All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

George Rex Graham and Graham's Magazine

ABC #062 - Part 1
Of the 19th century magazines out of Philadelphia, Graham’s was the best, even though it only lasted a few years.  George Rex Graham would wheedle articles out of Longfellow and Thoreau and published many stories by his co-editor Edgar Allan Poe.

ABC#062 Three More Philadelphia Magazines: Graham's, Peterson's, and Lippincott's

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #062 (complete)
Philadelphia has always been the magazine-publishing capital of the United States.  It reached its pinnacle in the 1840s, 50s, and 60s when three popular magazines – Graham’s, Peterson's, and Lippincott's - all came into existence. 
Graham’s was the best, even though it only lasted a few years.  George Rex Graham would wheedle articles out of Longfellow and Thoreau and published many stories by his co-editor Edgar Allan Poe.
Peterson’s magazine followed shortly and lasted a few years longer.  Charles Peterson was a lifelong friend of Graham who started his own magazine and was ready to hand it off to his son, Howard, who mysteriously disappeared during a weekend trip down the shore.  What his wife did at the time of her death 31 years later will touch your heart.
Joshua Ballinger Lippincott was a late comer with his Lippincott’s magazine, but it lasted longer than the others and served as the bedrock for the famed Lippincott Publishing Company which went through several generations of family leadership.
 

Gladys Hall & Russell Ball: Glamourizing Early Hollywood

Biographical Bytes from Bala #031
It wasn’t long after movies became ubiquitous in America that movie fan magazine appeared.  Eventually there would be more than 20 of them. 
Gladys Hall had a stellar reputation as a “safe” interviewer who could be depended on to tell a good story without any scandal.  Her interview with Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi is one of the strangest things you could imagine.
She was married to glamour photographer Russell Ball, remembered today for his classic portraits of Louise Brooks, Rudolph Valentino, Greta Garbo, and Gloria Swanson, who used Ball as her private photographer. 
Gladys Hall and Russell Ball are interred in an unmarked grave in the Lansdowne Section of Laurel Hill East. 

Pete Childs: No, Not That One

ABC #061 - Part 4
Pete Childs (not "Cupid" and definitely not "Pierce") was a fine 2nd baseman who served in that role for the 1902 Phillies.  It was while serving as player-manager for an Ohio League team that he pulled the unfathomable feat of throwing one pitch as a reliever and getting three out.

Jack McFetridge: Super Amateur, So-So Pro

ABC #061 - Part 3
Jack McFetridge was the best amateur pitcher in Philadelphia for years before he went pro.  He wasn’t that good.

Cub Stricker: A Hot-Tempered Infielder

ABC #061 - Part 2
Cub Stricker was a good fielding 2nd baseman with a hot temper who was arrested on the field to avoid fan rioting when he struck a heckler with a thrown ball.

Walter "Slick" Schlichter: Pioneer in Black Baseball

ABC #061 - Part 1
Henry Walter “Slick” Schlichter started as a bantamweight and a boxing promoter who became a sportswriter and then partnered with Black baseball pioneer Sol White to organize the best Negro league team in the country at the turn of the 20th century.

ABC#061 Play Ball! Part 3: Four More Baseball Pioneers at Laurel Hill

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #061 - Play Ball! Part 3: Four More Baseball Pioneers at Laurel Hill
Henry Walter “Slick” Schlichter started as a bantamweight and a boxing promoter who became a sportswriter and then partnered with Black baseball pioneer Sol White to organize the best Negro league team in the country at the turn of the 20th century.
Cub Stricker was a "good field - no hit" 2nd baseman with a hot temper who was arrested on the field to avoid fan rioting when he struck a heckler with a thrown ball.
Jack McFetridge was the best amateur pitcher in Philadelphia for years; when he finally went pro, he wasn’t that good.
Pete Childs was a fine 2nd baseman and served in the role for the 1902 Phillies.  It was while serving as player-manager for an Ohio League team that he pulled the unfathomable feat of throwing one pitch as a reliever and getting three out.
These four men were born in a ten-year span, three are interred at LHW and one at LHE.  
 

Grayce Nottage Nicholas: Black Is Beautiful

Biographical Bytes from Bala #030
Grayce Nottage-Nicholas was an older sister of Civil Rights activist C. Delores Tucker, but she made a name for herself as a teacher, parole officer, police detective, and beauty queen at a time when women of color were not welcomed to traditional beauty pageants. 
In this episode I tell you about the evolution of beauty pageants, how pigmentocracy and straight hair defined beauty from a white perspective, how African American women created their own standards of beauty and started their own beauty pageants, and much more on this Women’s History Month Broadcast of Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories – Black Is Beautiful. 

Anna J Magee: Enabling the Disabled

ABC #060 - Part 3
Anna Justina Magee was the last of seven siblings who lived together their entire lives.  Her legacy for the family was a hospital designed for people who were convalescing from injury – The Magee Rehabilitation Hospital.

Elizabeth Duane Gillespie: The Woman Who Saved the Centennial

ABC #060 - Part 2
Elizabeth Duane Gillespie came from a politically active family; she was the chief fundraiser and organizer for the Sanitary Fair of 1864, which put her in the position to lead the way for the Centennial Exposition of 1876.  She ended up rescuing it from disaster. 

Esther DeBerdt Reed: From Tory to American Patriot

ABC #060 - Part 1
London-born Esther DeBerdt Reed married a man who became George Washington’s right-hand man and switched her Tory allegiance to become a radial patriot; the organization she founded to provide some relief to the soldiers fighting for her freedom didn’t quite go the way that she had planned.

ABC#060: Three More Women Who Changed Philadelphia

Woman have played a major but underrecognized role in our Nation’s history since its inception. 
 
*London-born Esther DeBerdt Reed married a man who became George Washington’s right-hand man and switched her Tory allegiance to become a radial patriot; the organization she founded to provide some relief to the soldiers fighting for her freedom didn’t quite go the way that she had planned. 
 
*Elizabeth Duane Gillespie came from a politically active family; she was the chief fundraiser and organizer for the Sanitary Fair of 1864, which put her in the position to lead the way for the Centennial Exposition of 1876. 
 
*Anna Justina Magee was the last of seven siblings who lived together their entire lives.  Her legacy for the family was a hospital designed for people who were convalescing from injury – The Magee Rehabilitation Hospital. 
 
These three women are featured in this month’s episode of All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #060 for March 2024 – Three More Women Who Changed Philadelphia. 
 

MOVE and Laurel Hill

Biographical Bytes from Bala #029
In 1985, the City of Philadelphia did something unheard of in the United States – it dropped a bomb on one of its neighborhoods.  The resulting fire killed 6 adult and 5 child members of a radical primitivist environmental anarchic group called MOVE.  The fire spread along Osage Avenue, destroyed more than 60 homes, and left 250 men, women, and children homeless.  Former MOVE members are interred in Nature’s Sanctuary, the green natural burial section at Laurel Hill West.  Louise Leaphart James and LaVerne Leaphart Sims were sisters to the acknowledged group leader John Africa but left the organization before the conflagration.  To tell their story, I must tell the story of John Africa, the formation of MOVE, and its frequent confrontations with neighbors and city officials. 

Winifred "Winnie" Harris: A Perfect Next-Door Neighbor

ABC #059 - Part 2
Winifred Harris was the woman you wanted as your next-door neighbor.  She rescued abandoned properties in West Philadelphia and converted them into vegetable gardens for the neighborhood, while planting more than 1000 trees for the city.  Her shocking death at the hands of a home intruder was mourned by all who knew her.

Samuel L Evans: The Godfather of Black Philadelphia Politics

ABC #059 - Part 3
Samuel L. Evans saw five lynchings before he was 10 years old.  Through machinations that people are still pondering, he managed to make himself the “Godfather of Black Philadelphia” despite never being elected to public office.  His wake was in City Hall.

Sarah A. Anderson: Quietly Making Changes

ABC #059 - Part 1
Sarah A. Anderson served 17 years in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and quietly changed life for the better for thousands of Pennsylvanians, Black and white.

ABC#059 Three More Black Pioneers

The Black population of Philadelphia dates to Colonial times but expanded tremendously during the so-called Great Migration that started around 1910. 
Sarah A. Anderson came from an educated family – her father was the first Black dentist in Florida and her husband was a politically active podiatrist.  Sarah served 17 years in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and quietly changed life for the better for thousands of Pennsylvanians, Black and white.
Samuel L. Evans was also from Florida and saw five lynchings before he was 10 years old.  Through machinations that people are still pondering, he managed to make himself the “Godfather of Black Philadelphia” despite never being elected to public office.  His wake was in City Hall.
Winifred Harris was the woman you wanted as your next-door neighbor.  She rescued abandoned properties in West Philadelphia and converted them into vegetable gardens for the neighborhood, while planting more than 1000 trees for the city.  Her shocking death at the hands of a home intruder was mourned by all who knew her. 
For Black history month, learn about these three lesser-known heroes of Black Philadelphia in the February 2024 episode of “All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories – Three More Black Pioneers”. 

The Philadelphia Orchestra & Laurel Hill West

Biographical Bytes from Bala #028
The Philadelphia Orchestra has been one of America’s “Big Five” philharmonics for more than a century.  As it was being assembled in the late 1890s, it looked like the job of “first conductor” would go to local concertmaster and second generation Irish American Harry Gordon Thunder, but instead the position went to Johann Friedrich Ludwig “Fritz” Scheel, a German immigrant with seemingly unlimited energies and innovations, but the job probably shortened his life. 
In contemporary times, the first violinist chair was held for decades by Germantown-born William Joseph de Pasquale, a calm, dependable right-hand man to the conductor, and one of four brothers who played together in a string quartet. 
These three men – Thunder, Scheel, and de Pasquale – are part of the reason that the Philadelphia Orchestra has its universal reputation.  

Robert McNeil: Making Tylenol a Household Name

ABC #058 - Part 5
McNeil Laboratories introduced Tylenol Elixir for Children in 1955, then watched it become one of the best-selling over-the-counter meds of all time.

William Warner: Partnering with Lambert

ABC #058 - Part 4
William Warner learned how to sugarcoat pills, making theem far more palatable.  Warner’s pharmacopeia was distributed internationally and served as the standard reference for doctors and pharmacists for years.

John & Frank Wyeth: Compressing Pills

ABC #058 - Part 3
The Wyeth Brothers invented a machine that standardized the size of pills and tablets.  It changed the pharmaceutical industry. 

Powers & Weightman: Making Millions in Quinine

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #058: Laurel Hill & Big Pharma, Part 2
William Weightman, with his partner Thomas Powers made millions by selling quinine to the US government. He spent it wisely.  

Philadelphia College of Pharmacy: In the Beginning

ABC #058 - Part 1
Philadelphia became the pharmaceutical capital of the country primarily because of the College of Pharmacy, which has trained thousands of pharmacists over the past two centuries.  

ABC#058 Big Pharma & Laurel Hill: The Beginnings

Several multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical companies got their starts in Philadelphia as neighborhood drug stores. 
Weightman, Powers, and Rosengarten made their money by selling quinine to the US government. 
James Smith and Clayton French did not know each and both started as neighborhood druggists; but family and business partners kept their businesses going and their names prominent long after their deaths. 
The Wyeth Brothers invented a machine that standardized the size of pills and tablets, and William Warner learned how to sugarcoat them.  Warner’s pharmacopeia was distributed internationally and served as the standard reference for doctors and pharmacists for years. 
And McNeil Laboratories introduced Tylenol Elixir for Children in 1955, then watched it become one of the best-selling over-the-counter meds of all time. 
Robert McNeil is interred at Laurel Hill West, while all the others are at Laurel Hill East. 
 

BONUS: Anna Weightman Penfield and the Fioretta Follies

Anna Weightman Penfield, the only daughter of quinine king William Weightman, became the richest woman in the world when her father died.  In 1929 when she was in her 80s, she decided that she wanted to produce a Broadway musical featuring songs by two young friends.  She even managed to convince impresario Earl Carroll, the so-called “troubadour of the nude”, to write the book and produce it.  He called it “Fioretta”.  Carroll used it as a vehicle for his current girlfriend Dorothy Knapp, a chorus girl who could not sing, act, or dance.  Despite the casting of vaudeville legends Leon Erroll and Fanny Brice, the show flopped and closed after just a few months, and Mrs. Penfield lost a bundle of money.  Then, the talentless Knapp sued Penfield, Carroll, and the composers for lost wages.  To tell this story, I read you a newspaper article from 1947 and part of a chapter from Carroll’s biography.  It's a story not to be missed.  

Jack Rose: An Old Soul Guitarist

Biographical Bytes from Bala #027
Jack Rose was an old soul guitarist who took John Fahey and other fingerpickers as role models.  Born in Virginia in 1971, Rose moved to Philadelphia in 1998, where he became part of the alternative music scene.  As he taught himself the primitive styles of Blind Blake, Charlie Patton, and others, he took on the name “Dr. Ragtime”. 
His album “Raag Manifesto” was named one of the top 50 records of the year by British music magazine “The Wire”.  Davendra Banhart included one of his songs in the compilation “Golden Apples of the Sun”.  His fourth recording, “Kensington Blues”, was his breakthrough and he toured extensively. 
Rose’s career was tragically cut short in 2009 when he died before his 39th birthday and just before the release of his 5th album “Luck in the Valley”.  He is interred in the Nature’s Sanctuary section of Laurel Hill West, one of our green burial spaces. 
But his music lives on.

C Morgan Knight: Death of a Good Samaritan

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #057 - Murder Most Foul, Part 5
C Morgan Knight was a very successful Chestnut Hill businessman who stopped at Wanamaker's for a quick shopping trip before he headed home after work.  He tried to stop a robbery and was shot; his murderer got the chair. 

Archibald McCurdy: Death of a Night Watchman

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #057 - Murder Most Foul, Part 4
Archibald McCurdy was the least gregarious of the McCurdy brothers, he found his niche in the family's store as night watchman.  A botched robbery attempt took his life. 

George Haas: Shot by a Disgruntled Employee

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #057 - Murder Most Foul, Part 3
Almost everyone thought that George Haas was an excellent boss, but one employee felt otherwise and shot him as he left work.

Mahlon Hutchinson Heberton, Singleton Mercer, and The Monks of Monk's Hall (by Thomas Keels)

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #057 - Murder Most Foul, Part 2
Historian and fellow volunteer tour guide Thomas Keels reads from his book Wicked Philadelphia about an honor killing of Mahlon Hutchinson Heberton by Singleton Mercer that author George Lippard turned into a best-selling novel.

George K Smith & The Molly Maguires

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #057 - Murder Most Foul, Part 1
George K. Smith was a mine supervisor at a time when secret societies were rampant.  His death at the hand of home invaders was blamed on the Molly Maguires, but the details aren't as specific. 

ABC#057: Murder Most Foul, Part 1

There are hundreds of people buried at Laurel Hill East and Laurel Hill West who were the victims of personal violence – accidental, intentional, and self-inflicted.  This month’s episode tells you of nine people who were killed by others. 
Author / historian Thomas Keels will read you a chapter from his book Wicked Philadelphia that tells the amazing story of Singleton Mercer and Mahlon Hutchinson Heberton.
I will tell you of
Mine supervisor George K. Smith who was purportedly killed by the Irish terrorist group the Molly Maguires
Businessman George Haas, shot and killed on his lunch break by a disgruntled former employee
Archibald McCurdy, night watchman in his brothers’ store who was killed when he discovered a burglary in process
Ida Chadwick, a 9-year-old girl whose depressed father killed them both with illuminating gas
C. Morgan Knight, Chestnut Hill financier and amateur yachtsman who died while attempting to capture a robber at Wanamaker’s. 
There is also a new voice for you.  Volunteer guide Sarah Hamill gives a sketch of a young mother and her two daughters who were shot to death by their disgruntled butler. 
 
Murder Most Foul, Part 1 is the topic of the December 2023 episode of “All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories. 

BG Isidor S. Ravdin, MD: The Surgeon Is a General -

Biographical Bytes from Bala #026
Isidor Schwaner Ravdin was a second-generation American and a fourth-generation physician who combined research with surgery and completely changed the fields of both.  During his 40+ years at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Ravdin rose to become Chief of Surgery and Director of Research. 
During World War II, he ran what Vinegar Joe Stillwell called “the best g**d*** hospital in the Army” during the China Burma India (CBI) campaign.  When President Eisenhower was struck with a bowel obstruction in 1956, Ravdin was summoned to Washington to perform the surgery.  He even appeared as a heroic character in a popular cartoon strip of his time. 
If you have visited the HUP campus, you have almost certainly walked through the Ravdin pavilion.  

The Pew Family & Sun Oil

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #056, Philadelphia and Oil, Part 2
Joseph Newton Pew grew up in a large, impoverished family in upstate Pennsylvania, but he was able to start a petroleum firm.  His sons J. Howard Pew and Joseph N. Pew Jr. eventually took over and grew Sun Oil into the international juggernaut it is today.  But the Pew family has always been involved in giving back and supporting the community.  

Pennsylvania and Oil

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #056, Philadelphia and Oil, Part 1
While we tend to think of "oil" and "Texas" as synonymous, it was Pennsylvania where the first big oil strikes were made, and major refineries greeted visitors as they came from the airport.  Only recently has the Point Breeze section of the city been reclaimed and is undergoing a total makeover.  

ABC#056: J. Newton Pew and Sun Oil - Philadelphia and Oil

We don’t normally think of Philadelphia as being an oil town, but the Point Breeze refinery in South Philadelphia, easily visible from the Pratt Bridge on your ride to the airport, dominated the skyline for many decades with its storage tanks and distilling towers. 
Born in the middle of Pennsylvania’s Titusville oil boom in the northwest corner of the state, J. Newton Pew established Sun Oil in 1890.
After its move to Philadelphia, Newton’s sons Howard and Joe Jr. ran the company for decades and established a refinery at Marcus Hook and the Sun Shipbuilding Company in Chester.  The Pews are known today for their charitable contributions throughout the city.  The Pew Mausoleum at Laurel Hill West holds several generations of this prosperous philanthropic family. 
Learn about oil, crude and refined, shipbuilding, philanthropy, and even some political intrigue in this month’s episode of “All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories – Philadelphia and Oil” from wherever you listen to podcasts. 

William Wagner: Free Science for All

Biographical Bytes from Bala #025
William Wagner was a self-taught naturalist and a very rich man who believed in giving free education to anyone who wanted it.  He opened his Wagner Free Institute of Science in 1855 and used his own collection as teaching aids – flora and fauna from around the world, fossils, rocks, bones – tens of thousands of items.  When Wagner died in 1885, his museum was improved by Joseph Leidy, “the last man who knew everything,” and further expanded.  Now a visit to the Wagner in North Philadelphia is a trip back in time more than 130 years while it continues to give free classes on a variety of topics and to offer its archives and library as a resource to anyone interested in the natural sciences. 

William Schaffer: A Five O'Clock Club Stalwart

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #055, The Supremes, Part 4
William Schaffer wrote the majority opinion in the 1927 case which decided that Sunday baseball was in violation of the state's 1794 "blue laws."  He spent 20 years on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

James Tyndale Mitchell: An Ideal Judge

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #055, The Supremes, Part 3
James T. Mitchell served as Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from 1903 to 1910 and was considered an ideal judge.  He also amassed a world-class collection of historical engraved portraits. 

George Sharswood: Blocking Women's Suffrage

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #055, The Supremes, Part 2
George Sharswood served as Dean of the Law School at Penn from 1852 to 1868.  He served on the State Supreme Court for many years and as Chief Justice; in 1871 he and a majority ruled against suffragette Carrie Burnham, which denied the vote to women for an additional 48 years.

Robert C. Grier & Dred Scott: "I concur"

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #055, The Supremes, Part 1
Robert C. Grier spent 24 years on the US Supreme Court at a critical time (1846-1870) in the country's history.  Today we cringe at some of his decisions.

ABC#055: Robert Cooper Grier, George Sharswood, James Tyndale Mitchell, & William Irwin Schaffer - The Supremes - Justices at Laurel Hill

Robert Cooper Grier was selected for the United States Supreme Court in 1846 to replace another justice who had died 841 days before – the longest gap in the history of the court.  He served for nearly a quarter century and voted in many key decisions, including Dred Scott v. Sandford.
George Sharswood was the first dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law.  While serving as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, he made a decision which probably delayed women’s rights to vote in Pennsylvania by more than 40 years.
James Tyndale Mitchell was also a Chief Justice.  He was a superb lawyer and judge but may be remembered more for his giant collections of autographs and portraits of famous people, considered the finest of his day.
William Irwin Schaffer spent two years as state attorney general before he became an Associate Judge on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.  One of his decisions delayed Sunday baseball in Philadelphia by several years. 
 
Grier and Schaffer are buried at Laurel Hill West, Sharswood and Mitchell at Laurel Hill East.  They are the topics for All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #055 for October 2023 – The Supremes.

Glenna Collett Vare: The Female Bobby Jones

Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #024
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.  

Richie Barrett...and "Some Other Guy"

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #054: "Hey, I Know That Song", Part 5
Singer / songwriter / A&R man Richard "Richie" Barrett was cremated at Laurel Hill West, but even the Beatles were early admirers of his work. 

Phebe Blessington: Covering Some of Your Favorites

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #054: "Hey, I Know That Song", Part 4
Leonard "Hub" Hubbard was founding member of The Roots whom I will cover in full in a later podcast.  
Phebe Blessington was an extremely popular local singer who was tragically killed while heading to a gig shortly after her 30th birthday. 

Brenda Payton & The Tabulations

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #054: "Hey, I Know That Song", Part 3
After Brenda Payton was discovered while singing on a street corner, she was soon high on the R&B charts with songs like "Dry Your Eyes" and "Right on the Tip of My Tongue"

William Kirkpatrick & Away in a Manger

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #054: "Hey, I Know That Song", Part 2
William Kirkpatrick was an Irish-born hymn writer whose Christmas carol you have been singing all your life.  It is highly likely you have sung other hymns written by him without knowing the composer.

Septimus Winner: Of Mockingbirds, Indians, and Little Dogs

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #054: "Hey, I Know That Song", Part 1
Septimus Winner composed several ear worms you sang as a child or with your children, including "Listen to the Mockingbird" and "Ten Little Indians".

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 30th 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

Henry Plumer McIlhenny: Philadelphia’s First Gentleman

Biographical Bytes from Bala #023
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.” 

Charles Baily's Last Round

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #053 - Suited to a Tee, part 4
Charles Baily met his final fate on the 4th green of Merion East Cricket Club in 1933

George Thomas & Whitemarsh Country Club

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #053 - Suited to a Tee, part 3
George Clifford Thomas Jr. designed the original course at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, outside Philadelphia, and more than twenty courses in California, including Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades and Red Hill Country Club in Rancho Cucamonga.

Hugh Wilson & Merion Golf Club

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #053 - Suited to a Tee, part 2
Hugh Wilson was one of six golf architects called "The Philadelphia School".  He designed the classic Merion East Course, as well as the final four holes at Pine Valley. 

Ida Dixon: The First Woman Golf Architect

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #053 - Suited to a Tee, part 1
Ida Dixon was the first woman golf course architect in the country.  Among her work is the Springhaven Club which is still in use.  

ABC#053: Ida Dixon, Hugh Wilson, Charles Thomas, & Charles Baily - 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 4th 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 enjoy on today’s All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories – Suited to a Tee: Golf Course Pioneers. 

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

Biographical Bytes from Bala #022
As transportation in and around Philadelphia improved in the mid 19th 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 8th 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. 

Sarah Lee Lippincott & 20th Century Star-Gazing

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #052 - Reach for the Stars, part 4
Sarah Lee Lippincott, whose first husband was television pioneer Dave Garroway (See All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #013, On the Tube), became a beloved professor of astronomy and astrometry at Swarthmore University. 

William Rau & Capturing the Transit of Venus

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #052 - Reach for the Stars, part 3
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. 

Hannah Bouvier Peterson & Teaching the Stars

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #052 - Reach for the Stars, part 2
Hannah Mary Bouvier Peterson was a popular author whose work “Familiar Astronomy” was the best-selling astronomy textbook in the 19th century. 

David Rittenhouse

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #052 - Reach for the Stars, part 1
 
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. 

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 19th century. 
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.  

Duffy’s Cut: Blood on the Tracks at Mile 59

Biographical Bytes from Bala #021
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? 

LT James Hansell French and Victorio's Apache

ABC #051 - Part 4
LT James Hansell French was killed in the San Mateo Mountains of New Mexico territory in 1880 as the Buffalo Soldier troops under his command pursued the great Apache chief Victorio and his warriors. 

LT Jonathan Biddle Battles Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce

ABC #051 - Part 5
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. 

Lt Benjamin Hodgson at Little Big Horn (by Thomas Keels)

ABC #051 - Part 3
Benjamin Hubert Hodgson was killed during the 1876 Battle of Little Big Horn in Montana against Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors – historian and fellow Laurel Hill tour guide Thomas Keels tells his story. 

LT George M Harris and Battling the Modocs in the Lava Beds

ABC #051 - Part 2
George Montgomery Harris died of wounds that he received in the Lava Beds of northern California while battling Captain Jack and the Modoc tribe in 1873. 

Philadelphia Meets the Indigenous Owners of the City

ABC #051 - Part 1
Indigenous peoples had been part of the Philadelphia landscape since the pre-Colonial days.  Their dealings with William Penn and his family left them wondering.

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.  

Charles Benjamin Dudley: Helping Standardize the World

Biographical Bytes from Bala #020
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 tells Dudley’s story and explain why he is the right man to tell it.

William Welsh Harrison and the Haunting of Grey Towers Castle

ABC 050 - Part 2
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. 

George Meade Easby and the Haunting of Baleroy

ABC #050 - Part 1
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, which included his younger brother, his mother, Thomas Jefferson, and a malevolent spirit named “Amanda”, along with several others.  

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

John Carbutt: A Forgotten Photography Pioneer

Biographical Bytes from Bala #019
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.
 

Joseph Miller Huston: The State Capitol Fiasco

ABC #049 - Part 3
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.

Samuel "Stars and Stripes" Ashbridge: Philadelphia's Most Corrupt Mayor (by Thomas Keels)

ABC #049 - Part 2
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 Thomas Keels tells you his story. 

Edward "Gas" Addicks - Buying a Seat in the Senate

ABC #049 - Part 1
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.

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. 

The Shipley Sisters and Educating Girls: Courage for the Deed, Grace for the Doing

Biographical Bytes from Bala #018
Three Quaker sisters – Hannah, Elizabeth, and Katharine Shipley – decided 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 19th 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.
 

Elizabeth Head Fetter: AKA Hannah Lees

ABC #048 - Part 3
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.

Dr. Sara Yorke Stevenson: Building the Penn Museum (by Pat Rose)

ABC #048 - Part 2
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.

Dr. Nellie Neilson: Medievalist Extraordinaire

ABC #048 - Part 1
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. 

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

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.  

Raphael & Julia Coel: Swimming While Black

Biographical Bytes from Bala #017
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.  

Douglas "Jocko" Henderson: Rap and Hip-Hop Pioneer

ABC #047 - Part 3
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.

Barbara Blackshear: Pioneering Computer Genius

ABC #047 - Part 2
Barbara Blackshear rose from working as a “computer” who helped produce the legendary Xerox 8010 “Star” to become vice-president of strategic planning for the company.

Dr. James Batts: Hero to Black Mothers and Babies

ABC #047 - Part 1
Dr. James Alexander Batts was an early champion of improving prenatal care for Philadelphia’s African American population.  

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. 

Anna Meister, AKA J. Elimar Mira Mitta: A Cult of One’s Own

Biographical Bytes from Bala #016
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.

Dr. Sam Hamill: Experimenting on Orphans

All Bones Considered #046, Part 3
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. 

Dr. William Henry Pancoast: Impregnation without Permission

All Bones Considered #046 - Part 2
Dr. William Henry Pancoast was a famed surgeon who performed the post-mortem examination on the 19th 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. George McClellan: An Expelled Founder

All Bones Considered #046, Part 1
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.

ABC #046: Dr. George McClellan, Dr. William Henry Pancoast, & Dr. Samuel Hamill - 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 19th 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. 

Larry Ferrari: Everyone's Sunday Morning Friend

Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #015 - Pulling Out All the Stops - The Organ Episode
Part 3: Larry Ferrari
Lazarus "Larry" Ferrari was a fixture on Philadelphia's Sunday morning television screens for decades.  Anyone who encountered him had essentially the same thought: "What a nice man!".
 
 

The Curtis Organ in the Irvine Auditorium

Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #015 - Pulling Out All the Stops - The Organ Episode
Part 2: The Curtis Organ
The story of the Irvine Auditorium is very straightforward, but campus legends have given a certain mystical pique to this Gothic structure, and the organ donated by Cyrus H.K. Curtis has only added to its mystique.  

The Magnificent Wanamaker Organ

Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #015 - Pulling Out All the Stops - The Organ Episode
Part 1: The Wanamaker Organ
The world's largest playable organ is in the Wanamaker Building next to City Hall.  It contains a staggering 28,750 pipes in 464 ranks controlled by 6 manuals.  Free concerts are offered twice daily to any who wish to listen.  
 
 

Wanamaker Organ, Curtis Organ & Larry Ferrari: Pulling Out All the Stops: The Laurel Hill Organ Episode

Biographical Bytes from Bala #015
The Wanamaker Organ is the largest playable musical instrument in the world and sits in Center City Philadelphia; 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.

Henrietta Garrett: A Clueless Snuff Multi-Millionaire

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #045: Stogies, Coffin Nails & Spittoons, part 4
Henrietta Garrett married into millions.  Snuff manufacturer Walter Garrett fell in love with Henrietta on first meeting, even though they were from opposite side of the tracks.  The marriage was strong and Walter's death left her a very rich widow.  Years later when Henrietta died, nobody could find her will.  "Long lost relatives" appeared out of nowhere.  It took years to settle the estate.  

Caleb Milne: "There Is No Fire!" Chaos on the Work Floor

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #045: Stogies, Coffin Nails & Spittoons, part 3
Caleb Milne was a Scottish immigrant who made his fortune in textiles.  He rented a floor to a cigar maker, who had a habit of hiring immigrant girls who spoke no English.  A fire "false alarm" panicked the girls, who stampeded the stairwells.  Many died.  

Otto Eisenlohr & The Five Cent Cigar

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #045: Stogies, Coffin Nails & Spittoons, part 2
Otto Eisenlohr and his brother were German immigrants who learned the tobacco business.  Their 5-cent cigar 'Cinco' was sold at every cigar stand in the country, and they got quite rich.