All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

ABC:LHS #082-5  Samuel Patch Frankenfield...

...apprenticed as a cabinetmaker and then used his skills as a coffin manufacturer to become an undertaker with a thriving practice. Care of the dead had been in the hands of women for centuries before men realized that money could be made in the field. 

ABC:LHS #082-4  Thomas Hewson Bache...

...co-founded CHOP, the first children’s hospital in the United States. But he also served as a Major in the Medical Corps involved in the Gettysburg Campaign when he was taken as a prisoner of war. He also served as curator of the Mütter Museum and oversaw significant acquisitions like the Joseph Hyrtl skull collection.

Script by Russell Dodge, narration by Joe Lex

ABC:LHS #082-1   Daniel Pabst...

...was a prominent 19th-century Philadelphia cabinetmaker known for his exceptional craftsmanship and distinctive designs. His work served affluent and much has been preserved at PMA. His partnership with Frank Furness was a boon to both. 

ABC:LHS #082-2 Henry Hagert... 

...was the Philadelphia lawyer who unsuccessfully prosecuted the accused killer of pioneering African American leader Octavius Valentine Catto, who was assassinated in 1871 during violent election-day riots. The whole story is told here. 

ABC:LHS #082-1  Martha Coston...

...significantly advanced maritime communication when she developed pyrotechnic signal flares that could be seen day and night. Her invention vastly improved naval operations and safety at sea.

ABC:LHS #082-0   Happy 2026 200th birthday to...

...Martha Coston, who used her husband's notes and reputation to invent airborne signal flares that saved thousands of lives.

...Henry Hagert, assistant District Attorney when he unsuccessfully prosecuted a man for the murder of Civil Rights Activist Octavius V. Catto.

...Daniel Pabst, the finest cabinetmaker in town; people waited years for him to create their household masterpieces, many of which are today in museums. 

...Dr. Thomas Hewson Bache, co-founder of Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania, curator at the Mütter Museum, and battlefield surgeon at Gettysburg.

...Samuel Frankenfield, German immigrant carpenter who discovered there was money to be made as a coffin builder and successfully switched professions from carpenter to mortician.

BBB:LHWS #051-4   James "Jimmy" Bland...

...is NOT buried at Laurel Hill, but he serves as a logical link between minstrelsy and mummery. Many people called him the "Black Stephen Foster," and songs he wrote like "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" and "Hand me down My Walking Cane" have become standards. One of his more popular tunes, "Oh Dem Golden Slippers" became the theme song for Philadelphia Mummers. 

BBB:LHWS #051-3   Frank Dumont...

...was a seminal figure in minstrel culture. He began as a performer in a troupe that set the enduring standard format for minstrel shows. Dumont introduced popular songs such as “Silver Threads Among the Gold” and “When You and I Were Young, Maggie."

BBB:LHWS #051-2   E.F. Dixey & John Carncross...

...were the bedrock of Philadelphia minstrelsy for more than 20 years. Many people did not feel a trip to the Quaker City was complete if they didn't make a stop at the 11th Street Burnt Cork Opera House. I also discuss pigmentocracy, historical nonracial uses of blackface, scientific racism, Black Philadelphia society in the mid-19th century, and much more. 

BBB:LHWS #051-1   Human performance...

...has ancient roots in ritual, storytelling, music, and dance, evolving from prehistoric communal activities to formalized theater. Mumming originated in pre-Christian seasonal rites that involved masked performances which symbolized death and rebirth.

In the 19th century, minstrel shows featured white performers in blackface who caricatured African Americans through music and comedy, and popularized certain instruments and songs but perpetuating harmful stereotypes. Minstrelsy influenced American entertainment forms but reinforced racist myths, using exaggerated dialects, stereotypical characters, and appropriated dances, with complex legacies acknowledged by modern scholarship.