Lebanon Cemetery
Lebanon Cemetery | |
---|---|
Details | |
Established | 1849 |
Closed | 1903 |
Location | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Country | United States |
Size | 11 acres |
Lebanon Cemetery was an
The former location of the cemetery is now the street corner of 19th Street and Snyder Avenue in South Philadelphia.
History
Lebanon Cemetery was chartered on January 24, 1849
The cemetery was a part of the
In the early 1870s, Henry Jones, an affluent African-American man who worked as a caterer, purchased a lot for burial in
In 1882, a
The renowned surgeon and Jefferson Medical College anatomy professor, William S. Forbes, was arrested for his role in the grave robbery but was acquitted.[7] Forbes helped write the 1867 Pennsylvania Law named the "Anatomy Act" which called for hospitals, prisons and mental health wards to provide the bodies of those that had no family or funds for burial to medical schools for anatomical research.[11]
Due in part to the Lebanon Cemetery grave robbery scandal, the Pennsylvania Anatomy Act of 1883 was passed which provided for legal means by which medical colleges could obtain cadavers without having to buy them from grave robbers.[7]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Eden_Cemetery_Entrance.jpg/220px-Eden_Cemetery_Entrance.jpg)
By 1889, the cemetery was overcrowded and in disrepair. Expansion of the city began to erode the size of the cemetery. By 1900, Lebanon Cemetery had shrunk from the original 11 acres down to 6 with over 17,000 corpses.[13] In 1899, the city condemned the cemetery and in 1902 relocated the bodies to Eden Cemetery in Collingdale, Pennsylvania. Lebanon Cemetery was closed in 1903.
Notable interments
- Aaron Anderson (1811-1886), Landsman USS Wyandank, US Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor recipient for heroic actions on Mattox Creek, VA, 17 MAR 1865.
- John C. Bowers (1811–1873), entrepreneur, organist and abolitionist
- Octavius Valentine Catto(1839–1871), civil rights leader and baseball pioneer
- Rachel Cliff (1805–1885), delegate to the 1855 Colored Convention
- Emilie Davis (1839–1889), writer
- Nathaniel W. Depee (1812–1868), activist and abolitionist
- Absalom Jones (1746–1818), abolitionist and clergyman, buried at the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Reinterred in 1887 to Lebanon Cemetery when the church was demolished.[15]
- Grace A. Mapps (c. 1835–1897), educator, administrator and poet
References
Citations
- ^ Scharf, John Thomas (1884). History of Philadelphia, 1609–1884. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co. p. 2360. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
- ^ "Eden Stories". www.edencemetery.org. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
- ^ Keels 2003, p. 84.
- ^ Keels 2003, p. 79.
- ^ ISBN 978-0786440238. See p. 233.
- ^ Message of the President of the United States and Accompanying, to the Two Houses of Congress. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1868. p. 931. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
- ^ a b c McLeary, Erin. "The Curious Case Of Body Snatching at Lebanon Cemetery". www.hiddencityphila.org. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
- ^ "Mount Moriah Cemetery Naval Plot". www.cem.va.gov. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
- ^ Wysong, Lori. "Cemeteries, Segregation, and the Funerals of Henry Jones". www.hiddencityphila.org. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
- ^ "Historic Eden Cemetery – Eden Stories". www.edencemetery.org. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
- ^ a b Rowan, Tommy. "1882: Grave robbers sold black bodies to medical college". www.inquirer.com. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
- ^ Bechen, Christopher (12 May 2016). "Ashes to Ashes: Social Stratification After Death in Philadelphia's Burial Grounds". www.medium.com. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-59629-787-6. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
- ^ "Hidden in Plain Sight: Cemeteries and Civil Rights". www.civilrightsafterlife.com. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
- ^ Keels 2003, p. 81.
Sources
- Keels, Thomas H. (2003). Philadelphia Graveyards & Cemeteries. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-1229-X.