All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

Women's History Month 2024

ABC:LHS #060   Women's History Month for 2024 features...
London-born Esther DeBerdt Reed who married a man who became George Washington’s right-hand man. She 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.
 

MOVE and Laurel Hill

BBB #029   The City of Philadelphia...
...dropped a bomb on one of its neighborhoods in 1985.  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:LHS #059-3   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: Godfather of Black Philadelphia Politics

ABC:LHS #059-2   Samuel L. Evans...
...saw five lynchings before he was 10 years old.  Through machinations that people are still pondering, he made 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:LHS #059-1   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.

Black History Month 2024

ABC:LHS #059 Black History Month for 2025 features...
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

BBB #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; 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: Tylenol as a Household Name

ABC:LHS #058-5   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:LHS #058-4   William Warner learned how to sugarcoat pills to make them 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:LHS #058-3   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

ABC:LHS #058-1   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.  

Big Pharma & Laurel Hill

ABC:LHS #058   Several pharmaceutical companies...
...started as 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.
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.  
 

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: Old Soul Guitarist

BBB:LHWS #027   Jack Rose...
...was an old soul guitarist who took John Fahey and other fingerpickers as role models.  He taught himself the primitive styles of Blind Blake, Charlie Patton, and others, and took on the name “Dr. Ragtime." He died far too young.  
 

C Morgan Knight: Death of a Good Samaritan

ABC:LHS #057-5   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

ABC:LHS #057-4   Archibald McCurdy...
...was the least gregarious of the McCurdy brothers, but he found his niche in the family's store as night watchman.  A botched robbery attempt ended his life. 

George Haas: Shot by a Disgruntled Employee

ABC #057-3   George Haas...
...was considered an excellent boss by most of his employes; one man felt otherwise and shot him as he left work.

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

ABC:LHS #057-2   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

ABC:LHS #057-1   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. 

Murder Most Foul (part 1)

ABC:LHS #057 Murder Most Foul
Hundreds of people buried at Laurel Hill were 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

BBB:LHWS #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. 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. 

The Pew Family & Sun Oil

ABC:LHS #056-2   Joseph Newton Pew,,,
...was from a large, impoverished family in upstate Pennsylvania, but he started a petroleum firm which blossomed into Sun Oil.  His sons J. Howard Pew and Joseph N. Pew Jr. eventually took over and grew Sun Oil into the international juggernaut it is today.  The Pew family has always been involved in giving back and supporting the community, except that one time when they tried to overthrow the US government.   

Pennsylvania and Oil

ABC:LHS #056-1   Pennsylvania...
...was home to major oil strikes years before Texas got involved. Until recently, a major refinery greeted visitors as they came from the airport.  Only recently has the Point Breeze section of the city been reclaimed; it is undergoing a total makeover.  

ABC#056: J. Newton Pew: Sun Oil

ABC:LHS #056   Philadelphia and oil...
...are not usually mentioned in the same sentence, 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. 

William Wagner: Free Science for All

BBB:LHWS #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.  When Wagner died in 1885, his museum was improved by Joseph Leidy, “the last man who knew everything,” and further expanded.

William Schaffer: A Five O'Clock Club Stalwart

ABC:LHS #055-4   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: Ideal Judge

ABC:LHS #055-3   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

ABC:LHS #055-2   George Sharswood...
...served on the State Supreme Court for many years. 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

ABC:LHS #055-1   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 the decisions he made.

The Supremes: Justices at Laurel Hill

ABC:LHS #055   Supreme Court justices...
...at Laurel Hill include
Robert Cooper Grier, who was selected for the United States Supreme Court in 1846 after the longest vacancy 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.

Glenna Collett Vare: The Female Bobby Jones

BBB:LHWS #024   Glenna Collett-Vare...
...was a giant of women’s golf and the top American player in the 1920s and 30s, when she won 49 amateur tournaments.  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.

Richie Barrett...and "Some Other Guy"

ABC:LHS #054-5   Richard "Richie" Barrett...
...was successful as a singer / songwriter / A&R man. Even the Beatles were early admirers of his work. He was cremated at Laurel Hill West.

Phebe Blessington: Covering Some of Your Favorites

ABC:LHS #054-4   Phebe Blessington...
...was an extremely popular local singer who was tragically killed while heading to a gig shortly after her 30th birthday. Her fans remember. 

Brenda Payton & The Tabulations

ABC:LHS #054-3   Brenda Payton...
...was literally discovered while singing on a street corner. Soon she reached to top of the R&B charts with songs like "Dry Your Eyes" and "Right on the Tip of My Tongue"

William Kirkpatrick: Away in a Manger

ABC:LHS #054-2   William Kirkpatrick...
...was an Irish-born hymn writer whose most famous Christmas carol you have sung all your life.  It is likely you have sung other hymns written by him without knowing he was the composer.

Septimus Winner: Mockingbirds, Indians, and Little Lost Dogs

ABC:LHS #054-1   Septimus Winner...
...composed several ear worms you sang as a child or with your children, including "Listen to the Mockingbird" and "Ten Little Indians." You may not forgive me for the alphabet song. 

Hey! I Know That Song!: Composers and Interpreters

ABC:LHS #054   Many Composers...
...chose Laurel Hill as a final resting place.
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. 

Henry Plumer McIlhenny: Philadelphia’s First Gentleman (by Thomas Keels)

BBB:LHWS #023   Andy Warhol considered Henry McIlhenny...
...as "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 McIlhenny died in 1986, he left everything - an estimated $100M worth - to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. His parties were legendary.  His friends were society's giants. 
Fellow volunteer tour guide and historian Thomas Keels tells you of this remarkable man.

Charles Baily's Last Round

ABC:LHS #053-4   Charles Baily...
...played his final hole on the 4th green of Merion East in 1933

George Thomas: Whitemarsh Country Club

ABC:LHS #053-3   George Clifford Thomas Jr. ...
...designed the original course at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, outside Philadelphia, and more than twenty courses in California, including Riviera in Pacific Palisades and Red Hill in Rancho Cucamonga.

Hugh Wilson: Merion Golf Club

ABC-LHS #053-2   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: First Woman Golf Architect

ABC:LHS #053-1   Ida Dixon...
...was the first woman golf course architect in the country.  Among her work is the Springhaven Club which is still in use.  

Suited to a Tee: Some Golf Course Pioneers

ABC:LHS #053   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 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.  They helped build 4 of the top ranked courses in the country.
Charles Baily met his final destiny on the 4th green of Merion East. 
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.”

Strawbridge & Clothier: The Early Years

BBB:LHWS #022   Justus Clayton Strawbridge and Isaac Hallowell Clothier...
...were Quaker merchants who 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. 

Sarah Lee Lippincott & 20th Century Star-Gazing

ABC:LHS #052-4   Sarah Lee Lippincott...
...whose first husband was television pioneer Dave Garroway (See ABC:LHS #013) was a beloved professor of astronomy and astrometry at Swarthmore University. 

William Rau: Capturing the Transit of Venus

ABC:LHS #052-3   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 not quite ready to capture new information. 

Hannah Bouvier Peterson: Teaching You the Stars

ABC:LHS #052-2   Hannah Mary Bouvier Peterson...
...was a popular author whose work Familiar Astronomy was the best-selling astronomy textbook in the 19th century. 

David Rittenhouse: Founding Father Astronomer

ABC:LHS #052-1   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. 

Reach for the Sky: Laurel Hill Astronomers

ABC:LHS #052 Reach for the Sky!
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

BBB:LHWS #021
America's first 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.  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:LHS #051-4   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:LHS #051-5   Jonathan Williams Biddle... 
...whose father Henry Biddle had been killed in the Civil War, lost his life in the Battle of Bear Paw in 1877 against Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce. 

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

ABC:LHS #051-3   Benjamin Hubert Hodgson... (by Thomas Keels)
...was killed during the 1876 Battle of Little Big Horn in Montana against Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors.

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

ABC:LHS #051-2   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 Owners of the City

ABC:LHWS #051-1   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 if they had made the right decisions.

Killed by Indians

ABC:LHS #051   Killed by Indians
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 had lost his father Henry Biddle in the Civil War. Jonathan went west and lost his life at the Battle of Bear Paw against Chief Joseph in 1877.
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.

Charles Benjamin Dudley: Standardizing the World (by Rich Wilhelm)

BBB:LHWS #020   Charles Benjamin Dudley...
...changed the world we live in when he helped establish the American Society for Testing and Materials. 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 volunteer guide Rich Wilhelm tells his story. 

William Welsh Harrison: The Haunting of Grey Towers Castle

ABC 050:LHS-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: The Haunting of Baleroy

ABC:LHS #050-1   George Gordon Meade Easby... 
...was a wealthy and eccentric character named after his great grandfather; he 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.  

Two Haunted Houses: Baleroy & Grey Towers Castle

ABC:LHS #050   Two Laurel Hill residents...
...owned haunted houses.
George Gordon Meade Easby was a wealthy and eccentric character named after his great grandfather. He 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.

John Carbutt: Forgotten Photography Pioneer

BBB:LHWS #019   John Carbutt...
...is the forgotten pioneer of Philadelphia photography.  After he spent the first years of his career as a railroad photographer in Canada and the American West, he settled in Mount Airy. 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.
 

Joseph Miller Huston: The Capitol Building Fiasco

ABC:LHS #049-3   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 Ashbridge: Most Corrupt Mayor (by Thomas Keels)

ABC:LHS #049-2   Samuel "Stars and Stripes" Ashbridge...
...could 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: How Not to Buy a Senate Seat

ABC:LHS #049-1   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.

White Collar Crime in the City of Brotherly Love

ABC:LHS #049   White Collar Criminals include...
J. Edward "Gas" Addicks, who 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 who could 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.
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. 

Shipley Sisters: Educating Girls

BBB:LHWS #018   Hannah, Elizabeth, and Katharine Shipley...
decided to start a school for girls.  Not another finishing school, 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.
 

Elizabeth Head Fetter: AKA Hannah Lees

ABC:LHS #048-3   Elizabeth Head Fetter...
...was older sister to maverick inventor Howard Head;  using the pen name of Hannah Lees, she wrote 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:LHS #048-2   Sara Yorke Stevenson... (by Pat Rose)
...was a self-trained Egyptologist, a co-founder of the Penn Museum, a leader in women’s rights, and a popular newspaper columnist who gained respect from colleagues around the world.

Dr. Nellie Neilson: Medievalist Extraordinaire

ABC:LHS #048-1   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. 

Women's History Month 2023

ABC:LHS #048 Women’s History Month for 2023 features...
Dr. Nellie Neilson, who was one of the best Medieval history scholars in the world, but she struggled to climb every rung to the top during her long career.
Sara Yorke Stevenson, a self-trained Egyptologist, co-founder of the Penn Museum, 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, who wrote 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.

Raphael & Julia Coel: Swimming While Black

BBB:LHWS #017   Raphael & Julia Coel...
... brought together a World War II veteran and insurance executive with a lifelong swimmer who served as the first Black woman lifeguard for the City of Philadelphia.
If you are White, you'll learn what it was like to “Swim While Black” in the United States.  If you are Black, you already know these stories.  

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

ABC:LHWS #047-3   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:LHS #047-2   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:LHS #047-1   Dr. James Alexander Batts...
...was an early champion of improving prenatal care for Philadelphia’s African American population.  

Black History Month 2023

ABC:LHS #047   Black History Month for 2023 features...
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

BBB:LHWS #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. Once her followers tried to dig her up. 

Dr. Sam Hamill: Experimenting on Orphans

ABC:LHS #046-3   Dr. Samuel McClintock Hamill...
...was one of the preeminent 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

ABC:LHS #046-2   Dr. William Henry Pancoast...
...was a famed anatomist and 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

ABC:LHS #046-1   Dr. George McClellan...
...was father of the famed Civil War Union general. In 1824 he founded Thomas Jefferson medical school, but then annoyed his colleagues so much he was expelled from the board of the school he had created.

Fathers of American Medicine (part 3): Some Ethical Dilemmas

ABC:LHS #046   Some ethical dilemmas in medicine
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: Your Sunday Morning Friend

BBB:LHWS #015-3   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!"
 
 

Curtis Organ in Irvine Auditorium

BBB:LHWS #015-2   The Curtis Organ...
...resides in the Irvine Auditorium, a location that bears a certain campus mythology about a failed architecture student. The organ donated by Cyrus H.K. Curtis has only added to its mystique.  

Magnificent Wanamaker Organ

BBB:LHWS #015-1   The Wanamaker Organ...
...is the world's largest playable organ, just feet from City Hall. It contains a staggering 28,750 pipes in 464 ranks controlled by 6 manuals. Its fate is currently unknown. 
 
 

Pulling Out All the Stops: The Laurel Hill Organ Episode

BBB:LHWS #015   Pulling Out All the Stops
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: Clueless Snuff Millionaire

ABC:LHS #045-4   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 and it took years to settle the estate.  

Caleb Milne: "There Is No Fire!"

ABC:LHS #045-3   Caleb Milne...
...was a Scottish immigrant who made his fortune in textiles.  He rented space to a cigar maker, who hired immigrant girls who spoke no English.  A fire "false alarm" panicked the girls, who stampeded the stairwells. And some jumped. Many of them died.  

Otto Eisenlohr: The Five Cent Cigar

ABC:LHS #045-2   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.  

Juan Portuondo and a Good Cuban Smoke

ABC:LHS #045-1   Juan Portuondo...
...was a Cuban immigrant who learned the craft of cigar making from his father.  His cigars were always of the highest quality, and he was constantly swatting away competition that tried to take advantage of his reputation.

Stogies, Coffin Nails, and Spittoons: Laurel Hill Tobacconists

ABC:LHS #045   Philadelphia...
...was at one time the home to 900 cigar makers who made a sizable portion of the 7 billion cigars sold every year in the United States. 
Cuban native Juan Portuondo featured a top-quality cigar that was copied by many.
German American Otto Eisenlohr and his brothers made one of the bestselling fiver-centers in the country, the ubiquitous 'Cinco'.
Caleb J. Milne rented three floors of his Washington Avenue factory to a cigar company that illegally hired immigrant girls; a fire false alarm panicked them into a stampede and a stairwell of death.
Walter Garrett made a fortune in the snuff business which he left to his beloved wife Henrietta.  But when Henrietta died more than three decades later, nobody could find her will and literally tens of thousands of people tried to claim her fortune as their own. 
 

Bushrod Washington James: Physician, Author, Philanthropist

BBB:LHWS #014   Bushrod Washington James...
...serves as a common thread to baseball Hall-of-Famers Frank Robinson and Willie Stargell, a library in Northeast Philadelphia, the towns of Radnor and Pottstown, Pennsylvania, a bed and breakfast in Tennessee, and the Wills Eye Hospital. Connect the dots with this podcast.

The Garfield Memorial on East River (Kelly) Drive

ABC:LHS #044-4   James A. Garfield's...
...1896 Memorial on East River Drive involved many familiar names from Laurel Hill. They were involved in the design, construction, and dedication of a memorial to the late President 15 years after his assassination.

Dr. Charles Karsner Mills: The Assassin's Autopsist

ABC:LHS #044-3   Dr. Charles K. Mills, MD... 
...was a Philadelphia anatomist summoned to perform autopsy on the assassin Charles Guiteau.  Parts of Guiteau's brain ended up in the Mütter Collection. 

Dr. David Hayes Agnew, MD: At the President's Bedside

ABC:LHS #044-2   David Hayes Agnew, MD...
...learned his craft well while caring for wounded soldiers during the Civil War.  He was one of the first to be summoned to the President's bedside after he was shot.

Samuel Jackson Randall: Three-Time Speaker of the House

ABC:LHS #044-1   Samuel Jackson Randall...
...defeated Garfield three times for the position of Speaker of the House until Garfield leapfrogged him to become the 1880 candidate for the Presidency.

James Garfield Connections at Laurel Hill

ABC:LHS #044   James Abram Garfield...
...was 20th President of the United States, a “dark horse” candidate in the 1880 election and the only sitting member of the house to ever be elected to the highest office in the land.  His time as president was short, and four months into his term he was shot by a crazed office seeker in Washington.  After lingering for 10 weeks, he died in New Jersey.  What are his Laurel Hill connections? 
Philadelphia’s Samuel Jackson Randall defeated Garfield for Speaker of the House three times before Garfield leapfrogged him to become President.
University of Pennsylvania’s Dr. David Hayes Agnew, probably the best surgeon in the country, was summoned to Garfield’s bedside as a consultant after he was shot.
Penn’s Dr. Charles Karsner Mills testified against Garfield’s assassin Charles Guiteau and then assisted in Guiteau’s autopsy.
Numerous Laurel Hill residents were involved in the grand unveiling of the Garfield Memorial in 1896.  You have probably passed it dozens of times along Kelly Drive. 

Every Brilliant Thing: Ice Cream and Laurel Hill

BBB #013   Ice Cream...
...is universally loved. Philadelphia made huge contributions to the history of this delectable warm weather treat.  If you’re from the area, you grew up with Bassetts and Breyers; maybe you got some nonpareils or sprinkles on your soft serve; or you looked forward to going into a center city drug store so you could sit at the counter and have an ice cream float.  All of these have a Quaker City confection connection.

Henry Seybert: Let Freedom Ring - The Clock in the Tower

ABC:LHS #043-4   Henry Seybert...
...had a clock and a bell built for Independence Hall for the 1876 Centennial Celebration; 150 years later, they still stand.

Isaiah Lukens: His Work Is at The Athenaeum

ABC:LHS #043-3   Isaiah Lukens...
...not only built clocks that can still be seen at The Athenaeum and the Germantown City Hall, but he also built an air gun that may have been used by Lewis & Clark during their expedition. 

Henry & Thomas Voigt: Thomas Jefferson's Favorite Horologists

ABC:LHS #043-2   Henry Voigt...
...built a special clock for Thomas Jefferson that he used for his astronomical experiments until the day he died.  You can see clocks made by Voigt and his son Thomas both at Monticello and in the US Senate.