HSP's Hidden Histories

'White Slavery' in the ante-Bellum South and Civil War Era: A Little Known Phenomenon'

2011-12-29T18:00:00.000-05:00

When one researches primary source material for the 19th-century American South, occasionally one finds enigmatic references to 'white slaves,' or individuals who were in reality Caucasians, but were sold or held in bondage, by crooked masters or slave-dealers, for a variety of reasons. A number of publications exist on the subject today, but one wonders exactly how many whites were in reality enslaved, since cases or accounts of such incidents are numerically significant.

For example, the abolitionist newspaper, the National Anti-Slavery Standard, published in New York City, for March 9, 1861, printed an incident of a slave being sent back to Tippah County, Mississippi, from Illinois, who according to the Cairo (IL) Gazette, "claimed he was actually white, and had every appearance of being so." The individual's name, was Henry Lee, alias Henry Jones, the property of a Mr. W.C. Faulkner. The above article declares:

"Mr. Lee...thinks he is a white man, and if the matter were to be determined wholly by color and appearance, some folks might join him in the conclusion. He says that his parents were white, that they dying, when he was very young, left him in the charge of a slaveholder in Alabama, who raised him in slavery, and taught him to believe that he was a mulatto. He further claims that his name was changed so that his relatives might never seek to reclaim him from bondage."

Such assertions as above may seem to be distortions of the truth, but it was the case in some Southern states, that children who were products of Black fathers, but White mothers, often obtained their freedom once they reached a certain age. Thus, many African-Americans attempted to 'pass as partial Whites,' or went to court attesting that their mothers were White and not Black, when the issue became a source of contention between the person enslaved, and his or her master or mistress.

The Philadelphia (PA) Public Ledger, for December 27, 1860, reprinted an article from a Natchez, Mississippi newspaper, entitled, "Painting a White Girl to Make Her a Slave." It was stated how a man from Natchez was on a steamboat on its way to Greenville, Mississippi, when he noticed a young girl, "aged about nine or ten years," with black hair and "yellowish brown skin." He was told she belonged to a gentleman on board who was taking her to New Orleans to be sold for $160.00. Talking to the young girl alone, the inquisitive passenger was informed by the girl, how "she was an orphan, and had been taken from an asylum in New York," and that her hair had been light originally, but her 'master' had a barber dye her hair black, and also put "some yellow dye on her skin."

Soon after the above confession, the young girl was taken by the ship captain, who after using potash, soap and water, removed "the dyes...and the light hair and light complexion {were} brought to light." The pretended "master was seized by the excited passengers," who caused him to be locked up in a state room until the boat should land. The young girl was eventually placed in an orphan asylum in New Orleans.

Interestingly, such cases of 'white slavery' in the Southern states was not limited only to the 'ante-bellum' or pre-Civil War period of history. During the 'War Between the States,' in 1863, a correspondent of the Cincinnati (Ohio) Gazette (reprinted in the Philadelphia Daily Evening Bulletin), related that within the 78th Ohio Infantry Regiment, was a man who was taken, "as a runaway slave," into the Union lines in Tennessee. His features and skin color denoted "Anglo-Saxon" ancestry, while his eyes were also "blue, his lips thin, and his hair light." His former Tennessee master had admitted to Colonel Mortimer D. Leggett, "that there was not a drop of African blood in the veins of his slave," and that he had purchased the man in Richmond, Kentucky years before, and that he'd been "sold into slavery, out of some charitable institution to which he had been committed as a vagrant."

The Lebanon (PA) Courier, for April 9, 1863, contains a remarkable tale of a white man held as a slave. The account states how a planter's daughter in Mississippi was seduced, and to "hide her shame" after she became pregnant, her female child was given to a slave woman, along with a certain amount of money, in order to "bring her up as her own." The child eventually became the "mistress of the planter's son, who succeeded to the estate. She had by him five children, and among them the man...Charles Grayson. This was in Calhoun County, Mississippi, three miles from Paris."

Eventually Charles was sold to William Steen, and soon after he learned of his true parentage. Running away, he was "captured and treated with harshness. He was made to do more work than any slave.--The object was to break him down. He proved to be strong and able to bear all the burdens put upon him."

On December 17, 1862, the Third Michigan Cavalry came into the area, and Grayson procured a horse and rode into their encampment. There he was employed as a cook for one of the non-commissioned officers, Theodore Reese, of Company 'F.' He wished to move North, and was thus aided by Lt. Col. G. Rogers as well as citizens of Jackson, Tennessee, who assisted Grayson in carrying out his plan. Not long after he took up residence in Cass County, Michigan, where by 1870 he was working as a farm laborer for a Peter Scofield and his family of Cass County.

Charles Grayson was a 'slave' for seventeen of his twenty-three years, but his "straight, light hair, fair blue eyes, a sandy beard," revealed that he was indeed a Caucasian and not of Black ancestry.

The above accounts are only a few scattered renditions of one little known aspect of the institution of slavery within the Southern States prior to and during the American Civil War. Such incidents reveal that 'slavery' is a much more complex issue than anyone has imagined, affecting individuals, both White and Black in a very diverse manner.

Such accounts, like so many other topics included within this blog, may be found here, within the collections at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

A Nineteenth Century Christmas in Words and Illustrations

2011-12-28T19:02:00.000-05:00

This appeared in the December HSP email publication, History Hits: Collecting & sharing the stories of Pennsylvania. For a free subscription, enter your email here.

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The Christmas holiday season has generated much interest from both a personal and commercial perspective within the United States for many years. What is considered to be the first illustration of Santa Claus descending a chimney with a bag or sack full of toys was printed in the January 1841 issue of the New York City weekly newspaper, the New York Mirror (1823-1842). The picture below, drawn by Dublin-born portrait-painter Charles Cromwell Ingham, was then made available in print through the efforts of a wood engraver, Robert Roberts, an immigrant from Wales.

Christmas cards have been around for quite some time. William Egley Jr. of Great Britain has received credit for creating the oldest card in 1843, though many early versions appear to stem from Valentine cards, whose origins can be traced as far back as the 15th century. Poems or verses, along with graphic illustrations, have been a major part of Christmas cards, as demonstrated by the one below, printed in 1855.

Christmas is a time that brings families together. In a letter written in 1842, a woman named Mary in Montrose, Pennsylvania, recalled to John, how "... (Christmas Eve), you know, when St. Nicholas fills the stockings of good little children, Bubby held the candle while I drove a nail by the fireplace, he then hung up his stocking, and went to bed...As soon as he was awake this morning...I wish you could too could have seen him as he drew parcel after parcel, from the stocking--carefully inspected the contents, and then laid it aside for the next."

William R. O'Donovan, writing to his sister from New York City on Christmas Day in 1871, stated: "This is Christmas night...A night that brings to all our minds the recollections of our childhoods, with what a keen zest we all used to look forward to Christmas for weeks before, with anticipations of what Santa-Claus would bring us. And how our eagerness to see the contents of our stockings, drove all sleep away. It may seem foolish, at this time of life to recall such reminiscences. But I am glad...I am still able to recall with pleasure the halo of brightness that always lent to this day such a sweet enjoyment to our youthful minds. May none of us ever grow old enough in Spirit to forget these early, happy, times in the morning of our lives...."

Mr. O'Donovan later writes to his mother on Christmas Day in 1876 lamenting the plight of the poor in New York City. "I have seen fair young girls, who have never known the want of a luxery, {sic} in filthy tenements, ministering to poor sufferers, with the self forgetfulness, and gentleness of angels...How then can I call this a hard and heartless world? It is full of beauty, and truth, and love; if we will but try to find it...."

In the 19th century and today, Christmas has brought joy to many souls, in both picture, poetry, and memory, much of which is available within the collections at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

The American Frontier: Romantic Portrayal vs. Reality

2011-12-09T17:05:00.000-05:00

Today's culture is permeated with so-called 'reality' television shows, which in some ways are no doubt 'mirror-images' of at least a portion of our society, while others are blatantly more fiction than fact, characters and events simply 'staged' for the camera and a gullible public that thrives on sensationalism. The same was true for the frontier period of American history, with its stark 'reality' of scalpings, murders, death by wild animals, disease, accidental misfortunes on farm or within the forest, as well as fictional renditions of persons and events (though occasionally based somewhat on 'fact'), as rendered in such popular novels, as those by famed author, James Fenimore Cooper.

Luckily, many primary sources exist describing 'life on the Frontier,' by which one can at least gain a semblance of the perils and harsh reality that our ancestors endured, as well as an almost nostalgic yearning for a time long past that could prove to be either 'Edenic' or 'Hellish,' depending perhaps on one's perspective.

Elias Pym Fordham, describing the frontier of Illinois Territory in 1817, remarked:

To be at an unknown distance from the dwellings of man...and then to lie at night in a blanket, with your feet to a fire, with your rifle hugged in your arms, listening to the howling wolves, and starting at the shriek of the terrible panther: This it is to be in a wilderness alone.

One visitor to a Kentucky pioneer station or fort, during the time of Daniel Boone in the late 18th-century, stated how:

The whole dirt and filth of the Fort, putrified flesh, dead dogs, horse, cow, hog excrement and human odour," coupled "with the Ashes and sweepings of filthy Cabbins, the dirtiness of the people, steeping skins to dress and washing every sort of dirty rags and cloths, will certainly contribute to render the inhabitants of this place sickly." One visitor to Boonesborough itself, remarked how its residents were, "a poor, distressed, half-naked, half-starved people," while another settler lamented how there was "no bred, no salt, no vegetables, no fruit of any kind, no Ardent sperrets, indeed nothing but meet {meat}.

A Mr. Andrew Boggs, along with his wife Margery Harris, were the first settlers in what is now Centre County, Pennsylvania, at a place called 'Bald Eagle's Nest' (the site of Milesburg) in 1769. Boggs ran a 'Trader's Inn,' which was visited on one occasion by the Rev. Philip Vicars Fithian, of Greenwich, New Jersey, who was on a tour of the frontier in the spring of 1775. The good parson relates how the pioneer post was located in a "pleasant spot," with a "broad creek running by the door." However, his appreciation for his lodgings 'soon soured,' since he then remarks that,

Soon after we had dined, two Indian boys bolted in (they never knock or speak at the door), with seven large fish--In return Mrs. Boggs gave them bread and a piece of our venison. Down they sat in the ashes before the fire, stirred up the coals, and laid on their flesh. When it was roasted, they eat in great mouthfuls and devoured it with the greatest rapacity...

I sat me down on a three-legged stool to writing. This house looks and smells like a shambles--raw flesh and blood, fish and deer, flesh and blood in every part--mangled, wasting flesh on every shelf. Hounds licking up the blood from the floor...naked Indians. Ten hundred thousand flies. Oh, I fear there are as many fleas. Seize me soon, kind sleep, lock me in they sweet embrace...as I lay me down let me...lose my senses!

Stop! oh, stop! sleep to-night is gone. Four Indians came droving in, each with a large knife and tomahawk...For all this settlement I would not live here--for two such settlements--not for five hundred a year.

Lucy Watson, who had lived on the frontier in New Hampshire in 1762, recalled in later years, how as a child her family "could hear the wolves howling near them every night. The Foxes could be heard to Bark by day as well as by night. The Panthers too, were several times heard. They cried like the voice of a woman in distress, and would deceive Persons so as to incline them to go after them..."

Lucy goes on to relate how her family had went "to work to cutting down Trees, to burn them away and get the Land clear. This they did themselves, for they could not get any hired help.--The wild wooden state was such, that formerly a Mrs. Pritchet, with her infant Son, got lost therein--She wandered about till the child died and she buried it under a Tree root, where the ground was broken by the blown over tree. Hunger and anxiety bewildered her mind and when she was found after many days of search...she was so wild she fled from them. Her clothes had been nearly torn off by the bushes and brakes."

Many early frontier families, floated down the Ohio River on 'flatboats,' from Redstone, located in what is now Fayette County, Pennsylvania, to Limestone (now Maysville, Kentucky my home town), where many such would-be settlers were waylaid, captured, or murdered before ever arriving at their intended destination. One such family was that of Jacob Greathouse, and his party of sixteen, in the spring of 1791. Other pioneers in their group had previously arrived at Limestone, but the Greathouse family had not appeared as expected. Thus, a relief party of frontiersmen went to search for them, and soon found them all, from the youngest to the oldest, scalped and tortured.

Jacob Greathouse and his wife "had been tethered each to a sapling...Their bellies had been opened...and a loose end of the entrails tied to the sapling. They had then either been dragged or prodded around and around so that their intestines had been pulled out of their bodies to wind around the trees as they walked...Greathouse himself had stumbled along until not only his intestines but even his stomach had been pulled out and wound into the obscene mass on the tree. They had been scalped and burning coals stuffed into their body cavities before the Indians departed."

Such accounts as the above were quite often the realities of 'life on the Frontier.' Yet, still there literally hundreds of thousands of pioneers who ventured westwards. Frederick Jackson Turner, an historian and son of early Wisconsin settlers, would write a seminal essay, entitled, "The Frontier in American History," wherein he would vividly recall the 'hybrid' culture created on the frontier, with the merging of Native-American and Anglo-American societies. Though he advocated that American democracy had originated as the result of the frontier experience, later scholars such as Ray Allen Billington, would challenge his thesis, but admit that Turner's theory held true in that "the frontier environment" did indeed heighten or intensify democratic institutions, rugged individualism, and independent thinking.

It is appropriate to close this blog entry with a famed quotation, taken from Turner's essay, which contains much truth as well as 'romance' of the frontier experience in America. He states:

The wilderness masters the colonist. It finds him a European in dress, industries, tools, mode of travel, and thought. It takes him from the railroad car, and puts him in the birch canoe. It strips off the garments of civilization and arrays him in the hunting shirt and the moccasin. It puts him in the log cabin of the Cherokee and Iroquois and runs an Indian palisade around him.

Before long he has gone to planting Indian corn and plowing with a sharp stick; he shouts the war cry and takes the scalp in orthodox Indian fashion. In short, at the frontier the environment is at first too strong for the man. He must accept the conditions which it furnishes, or perish, and so he fits himself into the Indian clearings and follows the Indian trails.

Little by little he transforms the wilderness, but the outcome is not the old Europe...The fact is, that here is a new product that is American.

The 'frontier' is a massive subject in and of itself, in regard to our American heritage. Luckily, much of its past reality and romance can be found here, within the primary and secondary sources, available at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia.

The Honesty, Patriotism, and Self-Sacrifice of some Civil War Soldiers: Examples for Thanksgiving Day

2011-11-21T12:42:00.001-05:00

Since Thanksgiving Day is rapidly approaching, it is a credit to the citizens of our nation, to know that we have always had men and women who have willingly and valiantly served their country, though regrettably often resulting in battle-wounds leaving them physically maimed for life. As early as the Revolutionary War, Margaret Cochran Corbin (the first woman in the United States to receive a pension for military service), took her deceased husband's place in battle at his cannon, receiving wounds which caused her to be partially paralyzed until her death, though she continued to serve within the 'Invalid Regiment,' performing what duties she was able, during the remainder of the War.

The Wounded Warrior Project of today, reveals how thousands of American soldiers, having served within Iraq and Afghanistan, gave both mind and body to maintain the freedom of our country, and desired to extend that liberty to individuals in those countries where they were stationed, even at the expense of their own safety and well-being.

Since this is the 150th year of the Commemoration of the American Civil War, it is only fitting to recall a few examples of soldiers of that era, who literally gave both life 'and limb,' to the service of their country. It is interesting as well, in opposition to our age of the 'get-rich-quick-scheme' and 'cradle-to-the-grave-security' mentality, that such individuals also at times, refused assistance from the Federal Government, though it was legally allotted to them for their service to the nation.

In an article entitled, "A True Patriot," appearing in the Lebanon {PA} Courier, on January 20th, 1870, an account was given from the 'Commissioners of Pensions,' who had received a letter from a DANIEL K. WILD, former private in Co. 'K,' 84th Pennsylvania Volunteers, residing at Abbott Village, in Maine. The letter from Wild to the Federal government's pension office, stated how, "the writer had regained his health, and can get along without his pension. He therefore requests that his name be stricken from the pension rolls."

As one can imagine, such a denial of monies, drew the attention of the Pension Bureau, and prompted Commissioner Van Aernam to write Daniel Wild and let him know that his "request has been granted." The Commissioner continued:

"Living in an age when the honest impulses of the great mass of the people are blunted by an overweening desire for gain, this request with your services as a soldier in the field, shows that you are alike honorable and patriotic, and your name should go down to history as a worthy example for the coming generation. Permit me to thank you for your noble letter."

During the Civil War itself, an article appearing in the Philadelphia Daily Evening Bulletin, for May 12th, 1863, entitled, "An Honest Soldier," concerned that of Private JOHN MOHR, of Co. 'E,' Fifth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry (USA), who'd received $104.00 more than was due to him, though as far as 'Uncle Sam' was concerned, the amount was correct. However, Mohr insisted "that he had been overpaid, but failed to convince the paymaster, until he brought proof that a payment made two months previous had not been entered against him."

Mohr's case was investigated and it was found "that his statement was correct, and the Paymaster awarded him $5.00 for his honesty. He had every opportunity to pocket the money, and it never would have been discovered, but his heart was too large to be guilty of such a crime." The article goes on to state, that "John is highly deserving of promotion for his honesty. Aside from this virtue, he is said to be an excellent soldier and has seen hard service."

Such honor and devotion was also exemplified by certain Civil War soldiers, both during the war and afterwards as well. As early as September 28th, in 1861, the Lebanon {PA} Courier recalled within an article entitled, "Incidents of Battle," how one wounded soldier, "with both his legs nearly shot off, was found in the woods singing the 'Star Spangled Banner,' and "but for this circumstance, the surgeons say they would not have discovered him."

Private WILLIAM LAMBERT, of Co. 'D,' Thirteenth New Jersey Infantry Regiment, participated in the 'Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, fought on May 3, 1863. According to the Germantown, Philadelphia {PA} Telegraph for August 5th, he appeared "the next day...at the regimental hospital, without either cap, coat, vest, or shoes, and with one arm gone...merely observing that the 'Rebels had given him a devil of a rap.' He had been wounded and taken to a hospital near the battle field, had his arm amputated, and then, disdaining to be idle, walked five miles to his own hospital."

Lambert was offered a ride in an ambulance but declined, preferring he said to "see the country." As the above article states, "When such men grapple with the enemy there can be no doubt where the victory will lie."

During the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, fought on December 13th, 1862, Color-Sergeant THOMAS PLUNKETT, of Co. 'E,' Twenty-First Massachusetts Infantry, while "bearing the colors of his regiment," bravely bore it to the front lines and "held his ground, until both arms were shot away by a shell." In his official report of his regiment's participation within the battle, Col. William S. Clark of the Twenty-First, confirmed how,

"Color-Sergeant Collins, of Company A, was shot, and fell to the ground. Sergeant Plunkett, of Company E, instantly seized the colors, and carried them proudly forward to the farthest point reached by our troops during the battle...about 40 rods from the position of the rebel infantry...a shell was thrown with fatal accuracy, at the colors, which again brought them to the ground wet with the life-blood of the brave Plunkett, both of whose arms were carried away."

Interestingly, a number of the nation's newspapers in January of 1864 related how when Plunkett left for the War, he was engaged. Once he returned without his two arms, he offered "a release to his betrothed, which was readily accepted." However, her sister, a Miss Nellie Lorrimer, "was so indignant at this that she said she would marry the brave man herself if he was agreeable, and agreeable he was, and they married." The wedding took place in Worcester, Massachusetts, and afterwards the citizens of that state, "raised a purse of $50,000 and presented it to Plunkett." In 1870, during a parade of former Civil War soldiers, Plunkett was present, and "as he raised his cap with his artificial arm, was loudly cheered."

There are many such inspiring and uplifting stories as those mentioned above, waiting and available to the researcher, on this and many other topics, located within the varied collections at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

The Strange Insanity of Hannah Lewis, in 18th-century Philadelphia

2011-11-15T12:37:00.001-05:00

Surprisingly, exactly two hundred twelve years ago today, the Gazette of the United States and Philadelphia Daily Advertiser, for November 15, 1799, recorded the death of HANNAH LEWIS, an elderly woman from Philadelphia. For seventeen years, Mrs. Lewis resided at America's first hospital for the mentally impaired, or the Pennsylvania Hospital, which began on May 11, 1751, by an 'Act of the Pennsylvania Assembly,' largely through the efforts of Philadelphia physician, Dr.Thomas Bond, and well-known resident and citizen, Benjamin Franklin.

Benjamin Rush, famed Philadelphia physician and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence wished for mentally impaired individuals to receive "humane and proper treatment," and served as a physician at the Pennsylvania Hospital from 1783 until his death in 1813. Within his personal papers on deposit at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania (but owned by the Library Company of Philadelphia), is a "List of Lunatics in the Pennsylvania Hospital," for May 1, 1784, which states the "Disease, Causes, Mania," of the respective residents, among which one "Hannah Lewis" is included, with "Grief" being the reason for her mental difficulty or imbalance.

The well-known female Quaker diarist, Elizabeth Drinker, recorded the death of Hannah Lewis on November 14, 1799, stating how she was "in the 87th year of her age...a native of this City, and for the last 17 years a pattient {sic} of that house.---I knew her when I was a Child as did most in this City, she being always look'd on as a person deranged."

Yet just exactly what was her 'derangement?' The above Gazette and other Philadelphia papers describe it as the following: "Supposing herself to be a daughter of King George II, and having a mind to see her father {italics from the paper}, she made several attempts about forty years since to go to England, but was always detected and prevented by her friends. At length she eluded their vigilance and escaped to New York...There she concealed herself in a ship bound to London, where she arrived and remained about seven years, till her money and plate was all expended; her curiosity being gratified, she settled her 'tribute money' as she called it, at the rate of a heaped bushel of gold per annum, and returned to Philadelphia, supremely happy, in the idea of receiving punctual remitances every year."

With this she supported the Hospital (which she called her own house), and allowed her domestics to "live in splendor, equal to the pre-eminent dignity and rank, she always imagined she sustained in the world."

Samuel Coates (1748-1830), a Philadephia Quaker merchant, served on the Pennsylvania Hospital's Board of Managers, and as both the Secretary of the Board for twenty-six years, and President of the Hospital for some thirteen years of his life. He was particularly interested in the insane, and actually kept a "leather-bound memorandum book," in which he recorded his feelings, ideas, observations, and thoughts on madness. It is within this work, that we have the most detailed account of the 'madness of Hannah Lewis,' entitled, "Some Account of Hannah Lewis, A Lunatic, who died in the Pennsylvania Hospital."

Coates states how Hannah was the daughter of early Welsh settlers of Pennsylvania and that her problems began or "commenced soon after the Death of her husband, and was attributed to that cause," hence Benjamin Rush's statement that her derangement came from 'Grief,' as stated. However, her manifestations of instability took on a somewhat 'different turn' that one would naturally expect, if derived from sorrow or despair.

Being a Quaker, we're told she commenced preaching in the "Friends Meeting, at the old Courthouse Steps, and in the open streets." Owen Jones (1711-1793), an early Quaker leader, visited her in an attempt to "dissuade her from preaching." In response, Hannah "invited him to sit down and accept a glass of wine and a bisquit," then said a prayer, but afterwards reproved him "as an unfit person to treat with her, he having just taken the Sacrament against the very principles he professed as a Quaker..." She soon denied her parentage, as well as her own children, describing them as "brats" which had been "imposed upon her...because she was rich."

It is this latter remark which brought to her, a "claim to fame," since she emphatically declared herself "to be a Member of the Royal Family, and eldest daughter of George the Second." Eventually arriving in England, she roamed the Royal Gardens, but "was permitted to range" according to Coates, since she was considered to be a harmless character. Eventually accruing a debt of several hundred pounds which she was unable to pay, she returned to Philadelphia. However, she came back to America "as she said," with "Tribute Money" from "her Father, the King of Great Britain," consisting of gold, silver, and copper coinage, believing she applied such funding "to the support of the Pennsylvania Hospital, which she called her Palace."

Samuel Coates further states, that among her friends, he was "one of the unfortunate ones that lost her affections," since he claimed part-ownership "in her Palace" or the Hospital. She thus accused him of stealing such things as her "silver tankard," of robbing her of "a bushel of gold and silver," of drinking "the Milk of her Nine Cows, swallowing 3 gallons of it at one time," and among many other accusations, also informed Coates of her displeasure in removing the pavements "she had laid with Jewels, Sapphires, and Diamonds, and replaced them with common bricks and Stones..."

If the above wasn't enough, Hannah informed poor Coates that he knew he "had murdered all her Children in Cold Blood, entered her Chamber in the Night, cut her into pieces, and carried off her back bones, till she bent like an Old Woman, pressed down by the Infirmities of Age," all of which were crimes, not only against her person, but also "her Kingdom."

On one occasion, Governor Thomas Mifflin of Pennsylvania visited and conversed with her, a conversation which Samuel Coates witnessed and recorded within his memorandum book as follows:

   "Governor: How do you do Mrs. Lewis?
   Hannah: You make very free--Who are you?
   Governor: I am the Governor of Pennsylvania--don't you know me?
   Hannah: And I am the King's daughter, You say, you are the Governor, do You?
   Governor: Yes, I am.
   Hannah: The Devil you are! I think you have a great deal of impudence to tell me so. Where did you get your commission? I never signed it...From the people did You? They were hard put to, when they made you a Governor...You are a very ill looking fellow...
   Governor: Mrs. Lewis, why you know me very well, and I have known you, ever since I was a Child.
   Hannah: That may be...What do you do with that fellow {meaning Samuel Coates}, he is a great Villain, and ought to have his Ears cutt off!"

Samuel Coates goes on to relate how Mrs. Lewis believed herself to be the most brilliant individual, and described "Newton was but a Child to her in Astronomy...She having lived seven thousand years in the Moon. Had direct communication with every Star...She also knew the Sea better than Neptune, who was but a fool, skimming the surface of the Water, while she was swimming nine thousand years in a fishes Eye, exploring the Deep..," where she spoke with whales, fish, etc. When asked in what language she addressed the denizens of the ocean, she replied: "In the Oyer and Terminer Tongue,..which a fool like You, known nothing of!"

Coates records how Hannah Lewis "would eat almost anything," stating how he had caught her "eating mice...that she cut her hair off, when it grew long, and plaited it in the form of a pincushion, curiously wrought." For the last twelve years of her life, Coates stated she "required an allowance of rum," which she consumed "till within a few days of her death." Perhaps it was this regular allotment of 'rum' that Hannah Lewis received that was in reality the deciding factor that brought about her bouts of insanity, rather than any psychological or emotional condition!

Coates states how from her father she had received a substantial inheritance, but which disappeared by her "roving about" and from her time spent in England. When found dead in her bed, she had upon her chest, carefully placed, "a few pieces of Glass and Pebbles," which she "valued as Jewells," plus "the heads perhaps of One hundred thousand Flies and Misquitoes, which she had been in the habit of de-capitating for Many years, as a punishment for their presumption, in biting the King's daughter."

One naturally feels sadness for the disturbed life of a woman who at one time had been quite sane. Regrettably, to my knowledge, nothing to date has been found as to what caused her "Grief," whether it was in fact tied to the loss of her husband. If so, the question becomes, who was he? How and when did he die? Such traumatic losses of loved-ones can cause depression and often psychological and emotional instability.

Perhaps a current reader has previously uncovered the background to the insanity of Hannah Lewis, if so, I invite their remarks to this blog entry. If not, hopefully some future researcher will someday shed light on the origins of the insanity of Hannah Lewis. Schizophrenia, early psychiatric accounts, are only a few of the diverse topics or subject matter awaiting the avid reseachers, who visit The Historical Society of Pennsylvania and utilize its varied and diverse collections.

Charles Dickens, the Supernatural, and Captain Murderer!

2011-10-20T15:27:00.000-04:00

As promised, I wanted to mention a few of my favorite macabre or ghost-related accounts, prior to Halloween itself, one of them surprisingly, coming from none other than the famous and gifted English writer, Charles Dickens. Few have failed to enjoy in print or on the cinematic screen, such stories or books as, A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, and perhaps one of the most dearly loved and favorite tales, that of, A Christmas Carol, told and retold in multiple movies to the present-day, a holiday favorite.

Most readers are acutely aware that A Christmas Carol, contains as some of its most important and memorable characters, a certain number of ghosts, besides the person of Ebenezer Scrooge. However, I would venture to say, that the public-at-large are largely unaware that Charles Dickens began his illustrious writing career within the realm of the supernatural. Thus, it should come as no surprise that the lettered Englishman was an early and active member of the Ghost Club, founded in 1862.

Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia in the early 19th-century, commented within his work, Medical Inquiries and Observations, Upon the Diseases of the Mind (1818), that, "The fear of ghosts should be prevented or subdued in early life, by teaching children the absurdity and falsehood of all the stories that are fabricated by nurses upon that subject."

As early as 1732, an article entitled, "Of Ghosts, Demons, and Spectres," published in the prestigious English journal, Gentleman's Magazine, reported how, "Some spirits or ghosts owe their existence only to a distempered imagination...The cheat is begun by nurses with stories of Bugbear, etc., from whence we are gradually led to listen to the traditionary accounts of local ghosts..."

I bring up nurses, since Charles Dickens once remarked how his family's nurse, the daughter of a shipwright, named Mercy, though he stated how "she had none on me." She frequently related to him as a child such nightmarish tales, as that of Captain Murderer, truly a Halloween-type tale if there ever was one!

In volume three of Dicken's work, All The Year Round, A Weekly Journal, published in September of 1860, he recounts the morbid tale of the murderous Captain, who had a habit of marrying women who mysteriously passed away, not long after the wedding. Dickens states how the Captain, being:

"Alone with his wife on the day month after their marriage, it was his whimsical custom to produce a golden rolling-pin and a silver pie-board. Now, there was this special feature in the Captain's courtships, that he always asked if the young lady could make pie-crust; and if she couldn't by nature or education, she was taught."

The Captain would then bring out "a silver pie-dish of immense capacity, and...brought out flour and butter and eggs and all things needful, except the inside of the pie," then his bride would remark, "Dear Captain, what pie is this to be?" His reply, "A meat pie." Naturally his new wife said, "Dear Captain Murderer, I see no meat." The Captain humorously retorted, "Look in the glass." She looked in the glass, but still she saw no meat, and then the Captain roared with laughter, and suddenly frowning and drawing his sword, bade her roll out the crust," which she would obediently proceed to do.

Once the crust was cut and "ready to fit the top" of the dish, the Captain would call out, "I see the meat in the glass! And the bride looked up at the glass, just in time to see the Captain cutting her head off; and he chopped her into pieces, and peppered her, and salted her, and put her in the pie, and sent it to the baker's, and ate it all, and picked the bones."

Charles Dickens relates further details concerning the life of Captain Murderer, stating how eventually the cannibal married one of "two twin sisters," one fair-haired and the other dark. The one not chosen, or the brunette, soon became suspicious of the Captain's actions, and actually witnessed him filing his teeth to a sharp point and then murder her sybling; followed by his baking, peppering, salting her sister's corpse, then sending her remains "to the baker's, and ate it all, and picked the bones."

Wanting revenge for the death of her sister, the other twin enticed the Captain to marry her which he did. The same deadly procedure was carried out upon the other sister as well, but prior to being chopped up and eaten, she purposely had "taken a deadly poison of a most awful character, distilled from toads' eyes and spiders' knees," and after the Captain 'had his fill' and "had hardly picked her last bone," he "began to swell, and to turn blue, and to be all over spots, and to scream." This process continued until he eventually exploded.

As Dickens states: "Hundreds of times did I hear this legend of Captain Murderer, in my early youth...there was a mental compulsion upon me in bed, to peep in at his window as the dark twin peeped, and to revisit his horrible house, and look at him in his blue and spotty and screaming stage..." He added how, the nurse or "young woman who brought me acquainted with Captain Murderer, had a fiendish enjoyment of my terrors, and used to begin, I remember--as a sort of introductory overture--by clawing the air with both hands, and uttering a long low hollow groan....I sometimes used to plead I thought I was hardly strong enough and old enough to hear the story again...But she never spared me one word of it..."

The above story of course are variants of the English tale of "Mr. Fox," and that of the famed French account of "Bluebeard," who were both cannibal bride-grooms who murdered and/or ate their wives.

One would think Dickens would have been ruined for life, but as Harry Stone says in his work, The Night Side of Dickens: Cannibalism, Passion, Necessity (Columbus: Ohio State University, 1994), Dickens consequently became, "an early devotee of the wonder-filled realms of fairy tales, folklore, and mythology," which added to his creativity as a writer (p.20).

Many such stories as the above, including publications containing Charles Dickens' story of Captain Murderer, can be found in the collections at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Happy Halloween!

An Unexpected Pennsylvania 'Haunting' in 1787: A Tale of Warning?

2011-10-14T14:43:00.002-04:00

Since this is the month of October and close to Halloween, it's only appropriate that I relate at least a short supernatural tale. Without further introductory remarks, it's best to simply quote the article in full, as it appeared, within the published pages of the New Jersey Journal and Political Intelligencer, for September 12, 1787, which goes as follows:

"We learn from Lancaster that the following singular affair is founded on fact, and confirmed by Dr. Huston.

On the evening of the 11th ultimo, a young man having obtained information of some young women near Wright's ferry, having formed a resolution of going in the evening to a cornfield to get some roasting ears of Indian corn, resolved he would go with a white sheet about him to represent a ghost, and have some fun in scaring them; but fatal was the consequence to him; whether he saw any thing which might be permitted to chastise him for his boldness, or what incident fell out to craze his imagination we cannot tell.

But so it turned out, that after running through the fields for some hours, at last he reached a house in a manner frighted beyond description; he was immediately seized with epileptic fits, and continued to have frequent returns of them, till they put a period to his existence about the middle of last week.

Doctor Huston attended him, and says when he was not in these fits, he was always scared and imagined he saw something terrible, and cried to be taken away from him."

The above is a simple story, but perhaps it contains a warning to all those who would attempt to frighten others this coming Halloween. Yet, if one enjoys being "frighted," or frightened, as occurred in 1787, there are many photographs, diaries, letters, newspaper accounts, etc., relating to the supernatural, available within the collections, housed here within the hallowed halls, of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia.

Incidentally, The Historical Society of Pennsylvania will be conducting a 'Ghost Tour' of our building, as well as a short power-point presentation, relative to some of our supernatural-related materials. This will occur on Wednesday, October 26, at 5:30 and 7:00 p.m. To register for the event, click here.

Visit us, if you dare!

Killed at Gettysburg: Death Elegies Written about Philadelphia Soldiers Who Lost Their Lives in the Famous Battle

2011-09-15T17:12:00.002-04:00

It was a common practice in America, from the Colonial period and well up into the American Civil War era, for family members to express their mourning or grief, in what are referred to as elegies, a written 'lament' or tribute to the dead. Often times these elegies were rhymed couplets, which appear quite frequently in newspapers of the day, revealing not only the bravery, courage, and sacrifices of the soldiers involved, but also the eloquence in writing, of those who paid tribute to the deceased in verse.

Various regiments of volunteer soldiers from Philadelphia, fought at the Battle of Gettysburg in early July of 1863, resulting in the tragic deaths of many of its residents. The newspapers are filled with sorrowful yet proud poems honoring those who'd gave the ultimate sacrifice during that famous engagement in Adams County, Pennsylvania.

For example, Augustus Joseph, of Co. 'H,' 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry, or 'Rush's Lancers' (though his body had not yet been retrieved), had the following poem printed in his behalf, within the Philadelphia Public Ledger, on August 7th, 1863:

"On Gettysburg's bloody field, a wounded soldier lay;
Hist thoughts were on his happy home, some hundred miles away.
A soldier friend stood by his side, a tear stood in his eye,
And cold the sweat stood on his brow, he felt he soon must die.
'When you see my mother dear, be careful how you speak,
The cords of life may snap too soon, her heart may be too weak.
Go tell her that my aching heart, did heave a gentle sigh.
Go tell her that her son so true, a soldier's death did die."

Robert W. Ray, of Frankford, age 37, of Co. 'I,' 121st Pennsylvania Regiment, was honored by the following in an elegy written by his wife:

"His country' s cause, it was his own, before his foes he would not bend.
He stood upon a freeman's throne, for equal rights did he contend.
When husband last was home to rest, I little thought death was so nigh.
He pressed our children to his breast, and said, 'for you and these I'll die.'
From home into the field he went, where armies met a dread array.
Where tyrants and oppressors sent, to beat out freedom's gentle sway.
The Lord of Hosts our army led, and victory on our banner hung,
And when they searched among the dead, my husband amid the throng.
My heart it beats with anguish deep, as o'er the dead, I sit and mourn.
But why cast down my soul and weep, for soon will dawn a glorious morn.
The Saviour will for thee appear, to gather up thy little dust;
Husband, children, and father dear, in Christ our Saviour shall find rest."

Forty-six members of Baxter's Philadelphia Fire Zouaves, or the 72nd Regiment of Pennsylvania Infantry, lost their lives at Gettysburg, while another sixteen would later die of wounds received during the battle, some as late as November of 1863. Many elegies appear in honor of these men in Philadelphia newspapers after the battle, and like those above, for space considerations, I've rendered these tributes simply as 'run-on' verses, when in reality they appear published as 'couplets' within the press.

Samuel A. Morrison of Co. 'B,' had this simple, but special verse published in his behalf:

"No mother near him when he died, no brother nor sister's hand to cheer.
His death, his country's noblest pride, A Union volunteer."

Twenty-five year old John F. Walbert, of Co. 'F,' was honored by the following:

"Sleep, noble warrior, sleep, the tomb is now thy bed.
Cold in its bosom thou dost rest, in silence with the dead.
We tell thy doom with many tears, how rose they morning sun.
How quickly too, alas, it set; Warrior, thy march is done."

The elegy of Frederick B. Shoner, of Co. 'A,' states:

"Rest, soldier, rest, thy warfare o'er, the battle-roll thou'll hear no more!
Thy duty bravely, nobly done--The conflict past, the victory won.
All honor to the fallen brave, who on his country's altar gave,
A noble heart, a generous soul, the freeman's standard to unroll.
Their battle cry is liberty---"Our country must and shall be free."

George Mickle, of private of Co. 'C,' is mentioned in his obituary as being "killed, while nobly fighting for his country, at the battle of Gettysburg," at the age of nineteen. By July 18th his body had still not been recovered, yet the following verse was penned:

"Returned, alas! returned too soon, stricken low in his youthful bloom.
While yet his heart beat high; striving for truth and right,
He sought the thickest of the fight, and, wounded, fell and died.
They've brought him back to his parents' heart, but not as they saw him
Last depart. In uniform so gay;
He's lying in his coffin now, with his death white marble brow,
And they can only pray."

Far many individuals today such verses may sound morbid or even depressing, yet many families on both sides of the conflict, were products of their culture. Such 'cultural baggage' in dealing with the death of soldiers was nothing new to them.

As far back as the 625 B.C., Tyrtaeus, the famed poet of the Greek militaristic state of Sparta, had penned his lengthy poem, Code of the Citizen Soldier, which echoed many of the same sentiments as those expressed by families who lost loved ones during the American Civil War, or for that matter, those in American today who have lost loved ones in Iraq, Afghanistan, or on 9/11.

Tyrtaeus remarked of such losses in the following manner:

"Why such a man is lamented alike by the young and the elders,
And all his polis {city-state} goes into mourning and grieves for his loss.
His tomb is pointed out with pride, and so are his children, and his children's children,
And afterwards all that is his.
His shining glory is never forgotten. His name is remembered, and he becomes immortal,
Though he lies under the ground.
When one brave man had been killed by the furious War God, standing his ground and
Fighting hard for his children and land."

The words above speak for themselves. Honor, courage, bravery, sacrifice, have always been character traits revered by most peoples, especially Americans. Perhaps we can pay no greater honor to our Civil War dead during this 150th Commemoration, than to at least remember their sacrifices which were placed upon the 'altar of freedom,' as revealed in the many stirring elegies or tributes, found within the collections at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Mormonism in Early Philadelphia

2011-09-13T12:11:00.007-04:00

This appeared in the September HSP email publication, History Hits: Collecting & sharing the stories of Pennsylvania. For a free subscription, enter your email here.

***

Title page of Thomas Leiper Kane's
discourse delivered at the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Much of the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) rests in the Philadelphia region and the Delaware Valley. A native of Vermont, Joseph Smith Jr. (1805-1844) was the founding prophet and first president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In January 1827, Smith married Emma Hale, a native of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, where the couple resided for a time and where much history relative to the Mormon Church and its teachings transpired. The Book of Mormon was published in March 1830 and the church was officially organized on April 6, 1830 in the state of New York.

First Universalist Church Treasurer's Book, entry for January 14, 1840 showing "J. Smith" paid $13.63 to preach at the church.

Smith organized the Philadelphia branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on December 23, 1839 on the corner of 7th and Callowhill Streets. On January 14, 1840, he spoke to an audience of about 3,000 at the First Independent Church of Christ (later called the First Universalist Church and now a Jewish synagogue), located on 4th and Lombard Streets. He preached Mormon doctrine, specifically from the Book of Mormon, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania holds many early printed editions of this gospel.

Soon, congregations of Mormons were found throughout the Delaware Valley, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Philadelphia newspaper accounts from the 19th-century record the exponential spread of Mormonism in the city. Prominent Quaker Edward Hunter converted to Mormonism in 1840. Even as a Quaker, he had permitted Joseph Smith and other LDS missionaries to preach in his West Nantmeal Seminary building. Hunter later moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, a settlement larger than Chicago at that time, and eventually served as the presiding bishop of the Mormon Church there. His former farm in Chester County is still locally referred to as Mormon Hollow and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

First page of a letter from Joseph Smith to James A. Bennet, March 17, 1843

Prior to his murder in June 1844 in Carthage, Illinois, Joseph Smith Jr. campaigned as a candidate for president of the United States with James Arlington Bennet as his vice-presidential running mate. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania holds an 1843 letter from Smith to Bennet discussing the presidential campaign and political corruption, pictured at right.

Although never a Mormon himself, Philadelphia lawyer and Union Civil War officer Thomas Leiper Kane (1822-1883) was a longtime supporter of the Mormon Church and friend of Mormon leader Brigham Young. Kane spoke at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania on March 25, 1850, giving a discourse titled "The Mormons" in an attempt to rectify some misconceptions and falsehoods about the Mormon people and their faith. This lengthy discourse was published by the Historical Society in the first volume of the Miscellaneous Publications of the Historical Society in 1850. Kane also served as a mediator during the so-called Utah-Mormon War from 1857-58, a dispute between Brigham Young in the Utah territory and President James Buchanan. To read more about Kane, visit Thomas Leiper Kane: the Utah-Mormon War of 1857-58.

Like most early Mormon converts, the majority of Philadelphia members migrated to the far West as a result of intense persecution. Decades later, Mormon missionaries returned and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began to grow once again in the Philadelphia area. Today, there are about 50,000 members in Pennsylvania. After a ground-breaking ceremony on September 17, 2011, construction will begin on a 68,000 square-foot temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the northeast corner of Vine and North 18th Streets in Philadelphia.

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Earthquakes, Philadelphia, and Murder!

2011-08-24T12:08:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, on August 23, many portions of the Eastern U.S., including Philadelphia, were jolted by an earthquake, a geological activity most individuals associate with the far Western states such as California. However, this has not always been the case, as recorded historical events aptly reveal.

On August 31, 1886, a devastating earthquake, perhaps as powerful as 7.3 on the Richter Scale rocked Charleston, South Carolina, resulting in over one hundred deaths and wide-spread destruction throughout the city, with some 2000 buildings being either damaged or destroyed.

There are also many primary accounts or records located here at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania describing the total destruction of Port Royal, Jamaica by an earthquake, on June 7, 1692. Isaac Norris I (1671-1735), a prominent Philadelphian and later Mayor of the city, lost his father Thomas and other members of his family, along with much of their property during that catastrophe in the West Indies.

Earthquake tremors were felt on a number of occasions in Philadelphia throughout the 18th-century, namely in 1727, 1758, 1763, 1772, and 1783. Benjamin Marshall, the son of the famed diarist, Christopher Marshall, recorded in a Letter-Book, {I leave the antiquated spelling as this appears in the original and any further quotes from primary sources}, for November 10, 1763, how in Philadelphia,

"...The 30 of last month...about 4 O'Clock in the afternoon we were surprized with a smart Shock of an Earth Quake, which much frightned many people, in their different places of Worship, and broke them all up, it happily concluded without doing any mischief..." (see, PMHB, or the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol.XX: 1896, pp's. 204-205).

Yet perhaps the quake most remembered and written about transpired on Wednesday, December 7, 1737. Quaker merchant Samuel Coates of Philadelphia wrote his friend Joseph Scott of New York on December 8, 1737, describing the event, and his beliefs as to its origin:

"Last night about 11 o'clock we had a Violent Shock of an Earth quake which lasted About 2 Minutes. The People Afrighted thought their Houses would fall upon them; it was Atended with a Noise like a Coach Driver over a Rough Pavement but Lowder; through Mercy there is no More Damage Done that we hear of but frightning the People and Breaking some Chimney Ware.
Dear Friend though those things are by most Men ascribed to Chance or to Natural Causes, they can't be without the will or permission of the Allmighty Creator and Ruler of the Universe and may Warn us to be prepared for Death let it come when it will."

Benjamin Franklin would also comment on the above quake, in his famed newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, for the week of December 8 - 15, 1737, remarking how, "the Shake" had also been "nearly as violent" (at what is now New Castle, Delaware), as it was in Philadelphia. He added that as far away as Conestoga, some 100 miles West of the city, "some clouds at the same time were seen to waver, dance, disappear and appear again in an uncommon and surprizing manner...Three of four Evenings successively after the Earthquake, an unusual Redness appeared in the Western Sky and southwards..."

Franklin was so intrigued by the quake that he would publish within the Pennsylvania Gazette, two succesive articles on the "Causes of Earthquakes," from December 8 - 22 of 1737. (see also, PMHB, Vol. LV: 1931, pp's. 24-31).

Interestingly, social historian, folklorist, and early antiquarian of Philadelphia, John Fanning Watson, in his famed Annals of Philadelphia, recorded how, "When John Penn first arrived, {which was on October 30, 1763} on a Sunday, a strong earthquake was felt as he stepped ashore at High-street wharf. It raised some superstition...long remembered; and besides that, when he went home, a dreadful thunderstorm arose; and, finally, when he next time returned here as proprietary, a fierce hurricane came!" (Vol.1: 1900 edition, p.413).

Regrettably, one does often associate earthquakes with fatalities, but normally not with murder. The largest earthquake recorded in United States history, was that of the 'New Madrid Earthquake' of 1812, which reversed the course of the Mississippi River for a time, created lakes in Tennessee, and resulted in the deaths of a number of settlers in Missouri when their town literally sank deep into the earth, permanently burying them and their community.

Prior to the above event, in December 1811, two nephews of Thomas Jefferson, George and Lillburn Lewis, while living in Kentucky, literally murdered one of their slaves with an axe, while forcing the other enslaved persons to watch the dismemberment, as a discouragement to any future rebellion. Interred within the chimney of their residence, the hiding place of the corpse was soon discovered as a result of the violent shocks of the 'New Madrid Quake' in January and February of 1812. The skull and bones of the murdered slave fell from their place of concealment, causing the arrest of the Lewis brothers, whose history has been aptly portrayed in such works by author Boynton Merrill, Jr., Jefferson's Nephews: A Frontier Trajedy (1976, 2004 revised edition).

One never knows what primary or secondary sources exist on any given subject until certain events transpire, such as an earthquake. However, the above events are just a few of the many types of subjects and records available here at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, for the reader's investigation, research, or enjoyment.

Conjoined Twins in Philadelphia History

2011-08-08T14:48:00.001-04:00

This appeared in the August HSP email publication, History Hits: Collecting & sharing the stories of Pennsylvania. For a free subscription, enter your email here.

***

Though rare, conjoined twins are not a new physical phenomenon. The lives of conjoined twins have been remembered and documented throughout history and their stories reveal fascinating accounts of devotion, passion, and perseverance. The following two sets of twins have histories tied to Philadelphia.

Millie-Christine McKoy were born as the slave daughters of Jacob and Monemia, property of a blacksmith named Jabez McCoy in Whiteville, North Carolina in July 1851. Recognizing their potential commercial value, McCoy sold the twin girls when they were ten months old. Millie-Christine eventually became the property of Joseph Pearson Smith, but were freed after the Civil War. The sisters became an entertainment sensation in both the United States and Europe, sometimes referred to as the Eighth Wonder of the World or as the Two-Headed Nightingale. They performed in Philadelphia's concert hall at Chestnut and 12th Streets in the mid-19th century (see advertisement below). With the wealth from their career, Millie-Christine bought the former McCoy property where they had been born as slaves. The sisters died in October 1912 and their headstone was inscribed: "A soul with two thoughts. Two hearts that beat as one."

Philadelphia playbill advertisement for Millie and Christine: Eighth Wonder of the World and Two-Headed Nightengale

Arguably the most famous conjoined twins were two brothers, Chang and Eng Bunker, who were born in 1811 in Samut Songkram, Thailand (in older literature their birthplace is named Mekong or

Cover image for an 1853 book,

"Life of the Siamese Twins"

Bangaseau in Siam). The brothers were the first to be referred to as Siamese twins. Chang and Eng were brought to Boston, Massachusetts in August 1829 by a New England sea captain, Abel Coffin, to tour with the famous P.T. Barnum Circus.

After decades of touring, Chang and Eng accrued a substantial amount of wealth (over $60,000), became naturalized U.S. citizens, and settled as farmers in Wilkes and Surry Counties, North Carolina. The two brothers married two sisters from North Carolina, Sarah and Adelaide Yates, on April 13, 1843. Eng and Sarah had ten children, while Chang and Adelaide had twelve. Chang and Eng became the owners of eighteen slaves and were quite disgruntled at the end of the Civil War, when their slave property was lost with the defeat of the Confederacy.

From left to right: Adelaide, Chang, Eng, Sarah.

In January 1874, Eng awoke to find his brother dead, and he died the next day at age 63. The bodies of the twins were eventually brought to Philadelphia, where an autopsy by physicians revealed that they could not have been separated because their livers were bound to each other by important blood vessels. Chang and Eng were buried in the White Plains Baptist Church cemetery in Surry County, North Carolina. Today, you can see the fused livers of the conjoined brothers as well as a death cast of their bodies at the Mütter Museum at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

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'John Brown's Body,' 1859: Philadelphia's Medical Schools Rebellion Against Its Presence in the City.

2011-07-18T15:56:00.001-04:00

As most people realize, the execution of the famous abolitionist, John Brown, on December 2nd, 1859, by the state of Virginia for 'treason, and for conspiring and advising with slaves and other rebels, and murder in the first degree," prompted a wave of anti-Southern feeling within the Northern states, where he was perceived as a 'martyr for freedom,' although some Northernors believed Brown to have been quite insane at the time.

It is also well-known that once the various Southern States began to secede from the Union, hundreds of medical students attending various Philadelphia colleges, went South to enlist within the Confederate armed forces. However, many are unaware that prior to the outbreak of the Civil War itself in 1861; in December of 1859, hundreds of Southern-born medical students left Philadelphia for their native South land, specifically because of John Brown as well.

Dr. Hunter Holmes McGuire, a native Virginian, was a graduate of the Winchester, Virginia Medical College in 1855 where he also taught anatomy. He later came to Philadelphia to teach surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as at Jefferson Medical College. He and another native of Virginia, Dr. Francis E. Luckett, were offended by Brown's famous raid at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), on October 16th, 1859, and more acutely upset, once they discovered that 'John Brown's body,' was first to be embalmed in Philadelphia, then transported by rail, through Philadelphia in early December, on its way to his final resting place in North Elba, New York.

Prior to the commencement of the Civil War, Philadelphia in December of 1859 was filled with both abolitionists and pro-slavery factions, and numerous medical students native to Virginia and elsewhere were residing in the 'City of Brotherly Love' at the time of John Brown's raid, execution, and transportation to New York. Mayor Alexander Henry, aware of the above friction and threats from both sides to plan demonstrations, wisely "made a fake casket, covered with flowers and flags which was carefully lifted from the coach and the train and sped onward in its destination..." In reality the train carrying Brown's body never actually stopped in Philadelphia, and thus violence was averted by a "sham coffin." (see, "The John Brown Excitement....Arrival Here of the Body. A Sham Coffin," in, Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch, December 4th, 1859; Philadelphia Germantown Telegraph, January 4th, 1860).

However, Dr. Hunter H. McGuire "organized a movement" which encouraged over three hundred medical students attending the University of Pennsylvania and Jefferson Medical College, to leave Philadelphia by rail en masse, on December 21st, 1859, in direct opposition to 'John Brown.' They first marched from Jefferson to the 'Musical Fund Hall' while giving the 'Rebel yell.' Their passage by train out of the city, was paid by the Medical College of Virginia, an amount of almost $4,000 dollars, where many officially enrolled as students, while others continued on further South to medical colleges located in Charleston, Nashville, and New Orleans (see, "Another Civil War Story," The Pennsylvania Gazette, July/August, 2011, p.8).

Dr. McGuire left Philadelphia as well and returned to his native city of Winchester, in Frederick County, Virginia. Once war began, he would join the Confederate Army as a private, but soon became the Medical Director for the Army of the Shenandoah, serving with the famed Confederate officer, Thomas J. 'Stonewall' Jackson. It was McGuire who amputated 'Stonewall' Jackson's wounded left arm in May of 1863, as well as General Richard S. Ewell's left leg above the knee. After Jackson's death, McGuire would continue to serve as Medical Director of the Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia.

Truly the Civil War and our nation's response to the events preceding its outbreak and culmination are fascinating to study. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania has original 'John Brown' materials as well as many sources relative to the above incidents. Thus, there are many primary sources by which one can learn about pre-Civil War activities within Philadelphia, during this 150th Commemoration or Anniversary of our nation's worst and most intriguing disaster.

Executions in Revolutionary War Philadelphia

2011-07-11T15:51:00.000-04:00

This appeared in July's HSP email publication, History Hits: Collecting & sharing the stories of Pennsylvania.

For a free subscription, enter your email here.

***

Fear, anger, and revenge were no strangers to the early residents of Philadelphia County during the Revolutionary War. Many had suffered during the British occupation, losing property, homes, and family members to both sides of the conflict. In Philadelphia and the surrounding area, emotions ran high and compassion was at a minimum when the British Army retreated.

As the British departed from Philadelphia in June 1778 and American forces reclaimed the city, a number of trials of suspected British supporters commenced, some even resulted in executions of the accused. Loyalists had been tried, convicted, and hanged for actively recruiting Americans into the British Army, including James Iliff and John Mee of Morristown, New Jersey on December 2, 1777. Abijah (or Abisha) Wright and William Thurlow had also been hanged in 1778 in Whitpain Township (now Montgomery County) from the limb of a large walnut and white oak tree respectively, for the burglary and attempted murder of Squire Andrew Knox, a Patriot.

Perhaps the most famous yet tragic execution of an alleged

John Roberts' house still stands in Lower Merion Township

Loyalist was that of Quaker millwright John Roberts III. A wealthy man who owned 700 acres of land stretching from Pennsylvania into Maryland, Roberts was the grandson of a 17th century Welsh immigrant and lived with his wife and twelve children at a home on the corner of Old Gulph Road and Dodds Lane in Lower Merion Township (right). He was accused by some of his less prosperous neighbors of being a Loyalist in support of the British cause. One account charged that Roberts had mixed glass in the flour ground at his mill to give to American troops, although it was never confirmed.

On August 10, 1778, Roberts was arrested along with Abraham Carlisle, another local man accused of being a Loyalist, even though he had aided imprisoned American soldiers. Hundreds of prominent loyal citizens, including three of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, signed petitions (like the one below) attesting to Roberts' good character and calling for a pardon to be issued.

Letter to the sheriff of Philadelphia from James Young, in defense of John Roberts, July 27, 1778

Elizabeth Drinker diary entry, Nov. 4, 1778

However, less than three months later, John Roberts was executed for treason by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. His supporters believed he had been used as a scapegoat and his execution as a warning to other Loyalists. Others advocated that his trial was an initiative started by some of his greedy neighbors in order to claim his valuable property. One Quaker woman, Elizabeth Drinker, remarked in her diary (pictured right) on November 4, 1778: "they have actually put to Death; Hang'd on the Commons, John Robarts and Am. Carlisle...an awful Solemn day it has been...the poor afflicted widows, are wonderfully upheld and supported, under their very great trial-they have many simpathzing Friends."

Although Roberts was declared a traitor and his property confiscated, a portion of the family property was returned to his widow in 1792, who was also granted a small pension for her care. Abraham Carlisle, though his attorneys attempted to prove that his indictment was "vague and uncertain," was hanged without a reprieve.

To learn more about John Roberts, look for David W. Maxey's Treason on Trial in Revolutionary Pennsylvania: The Case of John Roberts, Miller to be published through the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia. A Philadelphia lawyer and history enthusiast, Maxey served on the Board of Councilors of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

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In response to last month's installment of History Hits about the crash of the Hindenburg, HSP member Jane Krumrine generously donated a framed photograph of the airship in flames. The photograph was taken by her father, Charles S. Krumrine, at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey on May 6, 1937.

Do you enjoy reading History Hits each month? Show your support by making a gift to HSP. Help us continue to preserve and share the stories of Pennsylvania. Your donation makes a difference!

Click here to donate online. Or call 215-732-6200 ext. 300.

The Bizarre, Sad, and Regrettable: Selections of Deaths from the 'Federal Mortality Schedules'

2011-06-20T16:06:00.001-04:00

Between 1850 and 1880, an often under utilized historical resource was kept by the Federal government, a 'record group' commonly referred to simply as, the 'Mortality Schedules' or the Non-Population Census Schedules: 1850-1880, composed for all the states within the Union. It is particularly a great supplement for family 'vital records' research, a valuable compilation available not only at the various 'Regional Libraries of the National Archives,' but also at such popular genealogical web sites as http://www.ancestry.com/, which one can examine online here at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

The Mortality Schedules list such important information as the names of every person who died within the year of the census, from 'January first through June first of the 'census year itself,' but also to June first of the previous year as well, thus including portions of 1849, 1859, 1869, and 1879. They also provide such significant data as the following: age of the deceased, place of birth, month in which the person died, his or her occupation, profession or trade, as well as the individual's cause of death, plus the number of days or months they were ill.

Thus, the 'potential for gleaning serious 'social history' facts and statistics from the information contained within these records are enormous, everything from infant mortality rates, ethnicity, the types of diseases which ravaged or plagued a given locality at particular times or seasons of the year, as well as 'accidents' common for that period of history, which people were prone to be victims.

Also, often times a 'recorder', in the 'Remarks' section, included at the bottom of the page, additional data not required, which gave an added depth or insight into the actual history of a given area, as well as the productivity of the soil, climate, and water sources.

For example, within the 'Remarks' portion for 'Schedule 3, of the 'Mortality Schedule: 'First Ward of Allegheny City, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, p.641, 'ending 1st June, 1850,' the recorder states:

"This First Ward as the Fourth, is bounded by the Allegheny River, indeed I may say that a portion of it is now in the River; that to which I allude is known to the old residents here by the name of Kill Bucks Island, the name of an Indian, who for his faithfulness to the Whites in troublesome times, Received from PA, a farmland to reside upon it-in early times, so that he might be under their protection from hostile Indians.

This Island, is no more, the River some years ago, has swept every vestige of this historic spot away. Nothing now remains but a Gravel Bank to designate where Kill Buck lived and when our old and long departed friend, Roderick McKinney Raised plentifully corn and wheat. Col. Smith in his interesting narrative in the year 1755, when a Courier to the French in Fort Duquesne, says the day after Braddock's defeat {1755} he could see the savages across the River in Motion making their preparations in order to burn the English prisoners taken at Braddock's Field..."

For 'Schedule 3, for 'Shaler Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania,' 1st June, 1860, p.3, one can read of the death of a Mary O'hara, age 34, married, born in Ireland, who died in October (thus in 1859), of "voluntary starvation." At the bottom of the page, in the 'Remarks' section, the recorder stated how, "Mary Ann O'hara, actually starved herself to death. She would neither eat or drink any thing, for 14 days previous to her death." Regrettably, we aren't told why Mary starved herself to death, but these 'individual' details, as well as the existence of a death record at this time, is a valuable and rare tool, usually not available in Pennsylvania vital records for most counties, except perhaps in a church record, or even within a more rare newspaper obituary.

I have found accounts within various Pennsylvania Mortality Schedules, of individuals who "became insane," the cause listed as "Spiritualism," which was very popular within the 19th-century. Regrettably, one frequent cause of death which is often recorded, is that of women, such as that of Catherine McFarland, of Philadelphia's 'Fourth Ward,' who "was murdered by her husband while he was drunk," to a number of ladies who are often described as having been "burned to death by her clothes taking fire from a pipe which she was smoking and died instantly."

According to the Mortality Schedule for 1860, a man named John Guntzer, originally from Wurtemburg, Germany, died in Philadelphia's 'Second Ward,' in December of 1859, from being "caught in Machinery." The 'Registration of Deaths: 1803-1860,' a compilation of cemetery records and physician's returns, reports how Guntzer was buried in 'Lafayette Cemetery,' and had died December 9th, 1859, from, "Injuries accordingly received." The Philadelphia Public Ledger, for December 10th, 1859, gives the results of a 'Coroner's Inquest,' that the man had died "from the effects of injuries received at a sugar mill..," with the actual 'Lafayette Cemetery' records at the Historical Society, simply stating how Guntzer was 47 and had died from being "injured."

A Philadelphia mortality schedule recorder wrote in his 'Remarks' section, how in 1870, many individuals reported deaths from unknown causes, one telling him how "she supposed 'God sent for him," while a woman named Mary Bear, of 'North Coventry' in Chester County, Pennsylvania, died at the age of 64 in October of 1869, purportedly as the result of "being insane, wandered off into the woods and was found dead--evidently from fatigue and exposure."

William Shuler, age 54 on the other hand, died in June of 1869 in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Norriton Township, "while disinterring a dead body in {a} Cemetery, having a cut on his finger, had his blood poisoned, from which he died."

The sad death, of a two-month old child, Frederick Charles Emder, is listed as having died in February of 1870, in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, "of neglect." Within the 'Remarks' section, more sordid details are given:

"Charles Emder was left at the Eagle Hotel, Bethlehem, PA, by some person unknown--and was adopted by Mr. & Mrs. Ember. But owing to neglect and exposure--besides being nearly drugged to death by its unnatural and fiendish mother, the kind people who took it were unable to raise it, and it died in a few days after they had baptized it, and given it their name."

Consequently, one can see the valuable contribution which Mortality Schedules can make in regard to individuals, as to the added details of a death, as perhaps recorded elsewhere in other 'record groups,' yet relate data which otherwise may have went totally unrecorded. These schedules once again, exist for the entire state of Pennsylvania, and are readily available for the public's perusal at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania; another example of the variety, diversity, and interesting materials awaiting both the academician and genealogist.

A Jewish Merchant, Western American Indian Massacres, and their 'Philadelphia Connection' in the 19th Century'

2011-06-13T14:41:00.001-04:00

Years ago, the prolific writer of Western fiction, the late Louis L'Amour, remarked how he was often asked where he obtained ideas for his numerous publications. He replied they "are out there by the thousands, wonderful stories...Many have never gotten into the histories...but one has only to listen, to look, and to live with awareness...Ours is a rich and wonderful world, and there are stories everywhere. Nobody should ever try to second-guess history, the facts are fantastic enough." (Education of a Wandering Man, NY: Bantam Books, 1989: pp's.29, 141).

L'Amour also stated that many of the above 'stories' included accounts of 'wagon train massacres,' which were indeed frequently found published within our nation's newspapers throughout the 19th-century. These included harrowing tales of conflicts between the Western Indians, civilians, as well as the traditional battles between the regular armed forces of the United States, both within and outside their various frontier forts, posts, and way-stations.

Naturally, when one envisions such dramatic occurrences as the above, as frequently found in stereotypical 'Western' novels or movies, the 'City of Philadelphia' doesn't readily come to mind, being far removed in distance from the Western states at that time. However, as has been said repeatedly, "truth is stranger than fiction." Thus both fictitious and factual renditions of 'wagon train' and other 'Indian massacres' are surprisingly connected to the 'City of Brotherly Love' during the nineteenth century.

By the thousands, many Pennsylvanians like other Americans migrated as settlers and adventurers to the Western states for decades. One recent published account is that of Henry Jonathan Pickering of Susquehannah County, Pennsylvania, who along with "one hundred Pennsylvania men" journeyed in wagons during the Spring of 1877 to South Dakota, during its famous "Black Hills gold rush." (See, Cindy Haas Griffeth and Bill Haas, "When a Sioux Chief Met Our Grandmother," American Ancestors, Fall, 2010: 38-40).

However, one famous hoax that captured the attention of the nation, concerned the purported "Fort Buford Massacre," first published in one of Philadelphia's most prestigious newspapers, the renown Philadelphia Inquirer, for April 1st, 1867. Whether intentional or not, it has become a true 'April Fool's Joke,' in print, which eventually 'made the circuit' of the country's papers, throughout the month of April and into May of that year.

Purportedly, the commanding officer of the fort, a Capt. William G. Rankin, "his wife and child, and eighty soldiers of his command" in what is now North Dakota, were annihilated during a three-day siege, ending with "the killing of Mrs. Rankin by her husband to prevent her capture..." while he was said to have been tortured to death by the Indian attackers (see the New York Times, April 10, 1867; the sketch on 'Fort Buford' at Wikipedia; as well as Robert G. Athearn's article, "The Fort Buford 'Massacre,' in the Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol.41, No.4: March, 1955: pp's. 675-684).

However, by May of 1867, most of the country came to realize that the so-called 'Buford Fort Massacre' had never truly transpired, especially once Rankin himself began sending communications to the contrary, revealing how he was very much alive!

Such published sensationalism in order to sell newspapers to a gullible public is of course nothing new. Plus, considering the primitive communication methods available at the time, it was easy for both reporters and the public-at-large, to believe what one first saw in print, via the telegraph, until further information was obtained by letter or personal eye-witness testimony. Thucydides, the ancient Athenian scholar, stated centuries before Christ that, "Sad to say, most people will believe the first story they hear."

Yet one falsehood does not negate the reality of other reported 'massacres' which did indeed occur during the 19th century throughout the West. One in particular, would actually involve as well, a Philadelphia Jewish resident named Leopold Snowberger.

The Philadelphia Public Ledger, for December 28, 1849, reported the death of a resident of the city, stating how: "On the 23d or 24th of October last, on the Plains, near Santa Fe, New Mexico, Mr. LEOPOLD SNOWBERGER, of this city, aged 56 years. He being one of the victims so brutally murdered by the savage Indians in company with Mr. J. M. White, a Santa Fe trader-leaving a wife and six small children in this city to mourn his untimely loss." (not to be confused with the non-Jewish SNOWBERGER family, who came to Pennsylvania during the 18th-century, that were German Lutherans)

'Schedule 3,' of the Federal Mortality or Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Pennsylvania, 1850, "South Mulberry Ward" of Philadelphia, list the death of LEOPOLD SNOWBERGER, age 48, born in Germany, a 'Shirt Manufacturer' by profession, and his ''Cause of Death: Murdered."

The Public Ledger once again, for December 5, 1836, lists the marriage of "Mr. L. Snowberger, of Germany, to Miss BRINAH ABRAHAMS, daughter of Moses Abrahams, of the Northern Liberties," while the Federal Census of 1850: Philadelphia, South Mulberry Ward, (p.270), lists: BRINAH SNOWBERGER, age 24, 'Shirt Manufacturer,' born in PA, with children, ALISIA, ELIZABETH, LOUISA, ALBERT, HENRY, and ELLA, ages ten through one, the "six small children," all born in Pennsylvania as well.

Though Brinah Snowberger appears in various Philadelphia City Directories for years after her husband's death, as a 'Shirt Manufacturer' as well, living at 321 Cherry and later 237 Callowhill Streets, neither she, or her family, nor her husband appear in any probate records such as a Will, Administration, nor in the 'Orphan Court' records of Philadelphia, for 1849 and 1850 respectively.

Many contemporary and secondary accounts exist as to the life of J. M. White, who resided in Indepencence, Missouri, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, who frequently took wagon trains of merchandise to the West, a distance of some 800 miles. In 1849, he'd taken thirteen wagons, his wife, their youngest child, and a few employees, but when about 150 miles from Santa Fe, the party was attacked in an area frequented by marauding Apache, Commanche, and Ute Indian warriors, who regularly preyed upon any wagon-trains traveling within the region.

The party of which Leopold Snowberger was a member, purportedly ten in number, were later found dead and their bodies mutilated, specifically by a band of Jicarilla Apache commanded by a chief called White Wolf. Mrs. White's body, when found by the military, had been tied to a willow tree, where she'd been shot to death with three arrows by her captors.

Interestingly, ALBERT SNOWBERGER, one of the sons of Leopold and Brinah, born in April of 1845, later served in Co. 'G,' of the 99th Pennsylvania Regiment, during the Civil War, but at the age of 18, died of wounds in January of 1863, received at the 'Battle of Fredericksburg' or Marye's Height, fought on December 13th, 1862 in Virginia. Though dying, he is said to have "waved his cap and urged his comrades on to victory," and breathed his last with his mother by his side, at a hospital in Washington, D.C. He was later interred in the 'Jewish Cemetery' or 'Burying Ground,' on Federal Street above Eleventh, in Philadelphia.

One wonders how Mrs. Snowberger felt, having first lost her husband years before to the Indians thousands of miles away, and now one of her sons, during a so-called 'Civil' conflict. Her family's story and others, await to be told in detail.

These and other such events can be gleaned, from the vast historical resources available, here at 'The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.'

The Crash of the Hindenburg

2011-06-03T16:49:00.001-04:00

***This article appeared in the May 2011, HSP monthly email publication, "History Hits: Collecting & sharing the stories of Pennsylvania." For a free subscription, simply click here to enter your email address.***

The Hindenburg, a German airship built from 1931-1936, met disaster 74 years ago this month in Lakewood, New Jersey. Once celebrated as a milestone in flight, the aircraft is now remembered as a tragedy and the end of an era for airships.

The U.S. Navy also built airships similar to the Hindenburg.

The most remembered of these commercial passenger-carrying airships is the German D-LZ 129 Hindenburg, built by the Zeppelin Company. German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838-1917) pioneered the development of rigid airships, such as the Hindenburg, in the early 20^th century. Zeppelin Company chairman Dr. Hugo Eckener named the airship after German Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934), who was the president of Germany from 1925 to 1934. Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels wanted the airship to be named Adolf Hitler, which Eckener refused, although its rudder would eventually bear the swastika. More than 803 feet in length, the mammoth dirigible called for a crew of 40 people, including 10 to 12 cooks, and provided berths for 72 passengers.

"Hindenburg Greets William Penn,"

August 9, 1936.

On March 4, 1936, the Hindenburg made its maiden test flight and would go on to complete 17 round trips across the Atlantic in that same year, carrying both passengers and freight. The airship would occasionally fly over Philadelphia, as recorded in photographs and newspaper accounts across the city, especially in the now defunct Philadelphia Record. Commanded by Captain Ernst Lehmann, the Hindenburg flew on August 8, 1936, for almost one full hour over Philadelphia, floating low in altitude over City Hall, William Penn's statue, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the dome of the Philadelphia Inquirer building.

Unfortunately, disaster would strike. On May 6, 1937, the Hindenburg burst into flames while landing at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey. The crash killed 35 of the 97 individuals on board. News coverage and radio accounts made this one of the most famous air disasters in history and led to the end of the use of rigid airships for commercial passengers. The cause of the explosion of the Hindenburg has been debated for decades and has never been determined. Some have considered sabotage, engine failure, and even a lightning strike. The story of the disaster has become the subject of many books and movies, including the 1975 American film, The Hindenburg. The airship's legacy is noted in the name of the famed hard-rock group Led Zeppelin, whose first album cover displayed a picture of the Hindenburg in flames.

As early as 1782, French forces had proposed the use of balloons to transport troops over British fortresses during war. Later, during the American Civil War, an American aeronaut named T.S.C. Lowe utilized balloons in several military campaigns for reconnaissance missions and as bombers. Eventually, these balloons, now called airships, blimps, or dirigibles, were not only employed during times of war, but also for civilian transportation.

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Coincidences or Acts of Divine Intervention? Accounts of the Bible Saving Soldiers on the Battlefield

2011-05-11T11:56:00.000-04:00

Miraculous things have happened over time, in regard to individuals surviving catastrophic weather events, automobile accidents, ship-wrecks, or horrendous conditions on a battlefield. Some term these occurences simply as coincidences, or the result of luck, while other individuals sincerely believe that the 'Hand of Providence,' or some Heavenly power, literally reached out and 'snatched' them from the proverbial 'jaws of death,' when they should have died or been killed like many others.

During the famous Battle of Chapultepec, fought during the Mexican-American War on September 13, 1847 in Mexico, Lt. John Henry Jackson, a native of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, serving in the Ninth Infantry, USA regular forces, was shot in the chest. However, the bullet or ball, according to an account published in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, for November 25, 1847, glanced off, then "whizzed upon the ground for a great distance, and must have killed him upon the spot, but for a fortunate incident--he carried in his vest pocket a small copy of the Bible, a precious volume, the gift of his sister, just before leaving his New England home. The ball struck the book and made a deep hole in it, but it proved as good a breastwork on the occasion as the cotton bags did at New Orleans to the troops of Gen. Jackson, and saved the life of the owner. Thus, the sister, in the presentation of this sacred and timely token of affection, has been the means of saving the life of a brother, in one of the bloodiest battle fields in the valley of Mexico... Both the book and the ball...made a deep impression upon each other, at the first introduction, and will probably not soon part company."

John Henry Jackson's commanding officer, Col. Trueman Bishop Ransom from Vermont, would die an heroic death during the same Chapultepec battle, while Jackson, like other Mexican War veterans, would later serve in the American Civil War, as a Lt. Col. of the Third Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry. During this conflict he was wounded during the siege of 'Ft. Wagner, South Carolina' in July of 1863, then later discharged from military service, but did not pass away until April 10, 1890 at Boston, Massachusetts.

During WWI, a nineteen year old soldier from New Castle, Pennsylvania, William R. Wilson, was serving in Europe when he was shot by enemy fire. As the Associated Press article stated, once his comrades carried him off the battlefield they found, "that he was suffering only from a flesh wound in the breast, thanks to his Bible and the trench mirror, through which the bullet passed." Wilson normally carried his Bible "in his left breast pocket," which had "deflected a German sharpshooter's bullet from his heart." He was also shot in the arm. Wilson commented how he was going to, "present the Bible to the United States as soon as he is discharged from the hospital."

Since this year marks the 150th Anniversary or 'Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War,' it is from our nation's most famous internal conflict, that we can read numerous recorded accounts, of soldiers being saved by their 'Testaments' or Bibles.

According to an article in the Philadelphia paper, Forney's War Press, for November 8, 1862, the American Bible Society and other auxiliary organizations, had been responsible for the printing and distribution of over 175,000 volumes (Bibles or Testaments), stating how "a large portion of these books are distributed in the army, among paroled and rebel prisoners, the sick and wounded in hospitals, and among the colored people."

The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin recorded an account of Captain Eli Daugherty (or Dougherty), of Co. 'K,' 93rd PA Regiment of Infantry, who was wounded during the 'Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia,' on May 31, 1862. He was "struck but escaped in a most singular manner. He had upon his person a gold watch and a Bible. The watch was shattered, and the ball passed nearly through the Bible, inflicting only a slight wound, leaving its mark on this passage, "I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead, at his appearing, and his kingdom, preach the word." The newspaper account went on to suggest that Capt. Daugherty was a 'chivalrous' person, since the sacred book of scriptures had been given to Capt. Daugherty "by a Lady, and his wearing it next to his heart is undoubtedly the cause of that organ continuing to beat to day."

The Confederate or 'Rebel' forces weren't immune to such accounts as the above, since a North Carolinian private, George P. Piner, from Carteret County, of Co. 'A,' Twenty-Seventh North Carolina Infantry, had something similar happen to him at the 'Battle of Bristoe Station, Virginia,' on October 14th, 1863. He went into the engagement, "with a small Testament in his breast pocket. A ball struck the book, and penetrated as far as the Fifth Chapter of Matthew, twenty-first and twenty-second verses...The verses read:

"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill, shall be in danger of the judgement and who-soever is angry with his brother withoust cause shall be in danger of judgement." It was related of this incident and verses, that "that Yankee ball was like the Devil---it had to turn its course when met by scriptural opposition."

Evidently Private Piner wasn't carrying his Testament later in the War, for he was "mortally wounded in the head" at the 'Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia, on June 3, 1864.

Even the authoritative, multi-volume account of the Civil War, as reported by its officers, or the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Vol. XII, recorded that at the 'Battle of Kernstown, Virginia,' (March 3, 1862), a Captain J.P. Thom, of the First Battalion, Virginia Infantry, Co. 'C,' "proceeded with the men under his command...that the firing on both sides was exceedingly hot...that soon after...he received a ball against his left breast, which was prevented from penetrating his body by a small copy of the New Testament in a pocket of his shirt, and one through the fleshy part of the palm of his right hand, and fell...." (p.407)

Mr. George Hay Stuart of the U.S. Christian Commission, gave examples after the Civil War of various soldiers being saved by the Testament like those accounts recorded above. He added how, "Some wives have them with the blood-stains on the leaves. I saw one where the ball had stopped at a verse that struck the man, and which proved the means of his conversion. He was killed afterward, but his wife preserved the Testament. I said to her, 'I would like to own that Testament---What will you take for it?' 'Oh,' she said, 'There isn't gold enough in the country to buy it from me." (See, Christianity in the War, (Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen, and Haffelfinger, 1872: 378-379).

Suffice it to say, that there are hundreds of recorded accounts such as those mentioned above, dating from the Civil War era, many of which may be found in the collections of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia's First Civil War Casualty

2011-04-20T19:47:00.000-04:00

***This article appeared in the April, 2011, HSP monthly email publication, "History Hits: Collecting & sharing the stories of Pennsylvania." For a free subscription, simply click here to enter your email address.***

On this day, April 19, in 1861, Philadelphia suffered its first military casualty of the American Civil War. A 26-year-old German immigrant named George Leisenring (who also appears as John Lichtenhahn in contemporary records of the day) was mortally wounded in Baltimore, Maryland, and died a few days later at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia.

Leisenring was a member of the Washington Brigade, which included the Washington Guards, a group of volunteers commanded by Colonel William F. Small. Small's volunteer force, composed in part of German immigrants, had been organized as a militia regiment in January of 1861. They along with the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, by train, only to encounter an enraged mob of "secessionists" or pro-Confederate residents of the city. Some of the mob boarded the railroad car in which George Leisenring was an occupant, and the young resident of Philadelphia received "two stab wounds," one in his back and another by a knife which was also "plunged into his side." He and four Massachusetts soldiers would die, while some 25 others were wounded during the assault.

1862 Civil War recruitment poster

Samuel Bates, in his multi-volume work, The History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, first published in 1869, states how those soldiers attacked during the Baltimore Riots were "recruited in Philadelphia, in the districts of Northern Liberties and Kensington, and at least one-half of its members were German." Leisenring served as a private in Company C, commanded by Captain Henry Ungerer of the 2nd Regiment of the Washington Brigade, according to Frank Taylor, Civil War soldier, author, and artist, in his work, Philadelphia in the Civil War: 1861-1865, published in 1913.

Leisenring was first buried in the Union Wesleyan and Harmony Burial Ground located in Kensington. The bodies buried there were later re-interred at Fernwood Cemetery, Delaware County. Regrettably, the exact whereabouts of Leisenring's grave is not known. All are welcome to attend a memorial service to commemorate the sacrifice of Philadelphia's first military casualty of the American Civil War at 1 p.m. this Saturday, April 23, at Palmer Cemetery in Fishtown, Philadelphia (the town where Leisenring resided). A movement is afoot to erect a monument to his memory. For more information on how to support this effort, visit http://generalmeadesociety.org/.

During this 150th sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, which begins this month, it should be remembered that Philadelphia from the beginning paid a price, as it has done in all wars, for both freedom and liberty. George Leisenring was no exception. He is someone to be remembered with honor for his sacrifice, which is the more remarkable since he gave his life in the defense of his adopted country.

CBSPhilly.com Covers HSP Civil War Display

2011-04-13T12:27:00.000-04:00

Pa. Historical Society Displays Civil War Items On 150th Anniversary Of War’s Start

April 12, 2011 1:35 PM

(Photos by John Ostapkovich)

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Today marks the 150th anniversary of the first shots of the Civil War, the attack on Ft. Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.

To mark the anniversary, a treasure trove of artifacts was on display today at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia.

The Historical Society began collecting Civil War memorabilia after the Gettysburg Address.

“We have thousands and thousands of diaries, photographs, manuscripts, prints, lithographs,” says Lauri Cielo, director of programs at the society.
Military historian Dan Rolph (second from left in top photo) strolled the display, engaging visitors in engaging tales — such as that Philadelphia, birthplace of the Union, was not entirely in its corner.

“Philadelphia was a hotbed of Copperheadism,” says Rolph. “Philly was split down the middle. It had economic ties to the South. It had familial ties to the South. You had a lot of men who were at, say, Jefferson College when the war broke out who went South when their state seceded.”

Dr. Rolph tells of a Gettysburg native who moved to Virginia, joined the Rebel army, and was killed invading his own family farm in 1863.

Reported by John Ostapkovich, KYW Newsradio 1060

Listen to KYW 1060 Podcast: HSP's Civil War Collection

2011-04-06T18:02:00.001-04:00

As part of the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, HSP will showcase to the public our vast Civil War collections which include letters, diaries, posters, currency, etc. This will occur on Tuesday, April 12, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Philadelphia's news radio, KYW 1060 AM, interviewed me to discuss elements of this collection. The 19 minute audio podcast can be accessed here:

Civil War Documents on Display at Historical Society

Unsung and Unknown Women in American History

2011-03-23T18:32:00.000-04:00

***This article appeared in the March, 2011, HSP monthly email publication, "History Hits: Collecting & sharing the stories of Pennsylvania." For a free subscription, simply click here to enter your email address.***

Large portions of our nation's history focus on individuals in positions of prominence, prestige, or power. To a very large degree, literally thousands of men and women who have lived in America are relatively unknown and are not found in college textbooks. However, this in no way negates or diminishes their contributions to our past. Not all history involves "glamour and glitz." Much of it is rather the account of "grit" in the face of obstacles or insurmountable odds. During Women's History Month, we decided to highlight a few lesser known stories found in the collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

One such story is that of Nellie Pucell, who at age 9 sailed from Liverpool to Boston with her sister and parents in May of 1856. The family traveled on the ship Horizon. The Mormon family traveled by train to Iowa, then was forced along with hundreds of other Utah-bound pioneers to pull handcarts, since they were too poor to afford a wagon. By October both Nellie's mother and father were dead from exposure to the cold and hunger. Nellie and her sister Maggie, age 14, made it into the Salt Lake Valley, but with badly frozen limbs. Nellie's feet were soon amputated without anesthetic, and her legs never healed properly. She later married William Unthank and reared six children. A bronze monument of a girl stands on the campus of Southern Utah University in Cedar City in honor of her sacrifice.


Article from Philadelphia Telegraph

Hester Massey of Buncombe County, North Carolina, is another woman who triumphed over adversity. Her tale is recounted in newspapers including the Germantown, Philadelphia (PA) Telegraph on March 23, 1831 (shown at right). Hester was born without arms and legs, but she possessed a "sound mind" and "good health." Remarkably, her physical disabilities failed to discourage her from the love of reading, so much so that it is said she would turn the leaves of a book with her mouth or tongue. She also swept floors by "holding a straw broom between her head and shoulder."

Another story--this one a tragedy--is that of Caroline Witmer, who lived with her husband Henry and their children at 605 Dauphin Street in Philadelphia during the late 1800s. At this time, the City of Brotherly Love was struck with a plague of scarlet fever, or Scarlatina. According to the Federal 1870 Mortality Schedule, as well as the Philadelphia Public Ledger for the month of February, Caroline Witmer's five young children (four girls and one boy) died of the disease within a few days. One can only imagine the grief this mother endured.

A heartbreaking tale comes to us from September 1869. In that month, a ship load of Irish immigrants from Londonderry arrived here in Philadelphia. On board was Mary Boyle, age 70, who according to the 1870 Mortality Schedule for June 1, 1870, died from "old age, immediately after landing, of fatigue." She is buried Old Cathedral Cemetery.

There are stories to be told of the common woman, both young and old, that await the scholar and the public. During Women's History Month, we should reflect not only upon famous women and their contributions, but the millions of little known heroines, from our own mothers to countless others, who on a daily basis continue to sacrifice for the welfare of us all.

Philadelphia's 'Strangling Bug' of 1899 and The American Entomological Society

2011-03-18T14:28:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia is of course best known for its seminal role in the creation of the United States of America, as witnessed by the Liberty Bell, Declaration of Independence, and meeting of the Founding Fathers at Independence Hall, during the Constitutional Convention, etc. However, the 'City of Brotherly Love' is less known for being the birthplace of the science of Entomology, or the study of insects.

The American Entomological Society was founded by fifteen individuals on February 22, 1859 in Philadelphia, and what became the Entomological Society of America was also organized in the city in 1904. As it is now March, I thought it appropriate to commemorate that society's organizing committee report at a meeting held on March 1, 1859, where the name, 'The Entomological Society of Philadelphia' was adopted, being the "oldest continuously operating group in the western hemisphere dedicated to the study of insects..." (see, W. H. Day and G. W. Cowper, "The Early Meeting Sites of the American Entomological Society in Philadelphia, PA, 1859-1876," in, Transactions of the American Entomological Society, Vol. 135, No.4 (2009): 397-406).

Consequently, as can readily be observed, Philadelphia and 'bugs' have a long and honored association with one another. I will relate a few accounts of an invasion of certain mysterious insects plaguing the city during the month of July 1899, when various newspapers carried a number of stories on a 'strangling bug.' Not only Philadelphia, but a few surrounding counties, as well as within parts of New Jersey were experiencing these 'attacks.'

One of the most detailed accounts concerned a section of the city known as 'Haddington,' a neighborhood located primarily in the 34th Ward of Philadelphia. Here city residents, Robert Taylor, Frederick Shortland, and Edward McAleer, witnessed the 'attack' against Taylor's dog Prince, by a "large brown insect, his claws locked over the dog's throat." Shortland purportedly held a match to the insect, which then "released his canine victim and dashed at the throat of the man," which brought the aid of the other bystanders, who "grasped the insect and tore it away," though its "strong fangs clutched the man's neck," leaving "two livid red spots."

The "strangling bug" was described as being brown in color, "about two and a half inches long," with wings and a "long pair of pointed claws." A short but thick ''sucker" was said to complete "the insect's war-like equipment." (see, The Evening Report, Lebanon, PA, for July 17th, 1899). Accounts also exist of the mysterious insect being "attracted by the electric lights," and "intruding their ugliness...up the pantaloon legs of men, in the hair and down the necks of females and children." (see, Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch, July 30th, 1899).

The belief was that the 'strangling bug' was originally from Northern Africa, and had somehow arrived on a cargoe ship. Jail Warden Thomas S. Fields of Media, PA in nearby Delaware County, succeeded in capturing one of the "bloodthirsty" creatures within "a glass jar." A "live mouse" was placed inside, after which it was said the "bug in a minute made a sudden dash upon the neck of the mouse, and stung it in such a way as to cause it to keel over dead, the bug hanging on to it and sucking its blood." This 'vampire-like' insect was also described as being some "two and a half inches long, has a strong pair of wings and is armed with a sharp-pointed 'sucker' or sword and two crab-like claws."

Northwards, at Doylestown in Bucks County, a "plague" of the bugs was reported at the same time, which were being found near the city's lights in swarms, one being captured by John Wesley Newman, at the Fountain House. The insect was described as having, a "heavy body and wings, and pointed bill, with which it sucks the blood of its victim." (see, "A Plague of Offensive Bugs Invade Doylestown Like a Mighty Army and Darken Street Lights," The Evening Report, Lebanon, PA, July 19th, 1899).

In actuality, the 'strangling bug' was nothing more than the giant water bug, or Belostomatidae, of the order Hemiptera, known in folk-terminlogy as 'toe-biters' and in Florida as 'Alligator Ticks.' It is one of the largest insects in the United States, and can inflict a "nasty nip" at times to humans.

The insects can reach up to four inches in length and 'inject' their saliva into their victims by use of a "beak," which dissolves the "body tissues," and sucks out "the liquefied remains," hence their 'vampire-like' attributes. They also love porch or street lights and are often mistaken to be cockroaches or a beetle because of their physical characteristics. Water-bugs are usually not aggressive to large predators and often 'play dead' like an oppossum, but can quickly 'come alive' as many have found who have attempted to pick them up.

Phildelphia survived its invasion of the so-called 'strangling bug,' which was apparently not from Africa, but simply a 'home-grown' grown variety, and since there is an abundance of water in the Philadelphia area (their favorite habitat), it's not surprising they liked it here in 1899!

(By the way, 'giant water bugs,' such as Lethocerus, are said to be quite popular as a treat in the country of Thailand).

If one has an inclination to see and learn more about these 'critters' in detail, see:

'Belostomatidae' at Wikipedia

EduWebs - Giant Water Bug

C-SPAN BookTV appearance: My Brother's Keeper

2011-03-04T14:28:00.000-05:00

After it's publication in 2002 and until the present time, I continue to have the opportunity to speak to various groups about one of my books, My Brother's Keeper: Union and Confederate Soldiers' Acts of Mercy During the Civil War. One presentation was filmed by C-SPAN's BookTV in Bowling Green, KY in 2003, and can be viewed in its video archives here.

I mentioned the book in a previous Hidden Histories post that can be found here.

A Forgotten Massacre and Little-Remembered War

2011-03-04T14:01:00.000-05:00

***This article appeared in a December, 2009 HSP monthly email publication, "History Hits: Collecting & sharing the stories of Pennsylvania." To subscribe, click here.***

Everyone recalls the Alamo and its heroic but tragic defense in Texas in 1836, and the "Last Stand" of George Armstrong Custer and his forces at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in Montana in 1876. But very few are aware of the battle that occurred on this day, Monday, December 28, 1835. During the battle, called the Dade Massacre, Major Francis Langhorne Dade and his entire command of more than 100 men were annihilated within the "piney woods" country of Florida in a surprise attack by a combined force of Seminole Indians and runaway slaves.

Only three men survived the battle, and only one--Private Ransom Clarke--lived long enough to write about it. (read his account to the right) Clarke suffered a shattered shoulder and pelvis, broken legs, and wounds to his head and lung. The injured soldier crawled 50 miles from the site of the battle (not far from what is now Bushnell, Florida) to Ft. Brook (near present-day Tampa).

The Dade Massacre was the catalyst for the Second Seminole War, which was fought between 1835 and 1842 and included such famous individuals as Seminole chief Osceola, who was later captured and died of malaria in January of 1838. Army physician Frederick Weedon embalmed and preserved Osceola's head!

Presidents and military authorities fretted over what to do about the "Seminole problem." Major General Thomas Sidney Jessup, who was in command of the Florida forces, wrote to Colonel Persifor Frazer Smith in April 19, 1838, that since "no part of the Indians can be safely trusted...the only proper course is to seize and send them off...."

Smith (pictured below) was a Philadelphia native, a graduate of Princeton, and a lawyer. He became the colonel of a regiment of volunteers and led them in various campaigns during the Second Seminole War. The correspondence between Jessup and Smith (also below) is found in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's papers of Washington Townsend, a representative from Chester County.

President Martin Van Buren sent General Alexander Macomb, the Commanding General of the United States Army, to negotiate a treaty with the Seminoles in May of 1839. However, the war continued. In 1840, Macomb wrote a lengthy discourse to Secretary of War Joel R. Poinsett (whose papers are on deposit at the Historical Society) titled, "A Plan For Subduing the Indians in Florida."

The war would eventually cost the United States more than $20 million and some 1,500 men. The three Seminole Wars would tax the funds and manpower of the federal government from 1817 until 1842. By the end of the war, thousands of Seminoles had been forced westward and only a few hundred remained in Florida.

Like so many other topics, the collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania are composed of a diverse range of materials, both topically and chronologically for both the scholar and layperson alike. We invite all to visit the society and enjoy.

Black History Month: Philadelphia's Extraordinary Resident, 135-year-old Mary McDonald

2011-02-17T14:48:00.001-05:00

Though many centenarians have passed away in the City of Brotherly Love, none have surpassed the forgotten, but truly remarkable, African-American woman named Mary McDonald. McDonald died on January 5, 1906, at the ripe old age of 135!

Many may scoff at the above declaration, but Mary's official death certificate in Philadelphia declares her to have been born in Pennsylvania on November 14, 1770, and died at the age of "135 years, 1 month & 21 days." Also, the 1900 Federal Census returns for Philadelphia's Ward 34 shows Mary as being born in 1770 in Pennsylvania.

In 1887 at age 117, Mary McDonald (occasionally referred to as McDonnell) moved to the Home for Aged & Infirm Colored Persons, located on the southwest corner of Girard and Belmont Avenues. The home had been founded in 1864 during the Civil War by Stephen and Harriet Smith, also of African ancestry.

The Annual Reports of the Board of Managers of the Home of Aged and Infirm Colored Persons provide a biographical sketch of Mary, noting in 1902 that Mary was "familiarly known in the house and without as 'grandmother.'" According the records of the Home, Mary was born in Frogtown near Valley Forge. Mary related how "at the age of four years she was placed in the family of Reese Howell" and "remembers the years 1777 and '78, when the Revolutionary forces were camped near Valley Forge."

The Daughters of the American Revolution organization verified Mary's reminiscences, and agreed that in 1899 "the old woman must be over one hundred and twenty-eight years of age." Mary McDonald reminisced about the Revolution, giving details of the skirmishing of the Continental Army "in the neighborhood of Philadelphia," and how "the soldiers were always going up and down the road. They were dressed in all buttons." She remarked how "the soldiers came around twice a week to collect the provisions prepared for them. All the women in the neighborhood gave food to the patriots."

Mary McDonald remembered those who resided in the Valley Forge area, such as Isaac Walker and his family. During an interview, Mary reportedly asked "if the Walkers were still there" and if Isaac was still living. The interviewer told her that Isaac's grandchildren and great-grandchildren now lived here, and Mary "became greatly excited & praised the Lord."

Mary McDonald was buried at Olive Cemetery, a graveyard reserved for Black individuals, which was originally located at Girard and Belmont Avenues in Philadelphia. She was moved to Eden and Mt. Zion in 1923.

Another centenarian, Edith Gilliam, an ex-slave from Sussex County, Virginia, was also buried in Olive Cemetery. Gilliam, who was the mother of 21 children, passed away in Philadelphia at the age of 115 on February 18, 1880. There is also an account of a woman named Alice, who reportedly died at age 116 in 1802. John Fanning Watson, the famed Philadelphia antiquarian of the 19th century printed a brief biographical account of Alice, who was born as a slave in Philadelphia, in his multi-volume compilation Annals of Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania.

Black History Month: Inter-Racial Marriages and Relationships in Colonial Pennsylvania

2011-02-04T15:26:00.001-05:00

Here at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania in the near future, Dr. William Pickens III, will be presenting an account relative to his descent, from an early inter-racial couple of Colonial Philadelphia. Though located in what is now near-by Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, a community known as 'Guineatown,' (later Edge Hill), included a resident named 'Richard Morrey, Gentleman,' son of Humphrey Morrey, Philadelphia's first Mayor under the city charter of 1691. Richard would later have a long time relationship with a Black mistress, originally one of his family's former slaves, a freed Black woman named Cremona, also known as Mooney, emancipated in 1746, who was the mother of five of his children.

Though the Quakers and early German pacifist settlers would indeed seek freedom for the enslaved Africans within the Colonial period, even William Penn himself was a slave holder. In fact, as early as December of 1684, a mercantile firm out of Bristol, England, had transported 150 African slaves on the ship, the Isabella to Philadelphia, individuals later utilized as laborers, carpenters, etc; men, women and children, bought by members of the 'Society of Friends' residing within the city whom they enslaved.

Even though the above Richard Morrey would live as husband and wife with a slave woman, the Pennsylvania colony and surrounding area, were by no means, 'bastions of benevolence' when it came to the inter-racial relationships of its citizens. As early as 1677 a white servant was indicted, "for that hee...contrary to the Lawes of the Government and Contrary to his Masters Consent hath...got with child a certaine molato wooman Called Swart anna," while in 1698 the Chester County, Pennsylvania Court forbade the "mingling of the races." Plus, the 'Minutes of the Abington Monthly Meeting,' for 1693, records the course of action taken against a "Negro Man...And a white woman for having a Baster Childe...she being examined, Confest the same:..the Court ordered that she shall Received Twenty one laishes on her beare Backe...and the Court ordered the negroe never more to meddle with any white woman more uppon paine of his life."

The Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania, Section VIII, for 1725-26, emphatically declared, "...Be it further enacted...That if any white man or woman shall cohabit or dwell with any negro under pretense of being married, such white man or woman shall forfeit and pay the sum of thirty pounds or be sold for a servant...and the child or children of such white man or woman shall be put out to service as above directed until they come to the age of thirty-one years...and if any free negro man or woman shall intermarry with a white woman or man, such negro shall become a slave during life...and if any free negro man or woman shall commit fornication or adultery with any white man or woman, such negro or negroes shall be sold servant for seven years...and the white man or woman shall be punished as the law directs in cases of adultery or fornication."

The 'Statute' above, also provided that "any Minister, Pastor or Magistrate or other, whatever, joining in marriage any negro and white person" would be fined a penalty of one hundred pounds!

Restrictions placed between the two races were not simply confined to the subject of marriage or cohabitation within the 'City of Brotherly Love' or within the surrounding area. The 'Middletown Meeting' records for Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on the '6th of the Third Month, 1703,' also stated how, "Friends are not satisfied with having negroes buried in Friends' burying-ground," and again in 1738, the same meeting declared that, "deceased Negroes {are} forbidden to be buried within the grounds of the graveyard belonging to this Meeting."

However, at times, as in all places, North and South, such laws were not rigidly enforced, or individuals refused to abide by the laws as enacted by Colonial legisatures, though they often had to suffer the consequences of their actions. In Maryland alone, during the 17th-century, over two hundred and fifty white women, most being indentured servants, were prosecuted for having had intimate relations with Black slaves, resulting in the birth of illegitimate children, thus adding at times years to their 'indenture,' as well as fines, lashes, and their children resultingly being taken from them and placed into slavery.

The Pennsylvania Votes of Assembly, for January in 1766, record the Petition of one, John Goggin, a Mariner, who had married a Catherine O'Brien ten years previously, who having a "extravagant Fondness for strong Liquors, run the Petitioner in debt...The Petitioner gave her a good Sum of Money, and went to Sea...he continued abroad...about Fourteen Months, in which Space of Time...he found the said Catherine was become a Prostitute to Negroes, and in the Month of January, 1765, was delivered of a Bastard Mulattoe Child, as will appear from a Transcript of the Record of her Conviction, and Affidavits hereunto annexed..."

A somewhat different 'twist' on the above subject, may be found in the account of William Johnson, a former slave from Virginia, who as late as the 19th-century, and only a decade prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, fled to Philadelphia, purchased his freedom from the city's Mayor, Charles Gilpin, and later "married Catherine Flynn a white woman from Scotland, with whom he lived until a few days of his death, and had three children by her." Johnson became a wealthy man, possessed of a considerable amount of property at the time of his death in December of 1852, an incident which would create quite a stir, as revealed in the newspapers of the time and various court documents, since both his White and Black wives would seek out their portion of his fortune.

The account of inter-racial relationships in early America is an interesting topic in and of itself, much of which may be found in the manuscript and published collections at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

For a brief overview of material concerning Richard Morrey, 'Cremona,' and 'Guineatown,' see the following articles by Reginald H. Pitts:

"Richard Morrey, Gent.", of Cheltenham Township and His "Negro Woman Mooney," The Bulletin of the Historical Society of Montgomery County, Vol.XXX, No.4 (Spring 1999): 261-299.

"The Montier Family of Guineatown," Old York Road Historical Society Bulletin, Vol.LIII, (1993): 23-35.

"Robert Lewis of Guineatown, and "The Colored Cemetary in Glenside," Old York Road Historical Society Bulletin, Vol.LI (1991): 43-56.

See also:

Elaine W. Rothschild, A History of Cheltenham Township (Cheltenham Township Historical Commission, Montgomery County, PA: 1976): 15-17.

Philadelphia Deed Book 'G,' No.7, (Sept. 1747): 'Richard Morrey to His Negro Woman Cremona Morrey," pp's. 539-540.

Strange Accounts of Death, Destruction, and Injury by Lightning

2011-01-19T18:53:00.000-05:00

For centuries, the mysterious force of lightning has usually been accompanied by feelings of dread or despair, especially if one is caught outside or indoors during a violent thunderstorm. For centuries and throughout the world, numerous accounts exist recording such 'bolts of fire' and acts of death or destruction, associated with such events. One can hardly read a 19th-century newspaper without encountering articles, practically on a daily basis, of deaths by lightning.

Yet such examples of fateful mortality are not restricted to the far distant past alone, as witnessed in August of 2002, when three individuals were killed by "a big ball of fire," which came down a tree,"during a funeral" at Clear Creek Cemetery near Willard, Missouri. This incident is similar to one recorded in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, for July 14th, 1887, concerning a lightning strike in Tennessee, where "three ministers and six other persons, attending a funeral, took shelter under a tree and all were killed."

Two "respectable ladies," according to the Berks and Schuylkill Journal of Reading, PA, and the Kentucky Gazette, of Lexington, Kentucky, were mortally wounded by a lightning strike at Lexington, surprisingly within the "Presbyterian Meeting House," on July 20th, 1817. Mrs. Eleanor M'Cullough and Mrs. Jane Lucket or Luckie (evidently not too lucky!), "during divine worship" were killed, causing as one would imagine, a "scene of distress and confusion among the congregation," which could "scarcely be imagined."

The Philadelphia Public Ledger, for August 14th, 1838, carried an article entitled, "Destructive Storm," taken from the Baltimore Sun, which related that at Fell's Point, a three story brick warehouse was destroyed, burying five individuals who had taken refuge in the building from the tempest. Out of the five individuals injured by the collapse of the structure, two had died, "a German man and woman, who had landed but a few moments previously," off the ship Sophie, which had arrived from Bremen, Germany!

In July of 1933, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, one Oscar Brown, of Wynnewood, "a grave digger," was working at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, and while literally digging a grave, he was hit by a 'bolt" of lightning which "struck him and he plunged forward into the partially-completed crypt..," his body being found later, "rain-drenched" and "lying face downward on the new-turned earth by the graveside."

Superstition as well has played a major role in regard to lightning for many years. One former slave, Francis Fedric of Fauquier County, Virginia, recalled how his master, on a hot day when "clouds of an inky blackness began to rise from the distant uplands," would call for his slaves to come near his side. At the sound of a "thunder-clap," he would say to them: "Come nearer. Stand close to me," while he would cower and tremble during the entire thunderstorm. Fedric related how, "I was told that this was his invariable custom whenever it thundered or lightened, imagining that the Almighty would not strike the slaves, consequently, being surrounded by them, the Colonel thought he would certainly escape...My mother told me that the Colonel thought the Negroes could drive the lightning away."

There are many accounts of 'lightning strikes' or 'bolts' occurring when the sky was clear or relatively free of storm clouds. As early as 1756, the New York Gazette and Weekly Post-Boy, retold an account taken from the New Haven (CT) Gazette, for June 10, of:

a Mr. Thomas Rockwell and a Negro Man of his being a work in the Field, a small cloud gathered over them from whence came a Flash of Lightning; which struck down Mr. Rockwell and kill'd the Negro, it seemed first to have struck the Negroe's shoulder, and running down his Arms shivered the Handle of the Hoe with which he was at work, the Sun was then shining bright at the same place.

The Philadelphia Public Ledger once again, for August 28, 1913, in an article entitled, "Killed by a Thunderbolt," told of Mr. James Lee, of Atlantic City, New Jersey, who "was killed by a bolt of lightning from an almost cloudless sky..." Russell Fenton, who was working with him on repairs to a boat in a creek not far from Lee's machine shop at Absecon, said how, "it seemed to him that a ball of fire dropped on Lee's head, ran down his neck and chest and then jumped off into the water."

The Lebanon (PA) Courier for May 9th, 1867, published an account taken from the Uniontown (PA) Standard, which stated that "during the prevalence of a thunder storm, which passed over the lower part of Fayette County a few days since, two cousins by the name of Noah and Henry Armstrong, "were struck by lightning and instantly killed, though one was near Cookstown, and the other near Perropolis, several miles distant at the time."

Others claimed 'lightning' wasn't something to be feared, but could actually be a 'boon' rather than a curse when it struck. In my own hometown newspaper, the Maysville (KY) Bulletin, for July 11, 1901, it states how one, Hester Stanton, a Black woman of the city, "who has been a sufferer from rheumatism for years, claims she was cured by a slight shock from lightning, during a storm a few weeks since. She was stunned by the stroke and after recovering was surprised to find that the rheumatic pains had left her; and she has not been troubled by the disease since then."

The above accounts are only a few, of hundreds of bizarre incidents related within the newspapers and various publications, both past and present, concerning 'lightning strikes' and 'bolts of fire,' many of which are available here at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

The Mysteries and History of Christ Church in Philadelphia

2011-01-13T18:44:00.000-05:00

Christ Church in Philadelphia

This article appeared in the free monthly HSP Newsletter, History Hits. Click here to subscribe.

*******

Tales of hidden passageways, underground tunnels, and skeletons always make for an intriguing story. According to historical accounts and newspaper records held here at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, there are plenty of good stories about Christ Church, the oldest Episcopal church in Philadelphia.
Founded in 1695, Christ Church on Second Street, north of Market, has a long and honorable past. Founding Fathers, such as George Washington and John Adams, worshipped there, and Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Rush, Joseph Hewes, and other signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried within its graveyard, located at Fifth and Arch Streets.

The church has also been the site of mystery and intrigue. One such story comes from Townsend Ward, a secretary of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, who died in 1885. Ward published an account in 1880, which was later reprinted in the Public Ledger in January of 1907. He related how on a cold November evening, the voice of a woman had been heard at Christ Church. The sexton and two young boys searched the church, but no one was located. A month or so later, the iron door of a sepulcher was opened on the north side of the church, which revealed upon its steps "the body of a young lady in her shroud, who had been buried as dead" but met her grim fate as a "premature burial."

Chime of the Eight Bells

Christ Church is famous for its "Chime of Eight Bells" (pictured at right). The largest bell weighed 2,040 pounds. The bell was cast in England and brought to Philadelphia in 1754 on the ship Myrtilla by Capt. Richard Buden, who lies interred within the church's cemetery. It is with the bells that our mystery begins in earnest.

According to John F. Watson, the early 19th-century Philadelphia antiquarian, after the Declaration of Independence was read to the public on July 4, 1776, the bells of Christ Church rang out. The chimes often rang out to announce public events. The ringing on July 4 was not to the liking of the church rector, the Reverend Jacob Duche, who was loyal to the Crown of England. But it was pleasing to the vestry, who were unanimous in their support of the Rebellion. It was feared the chimes would be confiscated by the British, so they were taken down in 1777 and purportedly taken to either Bethlehem or Allentown. They were returned after the British evacuated Philadelphia in the summer of 1778.

Newspaper article dated March 26, 1909

During late March in 1909, many Philadelphia newspapers, such as the Bulletin, The Press, and others, ran articles about the discovery of a "Revolutionary Tunnel" leading to Christ Church. The entrance to the tunnel was accidentally found by Edward Duncan and other workmen underneath the hardware store of James M. Vance & Co. at 211-13 Market Street. Described as being some 200 feet in length, 3 feet wide, and 7 feet high, the main passageway terminated at a blind wall where the "remains of an old stairway were also found" along with "the crumbling bones" of some eight skeletons, determined later to be located directly underneath the tower of Christ's Church.

As can be imagined, a number of theories were offered to explain both the tunnels and skeletons. It is well known that the grounds of Christ Church have changed over the years. At one time a pond existed at the spot, while at various times, walls and even the remains of a horse stall were found, some 14 feet below the surface.

Most individuals who examined the tunnels said they were Revolutionary-era in construction. Some speculated the tunnels were used by Tories attempting to escape Continental recruitment, while most advocated that it "solved the long perplexing problem as to how the chimes in Christ Church were removed...during the first night of the occupation of Philadelphia" by the British. Said to have been "secretly removed from the tower while the British soldiers closely guarded the Church," they were then placed on a wagon and taken to Allentown, later returned and "sunk in the Delaware River until the war was over."

And the mystery continues. Though pictures appeared in the newspaper showing the entrance to the tunnels, one of the reported discoverers, Mr. James M. Vance, denied the discovery. One newspaper erringly quoted Dr. J. W. Duncan, librarian of the "Pennsylvania Historical Society," though at the time, John W. Jordan actually held that office. Nonetheless, it is an interesting story, and one that has never been satisfactorily explained.

An Interesting 'Jumping Rope Rhyme' as a Clue to a Pennsylvania Murder

2010-12-28T16:12:00.000-05:00

For centuries, children have utilized various rhymes in playing games, most of which many individuals believe to be farsical in origin or sentences simply designed to facilitate rhythm. Though this may be true in part, like other bits of folklore passed down through 'oral tradition,' an historical 'kernel of truth' often lies at the very foundation of a tale, or in this case, that of a 'jumping rope rhyme.'

Mr. James Smart of Philadelphia often heard his grandmother, Elizabeth Goldsmith Hartley, born in Philadelphia in 1875, repeat the following 'jumping rope rhyme,' which she and other young girls used to recite in their game:

                      "Gaine's Ghost sat on a Post;
                        His Feet were full of Blisters.
                        He made three Grabs at Mary Tabbs
                        And the Wind blew through his Whiskers."

Mr. Smart and I attempted for a number of years to find any 'historical'' validity behind this curious rhyme. Eventually he was successful, since published newspapers, such as the Evening Bulletin of Philadelphia, for the month of February, 1887, relates all the gruesome details connected with the murder of a Mr.WAITE or WAKEFIELD GAINES, an African-American, whose "headless, legless and armless body" was found "wrapped in coarse brown paper and marked, "Handle with Care," near 'Mann's Millpond,' at Eddington, located near the boundary lines of Bristol and Bensalem Townships, in nearby Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Eventually, MARY ANN TABBS, a Black woman of Philadelphia, who lived on Richard Street was arrested, a young girl who had repeatedly been seen with Gaines, a waiter by profession, who resided on Schell Street in the city. On one occasion the young woman, with whom the papers described as being "very intimate"with Gaines for some time, but jealous to the extreme, had inflicted a "big cut across his cheek" and was heard cursing him, saying how she "would kill him yet!"

By February 23rd, Miss Tabbs had confessed to the murder, after a number of witnesses had observed her and her peculiar baggage, as she rode on the train from Philadelphia to Eddington. However, she related how Gaines and a Mr. George Wilson, alias George Wallace, had gotten into a fight at her residence, during which Wilson struck Gaines with a "chair stand," by repeated blows, resulting in the latter's death. The body was then dismembered with a cleaver in the cellar, and later distributed 'in pieces,' so Miss Tabbs could handle and discard more easily, the trunk of the corpse.

Wilson, a native of Connecticut, was only nineteen years of age at the time of the murder. Though Miss Tabbs disposed of the 'trunk,' Wilson or Wallace had taken Gaine's "two arms, the two legs and the head" of Gaine's body and "threw them in the Schuylkill River," at the western end of the Callowhill street bridge in Philadelphia.

Though the affidavits or testimony of Tabbs and Wilson would vary, their guilt was established beyond any doubt. The point of this short sketch is to demonstrate the fact, that even something so innocent as a 'jumping rope rhyme,' may at times include historical tidbits, by which history may be re-constructed, confirmed, or verified.

Thus, in doing historical research, be it family, local or national in scope, one should never discount any clue or source as unreliable or of insignificant value, since it has been demonstrated on far too many occasions, that such meagre evidence often may lead one to the proverbial 'pot of gold' for an in-depth and thorough historical reconstruction.

Little Alma Dora Dustin & the ‘Great Sioux Uprising’ During the American Civil War

2010-11-29T13:56:00.001-05:00

Next year, the ‘Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War’ begins in earnest within the United States. Numerous commemoratory events will transpire throughout Pennsylvania and elsewhere, yet few realize that bloodshed, hardship, and even atrocities, were not events experienced only by residents living within the confines of the North and South. Other dramatic & tragic occurrences were transpiring within what is now the state of Minnesota.

For example, in June of 1863, little Alma Dora Dustin, age six, had witnessed it all--and was found by the rescue party alive—days AFTER the event, and though physically uninjured, one wonders of the emotional and psychological scars which may have haunted her throughout her remaining life--- since her mother, father, grandmother, and one brother, lay dead or mangled, tomahawked, scalped or “transfixed” with arrows by their murderers, who incidentally had also ‘cut off her father’s left hand and carried it away,’ as part of a bold, unprovoked attack on an innocent family.

As published by the Annual Report of the Attorney General, to the Legislature of Minnesota, Executive Documents of the State of Minnesota, For the Year 1863, little Alma Dustin:

At the commencement of the attack, {she} had crept under the seat occupied by her father, and his blood flowed over her, covering her hands and her face, saturating her hair and her garments to their utmost capacity of absorption, and even filling the shoes on her feet.

Writers such as Larry McCurty in his popular work, Oh What a Slaughter: Massacres in the American West: 1846-1890 {NY: Simon & Schuster, 2005), has plenty to say about the well-known and frequently written accounts of atrocities committed against Native-Americans by the military or white settlers, such as the famed ‘Sand Creek & Wounded Knee’ tragedies.

However, it is almost entirely forgotten in the annals of American history, nor mentioned within college textbooks, though widely reported in the nation’s newspapers at the time (and just a few years ago by Hank H. Cox in, Lincoln and the Sioux Uprising of 1862 {Nashville, TN: Cumberland House Publishing, 2005), that one of the greatest massacres of ‘innocent’ civilians occurred in the United States; but not against Native Americans, but upon white civilians by Native-Americans, with the slaughter of over 800 individuals, including numerous women and children. These events would culminate in the deaths of the family of Amos Dustin, in what is now McLeod County, Minnesota, on June 29, 1863, as they made their way by ox-cart to start a new home.

Though the assassins of the Dustin family were never brought to justice, the murders by the Sioux in 1862, resulted in the largest mass hanging in American history. Thirty-nine Native-Americans were executed at Mankato, under the direct order of President Abraham Lincoln, as being responsible for the murders of so many settlers and residents of Minnesota. The names and crimes of the guilty parties were printed for example, within the pages of the Philadelphia Daily Evening Bulletin, for January 2, 1863.

Though many, including myself, have enjoyed Kevin Costner’s highly acclaimed movie, Dances With Wolves, and its Hollywood portrayal of life among the Sioux during the Civil War era, one should always take into account the time-worn truism of the ancient Greek historian, Thucydides, who remarked centuries before Christ that, “Sad to say, most people will believe the first story they hear.”

Human nature has not changed since Thucydides spoke those words so long ago. Most people today still believe to a large degree what they see at the movies, read in a newspaper or scholarly journal, or hear from a professor in a university class, and forget that there are always, two-sides to any given event.

Thus individuals have existed among every race, culture, or ethnic group, who were either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ in their relationships with one another or with outsiders. The early settlers and Native-American Sioux in Minnesota and elsewhere were no different. Thus these comments should not be misconstrued into believing that I feel ALL the Sioux were barbarous murderers. Equally, neither were all colonists, settlers, or military personnel ‘white savages.’ I relate this account in order to give the reader a balance to a subject, which is quite often one-sided in its portrayal of American pioneer history, and our history in general.

My wife and I still cherish the hand-made little moccasin booties, made many years ago, by a dear friend of ours, who happened also to be a female shaman of the Sioux, originally from South Dakota. I have made that tribe’s fascinating history, culture, and folklore, one of my life-long pursuits.

Thus in pursuing historical inquiry, one should be more concerned about accuracy rather than what happens to be academically fashionable or politically correct. To do otherwise, is an injustice to all peoples and cultures. The same is true when it comes to speaking of events which transpired during the Civil War, or any other given time frame within American history.

The 'Other' American Civil War: The Enemy, My Friend?

2010-11-11T11:10:00.000-05:00

Next year the country will be celebrating the commemoration of the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War. Thus, it is only appropriate that today, on Veteran's Day, I relate one of my own favorite military accounts, derived from America's most bloody and violent conflict. Yet the following was an event truly 'civil' in nature; two men, though on opposing sides, quickly but tragically became friends, if only for a short period of time, during the 'Battle of Rome, Georgia,' fought on October 12th, 1864.

A native of Clinton County, Pennsylvania, Lutheran minister, Thomas F. Dornblazer, of Lee County, Illinois, writing within his work, Sabre Strokes of the Pennsylvania Dragoons in the War of 1861-1865, published in Philadelphia in 1884, recalled a remarkable personal incident he experienced during the 'War Between the States.' Dornblazer was serving at the time as a Sergeant, in Company 'E,' 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry, Minty's Brigade.

One of the opposing 'Rebel' or Confederate forces at Rome, Georgia that fateful day, was the 8th Alabama Cavalry, part of Charles G. Armistead's Brigade. Perhaps it is best to let Sgt. Dornblazer recall his own memories of what transpired (though I have italicized certain words in his reminiscence):

After firing a few shots, I saw a Rebel officer leaping the fence twenty yards to my right, and starting to run across the open field to join his comrades. In his right hand he held a navy revolver, and in his left an officer's sword. I leveled my "Spencer" and ordered him, sharply, to halt and throw down his arms, which he did. But seeing that I was altogether alone, he seized his weapons again, sprang to the stump of a broken tree...fired two shots from his revolver, and said in a defiant tone, "I'll fight you!"...

I took my horse by the rein, and made a left about wheel, two paces to the rear...My antagonist in the meantime fired two more shots, wounding my horse in the hip; and mistaking my maneuvers for a retreat, he rushed forward and preemptorily demanded my surrender. He came to the fence...{and} was in the act of stepping across when I ordered him a second time to halt. My gun was leveled; he raised his revolver with a threat: I fired! His arm dropped without discharging his revolver. His tall form sank to the ground as he exclaimed, "I'm a dead man."

At once I dropped my carbine, and offered him my hand; he gave it a friendly grasp and said, "You have killed a good man." "I'm sorry for it," said I, "and why did you take up your arms again?" Said he, "I made a vow that I would never surrender to one man. You were the only man I saw, and I determined to fight you, and get possession of your horse--then I could have made my escape. You did your duty, but you might have surrendered to me."

After making him as comfortable as I could with overcoat and blanket, I inquired his name and rank. He said his name was William H. Lawrence, Captain and acting Colonel of the Eighth Alabama Cavalry. He said he had a wife and two dear children living at Tuscaloosa, Alabama. His wife and daughter were devoted Christians, and he lamented that he had not lived a better life in the army. He did not feel prepared to die. He knew that he must die.

The ball struck the corner of his belt-plate and passed through his body, inflicting a mortal wound. His mind was perfectly clear, anf for one-half hour we were alone, undisturbed, and we wept and prayed together, invoking the Infinite Mercy of God to forgive us both. Seeing the bugler of our regiment at a distance, I called to him to bring up a stretcher to carry back a wounded officer.

We carried him three-quarters of a mile to the field hospital, and had his wounds dressed. Before I left him he gave me his diary, and requested me to send it to his wife, and tell her that he died happy. After his death next day, the surgeon found on his person a ten-dollar gold piece, and a signet-ring with his wife's photograph set in it, in minature.

Captain William H. Lawrence, was interred at Myrtle Hill Cemetery, in Rome, Georgia, in the Confederate Soldier's Section. After the War, Dornblazer wrote the Confederate officer's widow, informing her,

That he had in his possession a sword and revolver which belonged to her husband, who fell in battle near Rome, Georgia, and if she desired it, he would forward them to her by express. She said her husband wrote her on the morning of that fatal day, and feared the results of the approaching conflict.

She said her boy "Willie," eleven years old, would like to have his papa's sword. The sword and revolver were forwarded immediately, and a prompt answer came back, with many thanks from the mother and her son.

Such at times was the American Civil War. It is not only a subject devoted to 'blood and guts,' heroic actions in battle, atrocities, or animosities between 'Yankees' and 'Rebels.' Oftentimes, as recorded by the very men who served within America's worst national conflict, it was also a time of faith, charity, and brotherly-love, even for those participants whose politics were diametrically in opposition to one another.

American soldiers, regardless of the conflict, from the Revolutionary War to the current conflict in Afghanistan, have fought valiantly, yet simultaneously have also brought humanitarian aid and shown acts of kindness, to both civilians and enemy combatants alike, so that many of our former enemies, are now our most devoted friends.

As Alexander Pope remarked long ago, "To err is human, to forgive divine."

For further reading, one may wish to read:
Daniel N. Rolph, My Brother's Keeper: Union and Confederate Soldiers' Acts of Mercy During the Civil War (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books., 2002): 69-71. (for which I hold the copyright)

Thomas F. Dornblazer, Sabre Strokes of the Pennsylvania Dragoons in the War of 1861-65 (Philadelphia: Lutheran Publication Society, 1884): 193-197. Incidentally, Sabre Strokes has been reprinted by a descendant of Dornblazer. Feel free to write me for that author's contact information, as well for further information about my above volume, at: drolph at hsp.org

Ghosts in the Library: Haunted Tours of HSP

2010-10-19T14:42:00.002-04:00

With Halloween in mind, I will conduct two tours tomorrow of some "haunted" areas of the Historical Society building.

Noon ~~and 6 pm~~ Wednesday, October 20 (6 pm slot is sold out)

Learn about HSP's resident ghost, Albert, and the spirits in historic garb that have been spotted wandering the stacks of our 100-year-old building. Then come into the vaults yourself for a special tour of these haunted spots...if you dare! $5 for members, $10 for nonmembers. Space is limited.

To register for this program, click here

A Kiss is Just a Kiss: Or is it? Expensive, dangerous, and even deadly, 'lip-lockings' of past & present

2010-10-18T17:11:00.000-04:00

Most everyone is familiar with the lyrics, from the famous song, 'As Time Goes By,' as sung in the movie, Casablanca, which states how, "A Kiss is just a Kiss..." An article in a recent Metro News, for October 15-17, 2010, remarked how "a kiss from the one you love may be exactly what the doctor ordered." That is of course, normally the case.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, for February 18th, 2009, published an article entitled, "The state of the kiss, 2009: Scientifically, historically, emotionally, a smooch says a lot." Actually, so much so, that "A Kiss" at times, "is NOT just a Kiss," contrary to Casablanca song fame. In fact, on many occasions, such examples of affection have proven to be quite deadly perilous in nature, as revealed by the following examples.

A Mr. Birsey, an early inhabitant of Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, during the 17th-century, became a victim of the 'Blue Laws' of that colony, which were strictly enforced, one being that "no man should kiss his wife on Sunday." Living in the community of Milford at the time, Birsey, ignored the edict, but upon the following day, was "sentenced to a number of lashes." However, he escaped the town's authorities, swam across the river and once he stood on the opposite bank at Stratford, he "shook his fists in his pursurers faces."

A famous story is told relative to the French General, the Marquis de la Fayette of Revolutionary fame, who after the 'Battle of Brandywine' in Pennsylvania, was taken to the home of a Dr. Stephens, who resided near Valley Forge, in what is now Chester County. The physician's daughter, Elizabeth, while cleaning her father's upstair's office, encountered Lafayette and one of his young 'aide-de-camps.' The aide, wasting no time in his estimation, quickly "seized the girl and kissed her," after which Lafayette, promptly "turned quickly about and unceremoniously kicked the young gentleman down the steps and out of the house, telling him at the same time that such conduct was not admissable."

Robert Archibald, a young man residing in Philadelphia was arrested in November of 1838, for having "hugged the ladies in the market and attempted to kiss them" as well. The court's decision was that "a man has no right to kiss any lady against her will, excepting his wife, and her he may kiss whether she will or not." Robert's lack of sobriety of course during his 'hugging' and 'kissing' bouts, helped to place him in the Moyamensing Prison for thirty days, until he 'sobered-up.'

'Kissing' could prove to be quite painful at times as well. In October of 1857, a Lexington, Kentucky newspaper article entitled, "Neck Broken in Kissing," related how Catharine Burt was brought to the police station with a "fractured neck," resulting from "a struggle arising from a young man having attempted to kiss her..." No "extra violence" caused the neck injury, but nevertheless, "a partial dislocation of one of the vertebrae of the neck," caused the young woman to have difficulties in swallowing as well as respiration, causing her to lie "in a dangerous state."

Two years later, a Mr. Winder, described as a "young and very handsome public school teacher," from Philadelphia, was driven out of Accomac County, Virginia in August of 1859, "on account of his fondness for kissing his girl pupils." Large or small, it mattered little to the instructor, who is described as chasing the girls, "during school hours...all over the campus." He would "take the girls, when caught, in his arms, and laying their heads on his shoulder passionately kiss them." The young ladies naturally informed their parents who soon dismissed the man from his position of 'education.'

The Philadelphia (PA) Public Ledger, for April 26, 1836, printed an article entitled, "Price of a Smack," relating how a Mr. Mills, of Sandy Hill, New York, was charged and placed on trial for "forcibly taking hold of Mrs. Brayton with the intent to kiss her!" The trial was lengthy, with five jurors in favor of acquittal, and seven desirous to convict the man. Mills finally confessed his guilt, threw himself "upon the mercy of the court; and was fined TWO WHOLE DOLLARS! Thus the price of kissing a lady is legally fixed at two dollars..." The article concluded that since Mrs. Brayton was a "pretty lady," there was no doubt "that the prisoner, if he did kiss her, could well be satisfied with the price fixed by the court, and pay the same cheerfully."

Squire Ben Eggleston of Cincinnati, Ohio in December of 1862, though described as "a venerable gentleman, whose hairs are silvered with the frosts of sixty-five winters," was arraigned in court, in South Covington, Kentucky, "on the charge of kissing Miss Lavina Fenton," contrary to her wishes, described as "a young and beautiful female." The Squire got off cheaply, since he was only fined, "one dollar and costs for the offence."

Kissing one's wife is no guarantee of 'marital bliss,' as was revealed by an account published in the nation's newspapers, during August of 1913, concerning two Philadelphians, Thomas Keen and his wife Etta. The Philadelphia Record related that, "Because his wife refused to kiss him good-bye," he then "shot his wife...in front of her home," but the bullet did not kill her since it was "deflected by her corset." Her husband then swallowed poison, was placed in jail, but later became "violently ill and lapsed into unconsciousness" and died.

In 1861, another woman, age forty, working for a farmer, "aged seventy-five years," residing at Sutton, in Lancashire County, England, received 75 pounds of English currency "for damages sustained in resisting a kiss," which her employer insisted on giving her one evening. During the struggle his female employee "fell over a chair and severely injured her spine." Fast-forward to modern times when in 2008, in the Chinese City of Zhuhai, in southern Guangdong province, a young woman became partially deaf after her boyfriend gave her a passionate kiss, resulting in a ruptured ear drum. The doctors remarked how, "While kissing is normally very safe," they warned that "people should proceed with caution."

An Associated Press article for July of 2001, related a tragic event, when a young Egyptian man, Saber Ahmed Darwish, while on a date with his girl friend, asked her for a kiss, but was refused since he had not proposed to her, though he was only 16 years of age. Darwish, downtrodden after his rejection, "threw himself in the Nile and drowned," leaving as one can imagine, his girlfriend in shock.

A 15-year old girl with an allergic reaction to peanuts, died after her boyfriend kissed her, having just eaten a "peanut butter snack." Christina Desforges died in a Quebec hospital in November of 2005, since doctors were unable to treat her "allergic reaction to the kiss the previous weekend."

Near Tacoma, Washington, in Walla Walla county, in January of 1901, Frank Sloan, "in fun kissed Miss Ella Boone, whom he had blindfolded." Not caring for his advances, the young lady took "a hat pin from her hat," and promptly "stabbed him in the leg." Regrettably, the pin broke and blood poisoning occurred. Though Sloan went to the hospital for an X-ray the following day, because of the intense pain, he soon grew physically worse and actually died. According to the article, published in the Philadelphia (PA) Public Ledger, Miss Boone had mentioned in the presence of Sloan how 'she'd never been kissed.' But this "innocent remark led to Sloan's death."

Thus one can see that a so-called 'simple kiss,' can be much more complex, dangerous, and expensive, but also humorous as well at times. The Lebanon (PA) Daily News, for August 30, 1881 lamented the fact that "a man kissed a woman up in Wisconsin. She had half the fun and did not do any work and yet she wanted pay for it. The jury gave her $600."

The above article goes on to remark how, "There are hundreds of girls in Arkansas with mouths nine inches long, and you can commence at one end and kiss clear around to the other; and then you can go back over the trail and kiss, and kiss, and kiss, and kiss till your lips blister and you have extracted sweetness enough to make a barrel of molasses and she won't charge you a cent for it! But then Arkansas is nine hundred years ahead of the rest of the world."

What more can be said!

Two Hispanic Brothers and Soldiers

2010-10-18T13:52:00.000-04:00

This article appeared in the free monthly HSP Newsletter, History Hits.
***

Adolph (Adolfo) Fernandez Cavada and Frederick (Federico) Fernandez Cavada were born in Cienfuegos, Cuba, sons of a Cuban father and Emily Howard, a native of Philadelphia. When their father died, the boys and their mother moved to Pennsylvania. They were educated in private schools and graduated from Central High School.

At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Adolph and Frederick willingly enlisted in the Federal forces, serving as captains of various companies in the Philadelphia 23rd PA Infantry Regiment. Adolph served with distinction in the Army of the Potomac from Fredericksburg to Gettysburg and was a "special aide-de-camp" to General Andrew Humphries. Frederick transferred to the 114th PA Infantry Regiment, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Frederick gained notoriety as well from his writings, sketches, and paintings related to his incarceration as a prisoner-of-war in the infamous Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia (pictured at right). Below is a poem written by Cavada in 1862. He writes: "I have pulled through many a march, I have been in many a battle, I have seen the bomb-shell burst, I have heard the grapeshot rattle! With the bravest, in the strife, I have nobly risked my life."

One of the most vivid and articulate accounts of the Battle of Gettysburg comes from the pen of Adolph, who kept a diary during the war (pictured below). His eye-witness experience of the famous conflict provides a highly descriptive and informative rendition of the heroism, horror, and sounds of battle. During one of the days during the July battle, he recorded how "The air was soon full of flying shot, shell and canister--and a groan here and there attested their affect. ...the roar of musketry and the crashing, pounding noise of guns and bursting shells was deafening... "

Though raised in Philadelphia, both brothers continued to maintain a strong connection to their native isle of Cuba. After the American Civil War, the Federal government appointed the brothers to Consular positions--Frederick in Trinidad and Adolph in Cienfuegos.

During the War of Cuban Independence, which broke out in 1868, the two brothers resigned from their commissions and became acutely involved in the Cuban Army of Liberation from Spain. Both became officers in the uprising, with Frederick becoming the commander in chief of all Cuban revolutionary forces. Both brothers lost their lives during the fight for Cuban independence.

Frederick, called the "Fire King" by the Spanish authorities during the above struggle, was captured, court-martialed, and sentenced, with the rumor he was to be hanged. Many of his former friends and military compatriots with whom he'd served with in the Union Army--including Generals George Gordon Meade, Daniel Sickles, and Ulysses S. Grant--attempted to obtain his release without success.

Sometime during the month of July in 1871, Frederick Cavada was taken to Puerto Principe and executed. During the hour of his death, it was reported that Cavada calmly "conversed with some friends," smoked a cigar, and walked "erect and proud to the place of execution" where he flung his hat to the ground "and in a loud tone of voice cried, 'Adios Cuba, para siempre' (Goodbye Cuba, forever)." After this a volley was fired and Cavada was killed.

The Cavada brothers, natives of Cuba and residents of Philadelphia, fought for both their adopted and native lands. Their story attests to the patriotic heritage that is a significant part of not only one family, but of the Hispanic community as a whole.

Shaking Hands: An Ancient & Early American Custom

2010-09-21T16:25:00.000-04:00

The origin of two individuals shaking hands, as a sign of friendship, legal commitment or oath-taking, is lost in antiquity, though examples of it exist in both stone and illustration as far back as the 5th century B.C., in early Greece.

In our own nation, not many years ago, a handshake was once as binding as a verbal or written agreement, at least before the plethora of lawsuits became the norm in our society. 'A Man's Word is his Bond,' was a common phrase in early Colonial and pioneer days, and though still used in present-day vernacular, regrettably, no private or public institution, nor sane person would consider it legally binding in today's world.

Thus reams of paper with signatures signed in triplicate, along with a multitude of fees paid, are now considered the norm in any contractual agreement. The handshake has been relegated to that of a quaint custom, rather than an act of solemnity and serious dedication.

But this was not always the situation, as is revealed by an early court case, handled by the famous founder of Philadelphia and early Pennsylvania colony, the country's most famous Quaker, that of William Penn.
While William Penn was serving as both Proprietor and Governor in Colonial Pennsylvania, his Council met on May 13, 1684 to discuss a disagreement between two early Swedish inhabitants, Andrew Johnson and Hans or Hance Peterson. The court case reads simply as follows:

"There being a Difference depending between them, the Governor & Councill advised them to shake hands, and to forgive One another; and Ordered that they should Enter in Bonds for fifty pounds apiece, for their good abearance; which accordingly they did."

It is thus normal to assume that the two men naturally agreed to the contract since they were required to both pay a bond or fee, in order to seal the bargain.

However, it is the final sentence of the case which gives added 'weight' to the validity and binding nature of this custom and incident, since it states: "It was also Ordered that the Records of the Court Concerning that Business should be burnt."

The above account IS the case. The original court record does not survive in any other form, except as recorded as above, which was later printed within the Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, Vol.1 (Harrisburg, PA: 1838): 52.

In the next century, during the Revolutionary War, a Captain Thomas B. Bowen of the Ninth Pennsylvania Regiment, was renown for his hot temper and on occasion would challenge his offender to a duel. These conflicts became quite common in 19th-century America, although the last duel in Pennsylvania resulted in the death of Tarleton Bates, on January 8, 1806 in Allegheny County at Pittsburgh.

A Captain Bower in Bowen's regiment made an unintended snide remark to the latter, while he was playing backgammon with Charles Biddle, another famous Pennsylvanian. Bower apologized, but Captain Bowen asked Biddle if he should 'challenge' the man to a duel. Biddle wisely replied:

"A man who would not fight on some occasions was not fit to live, nor was a man fit to live who was always quarreling." Biddle had both men shake hands and thus a duel was avoided.

One wonders how peaceful our nation and world-at-large would be, if only a simple handshake could bring about peace and serve as a deterrent to conflict as it once did on many occasions. Yes, a handshake may be considered once again a quaint & old-fashioned custom in today's so-called sophisticated world. But then again, maybe it would be wise in many cases to 're-invent the wheel.'

Hydrophobia and Mad Dog Bites in Philadelphia

2010-08-27T12:23:00.000-04:00

This article appeared in the free monthly HSP Newsletter, History Hits. Click here to subscribe.

***

Advertisement of Daniel Goodman

Philadelphia newspapers, particularly for the 18th and 19th centuries, are filled with accounts of individuals unfortunate enough to be bitten by rabid dogs. The dog bites led to the dreaded disease known as hydrophobia, an often fatal malady.

On May 5, 1811, Roberts Vaux wrote to Robert L. Pitfield concerning the “Mad Dog Scare in Philadelphia.” Dogs in the city were required to wear collars in order “to prevent their biting the citizens.” In the previous century, Dr. Benjamin Rush had spent a considerable amount of time corresponding with other physicians, asking for their suggested remedies to cure victims of mad dog bites. Treatments at the time included multiple bleedings and “pouring cold water on the bitten part & heads of victims.”

A curious advertisement appeared in Benjamin Franklin’s famed Pennsylvania Gazette on April 7, 1779, in which Daniel Goodman (by profession a baker) claimed that he had been able to cure the “BITE of a MAD DOG” for years, as many in Philadelphia could attest, and added that:
“My ancestors, for upwards of 150 years, did successfully practice the same cure in Old England, when the ablest of physicians there…have failed therein.”

City Directory

Beginning in 1818, the Philadelphia City Directories list a Mary Goodman (widow of Samuel Goodman) who “cures the bites of mad animals.” Goodman resided at 12 Kunckel Street or Kunkle, now Dillwyn, located in the Northern Liberties section of the city. She continued to pursue this occupation for a number of years until she was simply listed as a “gentlew,” short for “Gentlewoman,” implying a certain amount of wealth or property.

Mary Goodman died on Monday evening, October 25, 1830. Her obituary, which appeared in Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser, simply states that she was “age 75 years,” and that her funeral would be held at her Kunckle Street residence “to which her friends are invited.”

What exactly was the “Goodman cure” for hydrophobia? It is never actually described; however, one can assume it might have been what is referred to as a mad stone. This stone was a curious substance that was heated, applied to the wound, and thought to absorb poison from the victim.

Letter of Dr. Samuel Davies to Dr. Benjamin Rush, for 1801

The correspondence of Dr. Benjamin Rush includes a letter from Dr. Samuel Davies of Petersburg, Virginia, who in 1801 relates to Rush an account of one such stone used in Matthews County. Davies stated that: “…the stone was put in warm water, wiped-applied to the lower wound, which it was secured by a tight bandage for 12 hours, then taken off…on its being put into the warm water after the first application, there issued from one corner of the stone a stream of bubbles which the owner told me was the poison…”

Such tantalizing information reveals the medical practices and beliefs of an earlier generation.

Mines: Mysterious Discoveries and Miracles?

2010-08-25T12:48:00.001-04:00

As I write these words, an attempt is being made to rescue thirty-three trapped miners, deep inside the San Jose gold and copper mine at Copiapo in the country of Chile. Plus, August 27 is the 47th anniversary of one of the most famous mining disasters and rescue operations to have occurred in Pennsylvania, which captured both the country and the world's attention, of which I'll shortly return and give a brief account.

Mines, and the subterranean world in general, have for centuries entered the realm of legend, myth, folklore, as well as history, as repositories of the unknown. Well-known accounts range from the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine of the Superstition Mountains near Phoenix, Arizona, to totally fictional novels like those of Jules Verne's famed 19th-century work, Journey to the Center of the Earth, to Stanton A. Coblentz' Hidden World, first published in 1935. Such stories have continued to capture the public's imagination.

But mines can truly be strange places indeed, as revealed by numerous large 'dinosaur tracks,' discovered for years and removed from the roofs of coal mines in central Utah, to that of the 'perpetual fire' that has continued to burn since 1962, in a strip mine underneath Centralia, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, within the state's anthracite coal region.

Mining excavations carried out in northern Italy, from 1871-1958, have uncovered some fifty individual skeletons of a primitive ape-like creature, referred to as Oreopithecus bambolii or the 'swamp or hill ape.' However, perhaps the most bizarre discovery was recorded in Latin as long ago as the 15th century, by the Italian writer Baptista Fulgosus. He relates the discovery by miners, in the year 1460, while digging within a 'metal ore mine' at Berne, Switzerland, high in the Alps, at some 50 fathoms or 300 feet beneath the earth, of an entire ship, 'with anchors of rusted iron, broken masts, shredded linen sails and the carcasses of some 48 men!' As Fulgosus himself states, this excavation was carried out within 'his own time,' and that the arti-factual and human remains were seen by "many grave and sober men," from whom he "received a personal account of it."

Which brings us to the events on August 13,1963, at Sheppton, located in the anthracite coal belt of Schuylkill County in eastern Pennsylvania where the famed Sheppton Mine Disaster and Rescue transpired. Three men were trapped some 330 feet beneath the earth after the collapse of a mining shaft. Some two weeks later, on Tuesday, August 27th, two of the miners, Henry Throne and David Fellin, were brought safely to the surface, after rescuers successfully drilled a 17 1/2-inch and later 28-inch borehole into their chamber, while the third miner, Lou Bova, being trapped in another part of the mine, regrettably perished.

The story of Throne and Fellin's survival and rescue were enough to captivate the world's attention, but it was what they claimed they saw and heard, while entombed, that fascinated the public, statements which both men swore as to their authenticity, both separately and publicly, emphatic declarations which they took to their graves, though others believed they had simultaneously witnessed the same hallucinations.

David Fellin's 'affidavit' was printed in the Philadelphia Inquirer on August 29, 1963, wherein he remarked how, "Now they're trying to tell me those things were hallucinations, that we imagined it all. We didn't. Our minds weren't playing tricks on us. I've been a practical, hard-headed coal miner all my life. My mind was clear down there in the mine. It's still clear."

Fellin went on to remark, how some of the things he and Throne saw, they couldn't explain in words, while on the other hand, he stated that, "On the fourth or fifth day, we saw this door although we had no light from above or from our helmets. The door was covered in bright blue light. It was very clear, better than sunlight. Two ordinary looking men, not miners, opened the door. We could see beautiful marble steps on the other side. We saw this for some time and then we didn't see it..We saw many other things like that that you couldn't explain. But I'm not going to tell you about them because I feel too deeply about all this."

Both men would also claim that they were visited by Pope John XXIII, who had died some ten weeks previously, prior to the mining disaster, and that the deceased pontiff had in reality stayed with them a full eight days!

Whether one wishes to believe the above statements in regard to artifacts discovered within mines over time, or the above statements by the late David Fellin as miracles or hallucinations is not my concern. I simply share with you some of the strange things that are connected with mines and mining disasters, some of which have transpired here in Pennsylvania, partly available here at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania as part of its varied collection.

*For further information relative to the Sheppton Mine Rescue, one can consult the following:

James A. Goodman, Two Weeks Under: The Sheppton Mine Disaster/Miracle (Coal Hole Productions, March 2004)

J. Ronnie Sando, The Famous Sheppton Mine Rescue: The Untold Story: The Blood and Sweat of the Rescue Team (Publish America, July 16th, 2007).

"Rescued Miners Tell Own Stories of 14-Day Ordeal." Philadelphia Inquirer, August 29th, 1963, p.3.

Antarctica: The Lost Continent

2010-08-24T15:59:00.000-04:00

As a follow-up to my recent post on Antarctica, I wanted to add this article which appeared in the free monthly HSP Newsletter, History Hits. Click here to subscribe.

***

During the middle of the summer heat, we thought we’d focus on one of the coldest places on earth—the continent of Antarctica. It is unknown when Antarctica was first discovered. The ancient Greek geographer and astronomer Hipparchus and others hypothesized of the existence of a southern continent somewhere at the South Pole. Modern cartographers, including Harvard professor Charles H. Hapgood in Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings (1966), have used ancient and medieval maps in an attempt to prove that someone in antiquity had accurately mapped the large land mass.

We began to learn more about the topography and fossilized plant and animal life in Antarctica after explorers visited in the 19th and 20th centuries. There is a book in HSP’s collection titled Antarctica, published in Philadelphia in 1902 and written by Edwin Swift Balch, a Harvard-educated Philadelphia lawyer and prolific writer. This seminal volume includes an interesting map of Palmer Peninsula (pictured below). This peninsula, formally known now as the Antarctic Peninsula, was discovered by Nathaniel Palmer (1799-1877) of Connecticut in November 1820 during his sealing ventures. Later many fossilized or extinct animal species were found in this area, particularly upon Seymour Island in the Weddell Sea, one of the largest ice-free areas in all of Antarctica.

PALMER PENINSULA from the Edwin Swift BALCH BOOK

Also found in the book is an account of a mysterious discovery made by Norwegian whaler Capt. Carl Anton Larsen. While on the ship, the Jason, on November 18, 1893, Larsen reported finding “balls made of sand and cement, resting on pillars” on Seymour Island. “We collected some fifty of them, and they had the appearance of having been made by man’s hand,” Larsen wrote. Despite Larsen’s account, conventional science ridicules the idea of ancient visitors to the South Pole.

HSP also holds an image of Lt. Charles Wilkes of New York City. Wilkes is well known primarily for his involvement during the Civil War in the Trent Affair of 1861, but Wilkes (pictured below, right) is also known for leading the “United States Exploring Expedition,” or the “Wilkes Expedition” with five vessels. He left Hampton Roads, Virginia, with great fanfare in July of 1838, and arrived in Antarctica in December of 1839. Pictured below is a letter written by Lewis Warrington to Lt. Wilkes, dated July 23, 1838, in which Warrington refers to the upcoming expedition.

Letter of Lewis Warrington to Charles Wilkes, July 23, 1838

Charles Wilkes

One of the first individuals to traverse parts of the southern continent by air was Navy Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd of Virginia, who traveled there as early as 1929. During his fourth and final expedition to the frigid South, Byrd sent a telegram (pictured below)dated February 7, 1947, to a John B. Givin, sending “warmest greetings from the coldest place” and asking if he’d like “to stake out a claim … at the bottom of the world.”

TELEGRAM of DICK BYRD TO JOHN B. GIVIN

Like so many other individuals, topics, or subjects in history, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a storehouse of information, not restricted to Pennsylvania’s past alone. Explorers and their discoveries at the South Pole or that mysterious continent we call Antarctica, is certainly no exception to this rule.

The Lost World of Antarctica

2010-08-16T16:36:00.000-04:00

Recently, within my other publication here at the Society, History Hits (which may be obtained free by subscription here), I wrote a short article with graphics entitled, "Antarctica: The Lost Continent." Writings of famed Antarctic explorers such as Charles Wilkes, Admiral Richard E. Byrd, etc., can be found here within the Society's collections, which has prompted me to give some additional background information to the above article for this Blog, plus add a few things not included in those remarks, information largely unknown to the public.

Many years ago, while residing in the West, I came across a work about the 'frozen wilderness' of Antarctica entitled, Antarctica: The Worst Place in the World, (1966), by Allyn Baum. The author gives an account from the journal of Captain Carl Anton Larsen, who in November of 1893, in the ship Jason, made anchor off Seymour Island, located on the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.

For years now, many fossils of ancient life have been discovered in this remote area, as well as within the 'dry valleys' on the continent itself, from dinosaur remains to ancient botanical specimens, showing how at one time the area was tropical in climate. Purportedly however, no human remains have ever been discovered. Yet according to Baum, Capt. Larsen specifically makes mention of the discovery of some "fifty balls set on pillars...these (balls of clay) had every appearance of having been made by human hands."

One can imagine if the above is true, it would be one of the most important scientific discoveries, since according to conventional theory, the present ice-sheet blanketing the Antarctic continent has existed for millions of years. Naturally I wanted the source for such a statement, though Baum failed to give one. Writing to the author, he stated he'd lost the reference. Thus, began a search that covered many years, in my attempt to locate the original or primary source for this provocative and mysterious statement.

In university libraries from California, to Utah, to Kentucky and on to Pennsylvania, I examined multiple volumes and numerous publications concerning the Antarctic, but nothing contained any data relative to the aforementioned discovery by Capt. Larsen. Twenty-five years ago however, when I first became employed here at 'The Historical Society of Pennsylvania,' and 'on a whim,' I checked the card catalog of the Library, and surprisingly found one volume actually on Antarctica, by Philadelphia lawyer and writer, Thomas Willing Balch, entitled simply, Antarctica, published in Philadelphia in 1902, a seminal volume on early Antarctic exploration, which actually included Larsen's discovery in 1893. Quoting from his diary or journal, Larsen remarked how on Saturday, November 18th, at Cape Seymour, they found petrified wood and worms, while,

"At other places we found balls formed of sand and cement which lay upon pillars of the same kind. We collected in several places some fifty of them; they had the appearance of having been made by the hand of man."

The above work then in turn, gave as its source, the famed Geographical Journal, No.4, Vol.IV., for October, 1894, a published article entitled, "The Voyage of the "Jason" to the Antarctic Regions," being an 'Abstract of Journal kept by Capt. C. A. Larsen,' on pp's. 333-344, which quotes once again, Larsen on p.333, who states how, "At other places we saw balls of sand and cement resting upon pillars composed of the same constituents. We collected some fifty of them, and they had the appearance of having been made by man's hand."

Dr. Charles W. Donald, also observed the above "pillars," during his visit to Seymour Island on the ship, the Active, part of the Scottish Dundee Whaling Fishing Company, which was in Antarctic waters at approximately the same time as Capt. Larsen of the Jason, stating his belief that the "balls formed of sand and cement" were actually "columns of basalt which had crumbled into concentric scaled balls."

Regardless, since the late 19th century, Chilean archaeologists have reportedly found 'arrowheads' at Antarctica on King George Island of the South Shetland Islands, believed to have been left there by voyagers from the South American continent. Also, Charles H. Hapgood, the late Harvard cartographer who attempted to show in his famous work, Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings (1966), that Antarctica was mapped centuries ago by some ancient maritime civilization, as revealed by the famed Piri Reis Map found in Turkey and dated to 1513, as well as certain other maps of Medieval vintage, based perhaps in turn on ancient Greek or Phoenecian works (see for example, "New Analysis Hints Ancient Explorers Mapped Antarctic," New York Times, September 25th, 1984, p.C-2).

The point is that much remains to be discovered on the great South Polar continent, but also in often neglected historical repositories like 'The Historical Society of Pennsylvania' in Philadelphia. Thus one simply has to be patient, curious and inquisitive enough, if you are ever going to truly find, the Hidden Histories,' that are 'out there,' or here, simply waiting to be discovered.

A Forgotten American Hero: Capt. John B. Page

2010-08-10T18:45:00.000-04:00

***This article appeared in our free monthly HSP Newsletter, History Hits. Click here to subscribe.***

Today the general public continues to be fascinated by the American Civil and Revolutionary Wars, while such conflicts as the War of 1812 or the Mexican-American War are in many cases ignored. But those less-known wars were significant in both national and international affairs. By the time the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed with Mexico on February 2, 1848, more than 100,000 Americans had served, resulting in some 1,500 battle casualties and almost 11,000 deaths from disease and exposure.

President Zachary Taylor

Military or political notables such as Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Zachary Taylor, and many other famous officers obtained their first important "trial by fire" in the Mexican-American War. Though many soldiers gained national notoriety at the time, others were completely ignored or largely forgotten by both historians and the general public. One such individual is Captain John B. Page.

Page was born in Maine in 1795 and became a lieutenant in the Federal Army in February of 1818. He was involved in implementing the "Indian Removal" policies of the government in the South, specifically with the Creek and Seminole peoples, for whose plight he expressed empathy in both word and deed. He was eventually transferred to the 4th Infantry, and on April 30, 1830, was raised to the rank of Captain. Page later became involved in the Mexican-American War, serving under "Old Rough & Ready" General Zachary Taylor, head of the U.S. forces and later the 12th president of the United States.

Battle of Palo Alto

The first significant engagement between American and Mexican forces occurred a few miles north of what is now Brownsville, Texas, on May 8, 1846. Known as the Battle of Palo Alto, Capt. Page's 4th Infantry was supporting an artillery unit commanded by Major Samuel Ringgold, whose first wife, Maria, had been the daughter of Revolutionary War General John Cadwalader of Philadelphia.

What is described in contemporary sources as a "perfect hurricane of grape and canister" soon fell among the forces of Page and Ringgold, resulting in the death of the latter. Page was not killed in battle, but it is reported that his face was injured, described as having "a cannonball tearing off the lower part...." Ulysses S. Grant, who was also serving in the U.S. 4th Infantry during the battle, was an eyewitness to the events. Writing home to his wife Julia and to a John W. Lowe, on May 11 and June 26 respectively, he remarked how one 9-pound shot had taken a man's "head off," while another had "broke in the roof of" the mouth of Capt. Page as well as "nocked the under Jaw entirely away...The under jaw is gone to the wind pipe and the tongue hangs down upon the throat. He will never be able to speak or to eat."

Brigadier General Zachary Taylor, in his official report of the Battle of Palo Alto, mentioned on May 16, 1846, how Capt. Page had been "seriously wounded." The Philadelphia Public Ledger, on June 15, 1861, reprinted a soldier's narration of the scene, stating how a "six pound shot carried away the lower jaw of Capt. Page...The blood of poor Page was the first blood I saw; he was knocked down in the grass, and as he endeavored to raise himself, he presented such a ghastly spectacle that a sickly, fainting sensation came over me...."

The wound and fate of Capt. Page soon became one of national interest and concern. From May through July, newspapers throughout the country, including those in Philadelphia, reported about the health and potential recovery of Page. On June 13, 1846, the Philadelphia Sun ran the heading: "POOR CAPTAIN PAGE!!! Who has not shed the sympathetic tear over his deplorable condition! From one end of the land to the other, the wonder has been universal, that the unfortunate soldier could have lived for a day, with a large portion of his face carried away by a Mexican shot!!"

Newspapers reported about Capt. Page's grief-stricken wife as well, and of her travails and travels from Baltimore to make it to the side of her wounded husband, which she eventually succeeded in doing. Though hope was continually expressed toward his survival, the inevitable occurred. Niles Weekly Register for August 8, 1846, recorded how near Cairo, Illinois, on July 12, "Capt. Page breathed his last" on board the steamer Missouri, though a Dr. W. W. Mercer had been "unremitting in his attention" toward the soldier. Page's remains were interred at the Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis on July 13, 1846.

Capt. Page would not be completely forgotten. Present-day Page County, Iowa, was named in his honor.

'Looking for the Drowned Dead: With a Loaf of Bread and Mercury?'

2010-08-03T12:59:00.000-04:00

An antiquated custom, which at one time was popular both in Europe and the United States, was the search for individuals who had drowned by using 'quicksilver,' an archaic term for the element mercury.

The famed American writer, Mark Twain, in his familiar work, Huckleberry Finn, relates an example of the superstition of local villagers in Missouri, searching for a drowned corpse, by placing quicksilver in a loaf of bread. This was then thrown into the water near the site where the deceased individual's body was believed to have been submerged. Purportedly, the corpse would then float to the water's surface and thus be retrieved by the seekers.

An early example of the above belief can be found in a prestigious London publication, that of The Gentleman's Magazine, for April of 1767. An inquistion "on the body of a child," was taken at Newbury in Berkshire, the one year old having "fell into the river Kennet, and was drowned." The account continues by stating how the body "was discovered by a very singular experiment...a two-penny loaf, with a quantity of quicksilver was put into it, was set floating from the place where the child, it was supposed, had fallen in, which steered its course down the river...before a great number of spectators...The loaf suddenly tacked about, and swam across the river, and gradually sunk near the child, when both the child and loaf were immediately brought up, with grablers ready for that purpose."

Newspapers throughout the United States during the 19th century, also printed examples of drowned persons being found by the same procedure as discussed in English publications. For example, the National Intelligencer republished an incident recorded in the Pennsylvania paper, the Spirit of the Times and Carlisle Gazette, on April 13th, 1819, stating how a "young lad about 16 years old...the son of Simon Nichols (then sheriff of Montgomery County, Maryland), who lived then with Mr. Robert Peter, not knowing how to swim, slipped when bathing, into a deep place in the Potomac...After several unsuccessful attempts to recover the body...," all was "in vain."

The Intelligencer goes on to record, that "some persons present mentioned the loaf of bread and quicksilver. It was procured and put into the river; after moving some small distance where it was put in, the body of the drowned person, bounced up near the loaf---I say bounced, because it rose with force, so that ten or twelve inches of the body came above the water, and again sunk to the level...There are at least a dozen persons now living who know the fact and were eyewitnesses of it."

The editor or reporter of the above incident, claimed it had occurred, "at the close of the Revolutionary War...I was talking to an eyewitness about it, not three weeks ago."

The Daily National Intelligencer, published in Washington, D.C., for March 19th, 1819, referred as well to a similar event, published in Vol.3, No.3, of Dr. Baldinger's Medical Magazine, which recounted how a university student had drowned, whose body could not be located. A passerby informed the searchers to "procure a large loaf, to scoop out part of the crumb, and fill in the cavity with quick-silver; he then directed them to throw this quick-silver pye upon the current, and averred that it would be stationery at the place where the person drowned was lying. They followed his advice, and actually found the body."

Entitled, 'Strange But True,' the Germantown, Philadelphia (PA) Telegraph, for November 4th, 1863, related an incident which had transpired at Terre Haute, Indiana, after a bridge had collapsed, drowning a number of persons. All the bodies were retrieved but one, that of a 'Miss Thralls.' Searchers were about to give up the attempt to locate her corpse, when the suggestion was made to place "quicksilver in a loaf of bread," then by "putting it in the water it would stop directly over the body."

A loaf of bread was then filled with "over two ounces of quicksilver," then thrown into the water some fifty feet above the bridge. It then "floated down in the current...suddenly stopped, and circling around, was apparently about to sink, when a gentleman in a boat caught it, and grappling hooks being put down, the body was found directly beneath," in from eight to ten feet of water."

Many other accounts exist in American newspapers of this method of discovering drowned persons, at least as late as 1872. Whether such methods were truly effective or are simply examples of superstious folklore will be left up to the reader. The above renditions of the practice simply show once again, the fascinating and mysterious information which can be found about early America here at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

The Fate of Early American Blasphemers, or Those Who Challenged God!

2010-07-27T12:36:00.001-04:00

A few years ago, while standing at a bus stop, during a blustery, cloudy, dark and misty morning, one of four other individuals waiting with me, suddenly raised both fists in the air and exclaimed in a loud voice: "Come on Lord, come on you @*$!, Send your lightnin'! I don't care. Let's have it out!" Then he laughed maniacally.

On that day, as far as I know, nothing happened to the young man who challenged Deity. However, in early American history, there are numerous accounts of similar individuals, who blasphemed God, only to receive immediate punishment in a number of ways. One may choose to believe or disbelieve these renditions. I only offer them as another example of the diversity of material that is available here at the Society, as well as a window into the public mind, at a time when such incidences were recorded quite frequently in both public and private narratives.

Some of the earliest American accounts, can be found in the writings of the famed New England author and theologian, Cotton Mather, who within the Sixth book of his work on the 'History of New England,' entitled, Thaumaturgus, published at London in 1702, gives among other stories, that of a "sailor in a Boat," who wanted to light his tobacco pipe, but was warned by his shipmates that if he did so, it might possibly ignite "a Barrel of Powder aboard."

Dismissing their concerns, the above sailor replied: 'I will take it {meaning he would smoke his pipe}, though the Devil carry me away alive!' Soon after 'lighting up,' his pipe, the boat did indeed 'catch-fire,' which "tore the Boat in pieces, and lost all the goods that were in it," though all on board were preserved; all that is, excepting the sailor above, "whom they long after found in the Woods, with his Body torn to pieces. Who carried him away, think you?" asked Mather.

Such accounts would also enter the literary realm, as witnessed by the famed work of writer, William Austin, a story entitled, "Peter Rugg, the Missing Man," published in the New England Galaxy, on September 10, 1824, which next to William Irving's 'Rip Van Winkle,' is often considered to be one of the most imaginative American stories ever composed, prior to the works of Poe and Hawthorne.

The Peter Rugg fictional story relates how in 1770, during a terrible tempest, while driving his daughter home towards Boston in a carriage, he refused to heed warnings to stop and take refuge, or possibly die in the storm. Replying with a terrible oath, he emphatically declared, "Let the storm increase! I will see home tonight, in spite of the last tempest, or may I never see home!" Purportedly, he never did make it home, though the ghostly image of a man in his carriage pulled by his horses would continue to be seen for many years afterwards, hopelessly attempting to find its way home.

Interestingly, Philadelphia and other Delaware Valley newspapers carried an account, published in 1787, of a "young Indian warrior of the Seneca nation," residing along the Alleghany River, who had miraculously escaped contracting the dreaded smallpox, though many members of his tribe had already succumbed to the disease. According to the famous Seneca Indian Chief, Guyasuta or Guia Sutho, the following incident transpired, as he related it to Joseph Nicholson, an individual employed as an 'interpreter' for the Pennsylvania colony on a number of occasions to the Indian nations. Guyasutha purportedly present at the time, told the tale of the above warrior, who was angry at God and declared:

That if the Great Man above dared to give him the small-pox he would tomahawk him as he would a stump, which he pointed at, and to shew {show} how he would act, began cutting the stump in a most furious manner. In a few minutes he was struck entirely blind, and his head swelled to so great a degree, that his eyeballs burst from their sockets, and he expired in a few hours." (See for example, The Pennsylvania Herald, Philadelphia, August 1st, 1787).

The Pennsylvania Mercury & Universal Advertiser, for August 24, 1790, related an event said to have occurred in Gloucestershire, England, during the month of June. Daniel Mundy of the Parish of North Nibley, had descended into a one hundred foot deep well. A friend nearby admonished him to go no deeper, since the well had on the previous day partially collapsed. Mundy exclaimed:
"G--d d--n my soul to H--ll, if I don't venture, let what will {be} the consequence!"

The above account continues, adding that, the "words were hardly uttered, when ten feet of the top of the well fell in on the unhappy wretch, and carried him to the bottom!" Interestingly, according to the narrative, Mr. Mundy had two years previously, while imprisoned, let forth a string of "vile execrations," and "was in an instant struck dumb, and could not speak for several hours. A locked jaw had deprived him of utterance." For several months after this event, he was said to have essentially exhibited an "exemplary" character, but soon slipped back into his old "habits of vice," eventually resulting in his death within the aforementioned well.

As stated, such accounts as those above, are not rare, but occur frequently in early American-British newspapers and publications. I leave the reader to draw his or her own conclusion as to their veracity or examples of fakelore.

The Sad but True Tale, of 'Man's Best Friends,' Both Beaten & Beloved

2010-06-16T13:10:00.000-04:00

Growing up in rural and small town Kentucky, I had the opportunity of having many pets during my formative years, from which I gained an appreciation for the 'animal kingdom.' One of the saddest memories of my childhood was the futile attempt of my sister and I to save with minature baby bottles, the lives of a number of newly born, hairless 'flying squirrels' who'd fallen from their nest, and were thus left to die by their parents who were unable to care for them on the ground.

Animals continue to bring joy and fulfillment to many individuals and families throughout the world, as they've done for centuries, but regrettably, there have also been those who see the 'lower forms of life' as nothing more than 'beasts of burden,' lacking cognitive skills and emotions, and are thus prime candidates for abuse.

One of the earliest accounts of the mistreatment of animals, comes from the Bible, as recorded in the Old Testament book of Numbers, Chapter 28, wherein an erring prophet named Balaam beats his donkey repeatedly, which has stopped in the middle of the road, having seen an angel which its owner failed to observe, standing in the roadway before the man and beast. Given the power of speech, it is recorded:

"And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, 'What have I done to thee, that thou has smitten me these three times...Am I not thine ass, upon which thou has ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? Was I ever wont to do so unto thee?" The angel then chastises Balaam for his cruelty.

According to Jewish tradition, Noah was saved in the famous Biblical Ark specifically, because he was 'kind to the animals' placed under his care, while Abraham, revered as the spiritual leader and ancestor of over three billion individuals in the world today, is said to have been preserved as well from his enemies, because during times of famine and drought, he built such things as 'bird-feeders' to aid the animal life which was suffering as well as mankind.

Cleveland Amory, the late animal activist in 1974, published his seminal work entitled, Man Kind? wherein he recorded many accounts of animals actually saving the lives of human beings and evidence showing their possession of emotions towards their own progeny. One of my favorite books as a child was Beautiful Joe, written in 1893 by Margaret Marshall Saunders, a native of Nova Scotia, whose fictional character had been abused by his master who had 'cut off his ears and tail,' a story based on an actual dog that had suffered maltreatment where she lived. Telling her tale as a 'first person narrative' from the canine's perspective, her work became an international best-seller, selling over 800,000 copies by 1900 in the United States alone.

The 'American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' was founded in 1866 by Henry Bergh of New York, while the 'Pennsylvania Society' of the same organization began in 1868. Here at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, one can read its records, accounts which are filled with sad but true incidents of the mistreatment of animals in Philadelphia during the nineteenth century.

For example, on July 18th, 1868, a Henry McPeak, "was at 4th & Vine Streets," and was charged with "cruelly beating a mule, first with his fist, and then with a brick over the head." He was fined five dollars. However, not everyone was 'let off' so easily. On January 22nd, 1870, William D. Cassiday was arrested for having cruelly "beaten a cow, with a pitchfork" and for "stabbing her with the prongs." Cassiday was to spend a month in prison but was pardoned by the Governor. The PSPCA however appealed, and the animal tormentor was sentenced by the Court of Quarter Sessions to four months in jail and was required to pay a fine of $50.00, plus the costs for prosecution.

The records of the 'Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' are filled with accounts of abuse, more particularly towards horses, which still served in the 19th century as the main means of transportation and labor. For example, one Casebook (1867-1891), has individuals being fined for "beating a horse with the butt end of a whip and punching him with a piece of iron pipe,' 'cruelly beating a tame fox with a heavy chain, so that it died,' 'cruelly dragging a dog on its back in the street until blood gushed from its mouth & nostrils,' 'cruelly scalding a cat,' 'knocking an eye out of a horse with a club,' 'throwing a small dog on the floor and stomping upon it,' and 'driving a horse with badly galled shoulders.'

One account for June 7th, 1871, relates how "a dog given to a man to kill in a humane manner., having shot the dog 3 times," he then "allowed a number of boys to stone it to death."

Surprisingly, abuse was not limited only to 'animals,' but included insect life as well, since Jacob D. Custer, Mary Custer, and Isaac Custer of Norristown, Pennsylvania, "were arrested on the charge of drenching with water and scorching with fire a swarm of bees," on May 5th, 1870, and were taken before Squire Thomas of the city and fined ten dollars!

Thus, once again, the resources housed at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania are both rich and diverse in their subject matter and content. The records of the 'Pennsylania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,' or Collection #1709, is just one of over 21 million manuscripts available to the public, for examination during your visit to HSP.

"The Widow Who Sold Her Husband's Head" and the One Who Preserved it!

2010-06-09T16:38:00.001-04:00

Events in history can often be both bizarre and macabre. Such is the case of a widow of Kings County, New York, who purportedly "sold the head of her husband" to doctors, "between the period of his death and burial" in 1845.

In those days, physicians or would-be doctors, as is widely documented, often resorted to raiding cemeteries or graveyards in order to obtain body parts for anatomical studies. The above account, published widely in U.S. newspapers throughout July of that year, accused the woman of attempting to sell her husband's corpse (specifically the head) for profit. One account emphatically declared:

"If poverty compelled the widow to the act, why did she not sell the whole body, and not substitute a piece of carpet for the head of the dear defunct?..It was with difficulty that she could be removed from the grave. And this bereaved, heart-broken widow, sold her husband's head to the M.D.!!"

Later newspaper accounts attested the "Brooklyn Widow," who had been married to her spouse for sixteeen years, had not sold her husband's head for gain, but that a "cancer was removed...under authority given by the deceased before his death...for good and justifiable motives," in order to allow "scientific examination" in the hope of finding a cure, so that others in the future would not have to suffer from the "dreadful malady."

The famed widow of English explorer and adventurer, Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618), 'Bess' or the Lady Elizabeth Throckmorton (1565-1647), a former 'lady-in-waiting' to Queen Elizabeth I of England, appears from tradition and published accounts to have been somewhat 'partial' to her husband's head. Sir Walter was decapitated on October 29, 1618, at the scaffold, only to have his wife place his 'noggin' (head) in a red velvet bag, after his execution. Some sources attest that Lady Raleigh carried the head around with her 'in the bag' for years, while others declare she had it embalmed and placed next to her bed-side for the next twenty-nine years, or until her death in 1647, after which it was 'bequeathed' to their son, Carew Raleigh.

Carew Raleigh (1605-1666) was born in the 'Tower of London' where his illustrious father had been imprisoned. The son of the famed Englishman would later serve in Parliament, and at his death, was buried in his father's grave at St. Margaret's Church, Westminster. Some sources state that when Carew's grave was opened many years later, there were not 'two bodies' but 'two heads' within, his own and that of his father's, while others believe "its ultimate disposition has never been discovered."

Truly, 'truth is stranger than fiction,' and there are many opportunities to search out the truth in history, for the above and similar topics, here at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

(See for example: Philadelphia (PA) Public Ledger, July 17th, 18th & 19th, 1845; William S. Powell, "John Pory on the Death of Sir Walter Raleigh," The William & Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol.IX, No.4 (October, 1952): 532-538).

A Strange Family Heirloom: the Rib of a Scottish King in America?

2010-05-24T15:53:00.003-04:00

It has been a common practice within many families, to pass down heirlooms through the generations. Generally, these venerated ancestral artifacts are normally items of jewelry, furniture, paintings, silverware, china, etc. However, such is not always the case.

For many years, the descendants of the late 18th-century Kentucky frontiersman Michael Cassidy, an early Fleming County pioneer from Ireland, bequeathed through successive generations, the skin of an Indian, which as late as 1888, hung upon one side of the family barn. As the family tradition goes, Cassidy came back to the fort from a day's hunt, only to have his wife emphatically declare: "While you were gone, an Indian stole our cow outside the fort, I want his hide!" Taking his spouse at her word, Cassidy is said to have hunted the man down, killed him and skinned his hide, after bringing it home to his wife. The skinning of one another, by both White settlers and Native Americans is a well-attested fact in American history, as happened for example to the famed Shawnee Indian chieftain, Tecumseh.

Perhaps one of the strangest heirlooms, is that left by Dr. Robert Bruce Honeyman, a resident of Hanover County, Virginia at the time of his death in April of 1824. Honeyman was an accomplished 'Doctor of Physic,' who had immigrated from Scotland to America in 1774. A native of Kincardine, he was educated at Marischal College in Aberdeen, later served as a surgeon within the British Navy, but after settling in Louisa, Virginia, became a physician for the Revolutionary Army of the United States.

Though Dr. Honeyman passed away on April 21st, 1824, he had previously written out his will in 1821, and upon his death, newspapers across the country printed a strange excerpt of his will, a document found in the 'Chancery Papers' in Hanover County, Virginia. The appropriate portion states:

"I also give and bequeath to my son, a human rib, which will Be found in a small trunk in my chest, with my earnest request that he will carefully keep the said rib, (which is of James the Fifth, King of Scotland),and transmit it carefully to his descendants."

King James V (1512-1542), the 'red-haired king' of Scotland, died at the young age of thirty, at Falkland Palace in County Fife, a county where many of the Honeyman family members had resided as well.
His father, King James IV, had been killed at the famed battle between the English & Scottish forces at 'Flodden Field,' fought in 1513. Though not a participant in the battle, King James the Fifth died only a short time after a Scottish defeat in 1542, and was buried at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh, where purportedly his remains exist today.

It is true that a number of Honeyman family members, served in important positions within the Church and had close ties with the Crown for many years. Yet how exactly, a rib of the king came into the possession of Dr. Robert B. Honeyman remains a mystery. Family records do exist that speak of it eventually being broken into sections so as to be divided by his heirs, and eventually disappeared altogether.

Regrettably, no known portions of the rib exist today, otherwise DNA studies could be carried out on the remains. Still, one would think that today, it would at least be possible to exhume the body of King James the Fifth at Holyrood, just to see if the famed ruler of Scotland is indeed, missing a rib. If so, the mystery still tantalizes the imagination as to how members of the Honeyman family (or perhaps Dr. Honeyman himself), were enabled to obtain the regal body part? Perhaps a reader can shed more light upon the subject. I simply share the above account as a witness once again, to the varied and diverse collections, both topically and geographically, which are available here at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

(If interested in the above, one might wish to consult the following: Poulson's American Daily Advertiser, May 12, 1824; The Susquehannah (PA) Democrat, May 28, 1824; A. Van Doren Honeyman, The Honeyman Family in Scotland & America (Plainfield, NJ: Honeyman's Publishing House.,1909); Tyler's Quarterly Historical & Genealogical Magazine, Vol.IX, No.4 (April, 1928): 284; Vol.X, (1929): 172.)

'Lions & Tigers & Bears, O My?' NO: Rampaging Elephants & an African Rhino's Escape to Freedom during the Civil War!

2010-04-29T14:11:00.000-04:00

Exotic animals within the United States are a fact taken for granted, especially when one visits the multiple 'zoological gardens' or zoos, scattered throughout the country. Many circuses as well have been renown for their non-human participants, the first circus having been held in Philadelphia on April 3, 1793, by John Bill Rickets. As is well-known, camels were actually imported very early into the United States as well, and during the 19th century were actually utilized by the military and postal service in the arid Western states, some purportedly still seen 'in the wild' in Arizona and elsewhere, long after their demise or use was discontinued.

However, exotic animals have begun to be a problem in many parts of the country, from the almost legendary 'alligators in the sewers' of New York City, to an actual pandemic infestation of non-native boa constrictors and other species, turned loose within the Florida Everglades, as witnessed recently by specials on the Animal Planet T.V. Channel and as described recently in an article of the New Yorker magazine.

Besides those animals turned loose willingly and often illegally by their owners into America's cities or rural regions; a multitude of creatures have eluded and 'escaped' their human captors, only to roam the streets, waterways and countryside of many parts of the nation throughout our history. As recently as 2008, after a string of tornadoes had swept through Kansas, a couple of circus elephants escaped and enjoyed a short-lived period of liberty, as they roamed the streets of Wichita, prior to their recapture.

The above elephants however were not the first to 'go on a rampage' through a populated area. For example, several individuals were injured by a large pachyderm named Hannibal, whose 3,500 pound bulk escaped his keeper near Pawtucket, Rhode Island in June of 1854, only to 'run amok' for miles and soon toss into the air both the horses and wagons of a Mr. Stafford Short, Thomas W. Peck, a Mr.Pearce, Barney and Eddy. Finally Hannibal's keeper, procured an axe and eventually found the animal exhausted, lying in some bushes near Slade's Ferry. Here he was recaptured and "secured with chains," putting an end to his 'burst for freedom.'

Mr. Edward S. Bradley and his wife, of East St. Louis in January of 1871, were awakened one night as they believed, by "burglars." Bradley arose, and "grasping a huge cavalry sword, stationed himself at the window" in the upstairs of his dwelling. Imagine his surprise when he heard a "sudden crash...from below," his wife scream, clutching as she thought "the retreating leg of a man," only to discover that it "had a queer feel," and was instead attached to "the towering bulk of an enormous elephant" who had burst into side of their home. Mr. Bradley struck the proboscis or trunk of the elephant with a few srikes of his sword, causing the elephant to retreat. The creature simply changed its course and soon "shivered a large door to atoms" of the saloon of Mr. Charles Schaffner. Later the elephant was found dead, as was believed as a result of the "effects of the cold." This particular elephant had escaped a railroad car, broken the chain that secured its leg and tore down the door and began his "voyage of death."

After having ridden within rail-cars from Chicago, in April of 1910, a number of pachyderms were responsible for the injury of individuals and the destruction of a large portion of property, "nine elephants that stampeded" through the streets and nearby fields of Danville, Illinois. Coal sheds, fences, trees, frame structures, all were "trodden down, uprooted and thrown to one side" according to newspaper accounts of the event. While setting at his kitchen table, Mr. William Miller found himself confronted by three elephants who'd found the area between his "summer kitchen and house" insufficient room in order for them to pass, "so they pushed the kitchen aside," but no one was injured.

Joseph Peebles wasn't as lucky. His shed was overturned, horse killed and he was thrown by one of the elephants "against the side of his house," leaving him in critical condition. Eventually the elephants were captured but not until they had damaged 100 homes, destroyed gardens and orchards, and injured F. Krabbe, one of their keepers who was "hurled against the side of a barn and injured..." Out of the nine 'escapees,' one elephant would elude his would-be captors for sometime until being caught.

Residents of Philadelphia in September of 1876, witnessed a Texas "wild steer at large," which had escaped a slaughterhouse on Market Street, "run at a rapid rate" through center city, eventually reaching the corner of 18th Street & Pennsylvania Ave., after having attacked "a man, woman and child" and then gored or threw Thomas Maguire to the ground with violence, only to eventually be "killed with an axe by Fred Foshill and others."

Another "Big White Bull" in November of 1905 tore "down Broad Street" in the City of Brotherly Love, an animal which had "broken away from a herd at Fitzwater Street." Described in the local papers as "bellowing with rage, the animal charged everything that appeared to bar its way." For some twenty minutes the white bull bellowed and frightened residents on Broad Street until finally "a small boy" with a "stout stick" went within ten feet of the bull and waited for it to charge. As it did so, he wisely "eluded the bull's rushes" with the "agility of a professional boxer" and wisely "planted a stinging blow across the nose of the enraged animal," not once but twice! This caused the creature to "retreat up Broad street," followed closely by the unnamed boy who "kept right at its heels" until he reached Fitzwater Street and successfully drove the animal back into the herd.

Escapes of the Rhinoceros:
'Gondar the Rhinoceros,' a 1,590 pound of wonder, was once well-known in Philadelphia in late 1830 and early 1831, as advertised in Poulson's American Daily Advertiser. Though he is not known to have escaped in Philadelphia, his fellow 'horned' kinsmen if you will, did indeed at times in other parts of the country.

In 1869, in Putnam County, New York, the "rhinoceros of Van Amburgh's menagerie" escaped and decided to take a bath in Peach Pond, at Carmel. Worth about $20,000, his keepers were desirous to retake the animal, and sent a dog named Jack into the water in an attempt to retrieve the huge beast. Unlike the dog, the rhino simply submerged himself under water for sometime, and re-emerged at a distance, with Jack grabbing the animal by the ear, causing him to "bellow like a bull calf for many minutes," until he was finally snared with ropes as he returned to the shore and then returned to his cage.

At Red Burd, a small town in Monroe County, Illinois, in August of 1872, while being led into the ring of the circus by 24 men, his nose having a ring connected to two wire ropes, suddenly bolted, "threw up his head, and plunging madly to the right and left, broke loose...and dashed forward through the tents." A man named John Gillem, an employee of the circus was trampled to death, while another canvasman, Martin Ready, was struck by the rhino, which ripped out his bowels and thus killed him.

Charging towards the seats of the ticket-paying public who'd wisely cleared out, the enraged rhino knocked the structures down, dislocated the shoulder of one man and broke the arm of one of the spectators in the process. He also knocked down the tent pole where the cages of the tiger and leopard were placed, and soon dashed out into the street and ran into the door of a vacant house, where he was finally captured.

Perhaps the most notorious 'run' of an escaped exotic animal, was that which occurred in the summer of 1861, when a rhino enjoyed 'twelve days of freedom,' basking in part along the left bank of the Mississippi River, at the mouth of the LaCrosse River, near LaCrosse, Wisconsin, located some ninety miles from Prairie du Chien. Thus, while the nation was embroiled in a Civil War, in part over the enslavement of African-Americans, an African Rhino was engaged in its own private conflict over confinement or liberty, and thus enjoyed for a time its own escape from captivity!

On August 10th, 1861, the steamers Key City and the Luzerne collided near the vicinity of LaCrosse on the Mississippi. On board the latter vessel was the animal menagerie or circus of famed showman and former clown, Dan Rice, which contained among other beasts, a "trained rhinoceros, weighing over 4,000 pounds..." At first it was believed the creature had drowned, but in a couple of days, it was observed "frolicking in the Mississippi, but sank on being approached."

The rhino's favorite 'resort,' was that of a slough, a place of deep mud or marshy area lying in a depression of dry land, as on a prairie. Near to his 'waterhole,' was a Mr. Munger's corn-field, where the creature was said to have enjoyed filling 'his capacious belly with corn," which would proved to be his weakness and eventual place of capture. This however would not occur, until all the best minds and sportsmen in the area, would attempt repeatedly to ensnare the rhino, only to be outsmarted by the beast or fall victim to their own ingenious attempts at entrapment.

For example, on one attempt to recapture the rhino, a platform was placed in the branches of the trees under which the rhino passed on his way in and out of the water. Ropes were suspended, so that when he came to feed, the noose could be slipped over his head. After waiting for three hours one day, with three large ropes attached to the limbs of trees and five men stationed upon the platform to control them, the rhino "waddled out of the slough, snuffed the air, shook the water from his eyes, and with heavy tread clambered up the bank toward the cornfield."

Passing under the platform where the men were hidden, a noose was draped over the rhino's head, but before they could tighten it, the creature bellowed, wheeled and rushed back to the water. The rope broke, the men "came tumbling down to the ground, while the monster rushed to the water, with sixty odd feet of inch rope fast to its body."

So fearful were the farmers in the area of working their fields, that they were insisting "a cannon shell be sent them with which to forever stop the roaming of this Behemoth..." Dan Rice its owner was against it since the creature was worth some $20,000 dollars. Yet the rhino had already surprised two men roasting corn on the river bank, when they heard "a heavy tramp and in a few moments the Rhinoceros appeared..." One of the men was thrown sixty feet resulting in a broken arm and two ribs.

Eventually, Col. Preston, an agent of Rice succeeded in catching the rhino as it came to feed in Mr. Munger's corn-field, by the aid of a chain-trap and ropes. Those who helped in the recapture of the beast were rewarded with $200.00 and the rhino was eventually taken to Milwaukee.

Animals formerly a part of the menagerie of Dan Rice, escaped in Ohio in 1866, or "two large boa constrictors" and "an alligator" who "taking possession of a field near at hand," were successful in "driving out the cattle and sheep in a very short space of time." However, they were soon recaptured as well.

Crocodiles, snakes and alligators would continue to appear in newspapers throughout the 19th century, as having escaped, some being retaken or killed, while others were never found. Such tales and events are a part of American history, many of which can be found in the collections of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

A Quaint Colonial Custom: "Ears Cut Off & Nailed to the Pillory!"

2010-04-19T16:24:00.002-04:00

In modern times, we often take for granted the lack of severity in Western countries of various punishments attached to crime, whereas it is still quite common in such places as Saudi Arabia, to be stoned to death for adultery, or to have one's hands cut off for thievery, designed as a deterrent to would-be law breakers. However, at one time, other barbaric customs were a part of United States history as well.

Being whipped and branded for 'petty crimes' was common in Colonial America, or for more serious infractions of the law, having the malefactor ''hanged, drawn, and quartered" or beheaded, with one's head 'placed on a pole' in a public place, were once common occurrences here in the West, even into the 19th-century. During the 'Starving Time' in the early Virginia Colony, a large needle or 'bodkin' was inserted through one's tongue for the stealing of food, while 'taking God's name in vain,' or the failure to attend Church, could literally lead to one's death if repeated, and were considered to be 'capital crimes' worthy of the death sentence. One such antiquated custom for 'petty crimes' included the use of the pillory.

The pillory was generally composed of a vertical post with two horizontal pieces of wood attached to the top, containing holes for a person's hands and head to be placed within while he or she stood or knelt. Such punishments were meant to encourage public humiliation and were thus usually erected in a public square or at a market-place, since passers-by were expected to throw trash, garbage or fecal matter at the person locked within 'the stocks.'

As early as 1623, a 'Captain Richard Quailes' of Virginia, for some unrecorded reason, was "set upon the pillory with his eares nayled thereto, they either to be cutt off of or redeemed by payinge the fine of 100 lbs sterli{ng}..."

Some individuals placed within a pillory, also had 'their nose slit, tongue bored through with a red hot iron' and were then branded on the cheek or hand with the initial letter for the crime for which the offender was being punished, e.g., 'S.L.,' for a seditious libeller; 'M' for manslaughter; 'T' for thief, and 'R' for a rogue, etc.

In 1755 in Charles County, Maryland, a young African-American female was subjected to the pillory for 'perjury,' and was not only 'flogged,' but had "her ears cropped close." The Maryland Gazette contains a frequent number of incidents of individuals during the decades of the 1760's and 1770's, "burnt in the hand" or ordered to be "whipped and stand in the pillory..."

Often times persons guilty of counterfeiting money or 'bills of credit,' were subjected to the pillory. The Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania, for 1755-56, Section VII, state how "if any person or persons shall counterfeit any of the said bills of credit of this province...be legally convicted....such person or persons shall be sentenced to the pillory and to have both his or her ears cut off and nailed to the pillory, and to be publicly whipped on his or her bare back with thirty-one lashes well laid on."

Also in 1780, the same 'Pennsylvania Statutes,' decreed that any persons guilty of counterfeiting would receive the same punishment as above, adding that, "moreover every such offender shall forfeit the sum of two thousand pounds, lawful money of Pennsylvania to be levied on his her lands and tenements, goods and chattels..." That same year, the law required that any individual who "feloniously" took a horse or mare, they would "for the first offense...stand in the pillory for one hour, and ...publicly whipped on his, or her or {their} bare backs with thirty-nine lashes, well laid on, and at the same time shall have his, her or their ears cut off and nailed to the pillory, and for the second offense shall be whipped and pilloried in like manner and be branded on the forehead in a plain and visible manner with the letters H.T.," for 'horse-thief.'

Both in 1776 and in 1794, two slaves in Virginia, one for 'running away from his master and lying,' the other for 'hog stealing,' were ordered to be taken by the sheriff to the pillory, where their ears were nailed. The latter slave named Caleb, had one ear nailed, "and in one hour thereafter to cut it loose from the nail, then to nail the other and in another hour's time to cut that loose from the nail, this being the second offense."

In 1782, one Brice McWhimney of Bedford County, Pennsylvania, was found guilty of horse theft and sentenced to 39 lashes at the whipping post, and forced to stand at the pillory for one hour, "and have his ears cut off and pay 15 pounds and cost..."

Joe Disberry or Disbury was a notorious criminal living during the period of the Revolutionary War, near what is now Selinsgrove, Snyder County, Pennsylvania and Sunbury in Northumberland, who was caught repeatedly for thievery. He was taken to Sunbury where he was forced to stand in the pillory, receive the traditional thirty-nine lashes and also had his ears cut off and nailed to the post, after which he was imprisoned for three months and paid a fine of 30 pounds currency. His 'goods and chattels' were also confiscated after being convicted of burglarly and sentenced "to the penitentiary house of the city of Philadelphia to undergo the servitude...for the term of twenty-one years."

However, even after his period of long incarceration, Disberry soon returned to his old haunts and habits in 1819, only to steal flour from a mill in Union County, but falling through a hatchway was mortally injured. The owner purportedly remarked that he Disberry should be "buried deep," else "if it is not done he will return and steal mill, dam and all!"

John Wilson and Joseph Fulsome at Jonesboro, Tennessee, for the year 1790, convicted of horse-stealing, were both ordered to be "confined in the public pillory for the space of one hour, and that each of them have both their ears nailed to the pillory and severed from their heads." They to received the 'thirty-nine lashes,' which was followed by their 'right cheek' being branded with the letter 'H,' and the 'left cheek' with the letter 'T,' a sentenced carried out by the sheriff of Washington County.

It is not known exactly when pillory punishment ended within Pennsylvania or the United States as a whole. The various laws of each colony or state differed, and not all parties obeyed the new regulations simultaneously or with vigor, since the practice certainly continued in some parts of the country as late as the year 1839 or afterwards.

Though we may still be imprisoned and fined today for various infringements of the law, it should at least be comforting to some present-day individuals, that not all former laws or punishments even exist on the books of the respective states. If for example, 'taking the Lord's name in vain' was still considered to be a 'capital offense,' the current population of the United States would no doubt be reduced considerably, perhaps by the millions!

Such antiquated laws and punishments as the above are available for the perusal of the curious, in many of the collections here at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Conjuring, Fortune Telling, and Witchcraft, in 19th Century Philadelphia

2010-03-23T09:18:00.008-04:00

Stereotypically, when one thinks of Philadelphia during the 19th century, an image comes to mind of a sophisticated urban area, filled with scientific, educational & cultural institutions, legacies derived in part from the preceding century, when such enlightened events as the signing of the 'Declaration of Independence' and the 'Constitutional Convention' transpired, a city which at at one time served as the capital of our nation, a metropolis blessed with famed citizens like Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Benjamin Rush.

However, there was another Philadelphia as well: a 'darker,' more sinister side, where superstition played a role in the lives of many of its residents, long after the Revolutionary War.

In March of 1827, Richard Barker was found in a dying condition, "on the pavement" in Shippen Street. He had for some days been residing among "a certain class" of people, one of whom "had the reputation of being acquainted with the black art--a conjurer..."

Lucinda Barker, the purported widow of Richard, visited the city in the summer of 1830, in an attempt to discover her husband's fate, and told the 'Court of Oyer & Terminer' of her incessant prayers aimed towards this discovery, that a "figure" had appeared to her, "dressed in a white shroud" and pleaded, " 'Lucinda, Lucinda, Lucinda, pursue my murderers, you will learn who they are from the police of New York and Philadelphia.' I answered quickly and repeated it, 'I will, I will, while I have strength and life,' and then it vanished."

Two sisters, Maggie Butler and Mrs. Ida Rehr in 1885, while running a produce stand at the Farmer's Market on 12th & Market Streets, "cowhided" or whipped an innocent man named Simon Harris, whom they believed had been "pilfering" baskets of fruits and vegetables from their stall. Having "consulted a fortune teller last week" they had been "told that the culprit was a blonde young man," thus they began to attack the passer-by who fit the fortune teller's description. Luckily, Harris failed to press charges against the two ladies, even though the man's face "showed several crimson streaks" which he received from the whip.

Prior to this event, Elizabeth White, described as "a mulatto woman," residing in 1859 between Sixth and Seventh Streets, in the city's Fifth Ward, was said by newspaper accounts to be "a Doctress and Astrologist by profession," who was stabbed by her husband "rapidly three or four times in the breast, and also cut her knee, and then fled, leaving his victim bleeding."

But perhaps the most sensational case, occurred in 1852, with newspaper headings entitled, "Superstition in Philadelphia," and "Witchcraft--Evidence of an Enlightened Age," when Mary Ann Clinton & Susan Spearing, residents of Southwark Ward, were formally charged at the 'Court of Quarter Sessions,' with "conspiring to cheat and defraud George F. Elliott, by means of fortune telling and conjuration," in order to extort money. The 'Commonwealth of Pennsylvania' alleged that the two women were giving Mrs. Elliott, "a bottle containing some portions of Mr. Elliott's clothing, and telling her that as the clothing decayed, so Mr. Elliott would moulder away, until he would finally die by virtue of the spell..."

It appeared that Mrs. Elliott suspected her husband was guilty of infidelity, a belief which "had so strong an effect upon her as to make her wish for his death." Thus, she had enlisted the services of Clinton & Spearing, who also encouraged the jealous wife, as an "ordeal of witchcraft," to "take her husband's clothes, tear them to pieces, fill the bottle with them, then boil the contents nine times, and this would give him such extreme pain as to cause his death."

To carry out the above 'spell,' Mrs. Elliott willingly had payed the two 'conjurers,' their required fee.

Not to be outdone, Mrs. Carmela Rubino to the north, in New York City, as late as 1910, charged Giovanni Leonardo & Leonora Buffano $276.00, for certain "black powders and blue ribbons," in order to drive away "devils." Mrs. Rubino's "demon dispellers" caused her to spend 50 days in jail, after she was convicted of "practicing medicine illegally," and was forced also to pay a fine of $500.00 for her "exorbitant fees for worthless concoctions."

The above accounts reveal that such incredulity was not limited to Colonial America, but existed well into the Modern era, and for that matter, has not entirely disappeared even in the 21st century. These accounts, their documentation and other similar events, can all be examined as part of the collections here at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

The Curse of the Bonsall Family of Pennsylvania?

2010-03-02T10:56:00.005-05:00

One of the earliest Colonial families in the Philadelphia area was the Bonsall family, deriving from Richard Bonsall & his wife Mary, who immigrated from Derbyshire, England (ca. 1683) to what is now Upper Darby. Many of their descendants became prominent citizens in Chester, Delaware, and Philadelphia counties.

By the early 19th century, many of the Bonsalls had migrated to other parts of the country, where they also gained prominence. One such individual was the lawyer, Sermon Bonsall, Esquire, a native of Philadelphia who had migrated south, first to Columbia, South Carolina, then onto the small town of Raymond, in Hinds County, Mississippi, where he became one of its most leading residents.

The Delaware County (PA) Republican, for September 10th, 1841, printed the sudden demise of Sermon Bonsall, which had occurred on August 17th, when he "was accidentally killed by a fall from his mule..." Naturally, many individuals have lost their lives while riding, but the above newspaper added the following:

What is a strange coincidence, the residence of the deceased was struck by lightning on the same day that he expired, and as nearly as can be ascertained, it was about the same moment in which he died!

The manner of the lightning was singular and unusual. The sun was shining, nor were there any indications of an approaching thunder storm, when, at a moment totally unexpected, there was a most appalling discharge of electricity, accompanied by an instantaneous peal of thunder.

The fluid descended in two columns...entering through the wall, utterly destroying the clock & strewing the floor with the fragments...

The Raymond (Mississippi) Times, for August 20, 1841, confirmed that Sermon Bonsall was indeed, "thrown by his mule and his injury, which was internal, was incurable. Mr. Bonsall was forty years of age on the 27th of January last. He was a native of Philadelphia."

To add 'insult to injury,' if you will, a relative, Benjamin C. Bonsall, a son of Benjamin Bonsall & Elizabeth Hibberd, born in 1805, "was killed by lightning" on May 3, 1828 in Pennsylvania, while Enoch Bonsall, of Upper Darby, was murdered by four men on May 22nd, 1824. The robbers first "bound him to a chair," then ransacked his home, returned and "stabbed him in the abdomen," wounds which brought about his death the next morning. (See, Gilbert Cope & Henry G. Ashmead, ed's, Historic Homes & Institutions & Genealogical & Personal Memoirs of Chester & Delaware Counties, Pennsylvania, Vol.II., NY: The Lewis Publishing Co; 1904: 28-29).

Years later, local newspapers in the Philadelphia area, for October 11th, 1905, would also carry the tragic deaths of Miss Josephine Bonsall, age 40, and her nephew, Wallace Bonsall, age 13, who were struck by a train as they attempted to drive their carriage over the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks, at the Bonsall Avenue crossing in Fernwood (where else could it have occurred!) Both were immediately killed by the oncoming engine.

Strange bizarre deaths & coincidences have in the past filled volumes. The above is just a few examples from one Philadelphia family, which had a 'streak of bad luck' over time.

Mysterious Creatures of Colonial America

2010-02-24T10:47:00.005-05:00

The subject of undiscovered aquatic, subterranean or terrestrial animal life throughout the world is a topic receiving an increasing amount of attention by scientists and the lay public alike. New species are constantly being discovered from remote areas in such familiar places as Vietnam, to the depths of the Amazon River in South America, resulting in the verification of local legends, oral traditions and myths of various indigenous peoples.

Cryptozoology for example, the scientific term for such investigations, has been quite popular for many years, in its attempts to search out, document, and authenticate, the existence of previously undiscovered or rare fauna or life-forms.

Early Native-American legends & traditions are filled with accounts of strange and often savage animals, which the various tribes encountered or fought into extinction over the centuries. Well-documented publications exist of data concerning megafauna or large animals, such as the mastodons and mammoths, who appear to have possibly survived into comparatively recent times, as was revealed by Delaware or Lenni-Lenape legends, and the apparently non-fossilized remains of such creatures, as found by both Indians and pioneers alike, at 'Big Bone Lick,' in present-day Boone County, Kentucky.

Dr. Adrienne Mayor, a Classical Folklorist & Historian, has attempted in her recent work, Fossil Legends of the First Americans (NJ: Princeton University Press., 2005), to relate such encounters or traditions as being based solely upon the discovery of the fossilized remains of now extinct creatures, whose bones stimulated the imagination of the Native-Americans to 'create' tales and myths to explain their existence.

Though the above work no doubt explains, in part, the existence of such legends, it does not negate the possibility that prehistoric animals, both known & unknown to present-day science, may have existed up into the historic period or time of European contact.

Early French explorers encountered the drawings of the Piasa, a dragon-like creature whose picture by Native-Americans once decked the bluffs that existed at Alton, Illinois, on the Illinois River, while early recorded Iroquois traditions relate that tribes' conflict with the last remnant of a large creature referred to as the 'Hairless or Naked Bear.'

Sioux Indians of the Plains, who once resided in the Ohio Valley, have preserved many accounts of the Unktehi, a mysterious 'water-monster' that occasionally ate tribesmen, while the Cherokee people, told many stories of the Uktena, a giant rattle-snake who possessed what was referred to as a 'jewel' or the 'ulun suti' in its head, a treasure which many tribal warriors attempted to possess at the risk of their own lives.

Having given a 'background' to the subject, I offer the following account, preserved in The Independent Gazetteer, or The Chronicle of Freedom, published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, June 3rd, 1786, and entitled, "Extract of a letter from an officer on the Ohio, to his parents in Windham, Connecticut," which contains the following:

A creature of the amphibious kind, by the Indians called Oquao, is not the least remarkable among the innumerable curiosities with which this country abounds. This animal has two heads; a property, which, perhaps, belongs not to any other in existence: His tail is fifteen feet long: otherwise he in some measure resembles a turtle:

By day the Oquao is rarely seen, then he lies close in his retreat, under water, but in night he wanders abroad to satisfy his hunger---The deer are his favorite game: and his manner of taking them is insidious and cruel: He places himself in a deer path, where without motion, and having the appearance of a lump more than of an animal, he waits the approach of his un-suspicious prey.

The deer strides heedless over his destroyer, who throws out his tail, entwines him in a moment, drags him in spite of all his resilience, to the next creek, and there drowns and devours him.

One of these uncommon animals was discovered last week by a soldier early in the morning, as he was dragging off the booty of the night: Several gentlemen who were there went immediately in quest of him; and as these creatures are far from being swift, he was soon overtaken: With great difficulty, after having borne the strokes of a dozen clubs for nearly half an hour, he was killed---happily for us he held his prey to the last, otherwise our attempt might have been attended with some danger---

His eyes had such a malignant keeness, that I could not help regarding the very sight of him as being truly horrid. We released the deer, which was already dead, from his fatal gripe {grip}, brought him home, and weighed him (the Oquao) and found his weight four hundred forty-four pounds.

One can choose to believe whether the above account is fictive or based in reality. Perhaps it was an encounter with an extremely large alligator which now are not native to the Ohio Valley. The rare 'blue-eyed albino alligators' of the Southern swamps, which are occasionally encountered today, relate however that abnormalities do occur at times within the animal kingdom.

Ancient, Medieval & even frequent modern accounts of the birth of two-headed snakes, calves, turtles, and even human Siamese twins that attain maturity or adulthood, attest to the possible validity of such an account as recorded in 1786.

If nothing else, the above reveals once again the vast diversity of materials that await curious researchers, as they peruse the collections available here at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

'Young at Heart' or 'Robbing the Cradle?'

2010-02-01T14:16:00.011-05:00

On May 31, 2004 at the age of 97, Alberta Martin, the last surviving widow of an American Civil War soldier passed away at Enterprise, Alabama. She was only one of many young women who had married much older men who fought as soldiers in America's greatest military conflict.

'Longevity' is not a new phenomenon, as is recorded in many records available here at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania and elsewhere. However, though many individuals have retained most of their 'faculties' with age, others carried on surprising behavior at an advanced age, in stark contrast to their peers.

One of the most famous centenarians was the Englishman, Thomas Parr of Salop (1483-1635), of which much has been written, a man who at the age of 105 stood condemned in the Parish church of Alderbury for 'fathering a child out of wedlock,' the mother being one Katherine Milton (See, Carl Bridenbaugh, Vexed & Troubled Englishmen: 1590-1642 (NY: Oxford Univ. Press., 1968: 371).

Perhaps not to be outdone by his famous countryman, a marriage is recorded for October of 1737, in the Gentleman's Magazine & Historical Chronicle, for:

"Andrew Newton, aged 117, lately in Ireland,--to a young Woman of 19, who is big with Child by him; he has a Son living above 80, and is as hail and hearty as any Man of 50 in the Kingdom." (Vol.VII: p.637)

Also dated for October 1st, at Dublin, Ireland, The American Weekly Mercury (from Tuesday January 31, to Tuesday February 7, 1737,8), published in Philadelphia, records a few more details relative to the above marriage, by stating:

We are assured that one Andrew Newton, who lives at Larabryan which lies between Manooth and Kilcock, in the County of Kildare, aged 117 Years, marry'd a young Woman of 19 Years of Age, about 7 Months ago, and that she is now big with Child by the saidAndrew Newton, who has a Son now living upwards of 80 Years of Age.

We have it from an extraordinary good Hand, who saw the said Newton and his Wife on Saturday last, and vouches the Truth of it; and affirms that there is no Man in the Kingdom, of 50 Years of Age, heartier and brisker than the said Newton.

Nothing more needs to be said. The facts speak for themselves!

Shackshoone: a Mysterious Native-American in 17th-century England

2010-01-25T09:37:00.008-05:00

The presence of Native-Americans in Europe, as a result of European contact, is of course a well attested fact of history. From the time of Columbus forward, many went as guests, some as slaves, and others resided on the European continent as servants throughout the days of early exploration in the Western Hemisphere as well as during the period of Colonial-American history.

Huron chieftain Donaconna, of present-day Quebec, journeyed with Jacques Cartier back to France in the early 16th century, where he enjoyed the privileges of a guest, receiving a 'pension' and residence at the expense of the French Crown, spreading tales of the mythical or legendary land of Saquenay, which prompted many French explorations into the Canadian wilderness. He would die in France of disease in 1539.

An opposite course of action was taken by the Governor of 'New France,' Jaques Rene...de Denonville, during the late 1680's, when he forcibly shipped some fifty Iroquois chieftains to the French city of Marseilles, where they were used as 'galley slaves.'

Within the English seaboard colonies, many American Indians had periodically been kidnapped or chose to visit Britain over the years, and often aided the settlers in their conflicts with the various tribes they encountered. Two such Indians were Wanchese & Manteo, both brought back to England by Captains Philip Amadas & Arthur Barlowe, for the benefit of the would-be English colonizer, Sir Walter Raleigh, after their visit on July 13, 1584 to North Carolina, near Roanoke Island.

The famed 'Indian Princess,' Pocahontas or 'Lady Rebecca,' after converting to Christianity and marrying the Englishman, John Rolfe, would journey to England in 1616, even to the Royal Court of King James the First, along with a number of her relatives and people. Tomocomo accompanied Pocahontas at the request of her father Powhatan who gave him a notched-stick to count the number of Englishmen he would encounter in London! Tomocomo would return to the New World, but Pocahontas contracted smallpox and was buried at Gravesend in Britain, far from her native homeland in Virginia.

The famed 'Savior' of the Pilgrims & the Plymouth Colony in 1620, that of Squanto or Tisquantum, a Pawtuxet Indian (who had been kidnapped by an English scoundrel and taken along with 23 other Indians to Malaga, Spain to be sold as slaves years before), luckily arrived eventually in England, where he was taught the English language, and after many years absence from America, was, according to Governor William Bradford, 'Providentally' returned to his native Massachusetts only a few weeks prior to the coming of the Mayflower and its colonists.

It was a Pamunkey Indian servant named Chanco, who saved countless English lives, by warning his white master of the upcoming Indian attack on March 22, 1622 in Virginia, which nevertheless resulted in the deaths of some five hundred settlers, a massacre led by Opechancanough, uncle to Pocahontas and brother to her father, Powhatan.

After 'King Philip's War' (1675-76) in New England, many Pequot Indians would be enslaved and sent to the West Indies, and even a few were sold initially into slavery in North Africa, while as late as 1730, seven Cherokees visited England and met with King George II, one being the famous chieftain, Attakullaculla, better known as the 'Little Carpenter.'

Just exactly how many Native-Americans actually visited, lived and died in England or Europe as a whole, will no doubt never be completely known, but out of this number, one peculiar individual stands out in the limited narrative recording his residence in the British Isles.

In an early issue of the London Gazette, Issue 2337, for Monday April 9th to Thursday, April 12th, 1688, comes this strange advertisement, on p.2, col.2:

One John Newmoone, alias Shackshoone, an Indian of an unusual Shape, having a Child growing out of his Side, low of Stature, and swarthy of Complexion, belonging to Sir Thomas Grantham, Knight, on Friday the 6th Instant, run away from his House at Sudbury in Middlesex, taking with him several things of value, designing to go beyond the Seas.

Whoever can discover or seize him, and give Notice to Sir Thomas Grantham aforesaid, or to Mr. Bartholomew Parr, Woollen draper in the Armitage, shall have 5 {pounds} Reward, and all Charges.

Who exactly John Newmoone or Shackshoone was has not been determined, though his name certainly 'sounds' Algonquian in nature, a tribal or linguistic group, which by 1688, the English had had much contact and relations with for many years on the Eastern seaboard. Perhaps some obscure record exists in England relative to his arrival, departure or eventual fate, though the author of this blog has to date found no such data other than the above, in either British or American Colonial records. Also, a man with such a peculiar physical malady would have definitely draw attention, and thus generated records, on both sides of the Atlantic.

His master, Sir Thomas Grantham, later knighted by King Charles II, came to the Americas on at least three occasions during the 17th-century, the most famous being to Virginia during 'Bacon's Rebellion,' of 1676. His rare autobiography, or; An Historical Account of Some Memorable Actions, Particularly in Virginia... (London: J. Roberts., 1716), says nothing about any 'Indian' which he may have brought back with him to England, after these voyages, though the Calendar of State Papers: Colonial Series, America & West Indies: 1677-1680, does state for May of 1679, that Captain Grantham, "lately returned from York River, Virginia," reported "great incursions of Indians about the Rappahannock; alarm of a summer attack so great that people were leaving their plantations for a safer part of the country."

It is certainly conceivable that Capt Grantham took an America Indian back with him from Virginia to England, since many rebellious tribal peoples in Virginia, would at times be enslaved within the colony or were sent off to plantations in the West Indies, but one individual may have easily been given to Capt Grantham by Governor William Berkeley of the Virginia colony, in gratitude for his aid during that troublesome time.

Grantham in 1676, was in command of the Concord, a 32-gunned ship which "took an important part in pacifying the colony during the insurrection of Nathaniel Bacon..," as recorded in a sketch of Grantham, found in the 1890 edition of the Dictionary of National Biography. After his return to England, he later purchased the 'manor of Kempton' at Sudbury, and was dead by 1618.

Perhaps a reader can shed light on the mysterious origins, history and eventual fate of the above John Newmoone, alias Shackshoone, an account which is only one of many unsolved mysteries contained within the massive collections here at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

'Hanging by a Thread' or 'Between a Rock & a Hard Place!'

2009-12-14T12:20:00.006-05:00

There are many sayings still current in modern English, in reference to being in an unwanted position or predicament, such as the following: 'stuck between a rock & a hard place; hanging by a thread; between the Devil and the deep blue sea; or 'the wolf is at the door,' the latter usually mentioned in reference to someone's dire economic conditions.

However, from frontier times to the modern era, there have been individuals who have found themselves in actual 'life-threatening' situations, yet through sheer courage, fortitude, and will-power, have failed to surrender themselves to depression, fear or hopelessness. Their perseverance through trials & tribulations are a testimony to us all, of the strength of the human spirit and the existence of an awe-inspiring 'will-to-survive.'

A recent example of the above is the true story of Aron Ralston, who in April of 2003, was forced to sever his own right arm with a pocket knife, in order to save his life, after being pinned down by a boulder, having little water, for some five days in a canyon in southern Utah. His courageous autobiography is aptly entitled, Between a Rock & a Hard Place, published just a few years ago.

Aron Ralston is by no means the only individual to find himself in such a life-threatening situation. In 1911, Daniel Snyder, revealed his possession of 'true grit,' when "he was caught beneath a fallen tree" in New York. A woodsmen by profession, Snyder's leg was being "crushed by the weight of tons of wood" and was literally hanging "by shreds" while "rapidly bleeding to death." He "crawled to his ax, severed the limb with it, ripped off his shirt, and checked the flow of blood by binding it tightly about the stump," and lay back awaiting the arrival of help which eventually came, requiring surgeons to 'per-fect' his "crude amputation by removing another portion of the crushed limb." (see, "Ax Surgery Saves Life," The Philadelphia Record, March 3rd, 1911, p.1, col.2).

An earlier and fantastic account of self-survival, also occurred in New York state in May of 1817, as recorded in many publications of the day. Mr. Artemus Shattuck (1795-1878), a native of Colchester, Connecticut (but living at the time in the small village of Wrights Corners, in Wyoming County), would endure an ordeal near Middlebury (same county) that few would wish to replicate.

While cutting wood in the forest, Mr. Shattuck's foot became entangled within the crack of a log "that had been partially split open," after a tree fell where he stood. He was consequently "raised several feet from the ground and suspended with his head downwards; and in such a position that he could not touch the ground..." His axe was out of reach and he was thus unable "to extricate himself." As one would assume, he immediately called for aid repeatedly, but no one could hear his repeated pleas for assistance.

Put yourself in Artemus Shattuck's position: He was hanging upside down; his foot "remained clenched in the cleft of the tree," while his voice was now gone from his constant yelling for help. To add 'insult to injury,' his head was aching from being suspended in such a precarious position; while the weather was very cold and he was also far removed "from any human being." What could he do under such circumstances? Death seemed to be the only 'escape route' left to him.

However, Mr. Shattuck came upon an idea, one that might save his life, or be responsible for his demise. He took from his pocket, "an old Barlow knife, and first cut off the leg of his boot and stocking," then tied a piece of fabric around his ankle as tightly as he could, in order to stop "the current of blood." Then, "with his knife, he unjointed his own ankle, and left his foot cut and separated from his leg in the cleft of the tree."

Falling to the ground, he next bound up his 'stump' with a napkin found in his dinner-basket,"made a crutch of a crooked stick," and started for home, for the most part crawling upon his hands and knees through the snow covered forest. Surprisingly, he made it to the house, fainted from loss of blood and exertion, but was found by family members and resuscitated, only to have a surgeon, Dr. John Cotes of Batavia, amputate his limb completely.

Remarkably, Artemus Shattuck survived his ordeal, an experience which truly affected his demeanor and outlook on life in general, and so turned his mind towards the ministry, rather than farming & forestry as had been his former occupation. He soon emigrated to North Carolina where he joined the Baptist Church, where by 1835 he was the minister of the 'Frienship & Mechanic's Hill Church' in Moore County of that Southern state. Later he would migrate to Mississippi, where trajedy would strike once again, with the death of his wife and youngest child, causing him to remove back to North Carolina.

By 1852 Artemus Shattuck would become the pastor of the 'Eight Mile Creek' church in Mobile, Alabama, and later a minister at Villanow, in Walker County, Georgia, where he would die at Lafayette, on August 23, 1878.

An interesting side-note to this story, concerns the reports of his dismembered 'foot,' and his repeated feeling of a 'ghost-limb,' something now documented within the medical field in regard to amputee victims. A story contained in the 'Presbyterian,' a Philadelphia publication of 1850-51,' carried an article entitled, "A Curious Fact," wherein witnesses claimed Shattuck asked for his foot to be retrieved. after which he was said to have felt the "coldness of the foot, and ...heat of the water" in which it was placed.

As has been stated repeatedly within this blog, there are numerous subjects, topics, human interest stories, etc., of every kind, certainly enough to 'whet the appetite' of both scholar & lay person, to be found in the vast & diverse collections, of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

(For a few sources on Artemus Shattuck & his experience, see: J. H. French, Gazetteer of the State of New York, 7th Edition (1860): 714; Lemuel Shattuck, Memorials of The Descendants of William Shattuck (Boston: Dutton & Wentworth., 1855): 286-288; Andrew W. Young, History of the Town of Warsaw, New York (Buffalo, NY: Sage, Sons & Co., 1869): 53-55)

With a Stake in the Heart: Suicides or 'Self-Murder' and a Peculiar Custom

2009-12-03T10:04:00.009-05:00

During the Civil War in September of 1863, one Margaret Tinney, age 23, a native of New Jersey residing on Trout Street in Philadelphia, committed suicide by taking a large "horse pistol," which she promptly placed within her mouth, then "pulled the trigger," after which the "upper part of her head was almost entirely blown off." A few days later she would be buried in Lafayette Cemetery, with her 'official' cause of death being listed as: "suicide by shooting."

Why Ms. Tinney did what she did is unknown. Perhaps she had a lover who'd been killed in a battle prior to that time, and thus felt alone without him, or she could simply have suffered from emotional distress, depression or some hormonal imbalance. The science of medicine or knowledge of disorders was not as advanced as it is today, but the fate of her body after death, would have been carried out much differently, if she had died previous to the American Civil War.

As late as November 29, 1908, the Philadelphia Public Ledger carried an account entitled, "Two Girls Who Tried to Die Are Repentant," individuals who were "arraigned" before a magistrate or judge, and "charged with attempting suicide," or 'self-murder.' The act of suicide for many centuries, was considered a felony or capital crime in many parts of the world.

The famed English writer, Charles Dickens, in his work, The Old Curiosity Shop, first published in 1841, has a character named Quilp, whose body was found washed ashore, after which an inquest was held on the spot, where it was determined that the man had committed suicide. However, the verdict did not end here. As we're told in Dickens literary tale, Quilp "was left to be buried with a stake through his heart in the centre of four lonely roads."

Lest we think such actions are limited only to the British Isles, fiction or literature, it is recorded in the records of Westmoreland County, Virginia, how on August 25th, 1661, "a man servant of Mr. William Frekes who was Drowned in the Creek neare to his master's plantacon {plantation}...hath wilfully cast himself away..." Thus according to local custom, he was "to be buried at the next cross path as the Law Requires with a stake driven through the middle of him in his grave, hee having wilfully Cast himself away."

The above was not an isolated case, since one Thomas Moverly, "a well known and highly esteemed citizen of the County of Westmoreland," had also committed felo de se, or suicide, considered a 'felony' at that time in 1726. Moverly's corpse was "buried in the fork of a lonely cross-roads," in Westmoreland, with a sign posted stating, "Thou has cast thyself away, wilfully." Such a posting was made as a 'warning' to others who would attempt such rash actions.

It was common practice for many centuries, that those who committed suicide, could not be interred in 'holy ground,' within a church cemetery or graveyard, a similar restriction being also reserved for such malefactors as murderers and thieves. Thus, in 1660 in Massachusetts, the Colonial legislature considered suicide to be 'wicked & unnatural' and thus enacted a law that every suicide victim "shall be denied the privilege of being buried in the common burying place of Christians, but shall be buried in some common highway...and a cartload of stones laid upon the grave, as a brand of infamy, and as a warning to others to beware of the like damnable practices."

As the result of an Act of King George IV, for July 8, 1823, at least in England, such practices as those mentioned above, were finally "put an end to," and considered to be a "barbarous mode of interring suicides," though another would transpire as late as 1825. Prior to that time, an individual committing suicide also prevented his spouse or family from inheriting any properties left by the deceased, but all was automatically "forfeited to the King."

It is interesting as well, when 'Duels' were such a prevalent custom in the United States, particularly during the 18th & 19th centuries, in such places as Massachusetts, that in order to dissuade individuals from engaging in such practices, those who were killed in a conflict were denied, "the right to be buried in a coffin," plus their bodies were "interred near the place of execution, or in the public highway, with a stake driven through them."

Just recently, the well-presevered skeleton of a middle-aged man, uncovered in a Turkish cemetery, at Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos, was disinterred and found to have been "nailed to his coffin with eight-inch iron spikes," through his neck, pelvis, and ankle.

Many societies feared that the 'soul' or 'spirit' of the deceased, would rise up and haunt the living, thus the reason for placing stones upon the corpse, or the custom of impalement and internment at a 'crossroads,' in order to prevent the spirit from leaving the grave. A 'crossroad' was also in the 'shape of a cross,' thus the inherent 'power' of the holy icon or symbol would hopefully prevent the ghost of the deceased from leaving his or her grave, in order to harass those left behind. A 'crossroad' would also purportedly 'confuse' the restless spirit as to which direction it should go, in order to inact its spiteful revenge.

Such laws, beliefs, customs, or superstitions as those mentioned above, and other peculiar accounts from historical records, may be found in abundance here, at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

The Supernatural or Insanity? Dark Voices & Visitations from an Unseen World?

2009-10-29T11:12:00.013-04:00

In June of 2004, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, a man decapitated & 'dismembered' his grandmother and girl friend, purportedly "acting on orders from God," though he referred to the home where the heinous acts transpired, as "the gateway to Hell," while a mother of five in 2001, drowned her five children in a bathtub in Texas, stating later that "Satan was talking to her. ..She had seen images of Satan in the walls, in the cinder blocks of her cell."

Such horrific accounts as the above, be they truthful or fictional in origin, have been the subject for numerous monographs, cinematic movies & documentaries, or prime-time episodes of crime & forensic T.V., dramas for many years, but especially during the period of 'Halloween,' or 'All Hallow's Eve' in October. However, they are in reality, nothing new.

In July of 1823, Mr. William Hood, a man of forty-five years of age and father of ten, forced three of his children to assist him in erecting a pen of fodder and rails, of which he then forced one son, "being threatened with death," to go to their home and obtain "a chunk of fire." Sitting himself down within the structure, Hood then had himself set on fire while he sang, "Drink about boys and drown away sorrow," as the flames were about to consume him. A neighbor atttempted to extricate the man from his self-imposed death-trap, but upon seizing Hood, "he found him so much burnt that the skin left the flesh...the enfuriated maniac in a rage, seized a club, and swore by his maker he would kill him for interfering."

The good-intentioned neighbor twice attempted to drag Mr. Hood from the flames, even though by the second time, the man's "nose & one of his ears were burnt off, the wind-pipe exposed..." He was taken to his home and medical aid was sent for, but he emphatically declared to his pregnant wife, that " his Master had come for him the day before, but he was not ready for him--that he would be for him again that night, but he was not yet prepared, but that next day, at 11 0'clock, when he came again, he should be ready and would go."

Mr. William Hood stated that, "his object was to have burnt up soul & body, so as to deprive the devil of his expectation." To his last breath he bitterly denounced those who had attempted to keep him from his goal, and is described as having been a man "of singular manners and intemperate habits."(Daily National Intelligencer, Washington, DC, July 26, 1823)

Thomas Goss of Barkhampstead in Connecticut, in February of 1785, "murdered his wife in a most shocking manner, as she lay in bed with three children. He perpetrated his crime with an axe, which he plunged into her forehead even to her brains...He confessed the atrocious deed, and said he expected to be commended for it, as he had, for some time, thought his wife was possessed with a familiar spirit." Goss was described as being "regular and rational," and "even to religious duties," but was executed in November of 1785 for the murder of his wife. (The Providence Rhode Island Gazette & Country Journal, March 5, 1785)

In that same year of 1785, Mrs. M'Comb, of Princeton, New Jersey, described as the "wife of a gentleman of that place," locked herself in her chamber, refused to open the door, which was broke open, only to find that she had "cut off both her ears, and scarished her throat in attempting to cut that." When asked the reason for such a "rash act," she replied, "that an Angel appeared to her, and threatened her with the horrors of perdition, unless she performed the aforesaid operation." (The Pennsylvania Gazette, November 23, 1785).

The Reverend Josiah or Joshua Upson, a Universalist minister of Ohio in 1856, had repeatedly starved himself for many days, into becoming "an almost human skeleton," under the orders of "the Spirit," which promised him that through such "discipline,' he would become "a more extraordinary 'medium' than has hitherto been known."

According to Upson, he believed "that hundreds of disembodied spirits were constantly talking with him, prescribing what he should eat, what he should say...and punishing him severely when he refused to act in accordance with their directions." These same 'spirits,' informed the clergyman that through "his mission," he would thus become "a wonderful specimen of a spiritually developed man." (Lebanon (PA) Courier, September 19, 1856).

The above are only a VERY FEW accounts which exist, in published and manuscript collections here at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, testifying to the fact such macabre & terrifying acts of cruelty to others or to one's self (and often attributed to 'voices' or 'visitations' of some sinister force), are not events peculiar only to the present, because of drug abuse, and/or mental disorders, but are a phenomenon that has plagued society and mankind for many years.

Quaker Traveler Ann Mifflin & her 'Cave of Skeletons' in 1802

2009-09-28T14:28:00.021-04:00

During the Colonial period and well within the 19th-century, as the early American pioneers plowed their land, cleared trees from property containing vast virgin forests, dug wells and explored the frontier, numerous ancient works of the former inhabitants of North America were continually brought to light in the form of burial mounds, fortifications, skeletons and mysterious artifacts.

Predominately, modern archaeology often tends to dismiss many of these discoveries as the products of an 'over-active imagination,' the result of illiterate farmers attempting to interpret remains by means of a limited education, or simply dismiss such findings and/or writings as examples of fraud, forgery, prevarication, gullibility and the material culture they discuss as being exclusively of post-European origin.

However, enough bona-fide archaeological excavations have since revealed that within this vast area from ca. 1000BC to AD 500, sophisticated cultures of the 'Mound Builders' once existed. These societies are primarily referred to in today's scientific literature as that of the 'Adena' & 'Hopewell' Cultures, whose physical remains and artifacts exist from eastern Kansas to the Great Lakes region within the Illinois & Ohio River Valleys and on into Western Pennsylvania, New York, parts of Ontario, Canada, and as even as far south as Crystal River, Florida.

Numerous written accounts exist, both published & in manuscript form, of many such remains as mentioned above, which tend to either support or contradict current scientific interpretation as to the size of North America's prehistoric population, their anatomy, physiology & ethnicity, as well as to the level of technology & industry they attained.

A bold and adventerous spirit existed in the physical frame of Philadelphia area Quaker Ann Mifflin (1755-1815), who along with a small party in 1802, desired to visit the Native-American Christian congregation of the Oneida, residing in New York, near Lake Cayuga. Central & Western New York at that time were still a 'frontier' in every sense of the word & Anne remarks how "when passing thro' the wilderness...we lay encamped on the grass, our midnight serenade being the howling of wolves and the screeching of owls..."

Not long before, both the Quakers & the Presbyterians had achieved significant success in establishing Christian-Indian communities, such as that at "Brothertown, within the Oneida reservation," described by Mifflin as "a settlement formed of the scattered fragments of seven different nations..."

Ann Mifflin, as well as being a fervent member of the 'Society of Friends,' was no doubt a curious individual also, since she found it important to relate an interesting acccount (evidently the earliest on record), of an intriguing archaeological discovery in early Western New York. Her personal narrative is located here, at 'The Historical Society of Pennsylvania,' written down within her own hand, and dated for 1803, included as part of the Logan-Fisher-Fox Family Papers, Collection #1960, Vol.11, and entitled, "Ann Mifflin's Visit to the Indians, 1802."

She relates:

"Not many miles distant are the ruins of an ancient fortification, near four miles square, with a strong wall on part of it: within it...trees grown therein, four feet in diameter, which shows its ancient date---

The Indians have adopted their present custom of burying with the dead the most valuable articles they possess...This practice seems to have been adopted before they had wholly lost the use of letters, from what appeared in a cave or sepulchre in this neighbourhood, discovered by a hunter in 1801; who observing an arch, on the top of which grew a tree above two feet in diameter, showing its antiquity; he procured hands and opened it at the side, from whence an intolerable stench for a time issued.

They discovered the skeletons of 8 persons, placed in a sitting posture, with their feet meeting each other. Their hands had fallen between their knees, & the arm bones remaining in the shoulder sockets & elbows resting on the ground, kept the back bones erect, leaning against the sides of the cave: from the size of the bones, there was four men on one side, and four women on the other, with bracelets on their arms, & other trinkets.

There were scissors of a curious workmanship...preserved from the damp & rust... and inscriptions on stones they could not understand. The bones crumbled to dust on the entrance of the air, and from the weight of the Tree on the top & side walls being taken away it soon caved in."

Ann Mifflin goes on to suggest how she had "expressed a wish these inscriptions could be procured for the Philadelphia Museum, as subjects of investigation," referring to the repository of natural curiosities and artifactual remains, on display within the building of antiquarian collector, Charles Willson Peale of Philadelphia. She also had spoken to "the friend who informed me of these matters," who had professed a desire to return to the ancient site and carry out further excavations, "digging to see what further could be procured."

Further research by the author has uncovered that Ann Mifflin's account was later confirmed, in works printed in the latter part of the 19th-century, by New York historian Theseus Apoleon Cheney, who gave other details about the above discovery of 1801, locating the tumuli in what is now, Connewango, Cattaraugus County, in south-western New York.

He states for example, that, "At the time of its discovery, the site was surrounded by primitive forest, and upon the tumulus there were growing several large trees, among them being a hemlock two feet in diameter...," and within the mound, "human skeletons, which had been buried in a sitting posture...in the form of a circle...skeletons {were} so far decayed as to crumble upon exposure to the atmosphere, but were all of very large size."

Cheney also relates how in the center of the circle formed by the eight "mouldering skeletons," stood a pestle artistically wrought from granite. This relic was placed in a perpendicular position and encircled with twenty-four flint arrows of large dimensions." He goes on to remark how at the time of his writing (in 1879), "this mound is now nearly obliterated, and the ground upon whereon it once stood is cultivated by the white man. The fields in either direction disclose large quantities of relics designed for warlike purposes which had been discharged, no doubt, during some terrible battle."

It should also be noted, that a large number of artifacts do exist, within the region described, of European origin. Yet underneath these remains are pre-Columbian artifacts resembling Colonial technology of iron & steel, but not 'intrusive' objects planted or dating to that period. Instead, these were found 'in situ,' and date to a time prior to the arrival of Europeans, though such a technology is considered to be beyond the capability of the ancient Americans.

Numerous anomalous artifacts such as alphabetic inscriptions, iron & steel objects, have regrettably been labeled by 'type,' rather than by association with the other pre-Columbian remains found within such ancient enclosures or burial mounds. This does a disservice to archaeology and to the inhabitants of ancient America who can no longer defend themselves, as to the higher technological achievements they attained, as revealed by their remains, scattered throughout North America and the New World as a whole.

Though the forests have been cleared and plows, construction sites, buildings or roads now dot the land where an ancient people once resided, fought, and died by the thousands -- luckily, there were individuals such as Ann Mifflin, who have left us vivid reminders of a unique & intriquing aspect of America's forgotten, yet rediscovered 'Hidden Histories,' as preserved at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Serpents in the Stomach: A 19th-Century Medical Nightmare or Figment of the Imagination?

2009-08-24T08:55:00.017-04:00

In an 1818 publication, by famed Philadelphia physician & Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Dr. Benjamin Rush, entitled, Medical Inquiries & Observations, Upon the Diseases of the Mind, he included the account of a patient, who "believes he has a living animal in his body. A sea captain, formerly of this city, believed for many years that he had a wolf in his liver. Many persons have fancied they were gradually dying, from animals of other kinds preying upon different parts of their bodies," (p.80).

Such comments as those above, especially the latter sentence, aptly reminds one of such famed scenes as portrayed in 'Sci-fi' movies such as Aliens, of something derived solely from one's imagination, or products of a mental malady reserved exclusively for the insane. However, numerous accounts of such a phenomemon were extremely wide-spread, throughout 19th-century Pennsylvania, and across the nation.

Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827), a native of Maryland, accomplished artist and a collector of natural curiosities, founded the famed 'Philadelphia Museum,' later referred to simply as the 'Peale Museum,' a repository of diverse biological objects as well as archaeological artifacts from throughout the nation & the world.

As part of the manuscript collections at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, one may find Peale's accession book or 'Memoranda of the Philadelphia Museum.' Contained within its handwritten notations, is an account, dated for March 6, 1806, a portion of which is reproduced in the image below.

As related by her attending physician to Peale, a female resident of Somerset County, Maryland, had suffered for years from "chills, a sick stomach with vomiting, high fevers...with considerable pain in her stomach..." It appears that 'Mrs. P.R.,' had often vomited up, "a number of round worms..." as well as a "number of Black bugs...in likeness to what is called a black bess, but smaller, for eighteen months back."

The good doctor & an associate, gave the ailing lady "an emitic, afterwards a mercurial purge...with elixir of vitriol," which caused her to eject from her stomach, "one of the bugs...which upon examination was found to have wings...which, as soon as they could get their wings dry, would fly away.

I have sent you {referring to Peale} several for your inspection."

The Maryland physician queries Peale as to the possibility that the little denizens of the lady's stomach had "naturally formed in the stomach; or are they first taken in with the water and then generated in the stomach?" Perhaps Peale replied, but his entry in the Memoranda, dated for March 14, 1806, states: "The above insects are in the museum..."

This incident is neither unique nor an 'isolated case,' since the nation's newspapers literally were filled with such accounts by the hundreds for many years. Usually such reports concerned not insects as the contents of the gullet, but reptiles and other creatures, including everything from snakes, to lizards, toads, frogs and even crabs!

Philadelphia physician, Dr. Samuel Atkinson, in 1838, would not only publish an account, but also give an affidavit to the veracity of his investigation of a man named Thomas Ruth, a shoemaker, who for some five years had "complained of an oppression of the stomach and breast, and at times a violent cough," who had seen multiple doctors in an attempt to obtain relief, but with negative results. As Dr. Atkinson remarked: "He strenuously persisted in the belief that there was something alive in his stomach."

Dr. Atkinson gave the ailing patient "emetics," which caused the man to vomit and thus discharge "an animal about two inches long, about as large as the finger of a man; its head, eyes, etc., were like a dog, and the body like a large snail, of an ash color, and without legs. The animal was alive."

Representatives of the Public Ledger newspaper, remarked of the above, "Whether this is a wonderful story or not, we know that part of it is true, for the dog headed phenomenon was actually exhibited at this office. So we vouch for the existence of the entity, and leave Messrs. Atkinson and Ruth to vouch for its birth." The editors go on to state their belief that the creature was "probably a tadpole" or a "pollywog, which means a young frog." (see the Public Ledger, October 1, 1838).

The Lewistown (PA) Gazette, of Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, quoting the Reading Times, published an account on December 5th, 1877, of a 'Mrs. Mitchell,' a resident of Gibralter below Reading, "who recently vomited a lizard from her stomach in Markley's drug store, this city, emitted two more on Friday afternoon last, making nine which have been ejected from her stomach during the past few years."

Mrs. Mitchell, having been given a "purgative medicine," purportedly "vomited up 2 lizards, some four inches in length. One is black and the other has a reddish stripe the whole length of its back. The lizards were brought to Reading on Saturday and given to druggist Markley, who placed them in a jar of water in which the reptiles were wriggling lively on Saturday evening."

Once again, numerous Pennsylvania and national newspapers of the 19th-century, relate many diverse but similar accounts such as those given above. Certainly individuals have swallowed many things through the centuries, as witnessed by the drawer-filled items at the famed 'Mutter Museum' in Philadelphia, everything from pins to jewelry. Nineteenth-century Pennsylvania papers like present-day accounts, speak frequently of foreign objects being found in patients during surgery or surgical tools having accidently been sewn into bodies, being found years later by x-rays.

Humans have served as 'hosts' for many parasitic infestations for centuries, as witnessed in the tropics or 'Third-World' countries, creatures which often burrow or lay their eggs in festering wounds, only to be found later by empirical evidence or acute observation, as well as through surgery and x-rays. Wasps and other insects as well, continue to act as predators, 'laying their eggs' in the head & thorax of various ant species, which soon hatch & mature, by literally feeding off the nutrients contained within the body of the host, eventually leaving its prey nothing more than an 'empty shell.'

Once again, as mentioned frequently in this 'blog,' The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, has numerous newspapers and also manuscript sources such as the one cited above, which reveal strange 'phenomena' as well as basic historical data and information.

There is something at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania to satiate everyone's interest, from the benign & often 'worn-out' traditional renditions of past events, to the unique, unexplained and even the bizarre!

(For further reading see: Daniel R. Barnes, "The Bosom Serpent: A Legend in American Literature & Culture," Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 85 {1972}: 111-122).

Pennsylvania and the Civil War: Southern Sympathies

2009-07-27T12:11:00.006-04:00

In reality, the 'stereotypical' American Civil War, never existed. Not everyone 'North of the Mason-Dixon Line' were lovers of freedom & equality for African-Americans, neither were all Southernors ardent slave-holding secessionists. Perhaps that is one reason why the Civil War continues to generate such a fascination to both scholars and the lay public, since there were so many 'exceptions to the rule.' Certainly, the state of Pennsylvania was not exempt from this phenomenon.

Pennsylvania's divergent role in the Civil War, runs the full gambit of 'pro-Confederate personalities,' from Franklin Weirick, 'copperhead' editor of the Selinsgrove Times in Snyder County, who wrote anti-Lincoln editorials and poems throughout the conflict, to famed Rebel soldier, Wesley Culp, who died on his family farm during the 'Battle of Gettysburg' in Adams County. Many Pennsylvanian's were 'divided' across familial and ideological lines, though it was not a 'border state,' as were Kentucky, Missouri and Maryland, yet a number of its 'southern tier' counties, bordering near Maryland, such as Chester, Snyder and Union, were 'hotbeds' of pro-Southern sentiment.

Pierce Butler, a member of Philadelphia's famed 'City Troop,' had resigned in 1860, and by August of 1861 had been arrested and placed in Fort Hamilton in New York "on a charge of treason," for an attempt or at least suspicion, of supplying the Confederacy with armaments. Butler incidentally had actually owned, but sold in 1859, part of an estate on Butler Island in Georgia, containing hundreds of slaves.

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Hall, erected in 1837 as a meeting house by Philadelphia abolitionists, was destroyed by fire through the arsonist actions of an 'anti-abolitionist' mob on May 17th, 1838, only three days after the buildings dedication.

Dislike for African-Americans was not a prejudice reserved only for Southernors (a stereotype regrettably still portrayed in today's cinema and media), as revealed by the famed 'Street car controversy' in Philadelphia, of both the ante-bellum and post-Civil War eras, wherein "Colored People" were forbidden to ride on Philadelphia street cars with 'Whites.' This controversy was aptly revealed by an editorial printed in the Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch, for as early as October 1st, 1848, entitled, 'Black and White,' declaring that,

"there is no State where the distinction of color is maintained more determinedly and assidiously than in Pennsylvania.--The whites will not in any way even assemble with the negroes...In the south--in the very hotbeds of slavery, South Carolina & Mississippi--negroes travel in the same cars and carriages with whites, and are well treated. Here, {italics added} such a thing would not be attempted by a 'gentleman of color,' or if he did essay it, he would be unceremoniously thrust out by the colorless inmates."

Neither was the politically charged idea of 'secession,' exclusively restricted or peculiar only to the 'South' or to 'Southerners' alone.

Francis Wade Hughes, of Pottsville in Schuylkill County, who served as the Chairman for the central Democratic committee of Pennsylvania, and a delegate to the 'Democratic State Convention' at Harrisburg in 1861, stated that,

"I intend offering a resolution before that Convention, that Pennsylvania secede from the Union, and join herself with the South, and leave Rhode Island and Connecticut and Massachusetts, and them d---d little petty States, to Subsist on their codfish and Plymouth Rock." (Forney's War Press, Philadelphia, PA, October 4th, 1862).

Many individuals from multi-generationally descended Pennsylvania families, nevertheless 'fought for the Confederacy' once the Civil War began. For example, John Clifford Pemberton, a Mexican-American War hero and native Philadelphian of Quaker ancestry, would resign his Federal commission, only to enlist his services and allegiance to the Confederacy, rising to the rank of Brevet Brigadier-General.

Josiah Gorgas, a native of Dauphin County, by April of 1861, had become a Major in the Confederate Army, being assigned as the 'Chief of Ordinance,' with the responsibility of supplying the Rebel Army with its needed military munitions and arms, in order to carry out its conflict with his native North. Both Pemberton & Gorgas had married Southern or Virginia women, but such marital affiliations served only as partial reasons for their alliance with the Confederacy.

During the Civil War, Lieut. Hugh H. McClune, of Co. 'C,' 135th Penn. Vols., of Lancaster County, would be tried by a court-martial, and was "cashiered" and "deprived from ever holding any office or post of honor or trust under the United States," partly because of his "uttering disloyal sentiments," while U.S. Surgeon, Levi Oberholtzer, of the 147th PA Infantry Regiment, was "dismissed with disgrace from the military service of the United States...for disloyalty to the Government."

Oberholtzer was a resident of Phoenixville, in Chester County, an area of the state which was renown for pro-Confederate sympathizers and for men who had enlisted in the Confederate Army (see, Germantown (Philadelphia) PA Telegraph, December 24, 1862; March 25, 1863; see also, Douglas R. Harper's work, IF Thee Must Fight: A Civil War History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, West Chester, PA: Chester County Historical Society, 1990, specifically Chp.43, 'Copperheads of Chester County,' pp's.209-213)

Diaries and letter collections available at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, written by Pennsylvania Federal or Union soldiers during the Civil War, acutely reveal the very diverse feelings which existed towards African-Americans, slavery and secession within the 'Keystone State,' as well as the wide-spread ideology of the 'copperheads,' or pro-Southern sentiments felt by many inhabitants living within the Commonwealth.

Such material as the above is only a very small 'sampling' of the rich resources available to researchers, which reveal the diverse and varied role Pennsylvanians played, during our tumultuous Civil War.

(A suggested source: Christine B. Keller, 'Keystone Confederates: Pennsylvanians Who Fought For Dixie,' in, Making & Remaking Pennsylvania's Civil War, edited by William Blair & William Pencak, University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press., 2001: pp's. 1-22, 262-266).

A UFO in 19th-Century Lancaster County, Pennsylvania?

2009-06-29T09:45:00.016-04:00

The subject of UFO's are of course nothing new, but continue to create controversy, debate and investigation, within the scientific community and public-at-large, as to their existence or fallacy. Yet most studies of 'Unidentified Flying Objects' are predominately concerned with sightings from the modern-era, particularly that of the 20th and now 21st centuries.

The same is true of Pennsylvania. Temple University's tenured Professor David M. Jacobs, in such works as The Threat: The Secret Agenda: What the Aliens Really Want..And How They Plan to Get It, has investigated the 'abductee phenomena,' while the mysterious falling object that swept over the southwestern sky of Pennsylvania in 1965, purportedly crashing in the woods near Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, south of Pittsburgh, also continues to elicit much discussion.

However, various newspapers within Pennsylvania, reported how on Saturday, August 14th, 1869, the following mysterious sighting or encounter, transpired in broad daylight near Adamstown, located in East Cocalico Township, Lancaster County:

"About two hundred yards north of the village is an open lot, and at 12 0'clock, while the villagers were taking dinner, a luminous body was seen to settle near the centre {sic} of this lot. It is represented by four or five different parties, who witnessed it from several points, to have assumed a square shape and shooting up into a column about three or four feet in height and about two feet in thickness.

The sun was shining brightly at the time, and under its rays, the object glittered like a column of burnished silver. The presence, after reaching its full effulgence, gradually faded away, and in ten minutes time it had entirely disappeared.

Those who saw it were unable to tell what it was. It seemed to inspire terror rather than admiration. After it had disappeared a number of persons visited the spot, but not a trace of anything unusual could be found. Similar objects have been seen in the neighborhood on several occasions during the night time, but none before in the day time, or so bright as this.

The land in the immediate vicinity is dry, there being no swamp about, otherwise the phenomenon might be accounted for. We do not know whether the Jack o' Lantern assumes such large proportions or whether it appears in midday under a bright sun. Perhaps some of our friends versed in the sciences can solve the mystery." -Lancaster Express.

It is interesting in this description, that even during the 19th century, as today, individuals were not 'gullible,' as many would believe, but sought first for a 'scientific' explanation, and were quite familiar with swamp gases to that of the 'will-of-the-wisp' or Jack o' Lanterns,' a wide-spread phenomenon of mysterious 'balls of light' seen throughout the world today.

Albert Einstein once remarked, how, 'Imagination is the true source of all science.' Thus, it is always best to keep an 'open-mind,' when it comes to the unknown, since far too often, what was once considered 'science-fiction,' has repeatedly become 'scientific fact.'

The above account is only ONE of MANY diverse records, available within the collections of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, topics which are as pertinent today as they were in the past.

History often does indeed 'repeat itself,' not only as to the existence of unexplained phenomena, but in mankind's continual search to understand and solve such mysteries. 'Curiosity' may often 'kill the cat,' but such sacrifices into the unknown has resultingly given us most of our modern inventions and conveniences.

*Bold & italicized words in the above newspaper article are not emphasized as such in the original, but have been highlighted by this blog's author.

Original sources:

'Singular Phenomenon.'--The Oxford Press (Oxford, Chester Co. PA, August 18, 1869, p.3, col.2; The Lebanon (PA) Courier, August 19, 1869, p.2, col.4.