All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories
Brief biographies of permanent residents of Laurel Hill East in Philadelphia and Laurel Hill West in Bala Cywnyd, Pennsylvania. Often educational, always entertaining.
Episodes
Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #051, Part 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 Phil...
Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #051, part 3
Born in 1848 in New York to French immigrant parents, Frank Dumont became a seminal figure in minstrel culture. He began to perform as a boy and joined Christy’s Minstrels by 1862, a troupe that set the enduring standard format for minstrel shows: a semicircle stage arrangement with an interlocutor (emcee) in the center and end men characters Mr. ...
Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #051, part 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. The podcast also discusses pigmentocracy, historical nonracial uses of blackface, scientific racism, Black Philadelphia society in th...
Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #051, Part 1
Human performance has ancient roots in ritual, storytelling, music, and dance, evolving from prehistoric communal activities to formalized theater in ancient civilizations.
Mumming originated in pre-Christian seasonal rites involving masked performances symbolizing death and rebirth, later becoming popular folk dramas in medieval ...
Biographical Bytes from Bala #051
Philadelphia has been the home of Mummers for centuries and you can still see their antics every New Year's Day. For the latter part of the 19th century, Philadelphia was also the place to see a minstrel show. The Carncross & Dixey company made both of its owners rich men and provided entertainment for thousands of Philadelphians for mere pennies. Frank Dumont literally wrote the book on how to...
All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #041, part 4
Benjamin Wood Richards' tenure as mayor coincided with challenges such as public health crises, infrastructure needs, and social tensions in Philadelphia. In 1819, Richards co-founded a large commission house in Philadelphia, a business acting as an intermediary for securities and commodities transactions, earning income through commissions. He served in the Pennsylvania leg...
All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #081, part 3
Nathan Dunn was born to Quaker parents in New Jersey. After early financial difficulties and disownment by the Philadelphia Quaker Meeting, he sailed to China around 1818 to rebuild his fortunes. In Canton, he gained respect by avoiding the opium trade and engaged in commerce involving tea, silks, porcelain, and other goods. In 1835 he joined with John Jay Smith and others to f...
From All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #081, part 2 - released December 3, 2025.
When Laurel Hill Cemetery co-founder John Jay Smith died in 1881 at age 83, he left behind a significant legacy in Philadelphia’s cultural and civic institutions. His obituary highlighted his diverse roles as librarian, editor, cemetery founder, and member of the Society of Friends, as well as his family lineage connected to o...
Part 1 of All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #081: Laurel Hill - In the Beginning
Inspired by the allegory of Old Mortality, Laurel Hill was founded in 1836 by John Jay Smith and other reform-minded citizens as a response to overcrowded urban graveyards and changing attitudes toward death and memorialization. Modeled after rural cemeteries like Paris’s Père Lachaise, Laurel Hill emphasized scenic landscaping, remembrance, ...
All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #081 for December 1, 2025
Laurel Hill Cemetery was founded in 1835 and opened in 1836 by four men with strikingly different backgrounds, but with a common cause - to give the people of Philadelphia a final resting place worthy of the "Athens of America."
John Jay Smith was a polymath librarian / horticulturalist who had a rather unpleasant experience in seeking the grave of a recently dece...
Lon Jourdet was an All-American footballer who also excelled at basketball. He spent 23 non-consecutive years as coach at Penn and captured more than 200 victories, but he left in 1943 with a bitter taste in his mouth for the University, which has come close to forgetting him. He ended his own life in 1959.
Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #050
The sport basket ball started on the day James Naismith nailed 13 rules to a gymnasium door in Springfield Massachusetts. The game spread quickly, especially among college men (and women). University of Pennsylvania was an early adapter, and four Penn grads made their names in basketball.
Ellwood Rutschman was a decent player but found his niche as the first professional...
All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #080, Part 5
Hugh Craig, Jr., was a successful businessman whose life became the Troop, where he served both as treasurer and as quartermaster. The men loved him, and they still hold a "Hughie's Breakfast" at the conclusion of every deployment.
All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #080, Part 4
Joseph Lapsley Wilson is better remembered today for his arboretum than his troop membership. It still exists today as the Barnes Arboretum at St. Joseph's University. He introduced several species of Asian trees to the United States. His portrait by Thomas Eakins hangs in the Armory Museum.
All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #080, part 3
Archibald Loudon Snowden was a polymath who served as Captain of the Troop, as well as postmaster for the city, supervisor of the Philadelphia mint, ambassador to Spain, along with numerous other roles. His portrait is in the armory dining room, and his descendants entertain millions of people.
All Bones Considered #080, Laurel Hill Stories, part 2
Fairman Rogers lived a life of elegant wealth, but made himself useful as an expert in many aspects of science, especially civil engineering. He was elected briefly as captain of the Troop. He also excelled was as a coachman, especially when he took his magnificent black and red four-in-hand through Fairmount Park. Philadelphia artist Thomas Eakins captured Rogers in a painti...
All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #080, part 1
The First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry, or "First City Troop", was organized in 1774 as the Light Horse of the City of Philadelphia, often referred to as the Philadelphia Light Horse, one of the first patriotic military organizations established in the American Revolution. Although part of the National Guard system, it is a free-standing unit with its own uniforms and armo...
All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #080
November 1, 2025
First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry, better known as First City Troop is in the midst of celebrating its semiquincentennial before the country does. Each segment will also be released separately.
Part 1 for November 2: a brief history of the First City Troop's First 150 years
Part 2 for November 3: Fairman Rogers was the finest coach driver in the land, especiall...
Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #049, part 4
Oscar Rosier had married the prettiest salesgirl in town, who soon bore him a child. But Oscar had a roving eye which was apparently set on his secretary, another beauty and purported friend of his wife. It did not end well for anyone.
Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #049, part 3
Captain Clayton Erb decided to marry and produce an heir at age 50 and selected a young divorcee to serve as mistress of his Red Gables estate in Delaware County. When the woman's sister got involved, things went bad in a hurry. The court case revealed the mansion had been a house of horrors.
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