Bethel Burying Ground Project

THE NEIGHBORHOOD – APRIL 8, 1865 – “BABYLON IS FALLEN”

Posted by Terry Buckalew on April 7, 2015

Posted in: Neighborhood, On This date, Photographs, Uncategorized. Tagged: African American burial grounds, African American cemeteries, African American History, archaeology, Bethel Burying Ground, Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, Richard Allen. Leave a comment

THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER
Date: April 8, 1865
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

REJOICING IN OUR CITY.

Last Monday was a day of general rejoicing in our city, among both the white and colored portions of the community. When the news was received, and the Old State House Bell began to peal forth its thundering tones, the people generally laid aside work of every description, in order to share the common joy.

In the evening occurred a grand illumination. This also was shared by the American citizens of African descent; and the Institute for Colored Youth, the rooms of the Delmonico Assembly, and several other places of gathering of the colored folks, were beautifully illuminated. The private residences of a number of our “upper ten” bespoke loyalty and fidelity to the government by an appropriate display of lanterns and American flags. The fever of rejoicing did not subside on Tuesday, and even on Wednesday and Thursday did we find some who were so full of enthusiasm that they had not sufficiently well recovered to be able to ply their usual avocations, but were still congratulating themselves and each other by contemplating the magnitude of that now stereotyped phrase, “Babylon is fallen.”

Twenty-six-year old Amelia Brown died this date, April 3rd, in 1819 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground

Posted by Terry Buckalew on April 3, 2015

Posted in: On This date, Photographs. Tagged: African American burial grounds, African American cemeteries, African American History, archaeology, Bethel Burying Ground, Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, Richard Allen. Leave a comment

Thousands-of-African-American-Graves-Buried-Beneath-Philadelphia-Playground-650x433

In Loving Memory

Amelia Brown

She died April 3, 1819

Aged 26 years old

He that believeth in Me, though he was dead, yet shall live

Twenty-six-year-old Amelia Brown died this date, April 3rd, in 1819 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. The official death certificate or “Cemetery Return” for Ms. Brown is not in the public record. Whether it did exist at one time and was destroyed through the decades is unknown. Consequently, we do not have a cause of death for the young woman. I do not have any other specific information on her. The search for addition data on the young woman is hampered by the commonality of her last name and that she was a Black female who, in general, have left very little primary source material.

Amelia Brown’s gravestone was unearthed at Bethel Burying Ground on July 25, 2013 by archeologists. It is currently on display at Mother Bethel Church.

The Health Office, on a weekly basis, would make the causes of death for the previous week public and the local newspapers would publish the record. Four people in Ms. Brown’s age range died in the week of March 27th to April 3rd. That this leaves us guessing about her cause of death. It was most likely Consumption/Tuberculosis, but we may never know for certain.

“Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser,” April 5, 1819.

Eleven-year-old John Ashton, Jr. died this day, March 30th, in 1852 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground

Posted by Terry Buckalew on March 30, 2015

Posted in: Maps, On This date. Tagged: African American burial grounds, African American cemeteries, African American History, archaeology, Bethel Burying Ground, Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, Richard Allen. 1 Comment

Eleven-year-old John Ashton, Jr. died this date, March 30th, in 1852 of Marasmus* and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. A funeral was held at the family’s residence, no. 9 Ronaldson Street on Easter Sunday, April 4th. The friends of the family were invited to attend the service at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. It is likely that a couple of the attendees were the Ashton’s Ronaldson Street neighbors, William Still (Underground Railroad) and the Reverend Benjamin Templeton, pastor of the Second African Presbyterian Church.

Ronaldson Street (now Delhi Street) is a small alley-type thoroughfare that runs from South St. to Bainbridge Street between 9th and 10th. The majority of the men living on Ronaldson worked as waiters as did John Ashton, Sr. Going south on the street it ran into the vast Ronaldson Cemetery that no longer exists. William Still wrote that Ronaldson Street was a street of “neat and genteelly furnished three-story brick homes, owned, occupied and paid taxes for, almost entirely by colored people . . . “**

1. Ronaldson Street (1886); 2. Bainbridge Street; 3. Fitzwater Street; 4. Ronaldson Cemetery. (http://www.philageohistory.org/rdic-images/view-image.cfm/BMF1886.Phila.004.Stitched)

Official Border

*Marasmus (Marasamus/ Miasma) – Progressive emaciation and general wasting due to enfeebled constitution rather than any specific or ascertainable cause.

** One Day, Levin . . . He Be Free: William Still and the Underground Railroad by Lurey Khan, p. 163; Friends Review, Samuel Rhoads, vol. 13, 1860, p. 13-14.

Thirty-year-old Elizabeth Karney died this date, March 28th, in 1853 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground

Posted by Terry Buckalew on March 28, 2015

Posted in: On This date. Tagged: African American burial grounds, African American cemeteries, African American History, archaeology, Bethel Burying Ground, Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, Richard Allen. Leave a comment

Elizabeth Karney, a native of Delaware, died this date, March 28th, in 1853 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. Ms. Karney was suffering from a fistula; a hole between two internal structure that is usually the result of surgery or trauma. It is likely she had an infection from a vaginal fistula that can occur after days of pushing a baby that does not fit through the birth canal. Mothers can experience severe rectal, bladder and vaginal damage causing tissue tears that rip open the walls of one of these areas spilling urine and/or feces into the vagina and bladder. Without early and successful surgery to close the tear, the patient would eventually die of infection in this era before antibiotics.

Ms. Karney lived in the home of Luke Goines and his family. Formerly enslaved, he escaped to Philadelphia through the Underground Railroad and settled in Philadelphia with the assistance of William Still. He was a successful barber who owned the rowhouse at 193 Lombard and was a member of a family long involved in aiding fugitives and fighting slavery according to William Still.* He served on the Board of the Vigilance Committee and was known to harbor fugitives at his Lombard home. According to the 1850 Federal Census, Ms. Karney was not a member of the Goines’ immediate family* and there is no mention of her in the 1847 African American Census.

Ms. Karney was under the care of two nurses for 2-3 months. This would have been expenses and apparently not within her personal financial ability. in 1846-47, Mr. Goines reported his yearly income as $1,200 which is well above the average for a Black man during this time. He also reported personal property at $1,500, again well above the norm.***

*http://hsp.org/journal-c-of-station-no-2-william-still-1854-21

** Members of the Goines household per the 1850 Federal Census:

Luke Goines 39

***http://fm12.swarthmore.edu/1847/full.php?rid=798&trc=4308

On this date, March 22nd, in 1887 the Philadelphia Board of Health issues a resolution concerning Bethel Burying Ground

Posted by Terry Buckalew on March 22, 2015

On this date, March 22nd, in 1887, the Philadelphia Board of Health acknowledges that the trustees of Bethel Church had complied with the Board’s order to repair the cemetery’s surrounding fence and take steps to ensure all burials are conducted in accordance with the law. Neighbors of the cemetery made several nuisance complaints to the Board after coffins and human remains started to wash through the dilapidated fence around the area. (From Board of Health records at the City Archives of the City of Philadelphia. )

Nine-month-old Nancy Jane Clark died this date, March 21th, in 1847 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground

Posted by Terry Buckalew on March 21, 2015

Nine-month-old Nancy Jane Clark died this date, March 21th, in 1847 of Varioloid and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. Varioloid was a mild form of smallpox occurring in people who had been inoculated against the disease. Individuals, especially children, would be inoculated and come down with a mild form of the disease. A small percentage of them would succumb to this illness. It was usually those children in a weakened state or suffering from another illness.

Thomas Clark was Nancy Jane’s father. He worked as a carter, probably servicing the County Prison only a block further up on East Passyunk Road. Ms. Clark took in washing and ironing in their home that they recently purchased in the 1500 block of Passyunk Road (west side), near the intersection of Passyunk and Dickerson Street.

Philadelphia County Prison on Passyunk Road. The men’s section opened in 1835 with the women’s “apartment” opening in 1838.

Life in this area was anything but peaceful. In the 1830’s and 1840’s it wore the infamous badge of “the worst slum district” in Philadelphia. Organized gangs ran wild while the police force was unable to protect the local citizenry. According to the 1847 African American Census, there were few Blacks in the immediate neighborhood and fewer who owned their homes like the Clarks. For further reading on the subject go to http://www.preservationalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/HCSCluster3.pdf.

The red pin marks the approximate location of the Clark’s home. The large parking lot and Acme store to the north is where the County Prison stood.

Forty-two year old Sarah Draper died this date, March 18th, in 1824 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground

Posted by Terry Buckalew on March 18, 2015

Posted in: On This date, Uncategorized. Tagged: African American burial grounds, African American cemeteries, African American History, archaeology, Bethel Burying Ground, Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, Richard Allen. Leave a comment

Sarah Draper,42, died this date, March 18th, in 1824 of Typhoid Fever and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. She and her husband Jesse lived at 92 Bedford Street. Jesse worked as a porter and sadly died 12 years later. He was found dead “lying up against the wall” of a Presbyterian church at the corner of 12th and Lombard Streets on Christmas Day in 1836. The coroner ruled that he “died by the visitation of God.”*

African Couple

There are infamous alleys and streets that were cesspools of human existence for the Black citizens of 19th century Philadelphia. Bedford Street was one of them. It ran east and west, between Shippen (now Bainbridge) and South Streets. It eventually became a place of violence, squalor, disease, and hopelessness. However, at the time of Ms. Draper’s death it was a mixed race neighborhood of industrious working class families that consisted of carpenters, coachmen, mariners, carters and painters according to the relevant City Directory. The newly (1818) ordained Bethel African Methodist Episcopal minister, Clayton Durham, lived across the street at 65 Bedford Street.** Rev. Durham would travel to parts of Maryland every year to hold “soul-saving” camp meetings, “but more to get [enslaved] men and women their freedom.” Could the Drapers assisted their neighbor in hiding fugitive slaves?***

*Public Ledger, 11/26/1836

**1820 City Directory of Philadelphia

***Allen B. Ballard, One More Day’s Journey: The Story of a Family and a People, p. 47.

Ann Hogan was buried at Bethel Burying Ground on this date, March 14th, in 1841

Posted by Terry Buckalew on March 15, 2015

Posted in: On This date. Tagged: African American burial grounds, African American cemeteries, archaeology, Bethel Burying Ground, Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, Richard Allen. Leave a comment

Ann Hogan, 38, died of Tuberculosis and was buried on this date, March 14th, in 1841. She lived with her family on Gaskill Street in the New Market Ward just north of Southwark. The New Market Ward extended east to the Delaware River, west to Fourth Street, north to Spruce Street and south to Cedar Street (now South Street). Her neighborhood had the reputation of being known for “frequent fights and other disturbances.”* At the time of Ms. Hogan death there were approximately 829 Black males and 1,209 Black females in the Ward according to the 1840 Census of New Market Ward.**

It is unknown at this time if Ms. Hogan was employed outside of her home. But in the New Market Ward it would not be uncommon to see, smell and hear the Pepper-Pot Woman hawking her popular Pepper-Pot Soup.

Philadelphia History, Vol. II, City History Society, p. 107. Available online at GoogleBooks.

* Public Ledger, 18 August 1841.

** Public Ledger, 3 November 1840.

The Reverend Simon Murray died this date, February 11th, in 1848 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground

Posted by Terry Buckalew on March 11, 2015

Posted in: On This date. Tagged: African American burial grounds, African American cemeteries, African American History, AME Zion, archaeology, Bethel Burying Ground, Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, Richard Allen. Leave a comment

The attending physician mistakenly put down “Samuel” instead of “Simon.” It was subsequently corrected on the church sexton’s form.

The Reverend Simon Murray died of Tuberculosis on this date, March 11th, in 1840 at the age of eighty years and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. At the time of his death he lived with his spouse at #4 St. Mary’s Street in the Seventh Ward only a block away from “Big Wesley” in the middle of the 500 block of Lombard Street. He moved with his family to Philadelphia in 1818 at the age of 58 years of age. He was a used clothes seller and lay preacher who joined Richard Allen’s A.M.E. Bethel Church.

After several years, Rev. Murray became disenchanted with Richard Allen’s authoritarian manner and joined with other former Bethelites to break away from Bethel Church to form their own church situated only 90 feet away on Lombard Street. He left Bethel with “about a dozen” other congregants and “formed an independent African Methodist church that they called the Wesleyan Society,” according to J. Gordon Melton. (A Will To Chose, p. 106.)

Rev. Murray was eventually made senior pastor of Wesley Church (aka “Big Wesley” and “Brick Wesley”). He held this position for a year and was then placed in charge of “Little Wesley,” the congregation’s mission church located at 515-519 Hurst Street (now S. Randolph Street). “Little Wesley” consisted of two adjoining row homes that no longer exist. For a thorough history of the conflict between Bethel and Wesley please read Freedom’s Prophet by Richard Newman, p. 209-227.

John Davis, a Freemason, died of Pneumonia and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground on March 8, 1850

Posted by Terry Buckalew on March 8, 2015

Posted in: Freemasonry, On This date. Tagged: African American burial grounds, African American cemeteries, African American History, archaeology, Bethel Burying Ground, Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Richard Allen. Leave a comment

John Davis, 33 years of age, died on March 3rd and was buried on March 8th at Bethel Burying Ground. He worked as a laborer and lived with his family in the 1300 block of Pearl Street in the North Ward. Mr. Davis left his spouse Catherine (29) and his four children William (7), Charles (5), Mary (3) and Margaret (1) according to the 1850 Federal census. The announcement of his death in the newspaper stated that his illness was short, two weeks, “Which he bore with Christian fortitude.” (Public Ledger 7 March 1850)

Mr. Davis’ funeral on March 8, 1850 was accompanied by a large funeral procession attended by fellow Masons in full uniform and accompanied by Hazard’s Brass Band; the coffin was carried by members of the order and was covered with a “handsome black cloth and bound with silver.” Many others also made up the procession. (Philadelphia Inquirer, 8 March 1850)

Historian Roger Lane observed, “The importance of Freemasonry in the early black community, and some of its tone, may be shown by the fact that both the Reverends Richard Allen and Absalom Jones were leaders, with Jones winning a position as Grand Master of Pennsylvania.” See William Dorsey’s Philadelphia & Ours by Roger Lanes, p. 279-285.

African American Freemason Parade on Sept. 8, 1946 in Philadelphia. (Philadelphia Bulletin and Temple University Library.)

Bulletin

Bethel Burying Ground Project