Genealogist Update

I came across some burial records for both Leverington and Westminster Cemeteries. A few things caught this genealogist's attention. Graves were reopened and relocated much more often than I expected and August 1900 was a horrible year for Diphtheria as there was an epidemic that hit through Manayunk and East Falls. What stood out to me was a family at 3339 W. Clearfield Street where four members of that family died from Diphtheria in a single day. The Flu Epidemic in 1918 resulted in hundreds of deaths and it appears the median age in Philadelphia was those under ten years old especially those under two years old. My journey began when I came across information for the Silverthorns. James Rowley Silverthorn died in 1942 and was interred at Leverington which I thought was strange as his wife Grace Gallagher Silverthorn who died in 1930 was interred at St. John the Baptist. It makes a person wonder why the wife was interred in one cemetery while the husband was interred in another cemetery. Did St. John's run out of space? I know James and Grace had five sons, two whom died as infants in 1906 and 1911 so were they interred at St. John's? Is that why there was not room for James twelve years later? I will probably never find the answers because there were no personal journals written or saved. We can only go by the official records. Some information was verified on Grace Gallagher Silverthorn and some additional information discovered such as Grace was born in April 1880 in Scotland and the exact location was Camghouran. My question is "why did Patrick and Hannah leave Donegal, Ireland and how did they end up in Camghouran, Scotland? Why did they leave Scotland in 1882 and come to Philadelphia? As far as I know, they came to America on their own without other family members. Forget about ever finding the exact year Patrick was born. I cannot find one single record that verifies his birth or even the age he was when he died in the summer of 1910. No age is indicated. Weird. So Gallagher! On the other hand, I can find the age of Hannah. When she died in 1926, she was listed on the records as being 65 years old. Another person of interest was from the Boland Clan. I am not sure if it was 1897 or 1900 but I came across the nephew of John Boland. Edward Boland died as a baby and was interred at Westminster. His father was William Boland who lived on Laboratory Hill. Years later I would come across several Bolands living on or around Laboratory Hill and one of them was my great-grandmother's brother and John's son, John Boland. John would reside on Laboratory Hill with his wife and children and my great great- grandparents until my great great grandmother died in 1926 (Ellen) and their relocation to Germantown.

1918 Flu Epidemic A.K.A. Spanish Flu in Philadelphia

Top city officials knew it was a matter of time, before the Flu arrived in Philadelphia. It  was already in Boston. However, city officials dropped the ball when they failed to list the flu as a reportable disease.

The flu arrived in September of 1918 at a time when most medical personnel where overseas fighting in WWI. 75% of Philadelphia Hospital's doctors were in the war. Then came a sense of profound overconfidence or stupidity when on September 28, 1918, 200,000 people gathered together to fund the war effort. Two days later, 635 people came down with the flu.

Churches, schools, theaters and all public meeting places were ordered closed. By the middle of October, hospitals were full, so church parish houses and state armories became make-shift hospitals and 4500 people were reported dead, while approximately 200,000 more people were sick.

Some undertakers took advantage of the family's dead loved ones by doubling their prices to bury their dead. Piles of corpes began to rot. The city begged the federal government to send embalmers.

By November of 1918, 13,000 Philadelphia citizens were dead as a result of the flu.

Potters Fields in Philadelphia

When the city's Fairmount Section was undergoing renovations, bones were discovered on the block of 800 and N. 20th Street.

Potters Field was once located nearby at N. 19th Street and Fairmount Ave.

The burial ground at the 800 block of N. 20th Street is believed to date back to 1793 when the city experienced a Yellow Fever outbreak and the estate known as Bush Hill served as its hospital located on the same grounds. Later, the hospital would be renamed the City's Hospital for Contagious Diseases until the year 1855.

Potters Fields were located in various parts of the city for the poor, the unknown and the unclaimed.
Several locations once called Potters Fields in Philadelphia are as followed;

• NorthEast opened in 1956
• Luzerene & Whitaker (now a police parking lot)
• Washington Square

And several other locations.

The last Potters Field was the one located in the Far NorthEast.

When the Potters Field was located at Luzerene and Whitaker in 1914, it served as the final resting place for those who died in the 1918 Flu Epidemic and the Great Depression in the 1930's. At this time, it was connected with a City Hospital.

Today, "Potters Field" is not a burial ground, but a room located in the City Morgue where there is 2400 sets of ashes identified but left unclaimed.