History of the West Street Burial Ground, a.k.a. Union Burial Ground
-the following history was compiled from the pages of the Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as Charles Barker's work on Philadelphia cemeteries.
The West Street Burial Ground, a.k.a. Union Burial Ground, a.k.a. Malt House Ground, a.k.a. Thumlert’s, a.k.a. German Burial Ground, was located at West (Belgrade) and Vienna (Berks) Streets, on south side of Vienna (Berks) between West (Belgrade) and Gaul Streets.
All of the founders of West Street Burial Ground came from the District of the Northern Liberties, which sat just south of Kensington. Horatio B. Pennock, a merchant, is said to have granted and conveyed an acre of ground for the West Street Burial Ground to Jacob Stearly, Anthony Shermer, and Joseph R. Paul, on the 6th of May 1831. Stearly, Shermer, and Paul, all appear to have already been involved with the Union Burial Ground Association, as they were listed as the trustees for that group. Presumably the West Street Burial Ground would be another cemetery for this society.
Pennock, born about 1792, in Pennsylvania, is found in the 1830 Census in 2nd Ward, of the District of the Northern Liberties, Philadelphia County, PA. The 2nd Ward of the Northern Liberties District at that time was between 3rd and 6th Street, and between Vine and Willow Streets. By 1840 Pennock moved slightly south, to the Upper Delaware Ward, of Philadelphia County, or what we would call today Center City Philadelphia, east of 7th Street, between Vine and Race Streets.
In 1850 Pennock is still listed in Upper Delaware Ward. He is 58 years old and a merchant, whose personal worth is $60,000. His wife, Elizabeth (59 years) is worth about $16,000. They were both born in Pennsylvania. Besides their son, H. B. Pennock, Jr (19 years), there appears to also be perhaps had a couple of Irish domestics, Eliza McQuincy 25 years of age, and Catherine McQuincy, 16 years of age.
Also in the Pennock family household is the Johns family, perhaps a daughter of the Pennocks; Louisa B. Johns (30) and William B. Johns (28) an accountant. They Johns were both born in Pennsylvania, and what appears to be their children: Wm. B. Johns Jr. (3 years, born in PA) and Emma L. Johns (5 years, born in PA). As well was another couple Emma (26 years) and William Berges (35 years) both born in Pennsylvania. William was a merchant and it could be that both William Berges and William B. Johns worked with Horatio B. Pennock.
The original trustees of West Street Burial ground, the three men (Jacob Stearly, Joseph R. Paul, and Anthony Shermer) who Horatio B. Pennock granted and conveyed the acre of land in Kensington to, were all from the 5th & 6th Wards of the District of Northern Liberties (between Green and Poplar Streets, and 6th Street to the Delaware River, with 3rd Street being the dividing line and the 5th Ward being against the Delaware River). Since the burial ground sat on West Street, it picked up the moniker of “West Street Burial Ground,” but the official name would appear to have been “The Union Burial Ground of the Northern Liberties and Kensington,” and perhaps identified by its locate of “West Street.”
Because of the cemetery’s association with the Union Burial Ground Association it got the name “Union Burial Ground,” and since it sat north of Frederick Gaul’s Malt House, it was also called at times the “Malt House Ground.”
One of the old sextons was a fellow by the name of George Thumlert, who was also an undertaker who appears to have buried the poor for free. Thumlert also may have owned a bit of the cemetery later on in its history and thus the cemetery was sometimes referred to as “Thumlert’s.” Thumlert was also from the same 6th Ward of the District of Northern Liberties where several of the original trustees of the West Street Burial Ground were from, and thus he presumably would have known the trustees since he was in the undertaking business and the trustees were involved in the Union Burial Ground Association. Thumlert was born about 1818 and died perhaps in 1909. He would appear to have been born in that Northern Liberties neighbor as a fellow of the same name was found in the Census for that location in 1820 (presumably his father). Thumlert’s son, George W. Thumlert (born about 1848) was brought into the family business and the firm’s name was changed to George Thumlert & Son, Undertakers. He presumably took over the business when his father at the end of 1909.
There is a Jacob Stearly found in the Census for Northern Liberties’ 6th Ward, Philadelphia County, PA, for the years 1830 to 1850. In 1830 and 1840 he is enumerated as Jacob Stearley, with an extra “e” in his surname. In 1850 he is enumerated without the extra “e” in the surname. The 1850 Census shows Jacob Stearly being born about 1792 in Pennsylvania. He was a brewer with a personal estate of about $10,000. His presumed wife Mary Ann is listed at 59 years old and also born in Pennsylvania.
The second trustee Joseph R. Paul, was also found in the neighborhood of the Northern Liberties’ 6th Ward in 1830 and he was still there in 1850. In 1850 he was described as being born about 1801, in Pennsylvania, and working as a clerk. His wife was Susanna, also born about 1801 in Pennsylvania.
The third trustee of the Burial Ground, Anthony Shermer, appears to be enumerated in the 1830 Census as Anthoney Schermer, with an extra “c” in his surname. He resides in the District of the Northern Liberties’ 5th Ward. In 1850 Anthony Shermer was still listed in the 5th Ward of Northern Liberties. He was born about 1790 in Pennsylvania. He was a cabinetmaker with a personal worth of $1,800. Anthony’s presumed brother, Jacob, also a cabinetmaker, lived two doors away. One of Jacob’s sons might have been Methodist minister.
In 1834, Jacob Searly gave over his duties as trustee to Joseph R. Rudolph. Rudolph would presumably be the fellow who is a neighbor to Stearly and Paul, he is also found in the 6th Ward of the Northern Liberties, as simply Joseph Rudolph, without the middle initial of “R.” He was in the 6th Ward of the Northern Liberties for the census of 1830 and 1840 Census, but then apparently shows up in Kensington. If it’s the correct Joseph Rudolph, this fellow may have actually been the only one out of the donor and of the trustees of the land for the cemetery, to have actually lived in Kensington. There is a Joseph Rudolph who is found in Kensington’s 3rd Ward in 1850 and the Joseph Rudolph who was in Northern Liberties for 1830 and 1840 no longer shows up there. Rudolph was a cooper, born about 1797 in Pennsylvania. His personal estate was $2,000. His wife’s name was Susanna and she was born also about 1801 in Pennsylvania.
The trustees above (Jacob Stearly, Joseph R. Paul, Anthony Shermer, and later Joseph R. Rudolph) appear to represent the group of individuals that oversaw the West Street Burial Ground from its inception in 1831 to 1851, when the Union Burial Ground Association held a meeting on May 21st, to determine if they would convey the unoccupied ground in the burial ground to one Joseph [R.] Dickson, for him to continue the purposes of the burial ground. On the 7th of June, 1851, the trustees of the Union Burial Ground Association did turn over the unoccupied portions to Dickson for $150.00 with the stipulation that the land would be used for burial purposes.
The 1850 Census has two Joseph Dicksons, one a weaver in Moyamensing, the other a merchant in Spruce Ward in Philadelphia. It would presumably be the merchant Joseph Dickson that took over the West Street Burial Ground. This Joseph Dickson was born about 1815, in Pennsylvania. Earlier in 1830, there was a Joseph R. Dickson that showed up in the 3rd Ward of the District of the Northern Liberties. It would make sense that this fellow, who has the middle initial, as well as the origins in the Northern Liberties area like the other trustees, would be the correct fellow and perhaps he moved into town, to the Spruce Ward, by 1850. This 1850 Dickson was a merchant and thus he would seem to be in a financial position for taking over the cemetery. This is all speculation at this point and would have to be researched further.
By at least February of 1861, the West Street Burial Ground was reporting burials to the city of Philadelphia, as directed by the registration law put into effect on July 1st, 1860. July 1st, 1860 was the first time that it was mandated to report deaths. Any burials at West Street previous to that date may or may not have been reported, as well, simply because a law mandated something, it does not mean that everyone got on board right away.
Dickson appears to have died off by 1868-1869, and a fellow named Magargee handled his estate. Vienna Street was widened slightly in the year 1868 or 1869, and Magargee received $700.00 for damages to the property, which lost 27 burial lots due to the street widening. The cemetery was stated to have a total of 299 burial lots.
There would appear to have been some veterans of the Civil War buried at the West Street Burial Grounds, as there is mention of the G.A.R.’s Walter S. Newhall Post, No. 7, coming to the cemetery during their annual parade marches for fallen soldiers. The group stopped at the local cemeteries to pay respects to the veterans that were buried there. In one newspaper notice of June 1st, 1874, it called the cemetery the “Belgrade Street Cemetery.” By 1874 West Street had become Belgrade Street. It stated that the “graves of the soldiers and sailors buried therein were decorated, and Rev. Mr. Rexlaw, of Hancock Street M.E. Church, delivered an address.”
By the late 1870’s the West Street Burial Ground appears to have started to fall into decline. While veteran’s parades may have still marched to the cemetery, neighbors were beginning to complain about the place and the actual ownership started to become in doubt. The city’s Board of Health declared the cemetery a nuisance in 1876. Curbing and piping taxes were due. There was no fence around the lot and family and friends were removing bodies and the graves not filled back up.
At a meeting of lotholders in December of 1877, a committee was formed to try and deal with some of the complaints. Henry Baldt was elected president, W. H. Mershon, secretary, and W. W. Sedler (Seder), treasurer. A list of lotholders was taken at that time.
The lot holders held another meeting the following month (January of 1878), for the purposes of fencing in the cemetery and to restore it to decent condition. By the next month enough money was raised and a wooden plank fence was erected, with apparent other work done as well. The lot holders hoped the fence would stop the encroachment on the ground as well the repairs they made would remove the nuisance order placed on them by the Board of Health.
Apparently the cosmetic repairs that were made to the cemetery had no effect, as by August of 1878, the neighbors living along Vienna (Berks) street across from the Cemetery were back to complaining to the city. Apparently the cemetery sat about four feet above grade and “foul oozings from the ground pour out upon the pavement” creating “an intolerable stench,” which was “compelling the people to abandon their properties.” Those that still resided across from the cemetery, resided there with their windows closed.
The cemetery complainants were stuck in the red tape of the city’s bureaucracy, with the complaint being “tossed from the Board of Health to Councils, from Councils to the Highway Department, from the Highway Department to the City Solicitor,” and then back to the Board of Health again. No relief for the neighbors was secured. After more time being tossed about in various departments of the city government, the cemetery was finally declared a nuisance by the city and by mid to late 1879, people were asked to remove the remains of their loved ones.
In January of 1880 there was a report of a fellow being charged with stealing gravestones. In June of 1884 an order was passed to again widen Vienna Street, this time by a substantial amount. No owners were found for the lots to be affected. The city also could not find any trustees for the cemetery. Mr. Magargee had been handling Joseph Dickson’s estate, the last owner of the cemetery, but he apparently had died off or moved away, and no Dickson family member was found by the city. A court order was obtained by the city and work was commenced by the end of October 1884, with any bodies found would be removed to other parts of the cemetery.
By November of 1885, a Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper reporter was comparing West Street Burial Ground to “Tom -all-alone’s” the dilapidated street in Dicken’s Bleak House, where Dickens creates a powerful picture of the squalid environments of a particular piece of London. A neighbor of the cemetery, who talked with the reporter, stated that many of the lots in the cemetery lapsed to the city, as there was no one left to claim them. She stated that the cemetery did not belong to a church and thus when folks died off; there was no one to care for the burial ground. The article states that an undertaker who used to bury the poor for free owned part of the ground, and that he still owned it. This was probably George Thumlert, as George Baker states he was the sexton and the place had been called “Thumlert’s” at times. Thumlert as noted above was found to be listed as an undertaker, with offices at 424 Poplar in the Northern Liberties and 1644 Susquehanna Avenue in Kensington, not far from the cemetery. Thumlert was in business at his Poplar Street address from at least 1850 to the first decade of the 20th Century and probably later. Old man Thumlert seems to have died about 1909, as his estate was advertised as being probated in November of that year, by his son George W. Thumlert. Presumably his son would have kept the business running after the father’s death, if he not already taken over the business fulltime, since his father would have been close to ninety years old in 1909 when he apparently died.
The neighbor who talked to the reporter remembered the last burial taking place ten years previously, which would have been the year 1875. It was a soldier. She may have confused that burial with the G.A.R. procession that took place in 1874 that stopped at the cemetery to honor the soldiers buried there. She mentions the “high board fence” that was put up around the cemetery, and goes on to say, “grass and flowers, of a summer morning it used to look real pretty.” Unfortunately, the vandals in the neighborhood destroyed the place. The old neighbor had nothing for lament for the graveyard:
“…we have some powerful bad boys in this neighborhood. They got at the fence, and now, as you see, there’s nothing left but the posts, and they have dug up most of them. They stood where you see those holes in the bank. Being higher than the street, the burying ground has washed down a good deal at the sides. Many people living about here have friends buried there, and would move them if the city would allow for them. Towards the last they got to burying anywhere and many bodies in a grave. One lady had a brother lying there. She went to his grave to have him taken up. They opened it and found not one coffin, but six. The lady said to put ‘em all back again; she didn’t know which coffin was her brother’s, or whether he was there at all. Something ought to be done. It’s a shame to leave the dead in such a place as that. You can see they boys are making a playground of it, and when pavements are put down on the east and west side of it the earth will have to be cut away, and that will cut through some graves. Them as left the place for a graveyard little though it would come to this, and its present condition don’t help to raise house rents round it. The people about here used to be afraid to pass it at night for fear of ghosts.”
The reporter finished his story on the cemetery with the following comments:
“Thus spoke the resident, and in view of the neglect into which their long home had been suffered to fall, it did not seem wholly unreasonable to imagine it haunted, not by one ghost only, but by an entire indignation meeting of specters.”
It could be that since the West Street Burial Ground was founded by folks outside of Kensington, and their board of trustees were from outside of Kensington, that there was not the same connection by neighbors living near to the West Street Burial Ground as there was between neighbors and Palmer Cemetery, which stood only a block away and which was founded a hundred years before West Street. Palmer Cemetery is still intact today with an active board of trustees and still buries neighbors in that old burial ground.
The homes bordering the West Street Burial Ground on Vienna Street (1411-1435 Vienna), Belgrade (West) Street for the homes at 622-636 Belgrade, and the homes of 621 to 631 Gaul Street, would have would have been the homes that sat across from the cemetery and the folks most affected by the stench and disrepair of the burial ground. The southern side of the cemetery bordered the old Malt House of Frederick Gaul and thus not much of a complaint would appear to have come from that neighbor.
Looking at the 1890 Philadelphia City Directory, we find that the addresses for the lot where the cemetery was located are not found, thus the cemetery was still present and no homes were built there yet. By checking the bordering streets of the cemetery we find the following individuals and their families living on Vienna, Gaul, and Belgrade Streets in 1890:
Vienna Street (north side between Belgrade and Gaul Streets)
Barbara Abendroth, wid Wilhelm, 1419 Vienna
John Anderson, laborer, 1421 Vienna
John Mason, cooper, 1421 Vienna
Samuel Jones, 1423 Vienna
Charles D. Wild, 1425 Vienna
Minnie Wild, wid David, 1425 Vienna
Wilhelmina Wild (Wild & Weisshaar), cooper, 1425 Vienna
Maria Burk, wid John, 1427 Vienna
Joseph Sixsmith, Joseph, 1427 Vienna
William H. Sixsmith, laborer, 1427 Vienna
George Lehman, bricklayer, 1429 Vienna
James Hayes, hatter, 1431 Vienna
Morton M. Brown, foreman, 1433 Vienna
John Basby, driver, 1435 Vienna
Thomas D. Rulon, foreman, 1500 Vienna (the corner house at Vienna and Gaul, that faced Vienna but had as its side Gaul Street and the cemetery)
Belgrade Street (east side between Vienna (Berks) and Wilt Streets)
John J. Muesse, weaver, 700 Belgrade
George Reber, grocer, 700 Belgrade (the 700 Belgrade address was the NE corner of
Belgrade & Vienna that would have faced the cemetery as well)
Henry Richber, tailor, 636 Belgrade
Henry C. Richber, segars, 636 Belgrade
Henry Paul, machinist, 634 Belgrade
John Schmidt, tables, 632 Belgrade
Victor W. Arnaiz, clerk, 630 Belgrade
Wallace H. Arnaiz, cutter, 630 Belgrade
Charles G. Bartolett, driver, 630 Belgrade
Andrew H. Rihl, painter, 628 Belgrade
Dorothea Husted, wid Samuel, 626 Belgrade
Robert Garrett, barber, 624 Belgrade
Henry Godfrey, barber, 624 Belgrade
George S. Husted, oysters, 622 Belgrade
Gaul Street (west side between Vienna (Berks) and Wilt Streets
George W. Erb, bricklayer, 631 Gaul
Thomas L. Pallatt, paperhanger, 629 Gaul
Charles S. Rightley, engineer, 629 Gaul
Thomas L. Rightley, finisher, 629 Gaul
John Vandanaker, cooper, 627 Gaul
John Vandanaker, Jr, segarmkr, 627 Gaul
William Vandanaker, segarmkr, 627 Gaul
John Ragan, foreman, 625 Gaul
Frederick Bach, blacksmith, 623 Gaul
William Whinna, boiler mkr, 621 Gaul
A keyword search of the online 1890 Philadelphia City Directory does not show any homes on the site of the cemetery when the directory was compiled. By searching by the street addresses, houses were found on Vienna (Berks) Street across from the cemetery, houses were found on Gaul Street across from the cemetery, and houses were found on Belgrade Street across from the cemetery, but when trying to type in corresponding street addresses that should have appeared opposite of these addresses, there were no homes to be found, thus the cemetery lot was still there in 1890 and houses were not yet built.
In a newspaper article in the Philadelphia Press of March 13th, 1892, it was reported that the ground was sold and the remains in the cemetery were removed to Northwood Cemetery. On March 14, 1936, a fellow by the name of J.E. Sturgis Nagle stated that, "I have an aunt who is seventy years old, and she remembers when they removed the dead from an old burying ground which was back of a malt-house in Kensington. They dug up the bodies of soldiers, and the diggers gave the buttons from the uniforms to children." This statement is from the work by Charles. Barker, page 101.
Eventually two blocks of homes were built on the old cemetery lot, with houses facing Belgrade Street, Miller Street and Gaul Street. No homes were built facing Vienna (Berks) Street, but there was a small street cut through, running north and south, which eventually became Miller Street, and there were homes built to face Miller Street. In all about 48 homes, mainly 2 or 3 story brick structures, were built to sit on top of the old West Street Burial Ground.
The south part of the old cemetery was bordered by the old Malt House, owned by the Gaul Estate, hence the family name were we get the name of Gaul Street, which borders this lot. The Malt House lot took up about as much space as the old West Street Burial Ground, and it too was eventually converted into another 35 brick row homes, with homes facing Palmer Cemetery on Montgomery Street, as well as homes facing Gaul, Miller, and Belgrade Streets. This Malt House lot had the new “Miller” Street cut through it as well. These Malt House homes completed the two blocks that make up the area between today’s Montgomery and Berks Street and Gaul and Belgrade Streets, with Miller Street running down the middle north and south. The Malt House lot homes were presumably built after 1890 as well, as besides those addresses not appearing in the 1890 city directory, there is also a Hexamer Insurance Survey that was taken in taken in November of 1887, that shows the Malt House still being in operation and the Union Burial Ground bordering on the north.
In this illustration above, from the Hopkins' Atlas of 1875, the West Street Burial Ground is shown listed as the "German Burial Ground," another of the many names of this cemetery. The Malt House of Frederick Gaul is to the left of the burial ground, Gaul street above. Ridley Av. listed to the right of the burial ground would eventually become Miller Street and when the cemetery was done away with, Miller Street was brought through the old cemetery to Montgomery street, deadending into Palmer Cemetery, which is to the left of the Malt House and across Montgomery Street (not shown on this map).