All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

BBB#024: The Female Bobby Jones - Glenna Collett Vare

Glenna Collett-Vare was one of the giants of women’s golf and the top American player in the 1920s and 30s.  She won 49 amateur tournaments between 1921 and 1935.  She could hit a ball straight down the fairway nearly 300 yards.  She was the first woman to break 80 in the U.S. Women’s Amateur, which she won six times.  She is in the golf hall of fame, and the Vare Trophy is awarded annually to the woman professional with the best scoring average.  She played into her 80s but never turned professional.  In her day, she was "The Female Bobby Jones". 

 

She is buried at Laurel Hill West in a crypt that does not even acknowledge her presence – an unmarked grave.  Glenna Collett-Vare is the subject for this episode of Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories. 

ABC#054 Hey! I Know That Song! - Composers and Interpreters

Septimus Winner was the composer of several catchy songs you sang as a child or have sung with your children

William Kirkpatrick was a hymn writer whose Christmas carol you have been singing all your life

Brenda Payton was lead singer for the R&B group Brenda and the Tabulations

Phebe Blessington was an up-and-coming singer-songwriter who was killed in an auto accident shortly after her 30^th birthday

Singer / songwriter / A&R man Richie Barrett’s final services and cremation were at Laurel Hill West, although he is not buried there. 

And yes, I will play you samples of their work, and a lot more.  Get ready for ear worms galore on this month's episode of "All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

BBB#023: Philadelphia’s First Gentleman - Henry Plumer McIlhenny

Andy Warhol considered him "the only person in town with glamour."  The Philadelphia Art Alliance deemed him "the first gentleman of Philadelphia."  Connoisseur Magazine named him one of the top ten art collectors of all time.  

When Henry Plumer McIlhenny died in 1986, he left everything - an estimated $100M worth - to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where he had served for 50 years as curator, trustee and chairman of the board.  His collections were housed in both his magnificent Rittenhouse Square townhouse and at Glenveagh in Ireland, the largest privately-owned plot of land in the country.  His parties were legendary.  His friends were society's giants. 

At his death, someone commented "I had always thought that no one was irreplaceable, but Henry is irreplaceable." 

Fellow volunteer tour guide and historian Thomas Keels tells you of this remarkable man in the mid-August edition of “Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories.”  Wherever you get your podcasts. 

ABC#053: Suited to a Tee - Golf Course Pioneers

Philadelphia has been an epicenter for golf since the 1890s.  There are dozens of golf courses within an easy drive of the city, and a few in the city itself. 

Ida Dixon is today recognized as the first woman golf course architect in the United States. 

Hugh Wilson and Charles Thomas were two of the six architects who made up what is called The Philadelphia School.  The two of them helped build 4 of the top ranked courses in the country. 

Charles Baily met his final destiny on the 4^th green of Merion East Cricket Club. 

Plus, you’ll learn about cleeks and condors, heroic holes and featheries, Randolph Scott, Mary Queen of Scots, and a golf hole called the “Mae West.” 

Even if you’re not a golfer, there are things for you to learn on today’s All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories – Suited to a Tee: Golf Course Pioneers. 

BBB #022: Shop Until Thou Droppest - Strawbridge & Clothier: The Early Years

As transportation in and around Philadelphia improved in the mid 19^th century and the population exploded, merchants found more people clamoring for their wares.  Two Quakers – Justus Clayton Strawbridge and Isaac Hallowell Clothier – joined forces and opened a small fabric store on the corner of 8^th and Market in 1868.  By the end of the century, there were thousands of employees and they had expanded severalfold and became the biggest dry goods store in the country.  Here is how it happened. 

ABC#052: Reach for the Sky - Astronomers of Laurel Hill

Man has been fascinated by the sky for as long as he has walked on earth.  Star gazing has been the hobby – and the profession – of millions of people from around the world. 

One of America’s Founding Fathers David Rittenhouse was recognized in the colonies as being not only the finest astronomer in the land, but the finest builder of delicate, accurate astronomical equipment. 

Hannah Mary Bouvier Peterson was a popular author whose work “Familiar Astronomy” was the best-selling astronomy textbook in the 19^th century.  They are both interred at Laurel Hill East. 

Photography pioneer William Rau was tapped to be a photographer for the 1874 worldwide evaluation of the Transit of Venus, but most people involved in that venture would admit that photography was useless in capturing new information. 

Sarah Lee Lippincott, whose first husband was television pioneer Dave Garroway, became a beloved professor of astronomy and astrometry at Swarthmore University.  Rau and Lippincott are interred at Laurel Hill West. 

BBB#021: Blood on the Tracks at Mile 59 - Duffy’s Cut

The first American railroads were built with the blood, tears and sweat of Irish immigrants.  An estimated 50,000 died in the process.  In the 3-mph world of 1832, 57 fresh-off-the-boat Irishmen were hired by their countryman Philip Duffy.  They were taken to live in a shantytown and work at mile 59 of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, which is now part of SEPTA’s R5 Main Line.  Cholera arrived a short time later and within a few weeks all of Duffy’s workers were dead and secretly buried near the Main Line, although ghostly sightings were reported by locals.  180 years later, through the tenacity of two brothers, some of their remains were recovered and identified and relocated to a plot near the gate at Laurel Hill West.  Some of the recovered skulls showed evidence of severe trauma.  What happened to the Duffy’s Cut 57? 

ABC#051: ”Killed by Indians” - Four Philadelphians Who Died in Battles with Indigenous People

Interred at Laurel Hill East are four young Philadelphians who died before they reached the age of 30 while battling indigenous people on the frontier.

George Montgomery Harris died of wounds received in the Lava Beds of northern California while battling Captain Jack and the Modoc tribe in 1873. 

Benjamin Hubert Hodgson was killed during the 1876 Battle of Little Big Horn in Montana against Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors – fellow Laurel Hill tour guide Tom Keels tells his story. 

Jonathan Williams Biddle, whose father Henry Biddle had been killed in the Civil War, lost his life in the Battle of Bear Paw, also in Montana, in 1877 against Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce. 

James Hansell French was killed in the San Mateo Mountains of New Mexico territory in 1880 as his Buffalo Soldier troops pursued the great Apache chief Victorio and his warriors. 

 

Note: I acknowledge that many indigenous peoples reject the name "Indian", but most of what I tell you in this podcast occurred at least 140 years ago when the term was used universally and even respectfully.  All four of these men have the word "Indian" carved on their gravestones.  The podcast title "Killed by Indians" is in quotation marks for this reason.  

BBB#020: Helping Standardize the World - Charles Benjamin Dudley and ASTM

Charles Benjamin Dudley changed the world we live in when he helped establish the American Society for Testing and Materials.  Prior to his work as a chemist with the Pennsylvania Railroad, there was no standardization for the composition of railroad tracks, which led to derailments, deaths, and loss of cargo.  Dudley convinced the world that science combined with ingenuity is what all industries needed.  Since its founding, ASTM has established more than 13,000 standards across hundreds of companies in dozens of countries. 

 

Fellow Laurel Hill Tour Guide Rich Wilhelm will tell Dudley’s story and explain why he is the right man to tell it.

ABC #050: A Couple of Haunted Houses - Baleroy & Grey Towers Castle

George Gordon Meade Easby, a wealthy and eccentric character named after his great grandfather, lived in a Chestnut Hill mansion called "Baleroy" for most of his 87 years.  He didn’t mind sharing the space with phantom apparitions, including his younger brother, his mother, Thomas Jefferson, and a malevolent spirit named “Amanda” along with several others.   

 

William Welsh Harrison was a moneyed man due to America’s sweet tooth – he made a fortune as a sugar manufacturer.  Part of his wealth went to build the family home, Grey Towers Castle in Glenside.  His former home now serves as administrative offices for Arcadia University, but his presence is still felt on the property.  Apparently, the castle and other campus buildings are haunted. 

 

I will tell you their stories and let you decide about their authenticity on this month’s episode of All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories – A Couple of Haunted Houses: Baleroy & Grey Tower Castle

BBB#019: A Forgotten Photography Pioneer - John Carbutt

John Carbutt is the forgotten pioneer of Philadelphia photography.  Born in England, he spent the first years of his career as a railroad photographer in Canada and the American West.  After settling in Mount Airy and opening a factory in Wayne Junction, Carbutt was the first person in the country to commercially produce dry photographic plates, the first to produce sheets of celluloid coated with photographic emulsion for making celluloid film, and the first to make commercially available dry plates for x-rays.  Around 1890 he made film 35 mm width for the Kinetoscope, which set the 35 mm film standard for motion picture cameras and still cameras.  At the time of his death in 1905, he was working on a method to produce color film.  John Carbutt is buried in an unmarked grave at Laurel Hill West.

 

ABC #049: White Collar Crime - J. Edward Addicks, Samuel Ashbridge, and Joseph Miller Huston

J. Edward "Gas" Addicks made his fortune in the gas industry, but decided he wanted to be a United States Senator; he spent much of his wealth in a fruitless attempt at achieving his goal.

 

Samuel "Stars and Stripes" Ashbridge would give a patriotic speech at the drop of a hat and was elected Philadelphia’s mayor in 1899; he left office four years later a rich man. Fellow tour guide and Philadelphia author and historian Tom Keels tells you his story. 

 

Joseph Miller Huston was an up-and-coming architect who got the plum job of designing Pennsylvania’s State Capitol; instead of leading him to even bigger jobs, it became his professional downfall.

 

These three men interred at Laurel Hill are remembered today for their graft and dishonesty in a city that muckraking journalist Lincoln Steffens called "corrupt but content."  Learn about their crimes and punishments. 

BBB #018: Courage for the Deed, Grace for the Doing - The Shipley Sisters and Educating Girls

Three Quaker sisters – Hannah, Elizabeth, and Katharine Shipley – decided they wanted to start a school.  Not another finishing school where girls learned to cook and crochet and behave in society, but a rigorous academic school specifically to train girls in languages and the sciences so they could get into Bryn Mawr and other colleges that were springing up for women in the late 19^th century.  In this podcast, you will learn about the evolution of girls’ education from before the founding of the country, and some special personalities that populated the Shipley School for its first 75 years.  Welcome to “Courage for the Deed, Grace for the Doing: The Shipley Sisters and Educating Girls.”

 

ABC #048: Shattering Some Glass Ceilings - Nellie Neilson, PhD; Sara Yorke Stevenson, DSci; Elizabeth Head Fetter, aka Hannah Lees

March is Women’s History Month. 

Dr. Nellie Neilson was one of the best – and best known – Medieval history scholars in the world, but she struggled to climb every rung to the top during her long career. 

Sara Yorke Stevenson was a self-trained Egyptologist, a founder of the Penn Museum, a leader in women’s rights, and a popular newspaper columnist who gained respect from colleagues around the world – her story is told by fellow Laurel Hill Cemetery docent Pat Rose.

Elizabeth Head Fetter, older sister to maverick inventor Howard Head, was writing under the pen name of Hannah Lees about topics like masturbation and women’s extra-marital affairs in the prudish 1940s, several years before the Kinsey Report was released.

These three remarkable women shattered many glass ceilings in their long careers.  I hope you enjoy their stories.  

BBB #017: Swimming While Black - Raphael & Julia Coel

Raphael Coel was a World War II veteran and insurance executive. His wife Julia was a lifelong swimmer who served as the first Black female lifeguard for the City of Philadelphia. They serve as an anchor for this month's "Biographical Bytes from Bala."  If you are White, learn what it was like to attempt to “Swim While Black” in the United States.  If you are Black, you already know.  

ABC #047: Three More Black Trailblazers - Dr. James Betts, Barbara Blackshear, ”Jocko” Henderson

February is Black History Month.  All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories gives you Three More Black Trailblazers.

Dr. James Alexander Batts was an early champion of improving prenatal care for Philadelphia’s African American population.

Barbara Blackshear rose from working as a “computer” and helping produce the legendary Xerox 8010 “Star” to become vice-president of strategic planning for the company.

Douglas “Jocko” Henderson was one of the top deejays on the East Coast, introduced Little Stevie Wonder to the Apollo Theater audience, and is considered by many to be the first “Rap MC” from Philadelphia.

All three of these Black pioneers are interred at Laurel Hill West. 

BBB #016: A Cult of One’s Own - J. Elimar Mira Mitta

Anna Meister was a Swiss immigrant in the 1850s who declared she was actually the third person of the Christian trinity and changed her name to Jehovah Elimar Mira Mitta.  She had a following for many decades, even years after she died.  Today you will hear the story of this bizarre religious cult from South Philadelphia on Biographical Bytes from Bala: J. Elimar Mira Mitta: A Cult of One’s Own.

ABC #046: Fathers of American Medicine, Part 3 - Some Ethical Dilemmas

Dr. George McClellan, father of the famed Civil War Union general, was founder of Thomas Jefferson medical school, but annoyed his colleagues so much he was expelled from the board of the school he had created.

 

Dr. William Henry Pancoast was a famed surgeon who performed the post-mortem examination on the 19^th century conjoined twins, Chang and Eng Bunker, the original “Siamese” twins.  The same year he artificially impregnated a woman who had a sterile husband, but without her knowledge or permission.

 

Dr. Samuel McClintock Hamill was one of the most prominent pediatricians in the country, but early in his career he had conducted controversial experiments on orphans and abandoned children, some of whom were left with permanently damaged eyesight. 

These three physicians are the topics of today’s edition of All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories – Father of American Medicine, Part III – Some Ethical Dilemmas. 

BBB #015: Pulling Out All the Stops - The Laurel Hill Organ Episode

The largest playable musical instrument in the world sits in Center City Philadelphia, and there are several Laurel Hill connections.  

William B. Irvine left his estate to the University of Pennsylvania but did not know they would use it to build an auditorium named for him, designed by architect Horace Trumbauer.  The magazine publisher Cyrus Curtis donated an organ.  All three of these men are at Laurel Hill West.

 

For more than 40 years, organist Larry Ferrari kept Philadelphians company on Sunday mornings by playing popular music on his television show.  Larry is also at Laurel Hill West.

ABC #045 Stogies, Coffin Nails, and Spittoons: Laurel Hill Tobacconists

At one time, there were more than 900 cigar makers in Philadelphia who made a sizable portion of the 7 billion cigars sold every year in the United States. 

Cuban native Joan Portuondo featured a top-quality cigar that was copied by many. 

German American Otto Eisenlohr and his brothers made one of the bestselling fiver-centers in the country, the ubiquitous 'Cinco'. 

Caleb J. Milne rented three floors of his Washington Avenue factory to a cigar company that illegally hired immigrant girls; a fire false alarm panicked them into a stampede and a stairwell of death. 

Walter Garrett made a fortune in the snuff business which he left to his beloved wife Henrietta.  But when Henrietta died more than three decades later, nobody could find her will and literally tens of thousands of people tried to claim her fortune as their own. 

Four stories of tobacconists and their wares in the December edition of "All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories."