All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

ABC:LHS #069-1   Great tragedies of the sea...

...are innumerable - literally millions of wrecks litter the floors of oceans, lakes, seas, and rivers, and innumerable victims have ended up in Davey Jones' Locker.  

The RMS Titanic proved not as unsinkable as people thought.  This introductory section gives you some specifics about the ship and the people involved.

ABC:LHS #069   When the R.M.S. Titanic...

...struck an iceberg in April of 1912, six men and six women of Laurel Hill were among the passengers.  All of the women survived.  

I will tell of other oceanic disasters and give you the basic information about the Titanic.  

Fellow Laurel Hill Guide Lora Lewis will tell you about Eleanor Elkins Widener Rice and Charlotte Cardeza, two rich and powerful women who became legendary.  Lora will also briefly cover Charlotte's maid Annie Ward, also interred at Laurel Hill West.

Young taphophile Savanna Fisher wanted to tell you about her favorite women onboard, Lily Potter and her daughter Olive.

I will tell you about Gretchen Longley, who had gone to Europe with two aunts in order to select her wedding wardrobe.  The sinking delayed her marriage by a year.

BBB:LHWS #038   Waldo Emerson Nelson...

...preferred to be called Bill.  In 1940 he was recruited to Temple University School of Medicine to begin their pediatrics department.  The next year, he took over editorship of a standard pediatric textbook, which became the ubiquitous Nelson’s Pediatrics, now in its 21st edition.

ABC:LHS #068-3   Thomas Leiper...

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

ABC:LHS #068-2   Thomas McKean...

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

ABC:LHS #068-1   Charles Thomson...

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

Charles Thomson was the Founding Father who served as secretary of the Continental Congress during its 15 years.  Along with John Hancock, his signature graced the first draft of the Declaration of Independence.  Thomson also designed the Great Seal of the United States.  After his initial burial at the family homestead Harriton in Bryn Mawr, his remains were transferred to Laurel Hill. 

Thomas McKean served multiple roles in colonial days – president of Delaware, Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, President of the United States Congress, and Governor of Pennsylvania, among others.  Although his efforts in 1776 were what made the Declaration unanimous, he was the last man to sign that historic document.

Thomas Leiper was a successful tobacco importer who built the first railroad in Pennsylvania on his property at Nether Township.  As a founding member of the First City Troop, he fought with the Patriots at the Battles of Princeton, Trenton, Germantown, and Brandywine.  His personal wealth helped to subsidize the siege of Yorktown.  He and Thomas Jefferson exchanged hundreds of letters. 

All three of these men died before Laurel Hill opened in 1836, but they were all friends of Thomas Jefferson who eventually ended up at Laurel Hill Cemetery. 

I did the research on Thomson & McKean, while the script for Thomas Leiper was written by fellow tour guide Peter Howell.  

Biographical Bytes from Bala #037

John Trout Greble was a Philadelphian descended from colonial pioneers on both sides of his family.  He graduated with honors from Central High School and to the shock of many, this delicate young man chose a career in the military.  After he graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1854, he spent time in Florida during the Seminole displacement of Trail of Tears, before he taught ethics at West Point and married the chaplain’s daughter.  His first taste of war was as leader of artillery at the Battle of Big Bethel in Southern Virginia in June 1861 where he was killed in action – the first West Point graduate to fall in the American Civil War.  Lt Greble is interred in the Merion Section of Laurel Hill West.

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #067, Part 2

Spiritualism was a belief system that involved communication with the dead.  Philadelphia gentleman Adam Seybert was a true believer and wanted others to believe.  He left money in his will to establish a department at Penn to prove his point.  The committee was headed by Shakespearean scholar Horace Howard Furness and featured many Philadelphia notables.  The real fun started when they interviewed Maggie Fox, one of the founders of spiritualism.  

Researched and read by Patricia Rose

ABC#067, part 1

Walter Hubbell was a Philadelphia-born actor who would probably be forgotten today were it not for the Great Amherst Mystery, a book he wrote about Esther Cox, a young woman seemingly possessed by evil spirits which started after she suffered a failed sexual assault at gunpoint by a young man she trusted.   Esther's nightmarish experiences affected not only her, but the people with whom she lived: she was even temporarily jailed as an arsonist when a neighbor's barn burned to the ground.

Walter Hubbell learned about Esther when his traveling troop ventured into the Maritimes.  He thought that he could debunk the stories.  Instead, he became a convert and wrote about it.  Years later, much of what he wrote was debunked by a psychic skeptic.  The whole story is mesmerizing.