection of the lymph glands in the abdomen; a wasting disease.

** The census worker wrote “Seaima.” The child’s name is probably “Saeima.”It is derived from the Arabic word “Saim” which means someone who is fasting. 

Seven-year-old Henry C. White died this date, September 26th, in 1849 of Kidney Disease and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. He lived with his grandparents Isaac (66) and Hannah (68) along with his sisters Sarah (18) and Elizabeth (16). They lived in a room on Mackey Street. It appears from census and death records that both the child’s parents had died recently and had been buried at Bethel Burying Ground. His mother, Nancy (45), died of Tuberculosis on April 18, 1850, just five months previous. Henry’s father, Handy White (48), died on September 18, 1849, of Cholera.

Mackey Street was a small through fair near 2nd and Reed Streets in south Philadelphia. The street not longer exists and the Herron Playground presently covers the area. 

Thirty-three-year-old Francis Hanson died this date, September 18th, in 1843 of a tetanus infection and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. Mr. Hanson was hit by a train as he was crossing the tracks in the Camden, New Jersey railroad yard and sustained a compound fracture of one of his legs. He was transported to Pennsylvania Hospital and eventually died of an infection.

Mr. Hanson was married and did not appear to have any children according to census records. He listed his occupation as “waiter.” He was employed as a personal servant in the household of United State Navy Commodore Robert F. Stockton who was commanding the Philadelphia Navy Shipyard. He was the first U.S. naval officer to act against the slave trade and captured several slave ships. He was a participant in negotiating a treaty that leads to the founding of the country of Liberia. 

Mr. and Ms. Hanson lived near the intersection of 2nd and Catharine Streets next to the Delaware River waterfront and just three blocks from the Bethel Burying Ground.

Ten-year-old Elizabeth Lewis died this date, September 13th, in 1850 of “Acute Bronchitis” and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. The heads of the family David and Sarah Davis were sixty-six-years old and forty-nine-years old respectively. The U.S. 1850 Census lists the following family members: Ellinor who was twenty-three-years-old, Margaret who was twenty-years-old and Charles who was nine-years-old.  It is unclear who Elizabeth’s parents were.

The six family members lived in one room on Quince Street, a small thoroughfare located from Walnut to Locust Streets and between 11th and 12th Streets, according to the 1847 African American Census. The Lewis family paid $4.50 a month in rent. Mr. Lewis would have earned between $4 and $7 a week as a coachman, while Ms. Davis would earn $.75 to $1.25 a week as a laundress.

The red pin illustrates the location of the Davis home on Quince Street. The narrow thoroughfare extended from Lombard Street to Walnut Street, west of 11th Street. The red star illustrates the location of Penn Square, the future location of Philadelphia’s City Hall.

Above is a 1926 photo of Jessup Street, formerly Prosperous Alley.

Elizabeth and Charles attended the private school of Ms. Diana Smith on Prosperous Alley, a block away from their home. Elizabeth’s teacher Diana Smith was African American and established her school in her home in 1836. She would normally have between 15 to 25 students enrolled. Many Black families sent their children to private schools. The publicly segregated “Black schools” had a ratio of 60 students to one teacher and that was one of the better ratios. The white teachers assigned to these schools were “the worst in the system” and normally “neglected and despised their pupils.” (Roger Lane, William Dorsey’s Philadelphia & Ours: On the Past and Future of the Black City in America, p. 135)

A nineteenth-century private school student body.

Ten-year-old Elizabeth Lewis died on a cloudy day in September in 1850 where the temperature rose to a high of 67°. She was buried at Bethel Burying Ground.

Note: This story was posted previously. The above is an update with new information. The older posting has been deleted.