Bethel Burying Ground

All posts tagged Bethel Burying Ground

Bethel Burying Ground Placed on National Registry

Posted by Terry Buckalew on January 18, 2016

Posted in: It's a fact, Uncategorized. Tagged: African American burial grounds, African American History, African Methodist Episcopal Church, Bethel Burying Ground, Mother Bethel, Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Leave a comment

From Joe Certaine: January 14, 2016

Friends:

Earlier today we learned that Bethel Burying Ground has been placed on the National Park Service Registry of Historic Sites.

This is a tremendous achievement and a major step in our ongoing effort to protect and preserve this publicly owned historic site. Five thousand Black Philadelphians who formed and protected the existence of our community are interred underneath the grounds of Waccacoe Playground in the Southwark community of Philadelphia.

We will soon schedule an event to thank all of those who have been helpful in our effort to achieve this important goal. Our struggle is not over. We still must impress upon the administration of Mayor Kenney the importance of this taxpayer owned historic site and the need to protect and preserve Bethel Burying Ground as a major historic asset of the City of Philadelphia.

Congratulations to the Friends of Bethel Burying Ground Coalition. Please keep up the pressure until we can achieve our goal of a permanent, protected, undesecrated, resting place for our ancestors in the African Diaspora. Well done.

Jemadari

A list of those that died this date, December 8th, and were buried at Bethel Burying Ground

Posted by Terry Buckalew on January 8, 2016

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

The abbreviation “us” = “unspecified.” All years of death are from the 1800s. Ex: 9 Jan 25 = 1825

The data is laid out in this order: name; age; gender; cause of death; date of death; additional information.

Johnson, Unspecified; 3 weeks; m; Catarrh Fever; 8 Dec 46; father, H. Johnson.
Jones, Sarah: 54 years; f; TB; 8 Dec 47; resided, 20 Washington Street.
Kerr, Unspecified: 0; us; stillborn; 8 Dec 22; father, George Kerr.
Legs, Unspecified: 10 days; u; Fits; 8 Dec 22; mother, Lettia Legs.
Luster, Thomas: 21 years; f; Typhoid Fever; 8 Dec 47.
Matthews, James H.: 1 year; m; Fever; 8 Dec 47.
Needes, London: 5 years; m; Fever; 8 Dec 24.
Rollings, Eliza: 21 years; f; TB; 8 Dec 52; married.
Tillman, Daniel: 5 years; m; TB; 8 Dec 24.
White, Mary: 24 years; f; Typhoid Fever; 8 Dec 29.

Seventy-year-old Netty Butler died this date, January 5th, in 1848 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground

Posted by Terry Buckalew on January 5, 2016

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

Netty Butler, 70, died this date, January 5th, in 1848 of burns. The coroner officially stated she “accidently burned to death.” Ms. Butler was one of the 64 in Philadelphia during 1847-48 whose death was reported to be from burns or scalding.* She rented a room in a building on Allen’s Court which was next to Bethel Church (now “Mother Bethel”). The houses on Allen’s Court belonged “to the estate of the late Richard Allen,” according to an article in the January 31, 1848 edition of the Public Ledger. That same article reported a devastating fire to several buildings in Allen’s Court several weeks after Ms. Butler’s death. The fire started a block away and “gale” type winds blew the embers to the rooftops of Allen’s Court. This would have put the conflagration within yards of the church itself!

This 1865 map of the 6th and Lombard area shows the location of Allen’s Court (#1) and Bethel Church (#2). The name, Allen’s Court was changed to Alford St. in 1858. The structure titled #3 is the AMEZ church, “Big Wesley.”

*Susan E. Klepp, The Swift Progress of Population: A Documentary and Bibliographic Study of Philadelphia’s Growth, 1642-1859, p. 265-68.

A stillborn baby was born to Mary Ann and William Griffin on this date, December 23rd, in 1850 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground

Posted by Terry Buckalew on December 23, 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

A stillborn baby was born to Mary Ann and William Griffin on this date, December 23rd, in 1850 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. The Griffins lived at 172 Locust Street. He was employed as a waiter. I cannot locate any further information on Ms. Griffin. Astonishingly, out of those that have been identified so far the Griffin baby is one of 83 other stillborn children buried at Bethel Burying Ground. The exact number maybe 200+. Overall approximately one-third of all those buried at BBG were two-years-old and younger.

Sixty-eight-year-old John Alleneese died this date, December 19th, in 1848 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground

Posted by Terry Buckalew on December 19, 2015

John Alleneese, 68, died this date, December 19th, in 1848 of heart disease and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. Formerly enslaved in Maryland, he purchased his release for $500. John and Rachel Alleneese had three children in their late teens when he died according to the 1847 African American Census. They had two daughters, Mary Jane and Rachel, Jr. according to the records of the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society. Two of the women in the household worked as cloth washers and one as a dressmaker. John is reported at his death as a “tradesman” It may have well been a dealer in shoes since he was once employed as a bootblack and his son was listed as a shoemaker according to the 1847 Census. John was a Freeman and a member of the Grand Temple Lodge.

The Alleneese family lived at #2 Little Pine Street, now 502 Addison Street, which is within sight of Mother Bethel AME Church.

Fifty-year-old William Charles Young died this date, December 11th, in 1852 and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground

Posted by Terry Buckalew on December 11, 2015

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

Mr. William Charles Young, 50, died this date, December 11th, in 1852 of Tuberculosis and was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. He worked as a porter in a store likely near the family’s home at #5 S. Pine Street in the Moyamensing District of the city just south of the 5th and South Streets area. The Youngs had five children, 2 of which attended the St. Mary’s Street School and one other attended the Lombard Street School. The Youngs paid $5 a month for rent, according to the 1847 African American Census, which would have been one week’s earning for Mr. Young.

Mr. Young was born in Delaware and had resided in Philadelphia for the last 27 years. His death certificate is signed by the prominent African American physician, civil rights activist and Bethel Church member Dr. J.J.G. Bias.

Latest Revised Bethel Burying Ground Name Directory

Posted by Terry Buckalew on December 8, 2015

Posted in: Bethel Burying Ground Name Directory. 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

Presently, there are 2,490 individuals identified out of the approximately 5,000+ buried at Bethel Burying Ground.

To view the Directory please click on –

https://bethelburyinggroundproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/bethel-burying-ground-name-directory.pdf

On this date, November 28th, there were 14 individuals who died and were buried at Bethel Burying Ground thru the decades

Posted by Terry Buckalew on November 28, 2015

Of the surviving records, there are fourteen individuals that died on this date, November 28th, from 1812 to 1848 and were buried at Bethel Burying Ground.

NAME AGE CAUSE OF DEATH DATE OF DEATH

Black, Elizabeth: 2y; decay (malnutrition); 28 Nov 1829

Gills, Susan: 19y; child bed (giving birth); 28 Nov 1844

Hodson, Unspecified: 6y; cause of death not reported; 28 Nov 1819; father, James Hodson

Lyttle, Lydia A.: 70y; Palsy (stroke); 28 Nov 1842

Matlock, Unspecified: 0; male; stillborn; 28 Nov 45; mother, Mrs. Matlock

Matney, Priscilla: 60y; f; Heart Disease; 28 Nov 1848; resided, 169 South 9^th Street

Mikes, Mary: 90y; old age; 28 Nov 1845

Moore, William: 30y; Typhus Fever; 28 Nov 1820

Parker, Unspecified: 0; stillborn; 21-28 Nov 1812

Shise, Susan: 4y; Whopping Cough; 28 Nov 1821

Stevenson, Gill: 5y; Drowning; 28 Nov 1824. (Official cause of death was “Drowned in sink.”)

Syphaa, Elizabeth: 26y; Inflammation of the Breast; 21-28 Nov 1829

Unspecified, Unspecified: 6y; gender and cause of death not reported; 28 Nov 1819

Watkins, Maria: 45y; Pneumonia; 28 Nov 1821

Memorial Day service honoring African American veterans held at Bethel Burying Ground in 1889

Posted by Terry Buckalew on November 25, 2015

Posted in: It's a fact. Tagged: African American burial grounds, African American cemeteries, African American History, Bethel Burying Ground, Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, Richard Allen. Leave a comment

Although I have not been able to find officials documents reporting the internment of African American veterans at Bethel Burying Ground I have come across a Philadelphia Inquirer article from May 31, 1889. It reports that “Robert Bryan Post 80, colored, commanded by Samuel Jones, visited Wilmot and Bethel African M.E. cemeteries. The orator was John S. Durham.”

The Honorable John S. Durham was an African American who graduated from the Institute of Colored Youths and the University of Pennsylvania. He was appointed by President Benjamin Harrison as the U.S. Diplomatic Consul to Santo Domingo and eventually as Consul-General of the U.S. to Haiti. He was the highest-ranking African American in the Harrison administration.

African American soldiers at Camp William Penn in Cheltenham, PA during the Civil War

The Neighborhood – “Big” Wesley and the Price of a Funeral

Posted by Terry Buckalew on November 24, 2015

Posted in: Neighborhood. 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

Missing are the Bethel Church records stating the price of interning a loved one at Bethel Burying Ground for a congregant or stranger (non-congregant). Hopefully, one day they will resurface. What we do have is the records of “The First Colored Wesley Methodist Church” that stood 90′ from Bethel Church (see below). Sometimes referred to as “Big Wesley” or “Brick Wesley,” it was established by “disaffected Bethelites” that broke away from Bethel in 1820. In addition to their house of worship that used the land around the church as a burying ground for their congregants and strangers. On November 11, 1830, the trustees decided to raise the prices of burials to $4 and $2 for adults and children of the congregation. And $8 and $4 for adult and child strangers. These charges are in addition to the price of a tombstone, coffin, a shrouder and bier or hearse, if necessary. This all in an era where the typical African American Philadelphians who labored for a living was making around $5 a week.

The cost of burying a body in the Potter’s Field – $0.

Bethel Burying Ground Project