Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) October 9, 1988 A TALE OF 47,000 BODIES, FINAL RESTING PLACE UNKNOWN Author: Donna Shaw, Inquirer Staff Writer Four decades ago, the deal seemed pretty clear. Thomas A. Morris, president of Evergreen Memorial Park in Bensalem Township, was contracted to dig up 47,000 sets of remains from the run-down Lafayette Cemetery in South Philadelphia. Under the terms of a 1946 Common Pleas Court decree, the bodies were to be buried again on 40 of the 156 acres owned by Evergreen, complete with caskets, drainage, new bronze markers, roadways and perpetual maintenance of the grounds. The 40 acres were renamed Lafayette Cemetery. Morris estimated his costs at $105,000. In return, Morris received clear title to the old cemetery property, bounded by Passyunk Avenue and Ninth, 10th, Federal and Wharton Streets. It was assessed at $166,000. Now, 42 years later, that seemingly straightforward transaction has become the focal point of a story so complicated it may never be completely told: The story of those bodies, and 21,500 more Morris was paid to dig up from two other city cemeteries and rebury elsewhere. The bodies from Lafayette - described in a 1946 newspaper story as "Forty- seven thousand persons who probably thought they were through with arguments when they were buried" - were dumped in unmarked trenches that Bensalem officials say bear little resemblance to a cemetery blueprint that shows individual, numbered lots. "No one really watched Morris to see that he . . . did what he was supposed to do," said the Rev. Canon J. Perry Cox, president of Lafayette Cemetery. "My recollection was that he was the type of guy who could sell the Brooklyn Bridge," said state Superior Court Judge Frank J. Montemuro Jr., who in 1958 was the lawyer appointed as receiver for the Evergreen Memorial Park Association when Morris, now deceased, got into legal and financial trouble. ''. . . He was glib as hell." The tale began to unravel late last month, when two anonymous callers told township officials that a pair of unmarked graves had been uncovered inadvertently at the Bensalem cemetery during a construction project. The cemetery is on Neshaminy Boulevard, across from Neshaminy Mall. Although those two bodies, as it turned out, had been buried more recently, township officials said it soon became apparent that none of the remains transferred from the old Lafayette Cemetery had been reburied in marked graves. After spending a week and a half digging test shafts at the site, officials last week said they had uncovered what probably are 32 trenches, each 300 feet long. Inside the trenches are stacks of wooden boxes, presumably containing most of the remains. Officials do not intend to dig up all the boxes to find out. But some of the remains and clothing scraps found in the trenches will be sent to an archaeologist to determine their age, according to Bensalem police Detective Kenneth Hopkins, who is heading the investigation. Based on accounts from longtime township residents who said they had watched as trucks delivered the remains, officials believe that some also were dumped into the nearby Poquessing Creek. In 1947, one year after the Lafayette transfer, records show the court also approved a plan under which the city paid $95,000 for Morris to remove 8,000 bodies from 2,400 graves in Franklin Cemetery, located at Elkhart and Helen Streets in Kensington. According to newspaper accounts, the remains were to be reburied in a three-acre Franklin section of Evergreen Memorial Park. That plan, too, called for perpetual care and markers. Hopkins said last week that the township would wait until the Lafayette investigation was completed before deciding whether to search for the Franklin remains. I. Alan Cohen, whose family owns Rosedale Memorial Park - part of the Evergreen property before Morris went bankrupt in 1959 - has told police that he believes only 3,000 of the Franklin remains were transferred to Evergreen. According to Hopkins, Cohen, whose family bought the Rosedale property in 1960, said the 3,000 were reinterred on what is now the adjoining property - King David Memorial Park. Cohen said he believed the 5,000 other bodies were buried in Sunset Memorial Park in Feasterville, according to Hopkins. In an interview Friday, the Sunset office manager, who asked not to be named, said no Franklin remains were buried there. And Jack Livezey, manager of King David, said he knew "for a fact" that they weren't at his cemetery, either. Cohen could not be reached for comment. Hopkins said the Cohens had told him that they had almost no records from Lafayette. Raymond Reinl, a lawyer who represented Lafayette Cemetery in the 1960s, said in an interview that he recalled a meeting in that decade at which the Cohens were given records. Until the unmarked graves were found, the Cohens were moving an office and mausoleum building from one site to another on the cemetery property and had a Bucks County Court order from Judge Leonard B. Sokolove permitting them to reinter elsewhere any remains they found. But the township, which has issued a cease-and-desist order, is going back to Sokolove on Oct. 26 to ask that he rescind his order, Hopkins said. The township now wants the Lafayette property, and whatever bodies are there, to be left undisturbed. Construction work at an adjacent site, where a developer is building a strip shopping center, is being permitted to resume because the township determined last week that no remains are buried there, officials said. Although news stories from the 1940s say that Morris sold the old Lafayette Cemetery property in South Philadelphia to a group that planned to build duplexes and stores on the site, both Lafayette and Franklin eventually were condemned by the city as part of a multimillion-dollar playground-building project. Of the 43 properties that were purchased, those were the only former cemeteries. Playgrounds were built at both sites. The Lafayette playground is across from two of the city's famous food landmarks, Pat's and Geno's cheesesteak emporiums. Richardson Dilworth, who in 1947 was an unsuccessful Democratic mayoral candidate, charged that one of the investors who bought Lafayette from Morris, Republican Sheriff Austin Meehan, had purchased the cemetery because he knew he could sell it to the city for a huge profit. News accounts say that Meehan, whose group paid $105,000 for the site and sold it to the city for $153,500, denied the accusation. In 1950, the city decided to transform yet another 19th-century South Philadelphia cemetery into a playground. That was Ronaldson's Cemetery, founded in 1827 and believed to be the oldest private cemetery in the country. Among those buried there were John Stowers, said to have crossed the Delaware with George Washington just before the Battle of Trenton, and Commodore Charles Stewart, commander of Old Ironsides during the War of 1812. Records at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania show that the city paid $95,000 to buy the cemetery. Of that amount, the records say, $72,410 went to Morris for the removal and reburial of the 13,500 bodies in Ronaldson's, bounded by Ninth, 10th, Fitzwater and Bainbridge Streets. But this time, Morris was told to bury the remains at Forest Hills Cemetery, located at Byberry Road and Philmont Avenue, rather than at Evergreen, and to provide "aluminum markers so that the records will show where particular bodies are buried," according to the records. Andrew Deltito, sales manager at Forest Hills, said in an interview that the Ronaldson's remains were buried there, in their own section, complete with a large marble spire. He said there were no individual markers. "We have the records and we know where (the remains) are," he said. In 1951, the Securities and Exchange Commission began to look into Morris' dealings - particularly his apparent habit of selling large blocks of Evergreen cemetery lots to speculators with the promise that the investors would be able to sell them for huge profits. The sales, according to the SEC, were in the same category as sales of securities, and Morris was not registered to sell securities. Morris began to pile up debts, with the federal government filing tax liens against Evergreen Memorial Park. In 1958, the Pennsylvania Securities Commission asked that the courts appoint a receiver for Evergreen. In 1959, Evergreen filed for bankruptcy. In 1961, Morris - once hailed as a tireless fund-raiser for a variety of charities - pleaded no contest in U.S. District Court to charges that he had misrepresented Evergreen's financial condition while selling two bond issues to finance his cemetery business. He was fined $3,000 and received a suspended sentence plus five years' probation. To Bensalem officials, who now are obliged to deal with what Morris left behind, the history is fascinating, but frustrating. Detective Hopkins said he had been inundated with calls and letters from outraged citizens. There is even a song, written by township resident Margaret Alice Butler, who sent him a copy. Part of it goes like this: I'm telling you, in this day and age, The dead people aren't even safe. . . . Everyone's out for that almighty dollar. Now only if the dead could holler.

> Article in The Phila. Bulletin (not dated, found at Genealogical Soc. of > Pa.) I have this clipping from the Evening Bulletin and it was dated Tuesday, March 21, 1950. The Fenimores had owned several plots at Ronaldson but no-one in the family, as far as I know, went out to Forest Hills to see how things were done. When one of the family saw the article, they cut it out and saved it because about 20 family members had been buried there. By the 1890s they were being buried at Mt. Peace, then after WWI at West Laurel Hill. Liane Fenimore ----- Original Message ----- From: <TCall2004@comcast.net> To: <philly-roots@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 7:23 AM Subject: [Phly-Rts] Another S Philly Cemetery - Ronaldson's,aka Philadelphia Cemetery > The playground that replaced it is a dreary, ugly place. > > Ronaldson's Cemetery > > > > > Old Cemetery in South Phila. Soon to Be a City Playground > > by Joseph T. Reichwein > > The last chapter is about to be written in the history of Ronaldson > Cemetery, > an old Philadelphia landmark. > > Today workmen began converting the 123- year-old burial ground bounded by > Bainbridge and Fitzwater sts. in the block between 8th and 9th, into a > city > playground. >

I just searched in genealogybank.com, with the keyword (key phrase) "Otto Schmalzried" and didn't find anything about his marriage. However, genealogybank.com doesn't seem to have articles from all Philadelphia newspapers, just the Philadelphia Inquirer, so the results I got may merely mean that the marriage wasn't mentioned in the Inquirer. I did get one hit for Otto, though. The June 17, 1904 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer had an article about the Northeast Manual Training School holding its commencement the previous night, and Otto was listed as one of the graduating students. Stephen C. Shisler ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.

Obit data has been sent to Vince. Jane ----- Original Message ----- From: "Vincent E. Summers" <vsummers@gmail.com> To: <philly-roots@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, May 14, 2007 4:59 PM Subject: [Phly-Rts] Lydia, not Rydie HOLT > Sorry about that. > > In the 1910 census, the image is bad. It did look like > Rydie, and that is, I think, an English name. > > Vince > > > ********* > Visit the threaded archives of this list: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/PHILLY-ROOTS > ********* > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > PHILLY-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Sorry about that. In the 1910 census, the image is bad. It did look like Rydie, and that is, I think, an English name. Vince

It now appears Frank DeSales HOLT was the son of John P. HOLT and Rydie C. ? Now John is listed as a widow in 1920. That puts Rydie's obituary in the purview of the online newspaper database! Does anyone see the obituary of Rydie C. HOLT? Thanks! Vince Summers

Mine originally were in England, but came from Ireland via Samuel and Margaret Richmond AYRES around 1695 or so. Vince On 5/14/07, John W. Clifton <jwcrose@bellsouth.net> wrote: > Hi Vince : > Are your Ayres family from Cornwall England, I have one with a marriage > problem. > Cousin Jack Clifton in sunny Florida > > Vincent E. Summers wrote: > > >Hi, Guys... > > > >Is there someone who can look this up in the online newspaper > >database for me? - that is the marriage? > > > >Frank DeSales HOLT married into one of my AYRES branches, > >and I am trying to solidify the marriage and learn of Frank's > >parents. > > > >Thanks, > >Vince Summers > > > > > >********* > >Visit the threaded archives of this list: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/PHILLY-ROOTS > >********* > > > >------------------------------- > >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PHILLY-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > > > > > > > > ********* > Visit the threaded archives of this list: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/PHILLY-ROOTS > ********* > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PHILLY-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Hi, Would anyone be able to check GenealogyBank (or any other online source) for a Philadelphia marriage: Otto Schmalzried Mary Thomas April 6, 1910 The wedding took place at the Zion Lutheran Church Thanks for any help, Rich --------------------------------- Building a website is a piece of cake. Yahoo! Small Business gives you all the tools to get online.

Hi Vince : Are your Ayres family from Cornwall England, I have one with a marriage problem. Cousin Jack Clifton in sunny Florida Vincent E. Summers wrote: >Hi, Guys... > >Is there someone who can look this up in the online newspaper >database for me? - that is the marriage? > >Frank DeSales HOLT married into one of my AYRES branches, >and I am trying to solidify the marriage and learn of Frank's >parents. > >Thanks, >Vince Summers > > >********* >Visit the threaded archives of this list: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/PHILLY-ROOTS >********* > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PHILLY-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > >

Hi, Guys... Is there someone who can look this up in the online newspaper database for me? - that is the marriage? Frank DeSales HOLT married into one of my AYRES branches, and I am trying to solidify the marriage and learn of Frank's parents. Thanks, Vince Summers

Don't think the doc is one of mine - none of the family graduated from high school. :-) Yep they lived in the 1700 block of Water Street. The block was torn down for I 95. There is a off ramp where my parents lived on the 1800 block. Joan On 5/14/07, John W. Clifton <jwcrose@bellsouth.net> wrote: > Hi Joan: > I am not related to this family but way back in 1951 I went to a Dr. > Bowman at 2nd. and shunk St. that is close to Water St. > I don't remember any houses being on Water St. , all comm. buildings. > Cousin Jack Clifton in sunny Florida > > SouthPawPhilly wrote: > > >I am looking to contact anyone who may be a descendant of Philip and > >Elizabeth Bowman (Bohn, Bauman(n)) who came from Germany (Prussia?) > >and settled inSouth Philadelphia, PA (Water Street) > > > >I would like to compare notes with anyone who descends from these two > >people. I descend from two of their sons George and Charles Bowman. > > > >More information may be found on my website: http://www.jasche.com > > > >Many thanks, > > > >Joan Asche > >http://www.jasche.com > > > > > >********* > >Visit the threaded archives of this list: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/PHILLY-ROOTS > >********* > > > >------------------------------- > >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PHILLY-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > > > > > > > > ********* > Visit the threaded archives of this list: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/PHILLY-ROOTS > ********* > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PHILLY-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Hi Joan: I am not related to this family but way back in 1951 I went to a Dr. Bowman at 2nd. and shunk St. that is close to Water St. I don't remember any houses being on Water St. , all comm. buildings. Cousin Jack Clifton in sunny Florida SouthPawPhilly wrote: >I am looking to contact anyone who may be a descendant of Philip and >Elizabeth Bowman (Bohn, Bauman(n)) who came from Germany (Prussia?) >and settled inSouth Philadelphia, PA (Water Street) > >I would like to compare notes with anyone who descends from these two >people. I descend from two of their sons George and Charles Bowman. > >More information may be found on my website: http://www.jasche.com > >Many thanks, > >Joan Asche >http://www.jasche.com > > >********* >Visit the threaded archives of this list: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/PHILLY-ROOTS >********* > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PHILLY-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > >

I am looking to contact anyone who may be a descendant of Philip and Elizabeth Bowman (Bohn, Bauman(n)) who came from Germany (Prussia?) and settled inSouth Philadelphia, PA (Water Street) I would like to compare notes with anyone who descends from these two people. I descend from two of their sons George and Charles Bowman. More information may be found on my website: http://www.jasche.com Many thanks, Joan Asche http://www.jasche.com

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The vault was destroyed. --- kate <chrismomxyz@yahoo.com> wrote: > Hi all- > I'm wondering if anyone knows anything Lafayette > Cemetery? It used to be on Federal Street, between > 9th and 10th streets. According to another site, the > interments were moved to Evergreen in Bensalem, PA. > I believe my Fletcher family had a family vault > there, and I'm wondering what would have happened to > the vault? > > Thanks! > Kate > > > --------------------------------- > Building a website is a piece of cake. > Yahoo! Small Business gives you all the tools to get > online. > > > ********* > Visit the threaded archives of this list: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/PHILLY-ROOTS > ********* > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email > to PHILLY-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message > Gene Stackhouse: I hate global warming. It's much too cold! ____________________________________________________________________________________Give spam the boot. Take control with tough spam protection in the all-new Yahoo! Mail Beta. http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/newmail_html.html

Hi all- I'm wondering if anyone knows anything Lafayette Cemetery? It used to be on Federal Street, between 9th and 10th streets. According to another site, the interments were moved to Evergreen in Bensalem, PA. I believe my Fletcher family had a family vault there, and I'm wondering what would have happened to the vault? Thanks! Kate --------------------------------- Building a website is a piece of cake. Yahoo! Small Business gives you all the tools to get online.

A family member shared some funeral cards and newspaper clippings that I'm trying to make sense of, all connected to our family though we're not sure how exactly. Would someone be so kind as to look up the 1930 census for: Joseph McGrath, b. 1894 PA Letitia FAY McGrath, b. 1897 PA and their son Joseph b. 1919 PA They were born in Philly, and through 1920 have been found in Philly. Thank you! --------------------------------- Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows. Yahoo! Answers - Check it out.

Hi Dick: I lived at 13th and Morris for 30 years and never knew that the square at 13th and Wharton was called Passyunk square. Pat's steaks is at 9th St. where Passyunk Wharton and 9th all cross each other like a triangle . Between 9th and 10th above Wharton there is a square that's where I thought it was. There is no 14th St in Philly , it is called Broad St.. Cousin Jack Nrtennison@aol.com wrote: >In a message dated 5/12/2007 4:27:18 PM Eastern Daylight Time, >jwcrose@bellsouth.net writes: > >Hi Dick: >I don't have any info. for you but perhaps you can tell me where >Passyunk square is located. Is it across from Pat's steaks? >Cousin Jack > > >Hi Cousin Jack, meet google maps. In 2007 Passyunk Square's at 14th and >Wharton. Where's Pats Steaks? > >http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl&q= google maps > >Dick > > > >************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. > > >********* >Visit the threaded archives of this list: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/PHILLY-ROOTS >********* > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PHILLY-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > >

There is no 14th St. in Philadelphia. What should be 14th St. is Broad St. Gene Stackhouse A 2006 study found that the average American walks about 900 miles a year. Another study found that Americans drink an average of 22 gallons of beer a year. That means, on average, Americans get about 41 miles per gallon. Not Bad >From: Nrtennison@aol.com >Reply-To: philly-roots@rootsweb.com >To: philly-roots@rootsweb.com >Subject: Re: [Phly-Rts] Passyunk Square 1934 >Date: Sat, 12 May 2007 16:45:53 EDT > > >In a message dated 5/12/2007 4:27:18 PM Eastern Daylight Time, >jwcrose@bellsouth.net writes: > >Hi Dick: >I don't have any info. for you but perhaps you can tell me where >Passyunk square is located. Is it across from Pat's steaks? >Cousin Jack > > >Hi Cousin Jack, meet google maps. In 2007 Passyunk Square's at 14th and >Wharton. Where's Pats Steaks? > >http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl&q= google maps > >Dick > >************************************** See what's free at >http://www.aol.com. > > >********* >Visit the threaded archives of this list: >http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/PHILLY-ROOTS >********* > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >PHILLY-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >quotes in the subject and the body of the message

In a message dated 5/12/2007 4:27:18 PM Eastern Daylight Time, jwcrose@bellsouth.net writes: Hi Dick: I don't have any info. for you but perhaps you can tell me where Passyunk square is located. Is it across from Pat's steaks? Cousin Jack Hi Cousin Jack, meet google maps. In 2007 Passyunk Square's at 14th and Wharton. Where's Pats Steaks? http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl&q= google maps Dick ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.