All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

26:28

Thomas McKean: Last to Sign the Declaration

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/11/03

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #068 - Friends of Thomas Jefferson, Part 2, Section 1 - Thomas McKeanThomas 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.

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34:58

Charles Thomson: Wegh-wu-law-mo-end - The Man Who...

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/11/02

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #068 - Friends of Thomas Jefferson, Part 2, Section 1 - Charles Thomson 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 designed the Great Seal of the United States and personally notified George Washington that he had been elected President.

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01:42:45

Friends of Thomas Jefferson, Part 2: Charles Thomson,...

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/11/01

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

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53:07

John T. Greble: First of Thousands to Die

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/10/15

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

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22:46

H.H. Furness, the Seybert Commission, and Grilling...

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/10/03

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

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45:43

Walter Hubbell & The Great Amherst Mystery

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/10/01

ABC#067, part 1Walter 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

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43:27

William, Edward, & George Vare: The Dukes of South...

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/09/15

Biographical Bytes from Bala #036: William, Edward & George Vare: The Dukes of South Philadelphia The Vare brothers grew up unschooled, slopping hogs and hawking vegetables in "The Neck", the poorest section of Philadelphia. They got into trash collection and within a few years were scooping up city contracts by the armful. They grew rich and powerful along the way and eventually even collected a kickback from the mayor. All three Vare brothers are interred at Laurel Hill West. Historian,

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17:37

Emory R. Johnson and the Panama Canal

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/09/07

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #066 - Laurel Hill and the Panama Canal, Part 4Emory Richard Johnson was the only Professor of Transportation and Commerce in the United States when he was asked to come up with a payment schedule for people using the Panama Canal. His methods were used for more than half a century.

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15:09

Charles Day and the Panama Canal

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/09/06

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #066 - Laurel Hill and the Panama Canal, Part 3 Charles Day was a master builder. His Philadelphia firm Day & Zimmerman was first to pour concrete at the massive Culebra locks, which worked perfectly from day one.

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11:30

Lewis M Haupt and the Panama Canal

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/09/05

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #066 - Laurel Hill and the Panama Canal, Part 2 Lewis Haupt was son of famed railroad Engineer Herman Haupt (see Biographical Bytes from Bala #10: Lincoln's Railroad Man). Lewis became a civil engineer who was skeptical about a canal across Panama but joined the working committee when he was invited.

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23:07

John Cresson Trautwine and the Panama Canal

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/09/04

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #066 - Laurel Hill and the Panama Canal, Part 1 John Cresson Trautwine was a civil engineer who wrote what became the definitive Engineer's Handbook which was standard text for decades; he also predicted that it would be impossible to build a canal through Panama.

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30:52

Rudolph Hering & Reversing the Chicago River

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/09/03

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #066, Pushing Water, Section 2 Rudolph Hering was son of the famed homeopath Constantine Hering. He became such as expert on hydraulic engineering that he was invited to Chicago to assist with their drinking water problem, and he helped them reverse the river.

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31:58

Frederick Graff and Watering Philadelphia

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/09/02

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #066, Pushing Water, Section 1 Frederick Graff was a civil engineer / architect who quickly learned the principles of hydraulics when he was tagged to set up the water supply for Philadelphia. He became a master of his craft.

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02:28:43

ABC066 Frederick Graff, Rudolph Hering, John C....

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/09/01

All Bones Considered #066: Pushing WaterFrederick Graff took over from Benjamin Latrobe to develop the Philadelphia Water Works Rudolph Hering was summoned to Chicago to help them with their drinking water problem and helped them reverse the flow of the Chicago River John C. Trautwine is remembered for his book, called "The Engineer's Bible," and for predicting a canal could never be built across Panama Lewis Haupt was another doubter, although he served on the Panama Committee Charles Day

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27:39

Anna J Magee: Rescuing the Disabled

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/08/16

ABC060-3Anna Justina Magee was the last of seven siblings who lived together their entire lives. Her legacy for the family was a hospital designed for people who were convalescing from injury – The Magee Rehabilitation Hospital.

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34:33

Elizabeth Duane Gillespie: The Woman Who Saved the...

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/08/16

ABC060-2 Elizabeth Duane Gillespie came from a politically active family; she was the chief fundraiser and organizer for the Sanitary Fair of 1864, which put her in the position to lead the way for the Centennial Exposition of 1876. She ended up rescuing it from disaster.

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49:44

Esther DeBerdt Reed: From Tory to American Patriot

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/08/16

ABC060-1 London-born Esther DeBerdt Reed married a man who became George Washington’s right-hand man and switched her Tory allegiance to become a radial patriot; the organization she founded to provide some relief to the soldiers fighting for her freedom didn’t quite go the way that she had planned.

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36:34

George Meade Easby and the Haunting of Baleroy

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/08/16

ABC051-1 George Gordon Meade Easby, a wealthy and eccentric character named after his great grandfather, lived in a Chestnut Hill mansion called Baleroy for most of his 87 years. He didn’t mind sharing the space with phantom apparitions, which included his younger brother, his mother, Thomas Jefferson, and a malevolent spirit named “Amanda”, along with several others.

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34:00

William Welsh Harrison and the Haunting of Grey...

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/08/16

ABC050-2 William Welsh Harrison was a moneyed man due to America’s sweet tooth – he made a fortune as a sugar manufacturer. Part of his wealth went to build the family home, Grey Towers Castle in Glenside. His former home now serves as administrative offices for Arcadia University, but his presence is still felt on the property. Apparently, the castle and other campus buildings are haunted.

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33:58

William M. Meredith: U.S. Poet Laureate

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2024/08/14

BBB035 William Morris Meredith, Jr., described himself as a "B+ poet who has written a few A+ poems". Despite his modesty, his poetry was recognized as some of the best in post-WWII America. He served for two years as US Poet Laureate and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He is interred at Laurel Hill West.

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