All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

GEN Langhorne Wister: A Leader of the Bucktails

ABC:LHS #025-3   Langhorne Wister...
...was a colonel with the Bucktail Regiment during the Civil War when he was shot through the mouth at the Battle of Gettysburg.  He was later promoted to Brevet General. 

John Wister: Ironmaster, Banker

ABC:LHS #025-2   John Wister...
...was founder and manager of a major iron works and a bank, as well as serving as a Civil War soldier. 

William Rotch Wister: Father of American Cricket

ABC:LHS #025-1   William Rotch Wister...
...was lawyer, soldier, and founder of the Germantown Cricket club.  He is considered the "Father of American Cricket".  He had three remarkable daughters and several sons.

Five Wister Men to Know

ABC:LHS #025   Five Wister Men to Know 
It is very easy to get lost in the Wister family.  Anyone familiar with Philadelphia History probably knows about Caspar Wistar, who founded the Wistar Institute, and author Owen Wister, who wrote the first Western novel The Virginian and is buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery.  But this was a large family.  There are 40 Wisters and 30 Wistars buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery, along with 3 Wisters at West Laurel Hill.  
Today I am going to talk about four Wister brothers and one of their sons buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery. 
William Rotch Wister was lawyer and founder of the Germantown Cricket club. 
John Wister was founder and manager of a major iron works and a bank. 
GEN Langhorne Wister was a colonel with the Bucktail Regiment during the Civil War, shot through the mouth at the Battle of Gettysburg. 
Rodman Wister ran away from home to become a drummer boy. 
John Caspar Wister, son of William Rotch, was considered the dean of horticulturists in the United States.  

Ruth Dietz Eni: I AM Momma Dietz

ABC:LHS #024-4   Ruth Dietz Eni...
...went to work for her father at Dietz & Watson and rose to be CEO.  When the PR department went looking for someone to play Momma Dietz on TV commercials, they looked no further than the front office.

Bernice McIlhenny Wintersteen: An Extraordinary Collector

ABC:LHS #024-3   Bernice McIlhenny Wintersteen...
...came from a family of collectors.  Most of her massive collection including works by Picasso and Matisse was left to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Katharine McBride, PhD: Putting Bryn Mawr College on the Map

ABC:LHS #024-2   Katharine McBride, PhD...
...did her graduate thesis on aphasia and was headed for a life of research and teaching. But her "people skills" led her to be tapped the 4th President of Bryn Mawr College.  She stayed for 28 years, where she was a fierce advocate for her students and progressive causes.

Christine Wetherill Stevenson & The Hollywood Bowl

ABC:LHS #024-1   Christine Wetherill Stevenson...
...came from the Wetherill Paint family.  Among other things, she helped to found The Hollywood Bowl, Plays & Players Theater on Delancey Street, and the Art Alliance on Rittenhouse Square. She died tragically young. 

Women's History Month 2021

ABC:LHS #024   Women's History Month for 2021 features...
Christine Wetherill Stevenson, who came from a prominent family and made her mark in Philadelphia, where she founded the Philadelphia Art Alliance, as well as in California, where she founded the Hollywood Bowl. 
Katharine Elizabeth McBride, PhD, a brilliant researcher in neuropsychology who is mostly remembered today for her 28 years as president of Bryn Mawr College; she brought it into recognition as one of the top institutions in the nation. 
Bernice McIlhenny Wintersteen, who came from a family of collectors and at one time had one of the finest private collections in the United States while serving many roles for the Philadelphia Museum of Art. 
Ruth Dietz Eni, who joined the family business as a young woman and stayed with it for more than 60 years; she enjoyed late-life recognition as the company’s spokesperson, the beloved Momma Dietz of Dietz & Watson.   

Teddy Pendergrass: Life Is a Song Worth Singing

ABC:LHS #023-4   Theodore "Teddy" Pendergrass...
...started as a drummer and background singer with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, but his distinctive voice soon earned him a solo contract. He became one of the biggest selling artists in history.  A car crash cut his career painfully short.

Grover Washington Jr.: Mr. Magic

ABC:LHS #023-3   Grover Washington Jr. ...
...was from Buffalo, New York, where he started playing local clubs as a teenager.  After going through his Coltrane phase, he settled back into a warmer, friendlier sound that developed into "smooth jazz".  His horn became the Sound of Philadelphia. He died far too young.  

Billy Paul: Mrs. Jones

ABC:LHS #023-2   Billy Paul...
...was the stage name that Paul Williams took when he started to perform. He was one of the first acts signed to the new Philadelphia International label. His biggest hit "Me and Mrs. Jones" was inescapable in 1972.  

Hy Lit and the Philadelphia Sound

ABC:LHS #023-1   Hyman "Hy" Lit...
...was a voice known to every Philadelphian during his 50 years on the air, mostly during the 1950s and 60s as one of the WIBG "Good Guys", when he drew an otherworldly market share of '70'.  His style was unforgettable.  

The Philadelphia Sound

ABC:LHS #023   The Philadelphia Sound
One of the highwater marks of Philadelphia music was in the 1970s when Gamble and Huff started Philadelphia International Music and stole thunder from both Motown and Memphis.  Two of their biggest stars were Billy Paul and Teddy Pendergrass. 
Another Philadelphian, Grover Washington Jr., became one of the top-selling jazz artists in history and is credited with laying the groundwork for what became known as “smooth jazz.”
And where did you hear the latest sounds?  On the radio, of course, where Hy Lit was one of the top names on-the-air for five decades.   
All four of these music pioneers are buried at Laurel Hill West in Bala Cynwyd. 
 
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The Birds and the Bees: Ornithologists & Entomologists

ABC:LHS #022  Ornithologists & Entomologists
John Cassin described 194 new species of birds in his lifetime and has five species of North American birds named in his honor
Titian Ramsay Peale, son of Charles Willson Peale was a meticulous illustrator of wildlife whose artworks are as highly sought as those of John James Audubon
Titian’s older and less-well-known half-sister Sophonisba Angusciola (Peale) Sellers was America’s first woman ornithologist.
Witmer Stone worked for more than 50 years in the Ornithology Department at the Academy of Natural Sciences.
But even birdwatchers may not know about the father and son oölogists Joseph Parker Norris Sr. and Jr., who had the largest collection of bird eggs in the United States.
And since the show is called The Birds and the Bees, I’ll talk about Dr. John Lawrence LeConte, who was responsible for naming and describing approximately half of the insect taxa known in the United States during his lifetime, and his younger partner Dr. George Henry Horn.
And physician / naturalist and entomologist Thomas Bellerby Wilson, who spent his personal fortune buying collections from around the world for the Academy of Sciences.
Even if you’ve never lusted after a pair of Vortex Diamondback HD binoculars, you’ll enjoy this episode of “All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories – The Birds and the Bees.”

Samuel Winpenny: Blankets for the Army

ABC:LHS #021-4   Samuel Winpenny...
...was one of many from the Winpenny family who had varying success in the textile mills.  There were plenty of misadventures among the 3rd and 4th generations.

Sevill Schofield: Cotton Wool on the Banks of the Schuylkill

ABC:LHS #021-3   Sevill Schofield...
...was a British immigrant who started small and ended up with a massive factory and warehouse which you can see to this day on the Schuylkill River Trail.

Joseph Ripka: A Hard Taskmaster

ABC:LHS #021-2   Joseph Ripka...
...was a Silesian immigrant who eventually became the largest employer in Manayunk.  He treated his workers as little more than enslaved people.  

Textile Barons and Their Kingdom

ABC:LHS #021-1   Philadelphia had taken over...
...from Massachusetts as the Textile Capitol of the country by the mid-19th century.  Thousands Philadelphians made their salaries laboring at the mills. It was not a pleasant life. 

Some Textile Barons

ABC:LHS 021   Me and My Machine
While the textile business in the United States started in New England, it did not take Philadelphia long to catch up and pass our northern neighbors.  Three people who immigrated to Manayun

SGT Richard Binder: Medal of Honor to Neighborhood Barber

ABC:LHS #020–3   SGT Richard Binder...
...was a German immigrant who joined the Marine Corps during the Civil War in order to become a citizen.  He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Fort Fisher.  He returned to Philadelphia and opened several hair salons. 

GEN Jacob Zeilin: The Corps' First General Officer

ABC:LHS #020-2   GEN Jacob Zeilin...
...was a lifelong Marine who rose to be the Corps' first general officer.  He is also credited with creating their symbol - the iconic globe, eagle, and anchor.

MAJ Levi Twiggs: From the Halls of Montezuma

ABC:LHS #020-1   MAJ Levi Twiggs...
...spent his life as a Marine. He died at the Battle of Chapultepec during the War with Mexico.  His monument is one of the most striking in the cemetery.

Send the Marines!

ABC:LHS #020 Send the Marines!
The United States Marine Corps was born in Philadelphia on November 10, 1775 and the city is the burial site for many famed members of the Corps. 
Major Levi Twiggs was born in Georgia in a military family; he joined the Marines when he was 19 and made the Marine Barracks at Philadelphia Naval Yards his home for many years before heading off to fight in the Mexican-American War. 
Brigadier General Jacob Zeilin was born in Philadelphia and spent 45 years as a Marine Corps officer, culminating in being their first General-level officer. 
Sergeant Richard Binder was a German immigrant who joined the Marines at the beginning of the Civil War and was awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery at the Battle of Fort Fisher; he returned to Philadelphia after the war and opened a series of very successful barber shops and hair parlors.  

Hobey Baker: All-American Boy

ABC:LHS #019-2   Hobart Amory Hare "Hobey" Baker...
...was an unparalleled athlete in the early 20th century.  He is the only person enshrined in both the International Hockey Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame.  His influence on author F. Scott Fitzgerald was enormous.  

Monsignor Sigourney Fay: A Real "Father Figure"

ABC:LHS #019-1   Monsignor Cyril Sigourney Webster Fay...
...was an Episcopalian-turned-Catholic priest who befriended such historical figures as Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Adams, Sean Leslie, Pope Benedict XV, and especially F. Scott Fitzgerald when he was a schoolboy; he ended up as a character in one of Fitzgerald's classics.  

F. Scott Fitzgerald Influencers at Laurel Hill

ABC:LHS #019   Two F. Scott Fitzgerald Influencers 
You might think that F. Scott Fitzgerald, a Midwesterner who made his name in New York City, would have no Philadelphia connections.  You would be wrong. 
Sigourney Webster Fay was born in Philadelphia to an old-line Episcopalian family, but left that religion to become a Catholic priest; he was the most important influence in the life of the schoolboy F. Scott Fitzgerald and the inspiration for one of his most widely-loved characters in This Side of Paradise.
While Fitzgerald matriculated at Princeton, he was three years behind the Golden Boy Hobart Amory Hare “Hobey” Baker, who not only showed up as a minor character in This Side of Paradise, but gave one of his family names to the character Fitzgerald identified as himself, Amory Blaine.  I interview Baker buff Paul Sookiasian for this segment.

Henry Charles Lea: He Expected the Spanish Inquisition

ABC:LHS #018-4   Henry Charles Lea...
...came from a family of publishers, but he took up history and was very good at it.  His multi-volume set on the Spanish Inquisition is still considered the best thing ever written about that period.

Alexander Stirling Calder & The Swann Fountain

 ABC:LHS #018-3   Alexander Stirling Calder took up sculpting, just like his father and mother. His most memorable contribution to the city is probably the magnificent Swann Fountain at Logan Circle.

William Warner: Monument by Calder

ABC:LHS #018-2   William Warner...
...made excellent money in the coal business. He used some of it to hire Alexander Milne Calder away from City Hall long enough to create what is certainly the most photographed monument at Laure Hill East.

Alexander Milne Calder & Every Statue on City Hall

ABC:LHS #018-1   Alexander Milne Calder...
...was a Scottish immigrant who received the plum commission of sculpting every statue in and on City Hall - more than 200 works of art, including William Penn who oversees the city from his pinnacle.

Calder Connections

ABC:LHS #018 Calder Connections
Alexander Milne Calder was a Scottish-born sculptor who came to Philadelphia and was given the commission for statuary for the City Hall.  He managed to squeeze in a monument for the Warner Family at Laurel Hill Cemetery that is probably the most photographed grave site on the property.
His son Alexander Stirling Calder is best remembered for Swann Fountain on Logan Circle, but he was also commissioned to do the statue for the grave of famed historian Henry Charles Lea, also at Laurel Hill. 
The Calders are interred at Laurel Hill West under a large Celtic cross.

Oscar Allis: May the Forceps Be with You

ABC:LHS #017-4   Oscar Allis...
...invented the tools that he needed. The one with staying power is the commonly used toothed clamp that bears his name. A common pediatric newborn test also contains his name. 

Malcolm MacFarlan: Pioneering Homeopathic Surgery

ABC:LHS #017-3   Malcolm Macfarlan...
...was a Scottish immigrant who became intrigued with homeopathy while serving as a battlefield surgeon in the American Civil War. He discovered that his methods provided better outcomes. He is considered the Father of Homeopathic Surgery in the United States.

Constantine Hering: Bringing Homeopathy to the New World

ABC:LHS #017-2   Constantine Hering...
...studied under Samuel Hahnemann, the Father of Homeopathic medicine.  He brought his knowledge to the United States and became an esteemed leader in this new type of medicine.  

Robley Dunglison: The First Professor

ABC:LHS #017-1   Dr. Robley Dunglison...
...was the first professor recruited by Thomas Jefferson for his new University; Dunglison soon became his private physician and was at bedside when the great man died.  He was a founding faculty member at Thomas Jefferson University.  

Fathers of American Medicine (part 1)

ABC:LHS #017   Fathers of American Medicine, Part 1
Robley Dunglison was born and educated in England but recruited to be the first Professor of Medicine at Thomas Jefferson’s University of Virginia, where he also became Jefferson’s private physician.  Later he moved to Philadelphia and was recognized as the Father of American Physiology. 
Constantine Hering was born and educated in Germany and learned the homeopathic methods of fellow countryman Samuel Hahnemann; he brought these beliefs with him to Philadelphia and is considered the Father of Homeopathic Medicine in the United States. 
Malcolm Macfarlan was born in Scotland but educated in the United States where he served in the Civil War; upon returning to Philadelphia, he worked under Hering as Chief of Surgery and became the Father of Homeopathic Surgery. 
Oscar Allis was US born and educated; he became the Father of Orthopedic Surgery at Jefferson Medical College and invented a surgical instrument which is still used thousands of times daily around the world. 

The Curtis Publishing Company and The Saturday Evening Post

ABC:LHS #016   Curtis Publishing and The Saturday Evening Post 
Before the internet, before television, before radio, there were magazines.  Philadelphia was the place you wanted to be if you were in the magazine business.  It had the best presses, the best printers, and the railroads to get them where they needed to go.  Two of the best - Saturday Evening Post and Ladies' Home Journal - came out of Curtis Publishing Company.
Cyrus H.K. Curtis was the king of magazine publishing but could only do it with the help of two amazing editors – his wife, Louisa Knapp Curtis, and his hire from Boston, George Horace Lorimer.  Lorimer needed the help of another Philadelphian, Adelaide Walbaum Neall, to make the Post a success.  And while everyone thinks of Norman Rockwell as the painter of Saturday Evening Post covers, Katharine Richardson Wireman painted covers for the Post and the Journal long before Rockwell.  And when Curtis built his headquarters Building on 6th and Walnut, he hired a local architect Edgar Viguers Seeler.  All six of these people are buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery.

Princess Olga Demidoff Troubetzkoy Stoever: A Not-So-Charmed Life

ABC:LHS #015-3   Princess Olga Demidoff Troubetzkoy Stoever (not at Laurel Hill)
...has a stone saying that she wanted to be there. Her colorful life, which often skirted on illegality, took her in different directions. She's somewhere off Spain.

Pancho Barnes: Taming the Air

ABC:LHS #015-2   Florence Leontine Lowe... (not at Laurel Hill)
....is better known today as Pancho Barnes, fearless stunt pilot and proprietor of the legendary "Happy Bottom Riding Club" outside Edwards Air Force Base in California.  One of her grandfathers, Richard Dobbins, built Memorial Hall for the Centennial.  The other grandfather, Thaddeus Lowe, invented the Air Force.

Bobo Huhn: Philly's First Flapper

ABC:LHS #015-1   Bobo Huhn...
...was spoiled, and had her outrageously wealthy father wrapped around her finger...and her skirts were just a little shorter than anyone elses. Things did not always work out. 

She's Not There: Three Women Interred Elsewhere

ABC:LHS 015   She's Not There... 
Ethel Huhn "Bobo" Bailey was the spoiled daughter of the spoiled second wife of Philadelphia multimillionaire George Arthur Huhn, who is buried on Millionaire’s Row. 
Florence Leontine Lowe was the granddaughter of Philadelphia builder and architect Richard Dobbins; under her nickname and married name of Pancho Barnes, she became a stunt pilot and opened a popular drinking spot for test pilots near Muroc Air Field. 
Princess Olga Demidoff Troubetzskoy Stoever was briefly the wife of Germantown-born and raised archeologist and businessman Edward Royal Stoever; her life is the thing of legends. 
None of these women are buried at Laurel Hill, but they have great stories that deserve to be shared  

J. Fred Zimmerman: The Theater Syndicate

ABC:LHS #014-3   J. Fred Zimmerman...
...was one of a small group of men, fittingly called the Theater Syndicate, which controlled a majority of theaters on the east coast. In doing so, they determined what plays would be staged and what actors would work. They were not well-loved. 

Adam Forepaugh: The Greatest Show on Earth

ABC:LHS #014-2   Adam Forepaugh...
...was a wealthy horse trader who more-or-less accidentally took over a circus, but he was a master of publicity whose feuds with P.T. Barnum made national headlines. "See the REAL white elephant."

Edward Fry: The Astor Place Riots

ABC:LHS #014-1   Edward Fry...
...was impresario for the Astor Place Opera in 1849 at the time of the famed Shakespeare riots, when dozens of New Yorkers were killed. Was it really about disagreements over interpretations of the Bard?

On with the Show! Three Impresarios

ABC:LHS #014    On with the Show! Three Impresarios 
Edward Fry was impresario for the Astor Place Opera in 1849 at the time of the famed Shakespeare riots, when dozens of New Yorkers were killed. 
Adam Forepaugh was a wealthy horse trader who more-or-less accidentally took over a circus, but gave P.T. Barnum a run for his money in post-Civil War America. 
J. Fred Zimmerman was one of a small group of men, fittingly called the Theatre Syndicate, who controlled a majority of theatres on the east coast, essentially determining what plays would be staged and what actors would work. 

Sheela Allen-Stephens: Philadelphia's Oprah

ABC:LHS #013-4   Sheela Allen-Stephens...
...was everyone's friend. She developed a reputation as a reporter who would do anything to get a story, including standing in the middle of Broad Street and yelling at the hotel where Elizabeth Taylor was staying.

Edie Huggins, AKA Eddie Lou: A Born TV Personality

ABC:LHS #013-3   Edie Huggins...
...was from St. Louis and the first Black "Miss Cornhusker." When she found her way to Philadelphia as television reporter and host, she quickly became one of everyone's favorites.

Anne Francine Moves to Harper Valley

ABC:LHS #013-2   Anne Francine...
...was a cabaret singer from the Mainline who co-starred with Angela Lansbury and Patti LuPone, was featured in a Fellini move before she spent one season as the nosey neighbor on television's Harper Valley P.T.A..  You may even remember her from Crocodile Dundee.

Dave Garroway: The Today Show ... Peace

ABC:LHS #013-1   Dave Garroway...
...was one of the first people on television who knew how to use the medium. His laid-back style was perfect and he became one of its top stars as host of The Today Show.  

On the Tube

ABC:LHS #013   
Dave Garroway was one of the most successful announcers in the early days of television, but things fell apart when he walked away from "The Today Show."
Main Line socialite Anne Francine might be better remembered for her time on stage or in cabaret performances, but she spent a memorable season in a TV show starring Barbara Eden.
And anyone who lived in Philadelphia over the past 40 years knew about Edie Huggins and Sheela Allen-Stephens.

Robert Carson: He Died Doing What He Loved

ABC:LHS #012-5   Robert Carson...
...loved opera and operettas but had a bad heart.  Heedless of his doctor's warning, he and his wife headed to the premier of a new operetta at the Chestnut Street Opera House.  It turned out to be his coda.

David Bispham: They're Hanging Danny Deever in the Morning

ABC:LHS #012-4   David Bispham...
...was one of the most popular tenors of his day, both in recital and in dramatic opera roles.  He counted Teddy Roosevelt as one of his biggest fans.  

Camille d'Elmar: Always the Bridesmaid

ABC:LHS #012-3   Camille d'Elmar...
...was never the lead singer, but she made a comfortable career by singing in the chorus.  Her grave remains unmarked.

Eleanore Mayo Elverson: A Career Cut Short

ABC:LHS #012-2   Eleanore Nellie Mayo Elverson...
...was daughter of a famed actor who was determined to be an opera singer.  Her career was on the rise until a marriage the owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer and a bad review ended her professional career.  
 

Giuseppe del Puente: The Baritone of Choice

ABC:LHS #012-1   Giuseppe del Puente...
...was one of the finest baritones in the country, yet he lay in an unmarked grave for more than half a century.  When the opera-loving populace of South Philadelphia found out, they purchased him a stone.

A Night at the Opera

ABC:LHS #012   A Night at the Opera 
Giuseppe del Puente was considered the premier baritone of the late 19th century.
Eleanor Mayo had a budding career derailed by a bad review and a marriage. 
Camille d’Elmar was never a star but she made a living from opera. 
David Bispham was "The Quaker Singer" who was a favorite of Teddy Roosevelt. 
Robert Carson's Night at the Opera turned out to be lethal.

Mary Engle Pennington, PhD: The Ice Lady

ABC:LHS #011-3   Mary Engle Pennington, PhD...
...was a champion for frozen foods and sanitation. Her work at the FDA standardized the ways that frozen foods would be stored and transported.  

Rachel Lloyd, PhD: Getting Sugar from Beets

ABC:LHS #011-2   Rachel Lloyd...
...was the first woman in the United States to earn a doctorate in chemistry.  She used her knowledge and position to promote sugar productions from beets, which reduced the need for enslaved people to harvest sugar cane. 

Martha Coston: She Had a Certain Flare

ABC:LHS #011-1   Martha Coston...
...was widowed young but had learned enough from her chemist husband that she was able to carry on his work on safety flares.  They became an essential part of water rescue for many decades and saved thousands of lives.

She Invented What?!

ABC:LHS #011   Three women whose inventions changed the world
Martha Coston invented the signal flare that bears her name and in so doing saved thousands of lives in wartime and in peace.
Rachel Lloyd had to go to Europe to get her PhD in chemistry, but she then jump-started the sugar beet industry in the United States. 
Mary Engle Pennington, the “Ice Lady” completely changed the way your food is prepared, shipped, and stored. 

REV Matthew Simpson: Counseling and Consoling the President

ABC:LHS #010-3   Bishop Matthew Simpson was a giant of the 19th century American Methodist Church.  Abraham Lincoln confided in him frequently and they became close personal friends.  He delivered Lincoln's eulogy at Springfield. You have probably driven past his statue dozens of times as you headed to the Mann.

COL Ulric Dahlgren: The Dahlgren Affair

ABC:LHS #010-2   Ulric Dahlgren...
... son of John, followed his father’s patriotism, but he made his name in the Army.  He achieved the rank of Colonel when he was 21. His name will forever be attached to one of the most infamous events of the Civil War. 

ADM John Dahlgren: Modernizing the Navy

ABC:LHS #010-1   John Dahlgren...
...knew what he wanted, knew how to get it, and went for it. He frequently achieved his goals by skipping the chain-of-command and going directly to the top.  It annoyed his fellow sailors to no end, but it certainly didn’t hurt that he was a close personal friend of Abraham Lincoln. 

Friends of Abraham Lincoln

ABC:LHS #010   Friends of Abraham Lincoln 
Admiral John Dahlgren was the father of Naval Ordnance, and the father of Colonel Ulric Dahlgren of the infamous Dahlgren affair during the Civil War that may have directly led to the assassination of their friend Abraham Lincoln. 
Bishop Matthew Simpson - you've seen his statue on Belmont - was a confidante who delivered Lincoln’s funeral oration in Springfield, Illinois. 

Nine Attorney Generals

ABC:LHS #009   Attorneys General
Richard Rush served in the cabinets of three presidents and ran for Vice President in 1832, but is frequently an afterthought to his Founding Father parent Benjamin Rush and his son, who founded Rush's Lancers.
Henry Gilpin was appointed US Attorney General just in time to argue the United States case in the Amistad affair. 
Seven Pennsylvania Attorneys General, each with a fascinating story.
Thomas Sergeant
John K. Kane
Lewis C. Cassidy
Hampton I. Carson
Moses Hampton Todd
William I Schaffer
William A. Schnader

Harriet Frishmuth: Making Clay Come to Life

ABC:LHS #008-3   Harriet Frishmuth...
...sculpted nubile women without the male gaze. Her favorite model was a Slovenian ballet dancer. Although her career was cut short by a fall, she lived to be 100 years old. Her sculptures will live far longer. 

Cecilia Beaux: The Best of the Best

ABC:LHS #008-2   Cecilia Beaux...
...was the daughter of a French silk merchant who abandoned her as an infant.  The household where she grew up was under the domain of several strong women, and Cecilia learned her lessons well.  Sometimes called "The Female John Singer Sergeant, she may be the only American woman painter to be mentioned in the same breath as Mary Cassatt.    

Alice Barber Stephens: Illustrator, Painter, Teacher

ABC:LHS #008-1   Alice Barber Stephens...
...was one of the top magazine illustrators in the country. Her work was in constant demand, even when she moved to the Rose Valley artists' colony.  

Three Lady Artists

ABC:LHS #008
Alice Barber Stephens was one of the premiere magazine illustrators of the late 19th century
Cecilia Beaux was acknowledged in her day as one of the top portrait painters in the country
Harriet Frishmuth was a sculptor who lived to be 100 and whose art deco works continue to astound viewers 

Harry Kalas: Voice of the Phillies

ABC:LHS #007-Part 3    Harry Kalas...
...started his announcing career while with the Army in Hawaii. He became the voice of the Phillies, but the voice of NFL films, and the BART system in San Francisco.  His theme song was "High Hopes." You are probably humming it now.  

Al Reach & Ben Shibe: Bringing the Game to the Quaker City

ABC:LHS #007-2   Al Reach...
...was a cricket player who took up baseball and became an equipment manufacturer and a club owner.  His name was on American League baseballs until the 1970s.
Benjamin Franklin "Ben" Shibe had been lamed by a trolley accident when he was a boy, so he didn't play much.  But he knew the game from a manager's perspective, and a state-of-the-art ballfield was named for him in North Philadelphia.

Harry Wright: The Father of Baseball. No, Really!

ABC:LHS #007-1   Harry Wright...
...was a cricket player from England who became enamored with baseball and worked to make it the professional game you expect today.  His statue stands over his grave at Laurel Hill West, and he has been voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown. 

Play Ball!!

ABC:LHS #007   Play Ball!! (Part 2)
Professional baseball has a declared Founding Father, Hall of Famer Harry Wright. 
Since Philadelphia was one of the early cities to adopt the game, sporting goods manufacturers Ben Shibe and Al Reach took advantage of it.
If you listened to the Phillies on the radio, you knew the unmistakable voice of broadcast announcer Harry Kalas.
 
Wright, Shibe, and Reach are interred at Laurel Hill West, while Kalas is at East.

Fathers and Sons of Laurel Hill East

ABC:LHS #006-0
There are many father-and-son combinations buried at Laurel Hill including
Portrait artist Thomas Sully and his military son General Albert Sully
Generals Robert and Francis Patterson, both with somewhat tarnished military records
Gilded Age capitalist extraordinaire Peter A.B. Widener, and his son George and grandson Harry who went down on the RMS Titanic

Horace Trumbauer: Designing for the Nouveau Rich

ABC:LHS #005-4 Horace Trumbauer...
...had wanted to be an architect since he was a little boy.  He became the go-to architect for Philadelphia's Gilded-Age millionaires - Widener, Elkins, Stotesbury, Berwind, and many more.  He also designed the Public Library and the Art Museum.

Frank Furness: Buildings That Dance and Sing

ABC:LHS #005-3   Frank Furness...
...designed buildings unlike anyone else.  His buildings look like they're about to start moving like a giant steampunk machine.  The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is his surviving masterpiece.  

Napoleon LeBrun: The Academy and the Cathedral

ABC:LHS #005-2   Napoleon LeBrun...
...was hired for two massive projects, both of which exist today more than 160 years later - The Academy of Music on South Broad and the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul at Logan Circle.

John Notman: The New Guy from Scotland

ABC:LHS #005-1   John Notman...
...was a Scottish immigrant who underbid seasoned pros for the contract at Laurel Hill.  To prove it wasn't a fluke, he went on to build The Athenaeum on Washington Square, Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, and much more. 

Building Philadelphia (Part 1)

ABC:LHS #005   Four Architects...
John Notman: The Athenaeum, Laurel Hill Cemetery
Napoleon LeBrun: Academy of Music, Cathedral of Sts. Peter & Paul
Frank Furness: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, gatehouse at the Philadelphia Zoo
Horace Trumbauer: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Free Library of Philadelphia

Holidays among the Stones

ABC:LHS #004
Before the Civil War there were two national holidays - Independence Day and Washington's Birthday.  But in Laurel Hill are 5 people who made American holidays what they are today:
*Sarah Josepha Hale, the woman who invented Thanksgiving
*Martha Kimball, the woman who MAY have invented Memorial Day
*Anna Jarvis, the mother of Mother’s Day
*Stephen F. Whitman, the man who invented Whitman chocolates
*Not included in podcast: Elizabeth Duane Gillespie, who is probably responsible for Flag Day

Owen Wister: Inventing the Western Novel (interview with Thomas Keels)

ABC:LHS #003-3   Owen Wister...
...was a blue-blood Philadelphian who became fascinated with the Wild West and wrote what many consider the first Western novel, The Virginian, which has been made into movies, TV shows, and even an opera.  Author, historian, and fellow tour guide Thomas Keel shares Wister's story.
 

John B. Stetson and The Boss of the Plains

ABC #003-2   John B. Stetson...
....invented the 10-gallon hat, which became one of the most identifying marks of the Old West. In Philadelphia his contributions were legion.

Henry Deringer, The Father of Concealed Carry (interview with Russ Dodge)

ABC:LHS #003-1   Henry Deringer...
...was a Philadelphia gunsmith whose single-shot bore-loading pistol could be concealed in a pocket, a hand muff, or the palm of your hand.  Its popularity exploded after John Wilkes Booth used one to assassinate President Lincoln.

Three Easterners of the Old West

ABC #003   Three Easterners of the Old West
Henry Deringer invented the pocket pistol that bears his name (interview with Russ Dodge)
Owen Wister wrote the first definitive Western novel "The Virginian" (interview with Thomas Keels)
John Batterson Stetson invented the hat that defined the Old West. 

Elisha Kent Kane: Arctic Explorer

ABC #002   Elisha Kent Kane...
...was one of the most famous Americans of the mid-19th century.  He knew that he would die young, and he pushed the limits.  Maggie Fox was a spiritualist and medium from New York.  Somehow, they got together and became a couple.  Their story is pretty sensational. 
 
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The Origins of Laurel Hill: How and Why Did We Get Here?

ABC#001   How did we get here?
Most people who walk into Laurel Hill Cemetery for the first time are struck by the greenness of the place.  The 78-acre property stretches between Ridge Avenue and Kelly Drive, and between East Falls and Strawberry Mansion - a large, open, green space with more than 75,000 inhabitants, hundreds of statues, miles of paved roads, wildlife, and 850 trees in the middle of a very modern city.  
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