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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.

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All Episodes

27:56

Daniel Pabst: Philadelphia's Top Cabinet Maker

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2026/01/04

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill stories #082 for January, 2026Happy 200th Birthday! Daniel Pabst Daniel Pabst was a prominent 19th-century Philadelphia cabinetmaker known for his exceptional craftsmanship and distinctive designs, blending traditional Victorian styles with emerging artistic movements. His work served affluent clients and reflected evolving furniture styles from Renaissance revival to Modern Gothic. His work done with Frank Furness has been unsurpassed.

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24:53

Henry Hagert: Prosecuting Catto's Accused Killer

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2026/01/03

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #082, Part 2 Happy 200th Birthday! Henry Hagert: Prosecuting Catto's Accused Killer Octavius Valentine Catto was a pioneering African American leader and activist in Philadelphia during the Reconstruction era, advocating for civil rights, voting rights, and racial integration. His assassination in 1871 during violent election-day riots marked a significant and tragic moment in Black American history. The prosecution of his alleged killer, Frank Kelly, was

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26:10

Martha Coston: She Had a Certain Flare (encore...

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2026/01/02

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #082 for January 2026 - Happy 200th Birthday! Part 1 - Martha Coston: She Had a Certain Flare Martha Coston significantly advanced maritime communication by developing pyrotechnic signal flares that could be seen day and night, improving naval operations and safety at sea. Ships originally used signal flags and lanterns to communicate, but these were limited by visibility and weather conditions, especially at night. Martha received her first patent in 1859,

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138:51

Happy 200th Birthday to Five Laurel Hill Residents

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2026/01/01

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #082 for January 1, 2026 It's January! Time for our annual 200th Birthday Bash for people born in 1826. After Martha Coston was widowed at age 21, she used her husbands notes and reputation to invent airborne signal flares that saved hundreds of lives. Henry Hagert was assistant District Attorney for the City of Philadelphia when he prosecuted a man for the murder of Civil Rights Activist Octavius V. Catto. Daniel Pabst was the finest cabinetmaker in town

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25:56

James "Jimmy" Bland: From Minstrelsy to Mummery

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2025/12/19

Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #051, Part 4James "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.

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35:06

Frank Dumont: "Gentlemen Be Seated" - Standardizing...

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2025/12/18

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. Tambo and Mr. Bones at the sides. The interlocutor opened the show with the phrase,

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37:21

Carncross & Dixey: Two Fathers of Modern Minstrelsy

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2025/12/17

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 the mid-19th century, and much more.

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27:23

A Brief History of Performance

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2025/12/16

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 Europe with themes of good vs. evil and resurrection. Minstrels were traveling musicians and

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141:33

Mummers, Minstrels, and Laurel Hill

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2025/12/14

Biographical Bytes from Bala #051Philadelphia 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 perform a minstrel show. Although James A. Bland is not buried at

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23:55

Benjamin Richards: Merchant, Mayor and Cemetery...

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2025/12/05

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #041, part 4Benjamin 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 legislature in 1827, advocated for public schools, was a canal

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49:26

Nathan Dunn and His 10,000 Chinese Things

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2025/12/04

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 form Laurel Hill Cemetery, for which he served as primary financial

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37:46

John Jay Smith: A Founder's Non-Cemetery Life

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2025/12/03

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 other notable Philadelphia founders. Other accomplishments included introducing paper

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50:40

The First 20 Years of Laurel Hill

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2025/12/02

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, and inclusivity for various religious and social groups, although

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183:00

Some Laurel Hill Founders: The First 20 Years

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2025/12/01

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 deceased daughter and vowed to change the way people commemorated their

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20:36

Lon Jourdet: The Face of Early Quaker Basket Ball

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2025/11/16

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.

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89:12

Basket Ball and Laurel Hill

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2025/11/15

Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories #050The 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 basketball referee. He set the standards for fairness and ethics in

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15:37

Hugh Craig, Jr.: The Glue That Held It All Together

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2025/11/06

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #080, Part 5Hugh 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.

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23:30

Joseph Lapsley Wilson: The Trooper as Horticulturalist

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2025/11/05

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.

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16:47

A. Loudon Snowden: The Man Who Did Everything

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2025/11/04

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.

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41:05

Fairman Rogers: Horseman Extraordinaire

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories ·

2025/11/03

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 painting that is the first to accurately demonstrate motion in

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330 results

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