All Episodes

ABC:LHS 070-6   Richard H. Rush...
...had a famous father and even more famous grandfather. When the Civil War started, Richard mustered and led from his Germantown neighbors the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry, better known as “Rush’s Lancers.” 

ABCLHS 070-5   Henry Charles Lea...
...was a publisher, researcher, and author, who wrote the definitive history of the Spanish Inquisition.  His grave marker was sculpted by Alexander Stirling Calder and is one of the most photographed monuments on the property.
This is a partial rerun of #ABC018 - The Calder Connection

ABC:LHS 070-4   John Roh...
...was an inpatient at the Blockley Almshouse in 1885 when a fire raced through his wing and killed more than a score of male psychiatric patients who were locked in their cells.  John Roh was one of the victims of that tragedy, and we’re pretty sure he is interred in the family plot at Laurel Hill East.

ABC:LHS 070-3   Laura Matilda Towne...
...was an abolitionist who studied homeopathic medicine and became an instructor for recently freed enslaved Africans on the islands off South Carolina.  It turned into her life’s work for the next 30+ years.

ABC: LHS 070-2   Edwin Henry Fitler...
...made his fortune in rope at a time when Philadelphia had one of the busiest shipyards in the country.  He was the first Philadelphia mayor to establish his office at City Hall in the years it was being completed.  Fitler is namesake for Fitler Square and his obelisk is the tallest at Laurel Hill East.

ABC:LHS 070-1   Thomas Craycroft...
...was a medical student who volunteered to help in the 1855 Yellow Fever epidemic in Norfolk, Virginia.  He was one of 15 Philadelphians who died during that mission of mercy but whose remains are now interred under the Yellow Fever monument at Laurel Hill East.

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #070 - Happy 200th Birthdays!
Thomas Craycroft was a medical student who volunteered to help in the1855 Yellow Fever epidemic in Norfolk, Virginia.  He was one of 15 Philadelphians who died during that mission of mercy but whose remains are now interred under the Yellow Fever monument at Laurel Hill East.
Edwin Henry Fitler made his fortune in rope at a time when Philadelphia had one of the busiest shipyards in the country.  He was the first Philadelphia mayor to establish his office at City Hall in the years it was being completed.  Fitler is namesake for Fitler Square and his obelisk is the tallest at Laurel Hill East.
Laura Matilda Towne was an abolitionist who studied homeopathic medicine and became an instructor for recently freed enslaved Africans on the islands off South Carolina.  It turned into her life’s work for the next 30+ years.
John Roh was an inpatient at the Blockley Almshouse in 1885 when a fire raced through his wing, killing more than a score of male psychiatric patients who were locked in their cells.  John Roh was one of the victims of that tragedy, and we’re pretty sure he is interred in the family lot at Laurel Hill East.
Henry Charles Lea was a publisher, researcher, and author, who wrote the definitive history of the Spanish Inquisition.  His grave marker was sculpted by Alexander Stirling Calder and is one of the most photographed monuments on the property.

BBB:LHWS #039   Henry Winter Syle...
...went deaf as a child and soon abandoned speech.  He used American Sign Language and the written word to share his faith with the deaf world, many of whom had been excluded from religious ceremonies for centuries because it was thought they could not enter heaven.  Now he is recognized as a saint of the Episcopal Church, with a feast day on August 26th shared with another pioneer of teaching the deaf Thomas Gallaudet.

ABC:LHS #069-5 (by Lora Lewis)   Charlotte Cardeza...
...may be the model for every privileged, self-indulgent rich woman on the Titanic, what with her steamer trunks full of designer gowns, exotic furs, and precious jewelry.  She hired the biggest suite on the ship and made certain that her son and maid were in the lifeboat with her.  Her inventory of lost items ran to 20 pages.  Her mausoleum at Laurel Hill West is unforgettable.  
Researched and presented by fellow guide and cemetery historian Lora Lewis
 

ABC:LHS #069-4   Gretchen Longley...
...was orphaned while young and raised by two aunts, who accompanied her to Europe in the Spring of 1912 to help her choose her bridal trousseau.  Their return trip on the RMS Titanic gave Gretchen stories she would tell for the rest of her life.  

ABC:LHS #069-3 (by Savanna Fisher)   Lily Potter...
was trying to forget her grief since the death of her husband.  Her daughter Olive was in a troubled marriage and soon to be divorced. They decided to relax and forget their cares while taking an ocean voyage on the RMS Titanic.  Their plans did not turn out as they anticipated.  

ABC:LHS #069-2   Eleanor Elkins Widener... (by Lora Lewis)
...was one of the wealthiest people on the Titanic.  She watched helplessly from a lifeboat as the mighty ocean liner went down, taking her husband George and son Harry with it.  Her second marriage was to an Amazonian explorer whom she met at the dedication of a Harvard library named for her son.  

ABC:LHS #069-1   Great tragedies of the sea...
...are innumerable - literally millions of wrecks litter the floors of oceans, lakes, seas, and rivers, and innumerable victims have ended up in Davey Jones' Locker.  
Laurel Hill East has a cenotaph for three victims - a mother and two daughters - from the Austria disaster in 1858, which saw a loss of 448 passengers and crew.
Laurel Hill West has a cenotaph for a brother and sister lost on the SS La Bourgogne in 1898, amid-Atlantic collision that saw 562 people die.
The RMS Titanic proved not as unsinkable as people thought.  This introductory section gives you some specifics about the ship and the people involved.

ABC:LHS #069   When the R.M.S. Titanic...
...struck an iceberg in April of 1912, six men and six women of Laurel Hill were among the passengers.  All of the women survived.  
I will tell of other oceanic disasters and give you the basic information about the Titanic.  
Fellow Laurel Hill Guide Lora Lewis will tell you about Eleanor Elkins Widener Rice and Charlotte Cardeza, two rich and powerful women who became legendary.  Lora will also briefly cover Charlotte's maid Annie Ward, also interred at Laurel Hill West.
Young taphophile Savanna Fisher wanted to tell you about her favorite women onboard, Lily Potter and her daughter Olive.
I will tell you about Gretchen Longley, who had gone to Europe with two aunts in order to select her wedding wardrobe.  The sinking delayed her marriage by a year.

BBB:LHWS #038   Waldo Emerson Nelson...
...preferred to be called Bill.  In 1940 he was recruited to Temple University School of Medicine to begin their pediatrics department.  The next year, he took over editorship of a standard pediatric textbook, which became the ubiquitous Nelson’s Pediatrics, now in its 21st edition.