All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

MAJ Alfred Reginald Allen, MD: The Choices a Man Makes

ABC:LHS #074-4   Alfred Reginald Allen, MD...
...was a UPenn med school grad, a clever researcher in neurologic injuries, a brilliant composer of operas and hymns, founder of the Savoy Company, and one of the finest photomicrographers in the world. But when he joined the Army, it was as a combat officer. He was killed, ironically, by shrapnel to his brain at Meuse Argonne. He has a cenotaph at Laurel Hill East. 

CPT Alan Wood Lukens: Lost in the Fog of War

ABC:LHS #074-3   CPT Alan Wood Lukens...
...was variously reported as killed in action, missing in action, hospitalized at an unknown site in France, and possible prisoner of war. He had been killed in action in September, but it took the Lukens family until January to determine what had really happened to Allen. He was awarded a posthumous Distinguished Service Medal

1LT Dillwyn Parrish Starr: Groton to The Somme

ABC:LHS #074-2   1LT Dillwyn Parrish Starr...
...joined the military long before the United States entered the war. He had been a football star at Groton and at Harvard. He ended up with the Coldstream Guard where he was killed in action during the Battle of Somme. He is buried in France, but his family has added his name to their stone at Laurel Hill East. 
 

Philadelphia and the Great War

ABC:LHS #074-1   "The Workshop of the World"...
...provided doughboys with blankets, footwear, and head gear. By the time the US Congress declared war in April, 1917, hundreds of Americans had already been fighting, and many had died, the first of more than 125,000 Americans to die, including 1400 Philadelphians, in what many thought would be the "war to end all wars."
 

Killing Fields of France (part 1)

ABC:LHS #074   The United States was dragged into a war...
...that it seemed nobody wanted, but that was inevitable anyway. Philadelphia produced massive amounts of materials for the American doughboys.
1LT Dillwyn Parrish Starr was impatient for action. He joined Britain’s esteemed Coldstream Guard and was readily accepted by them. He was killed at the Battle of the Somme before the United States even got officially involved.
CPT Alan Wood Lukens came from two families of steel mongers. Although he was killed in late September of 1918 at Meuse Argonne, his family did not discover the truth until several months later. Lukens was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross posthumously.
MAJ Alfred Reginald Allen trained as a research neurologist and became one of the best photomicrographers in the country. He wrote operas, overtures, and hymns, and he founded the Savoy Company to perform the operettas of Gilbert & Sullivan. Yet when he volunteered for war service, it was as an officer in the Army.
2LT Elisha Kent Kane Wetherill trained at PAFA and in Paris with James Whistler. He was apparently wounded by poison gas and spent the last few years of his life suffering from its effects.

Timothee Adamowski: Idol of the Boston Pops

BBB:LHWS #043   Polish born violinist Timothee Adamowski...
...was soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for many years and served as one of the first conductors of the Boston Pops Orchestra. For many years his name was romantically linked with that of famed Australian soprano Nellie Melba, but he surprised everyone when he married Gertrude Pancoast of a famed Philadelphia medical family.

ADM George W. Melville: The Doomed Jeannette Expedition

ABC:LHS #073-5   George W. Melville...
...was the MacGyver of his day. He could seemingly create anything out of nothing when the situation called for it. As an engineer he was unsurpassed. He was one of only a few survivors of the ill-fated attempt to reach the North Pole by the ship Jeannette, captained by George DeLong. He then went back to recover the bodies of those who had been left behind. He has a statue at the Naval Yard and was twice painted by Thomas Eakins. 

ADM Sylvanus Godon: Hanging "Lucky Nat" Gordon

ABC:LHS #073-4   Admiral Sylvanus William Godon...
...spent his life in the Navy. The high point was probably the capture of the USS Erie with its cargo of 897 enslaved Africans. The captain of that ship, Nathaniel "Lucky Nat" Gordon, went to the gallows for his crime. 

COM David Conner: Amphibious Landing at Vera Cruz

ABC:LHS #073-3   Commodore David Conner...
...was responsible for the successful amphibious landing of 12,000 men at Vera Cruz during the Mexican American War. His presentation sword and two medals are on display in the Cincinnati Room of the Hill - Physick - Keith House, along with a fine portrait. 

COM Isaac Hull and Old Ironsides (script by Russ Dodge)

ABC:LHS #073-2   Isaac Hull...
...was a lifelong sailor from a family of sailors. He is best remembered today for being commander of the USS Constitution when it captured HMS Guerriere during the War of 1812. Fellow tour guide Russell Dodge wrote this script about the life of this great seaman. 

Introduction to the 19th Century US Navy

ABC:LHS #073-1   The United States...
...tried very hard to not have a Navy. It wasn't until the early 19th century that congress realized the need for a fighting force on the water. Capture of American merchant ships by the Barbary pirates and corsairs with letters of marque forced congress to release funds to fortify the Navy. Eventually the United States Navy was second only to the Royal Navy of England.

Four Naval Heroes

ABC:LHS #073   Philadelphia has always been a Navy town...
Isaac Hull led USS Constitution to victory against HMS Guerriere in the early days of the War of 1812. Fellow tour guide Russ Dodge wrote this script but declined the opportunity to narrate it.
David Conner worked with Winfield Scott to arrange the largest amphibious assault of the 19th century at Vera Cruz during the Mexican American War.
While serving in the African Squadron, Sylvanus Godon captured the slave ship Erie, which led to the return of nearly 900 Africans to their home continent, and the hanging of “Lucky Nat” Gordon, the only man to be executed by the Government for buying and selling human beings.
George W. Melville was a genius engineer and Arctic explorer who was among the survivors of the doomed USS Jeannette Polar mission in 1879-1881.

Dorothy Burr Thompson & Pamela Burr: Prides of Bryn Mawr College

BBB:LHWS #042-5   Dorothy Burr Thompson ("DBT")...
...was acknowledged as one of the best archeologists of her day. Her work of Hellenistic terra cottas has never been surpassed.
Her younger sister Pamela Burr wrote a play while at Bryn Mawr that featured her classmate, Katharine Hepburn. 

Anna Brown Burr: Prodigious Author

BBB:LHWS #042-4   Anna Robeson Burr Brown...
...was an American writer of novels, poetry, stories, essays, and biographies. Her The Autobiography: A Critical and Comparative Study (1909), was the first book on the subject.

Henry Armitt Brown: Finest Orator of His Generation

BBB:LHWS #042-3   Henry Armitt Brown...
...became the finest orator of his generation, frequently compared to Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. His life was cut short only weeks after his greatest triumph. You can read his words today at the Valley Forge Memorial Arch.  

Frederick Brown: Druggist, Cemetery Co-Founder

BBB:LHWS #042-2   Frederick Brown...
...was a very successful druggist and a founder of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. When his friend John Jay Smith invited him to be a founder at Laurel Hill Cemetery, he accepted the offer. 

Charles Brockden Brown: America's First Major Novelist (cenotaph)

BBB:LHWS #042-1   Charles Brockden Brown...
...is regarded by scholars as the most important American novelist before James Fenimore Cooper.  His best-known works include Wieland and Edgar Huntly, both of which display his characteristic interest in Gothic themes. His works heavily influenced both Mary Bysshe Shelley and Edgar Allen Poe. 

Five Generations of Browns at Laurel Hill

ABC:LHWS #042   Five Generations of the Brown family...
...are interred at Laurel Hill
Charles Brockden Brown was American’s first successful novelist. his influence on Edgar Allen Poe was immeasurable. He has a cenotaph in the South section of Laurel Hill East.
Charles' nephew Frederick Brown was a successful druggist because of his ginger root-based nostrums. He was also one of four co-founders of Laurel Hill Cemetery.
Frederick's son Henry Armitt Brown was considered the best orator of his generation and often compared to Henry Clay and Daniel Webster.
Henry's daughter Anna Robeson Brown Burr was a highly successful author with more than two dozen books to her name, both fiction and nonfiction.
Anna's daughter Dorothy Burr Thompson got her PhD from Bryn Mawr and was one of the best-known archeologists in the country. Pamela Burr, younger by 5 years, wrote a play which featured her Bryn Mawr classmate Katharine Hepburn.
Frederick and Henry are buried at Laurel Hill East, while Anna, Dorothy, and Pamela are at Laurel Hill West. 
 

Katherine Rotan Drinker and The Radium Girls (encore)

ABC:LHS #072-5   A slight reworking of ABC:LHS #041...
...about Cecil Kent Drinker MD now features his wife Katherine Rotan Drinker, MD, as they take on the investigation of "jaw rot" among young women who had worked as painters of luminescent watch dials. 

Sarah Logan Wister Starr: The Iron Fist Who Saved the School

ABC:LHS #072-4   By 1921...
...Women's Medical College was on the verge of failure. The new president Sarah Logan Wister Starr was a master fundraiser who treated Women's Medical School and its hospital as her private philanthropic project. She did save the school, but she infuriated both faculty and student body when she fired the popular professor of obstetrics and gynecology Alice Weld Tallant.

Charlotte Yhlen & Marie K. Formad: Strangers in a Strange Land

ABC:LHS #072-3   In the mid-19th century...
...women from around the world flocked to Philadelphia in order to become physicians. 
Everyone has seen the Frederick Gutekunst photo of three medical students from India, Japan, and Syria.
Charlotte Yhlen came from Sweden and became the first Scandinavian-born woman physician but couldn't get work in her home country so returned to the United States.
Marie K. Formad was from Russia. She became one of the premiere gynecologic surgeons in the country.

William J. Mullen: The Prisoner's Friend and Female Medical College

ABC:LHS #072-2   William J. Mullen...
...was the first President of Female Medical College of Pennsylvania. He is remembered for his tireless philanthropic work among inmates at Moyamensing Prison and for his over-the-top grave marker in the south section of Laurel Hill East. 

Founding the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania

ABC:LHS #072-1   With help of Quaker philanthropists...
...a medical school for women was chartered in 1850. Through the courage and strength of the founders and early graduates, it slowly grew into a respected medical school whose memory lives today through the Drexel University School of Medicine. 

Women's Medical College: Some Selected Stories

ABC:LHS #072 is a condensed history of the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. 
First, I will tell you about the founding of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1850.
Second, I will talk about William J. Mullen, the school’s first President and a major contributor. He is remembered today for his over-the-top grave marker at Laurel Hill East.
Third, I will discuss the notable photograph of three women doctors in their traditional attire, followed by a discussion about Swedish immigrant Charlotte Yhlen and Russian immigrant Marie Formad.
Fourth, I will tell you about the near-mortal wound suffered by Women’s Medical when their new president Sarah Logan Wister Starr butted heads with one of the top surgeons at the hospital, which led to the resignation of the entire surgical staff.
And for dessert, if you missed it, is a slightly modified version of a podcast I did on Dr. Cecil Kent Drinker a few years ago, but now with the emphasis on his wife WMC graduate Dr. Katherine Rotan Drinker.

John W. Forney: Gadfly, Chameleon, Provocateur

BBB:LHWS #041   John W. Forney...
...was a publisher, a politician, a railroad agent, and the only person to serve as both Clerk of the US House and Secretary of the US Senate. Abraham Lincoln befriended the man, but political enemies called Forney "Lincoln's dog." Andrew Johnson drank to excess at Forney’s Stag party the night before he was sworn in as Vice President. A city in Texas is named for him. 

Jack Jones: Pioneering TV Anchor

ABC:LHS #071-4   John Claver "Jack" Jones...
...was a Philadelphian through-and-through - West Catholic High School, La Salle University. He was befriended by TV announcer John Facenda who got him hired at a local TV station. Jack rose to be evening anchor but died far too young.

Judge Doris May Harris: Pioneer in Children's Court

ABC:LHS #071-3   Doris May Harris...
...was a summa cum laude graduate of Howard University who was the third Black woman to earn a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She went on to a long and distinguished career on the bench and introduced novel approaches to the punishment and rehabilitation of teen offenders.

Florence DaVida Johnson-Reid: Reaching a Pinnacle in Black Education

ABC:LHS #071-2   Florence daVida "Videe" Johnson-Reid...
...steadily worked her way up the ladder of education until she was Dean of Graduate Studies at Cheyney University, whose history dates back to 1837 and the Institute for Colored Youth. Learn about the evolution of education for Philadelphia's African American citizens and more. 

Lynwood Blount: Bootstraps Judge, Hospital Director

ABC:LHS #071-1   Lynwood Blount...
...was a municipal judge who worked his way to the top, including night law school at Temple. He was elected judge after a successful 20-year law career. He was also President of Mercy-Douglass Hospital during its waning years. He did not suffer fools lightly. Along the way he picked up the nickname "Count Blount." He also served as President of Mercy-Douglass Hospital in its final days, so you can learn about medical education for African American Philadelphia residents.

Black History Month 2025

ABC:LHS #071 Black History Month for 2025 features...
Judge Lynwood Blount became a lawyer by going to night school and rose to be a judge in the Philadelphia criminal justice system. His manner and authoritative presence earned him the nickname “Count Blount.”
Florence DeVida Johnson-Reid came through the ranks to become Dean of Graduate Education and Continuing Education at Cheyney University, but her life was tragically cut short by cancer.
Judge Doris May Harris was only the third Black woman to graduate from Penn Law and became one of the most popular – and controversial – juvenile court judges in the city.
Jack Jones was a devout Roman Catholic from West Philadelphia who wanted to grow up to be famed announcer John Facenda. With Facenda’s help, Jones got an early start in a career in broadcast news that ended with him being the first Black anchorperson on local news. He too died tragically young from cancer.
These four, plus information about the legal system in Philadelphia, the education of African American children in Philadelphia since the 1830s, the evolution of Black lawyers in Philadelphia, and the city's Black Roman Catholic population. 

Rev. Herb Lusk: Praying Tailback

BBB:LHWS #040-3   Herb Lusk...
...was a running back who would drop to his knee and utter a brief prayer after he scored a touchdown. He quit the Eagles after three seasons to become a very successful Baptist preacher. He was awarded a Super Bowl ring 39 years after he retired.

Nate Ramsey: #24 for the Eagles

BBB:LHWS #040-2   Nate Ramsey...
...played nine years with some pretty mediocre Eagle teams but was voted by fans as the best Eagle to ever wear uniform #24.  The problem was his legal difficulties, which plagued him before, after, and during his career.

M. Roy "Slab" Jackson: Football, Dogs, Horses, and a Rockefeller

BBB:LHWS #040-1   Mac Roy "Slab" Jackson...
...played college ball on one of the best Penn teams ever, then joined a professional league in Western Pennsylvania where he led a local team to a national championship. He is better remembered today for his skills in dog breeding and horsemanship.

Hut! Hut! Hut! Three Professional Football Players

BBB:LHWS #040 Three Professional Football Players  
Mac Roy Jackson played college ball on one of the best Penn teams ever, then joined a professional league in Western Pennsylvania where he led a local team to a national championship. He may be better remembered as a master of the hounds and a judge of horse flesh.
Nate Ramsey played nine years with some pretty mediocre Eagle teams but was voted by fans as their favorite Eagle to ever wear uniform #24.  The problem was his legal difficulties, which plagued him before, after, and during his career.
Herb Lusk was a running back who developed the habit of dropping to a knee and uttering a brief prayer after he scored a touchdown.  He brought this habit with him to the pros and then quit after three seasons to become a very successful Baptist preacher.  He was given a Super Bowl ring 39 years after his retirement.

COL Richard Henry Rush: From West Point to Lancers (script by Russ Dodge)

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.” 

Henry Charles Lea: He Expected the Spanish Inquisition

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

John Roh: Death by Inferno

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.

Laura Matilda Towne: Teaching the Least Fortunate

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.

Edwin Fitler: The Emperor of Rope

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.

Thomas Craycroft: For Love of His Fellow Man

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.

Happy 200th Birthdays!

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.

Rev. Henry Winter Syle: Deaf Scholar, Preacher, Episcopal Saint

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.

Charlotte Drake Cardeza: Best Suite on the Titanic (by Lora Lewis)

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
 

Gretchen Longley: Prettiest Girl on the Titanic

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.  

Lily & Olive Potter: Mother-Daughter Survivors (by Savanna Fisher)

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.  

Eleanor Widener Rice: Lost Husband and Son (by Lora Lewis)

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.  

Introduction to The Deep Blue

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.

Six Women of RMS Titanic

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.

Waldo E. "Bill" Nelson: The Green Bible of Pediatrics

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.

Thomas Leiper: Entrepreneur, Soldier, Inventor, Statesman

ABC:LHS #068-3   Thomas Leiper...
...was a Scottish immigrant who built the first permanent railroad in the United States and made his fortune in snuff. As a founding member of First City Troop, he served as personal bodyguard for General George Washington and led his troops to rescue Congressman James Wilson during the so-called "Crisis at Fort Wilson."  Jefferson rented a room from Leiper while he served as Secretary of State, and the two men exchanged letters for the rest of their lives. 

Thomas McKean: Last to Sign the Declaration

ABC:LHS #068-2   Thomas McKean...
...served many roles in the British colonies: president of Delaware, Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, President of the United States Congress, and Governor of Pennsylvania, among others.  Although his efforts in 1776 were what made the Declaration unanimous, he was the last man to sign that historic document.

Charles Thomson: The Man Who Tells the Truth

ABC:LHS #068-1   Charles Thomson...
...was the man who knew where all the bodies were buried. During his 15 years as Secretary of the Continental Congress, he quietly ran the colonies and the country efficiently and effectively, and kept meticulous notes, which he later destroyed. He was the only Founding Father whom the Natives trusted. He designed the Great Seal of the United States and personally notified George Washington that he had been elected President.  His late-life dementia horrified Jefferson and others who had seen him function at his peak.

Friends of Thomas Jefferson (part 2)

ABC:LHS #068   More of Jefferson's Friends include...
Charles Thomson, who served as secretary of the Continental Congress during its 15 years.  Along with John Hancock, his signature graced the first draft of the Declaration of Independence. 
Thomas Leiper was a successful tobacco importer who built the first railroad in Pennsylvania on his property at Nether Township.  As a founding member of the First City Troop, he fought with the Patriots at the Battles of Princeton, Trenton, Germantown, and Brandywine.  His personal wealth helped to subsidize the siege of Yorktown.  He and Thomas Jefferson exchanged hundreds of letters. 
Thomas McKean served multiple roles in colonial days – president of Delaware, Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, President of the United States Congress, and Governor of Pennsylvania, among others.  Although his efforts in 1776 were what made the Declaration unanimous, he was the last man to sign that historic document. 
I did the research on Thomson & McKean, while the script for Thomas Leiper was written by fellow tour guide Peter Howell.  

LT John T. Greble: First of Thousands to Die

BBB:LHWS #037   John Trout Greble...
...had descended from colonial pioneers on both sides of his family. He graduated with honors from Central High School and chose a career in the military.  He taught ethics the Military Academy and married the chaplain’s daughter.  He was KIA at the Battle of Big Bethel in Southern Virginia in June 1861 – the first West Point graduate to fall in the American Civil War.

Horace Howard Furness: Seybert Commission and Grilling Mediums

ABC:LHS #067-2   Horace Howard Furness... (by Patricia Rose)
...is best remembered today as a Shakespeare scholar. For a while he was in charge of a commission that investigated whether spiritualism as a belief system that involved communication with the dead was real. Furness's Seybert Commission proved the opposite. The real fun started when they interviewed Maggie Fox, one of the founders of spiritualism.
Researched and read by fellow guide and cemetery historian Patricia Rose

Walter Hubbell: The Great Amherst Mystery

ABC:LHS #067-1   Walter Hubbell...
...was a Philadelphia-born actor who would probably be forgotten today were it not for the Great Amherst Mystery, a book he wrote about Esther Cox, a young woman seemingly possessed by evil spirits. Her woes started after she was assaulted at gunpoint by a young man she trusted. Walter Hubbell learned about Esther when his traveling troop ventured into the Maritimes and thought he could debunk the stories.  Instead, he became a convert and wrote about it.  Years later, much of what he wrote was debunked by a psychic skeptic.  The whole story is mesmerizing.

The Vare Brothers: Dukes of South Philadelphia (by Thomas Keels)

BBB:LHWS #036 William, Edward & George Vare...
...grew up unschooled while slopping hogs and hawking vegetables in "The Neck", the poorest section of Philadelphia.  They got into trash collection and within a few years were scooping up city contracts by the armful.  They grew rich and powerful along the way and eventually even collected a kickback from the mayor.
Historian, author, and fellow Laurel Hill Tour Guide Thomas Keels tells you their story. 

Emory R. Johnson and the Panama Canal

ABC:LHS #066-6   Emory Richard Johnson...
...was the only Professor of Transportation and Commerce in the United States when he was asked to come up with a payment schedule for people using the Panama Canal.  His methods were used for more than half a century.  

Charles Day and the Panama Canal

ABC:LHS #066-5   Charles Day...
...was a master builder.  His Philadelphia firm Day & Zimmerman was first to pour concrete at the massive Culebra locks, which worked perfectly from day one.  

Lewis M. Haupt and the Panama Canal

ABC:LHS #066-4    Lewis Haupt...
...was son of famed railroad Engineer Herman Haupt (see BBB #010: Lincoln's Railroad Man).  Lewis became a civil engineer who was skeptical about a canal across Panama but joined the working committee when he was invited.  

John Cresson Trautwine and the Panama Canal

ABC:LHS #066-3   John Cresson Trautwine...
...was a civil engineer who wrote what became the definitive Engineer's Handbook which was standard text for decades; he also predicted that it would be impossible to build a canal through Panama. 

Rudolph Hering & Reversing the Chicago River

ABC:LHS #066-2   Rudolph Hering...
...was son of the famed homeopathic pioneer Constantine Hering.  He became such as expert on hydraulic engineering that he was invited to Chicago to assist with their drinking water problem, and he helped them reverse the river. 

Frederick Graff: Watering Philadelphia

ABC:LHS #066-1   Frederick Graff...
...was a civil engineer / architect who quickly learned the principles of hydraulics when he was tagged to set up the water supply for Philadelphia.  He became a master of his craft. 

Pushing Water

ABC:LHS #066   Pushing Water
Frederick Graff took over from Benjamin Latrobe to develop the Philadelphia Water Works
Rudolph Hering was summoned to the Midwest to help them with their drinking water problem and helped to reverse the flow of the Chicago River
John C. Trautwine is remembered for his book, called "The Engineer's Bible," and for predicting a canal could never be built across Panama
Lewis Haupt was another doubter, although he served on the Panama Committee
Charles Day Philadelphia company of Day & Zimmerman laid the first concrete at the famed Culebra Locks
Emory Richard Johnson was the only man in the world with the training to figure out an appropriate fee schedule for the Canal; his formulas were used for more than half a century

William M. Meredith: U.S. Poet Laureate

BBB:LHWS #035   William Morris Meredith, Jr. ...
...described himself as a "B+ poet who has written a few A+ poems".  Despite his modesty, his poetry was recognized as some of the best in post-WWII America.  He served for two years as US Poet Laureate and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

Richard Burr: Poster Child for Battlefield Embalmers

ABC:LHS #065-4   Richard Burr...
...was a Civil War surgeon who found there was more money in "treating" the dead and became an embalmer. Photographer Matthew Brady immortalized him with a battlefield photo.

Anna Lukens, MD: The She Doctor Panic of 1869

ABC:LHS #065-3   Anna Lukens...
...was one of the 30+ medical students from Women's Medical College who caused an uproar when they showed up at the citywide weekly clinic in 1869.  Despite permission to be there, their mere presence caused a riot among the "gentlemen."

Thomas Story Kirkbride: Architect for Madness

ABC:LHS #065-2   Thomas Kirkbride trained as a surgeon but developed an interest in madness during his training.  His blueprint for asylums became the standard for nearly a century. 
 
 

John Rhea Barton: Surgical Innovation

ABC:LHS #065-1   John Rhea Barton...
...was a student of Philip Syng Physick who carried on his mentor's reputation as an innovative and bold surgeon in the early 19th century. His name is known to all Penn physicians. 
 
 

Fathers and Mothers of American Medicine (part 4)

ABC:LHS #065   Fathers & Mothers of American Medicine (part 4)
John Rhea Barton was a master surgeon who has both a fracture and a professorship named for him.
Thomas Story Kirkbride wanted to take Barton’s role, but instead got interested in caring for the mentally ill at a time when a new philosophy was being introduced. Kirkbride asylums became the standard of care for many decades.
Anna Lukens was among the students from Women’s Medical College who were verbally and physically assaulted after an attempt at coeducational clinical teaching at Pennsylvania Hospital ended up in the “She Doctor Panic of 1869”.
Richard Burr inadvertently became the poster child for Civil War embalmers when Matthew Brady captured his likeness while he was doing a battlefield procedure.

Katherine "Kitty" Hershey: Laurel Hill Transient

BBB:LHWS #034-3   Milton Hershey's beloved wife Kitty...
...died in a Philadelphia hotel room and spent nearly three years in a receiving vault at Laurel Hill West until a new cemetery was built in Hershey as her final resting place. Fresh flowers were provided several times weekly during her stay. 

Franklin Baker: Sublime with the Coconut

BBB:LHWS #034-2   Grain merchant Franklin Baker...
...once received a load of coconuts as payment for a boatload of grain.  Baker turned this serendipitous occurrence into a lifetime of working with coconut, such that the name “Baker’s” is almost synonymous.

Henry Wilbur: Buds vs. Kisses

BBB:LHWS #034-1   Henry Oscar Wilbur...
...was a Philadelphia chocolatier who was probably most famous for his small chocolate pieces with his name on the bottom.  He called them Wilbur Buds and offered a spirited competition to Milton Hershey’s Kisses.

Sweet Tooth at Laurel Hill

BBB:LHWS #034   Everybody loves chocolate. 
Henry Oscar Wilbur was a Philadelphia chocolatier who was probably most famous for his small chocolate pieces with his name on the bottom.  He called them Wilbur Buds and offered a spirited competition to Milton Hershey’s Kisses.
Although Hershey is not buried locally, his beloved wife Kitty spent nearly three years in a receiving vault until a new cemetery was built in Hershey as her final resting place.
Grain merchant Franklin Baker once received a load of coconut as payment for a boatload of grain.  Baker turned this serendipitous occurrence into a lifetime of working with coconut, such that the name “Baker’s” is almost synonymous with coconuts.

Donald Fithian Lippincott: Surprising Medalist at Stockholm

ABC:LHS #064-4   Donald Fithian Lippincott...
...surprised everyone, including himself, when he took both a bronze and a silver in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics.

Ted Meredith: Fastest Schoolboy in the Country

ABC:LHS #064-3   James Edwin “Ted” Meredith...
...was the fastest schoolboy in the country and broke every distance running record from 100 meters to 1 mile; his Gold in the 1912 Olympics was for the 4 x 400-meter relay.
 

Jervis Watson Burdick and the Stockholm Games

ABC:LHS #064-2   Jervis Watson Burdick... 
...was a UPenn student member of the Sphinx Club and the Canteen Club who competed in the1912 Olympics but did not medal.

Lawson "Robbie" Robertson: Coach Extraordinaire

ABC:LHS #064-1   Lawson “Robbie” Robertson...
...won medals in the Intercalated Games of 1906 in Athens and went on to become head coach of the University of Pennsylvania track and field team.  He took them back to the Olympics several more times.

More Olympians: 1904 to 1912

ABC:LHS #064   Back in ABC:LHS #029...
...I covered the 1900 Paris Olympiad and some Laurel Hill residents who participated.  Now it's time for four more Olympians from the early 20th century.
Lawson “Robbie” Robertson won medals in the Intercalated Games of 1906 in Athens and went on to become head coach of the University of Pennsylvania track and field team.  He took them back to the Olympics several more times.
Jervis Watson Burdick was a UPenn student member of the Sphinx Club and the Canteen Club who competed in the1912 Olympics but did not medal.
James Edwin “Ted” Meredith was the fastest schoolboy in the country and broke every distance running record from 100 meters to 1 mile; his Gold in the 1912 Olympics was for the 4 x 400-meter relay.
And Donald Fithian Lippincott surprised everyone, including himself, when he won a silver and a bronze in 1912.
 

Abram Winegardner Harris: Stellar Educator

BBB:LHWS #033   Abram Winegardner Harris...
...went from his early years in Philadelphia to leadership roles at the University of Maine and Northwestern University. Along the way, Harris helped found both Phi Kappa Phi and the Cum Laude Society, and left such a lasting mark on higher education that even today his legacy can still be felt from Orono to Evanston—and at Laurel Hill West, where he rests beneath the words “Scholar / Teacher / Leader / Friend.”

George Henry Boker: Playwright Who Fixed Everything

ABC:LHS #063-4   George Henry Boker...
...was one of Philadelphia’s most accomplished men – poet, playwright, politician, and co-founder of the Union League.  He also solidified copyright laws in the United States so creators could be fairly paid.  On the side, he served as minister to Turkey and Russia.

Robert Taylor Conrad: Mayor, Playwright

ABC:LHS #063-3   Robert Taylor Conrad...
...was a polymath whose writing was praised by Edgar Allen Poe and whose play Aylmere, or Jack Cade became another favorite of Edwin Forrest’s.  He also served as Mayor of Philadelphia at the time of consolidation.

Robert Montgomery Bird: Edwin Forrest & The Gladiator

ABC:LHS #063-2   Robert Montgomery Bird...
...wrote a play for Edwin Forrest that became the basis for plays and movies into the 21st century.  Forrest became rich, while Bird became an embittered man.

Richard Penn Smith: Inventing Davy Crockett

ABC:LHS #063-1   Richard Penn Smith...
...wrote more than 20 plays but is best remembered today for inventing much of what we know as the legend of Davy Crockett.

Curtain Up! Four Philadelphia Playwrights

ABC:LHS #063   Americans struggled...
...to establish their own identity as they separated from the British in the early 19th century.  It was a time of blossoming for American theater and its playwrights, despite their receiving little honor and even less compensation.
Richard Penn Smith wrote more than 20 plays but is best remembered today for inventing much of what we know as the legend of Davy Crockett.
Robert Montgomery Bird, MD,  wrote a play for Edwin Forrest that became the basis for plays and movies into the 21st century; Forrest became rich, while Bird became an embittered man.
Robert Taylor Conrad was a polymath whose writing was praised by Edgar Allen Poe and whose play Aylmere, or Jack Cade became another favorite of Edwin Forrest’s.  He also served as Mayor of Philadelphia at the time of consolidation.
George Henry Boker was one of Philadelphia’s most accomplished men – poet, playwright, politician, and co-founder of the Union League.  He also solidified copyright laws in the United States so creators could be fairly paid.  Oh – he was also minister to Turkey and Russia.

Dennis Sandole: Teaching Coltrane the Changes

BBB:LHWS #032   Dennis Sandole...
...was one of the best kept secrets in jazz.  Born Dionigi Sandoli in South Philadelphia, his wisdom was sought by Art Farmer, James Moody, Benny Golson, Jim Hall, and especially John Coltrane, who became his most famous pupil.  Coltrane practiced many hours daily to master the material that The Maestro gave him and turn it into his own sound, which eventually became “Sheets of Sound” and then “Coltrane Changes."

J.B. Lippincott: Lippincott's Magazine

ABC:LHS #062-3   Joshua Ballinger Lippincott...
...was a late comer with 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.

Charles Jacob Peterson: Peterson's Magazine

ABC:LHS #062-2   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.

George Rex Graham: Graham's Magazine

ABC:LHS #062-1  George Rex Graham...
...knew how to wheedle an article out of Longfellow and Thoreau and published many stories by his co-editor Edgar Allan Poe.  

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

ABC: LHS #062   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

BBB:LHWS #031   Movie fan magazines...
...appeared shortly after movies became ubiquitous in America.  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.

Pete Childs: No, Not That One

ABC:LHS #061-4   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 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:LHS #061-3   Jack McFetridge...
...was the best amateur pitcher in Philadelphia for years before he went pro.  For money, he wasn’t that good.

Cub Stricker: Hot-Tempered Infielder

ABC:LHS #061-2   Cub Stricker...
...was a good fielding 2nd baseman with a hot temper who was once arrested on the field after he struck a heckler with a thrown ball.

Walter "Slick" Schlichter: Pioneer in Black Baseball

ABC:LHS #061-1   Henry Walter “Slick” Schlichter...
...started as a bantamweight and a boxing promoter who became a sportswriter. When he partnered with Black baseball pioneer Sol White, they formed the best Negro league team in the country at the turn of the 20th century.

ABC#061 Play Ball! (part 3)

ABC:LHS #061   Play Ball! (part 3): Four More Baseball Pioneers 
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.
 

Grayce Nottage Nicholas: Black Is Beautiful

BBB:LHWS #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.

Anna J Magee: Enabling the Disabled

ABC:LHS #060-3   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:LHS #060-2   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:LHS #060-1   London-born Esther DeBerdt Reed...
...married a colonist who became George Washington’s right-hand man. Esther switched her Tory allegiance to become a radial patriot. The organization she founded to provide some relief to the soldiers who fought for her freedom didn’t quite go the way that she had planned.