All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

ABC:LHS #075-4   Princess Olga Demidoff... ...was from one royal family and married into another, the house of Trubetskoy. She eventually married Philadelphia archeologist Edward Stoever, but supported herself as both an escort and as madame in a high-end New York brothel. Her name is on the tombstone, but she is located on an island off of Spain. 

ABC:LHS #075-3   In Paris before the Great War... ...he was known as Roberto Carles Eskens, but acquired the title of “The Marquis D’Eskens de Frenoys.”  Baron James Ivan Michael von Suttka was born in Canton, Ohio, and claimed to be an Olympic caliber pistol shot. Both men married rich American women. It is difficult to prove whether their titles were authentic - but I doubt it. 

ABC:LHS #075-2   Elizabeth "Libby" Shindler... ...was an Indiana farm girl / schoolteacher who caught the eye of philanthropist / hatmaker John B. Stetson and became his third wife. When left a widow with several million dollars, she was pursued and captured by a Portuguese nobleman who was not quite what he claimed. 

ABC:LHS #075-1   In the last quarter of the 19th century... ...there was a surge in marriages between European nobility and American heiresses as families exchanged money for titles. These women became known as "dollar princesses," and soon your east coast soiree was not complete without a contessa or marchioness to add to the flavor.     

ABC:LHS #075   In the late 19th and early 20th century...  ...more than 450 American heiresses traded their fortunes for a European title; they were called "dollar princesses." Elizabeth Shindler Stetson was the hatmaker's third wife who married into a Portuguese title. Roberto Carles Eskens claimed Belgian nobility as Marquis d'Eskens de Frenoys; or was he a German valet with a good story and a v...

BBB:LHWS #044   John W. “Jack” Merriam... ...made his fortune in real estate development – Oxford Valley Mall, Cedarbrook Apartment Complex, and others. Among his acquisitions was the Curtis Publishing Building on Washington Square, with its magnificent Maxfield Parrish / Louis Comfort Tiffany glass mosaic in the lobby. He was namesake for the Merriam Theater on South Broad Street, and he left ten...

ABC:LHS #074-5   2LT Elisha Kent Kane Wetherill... ...was a PAFA-trained artist who specialized in landscapes and beach scenes. He joined the Army in 1915 and served during the Battles of Ypres and the Somme. While he survived a gas attack, his lungs were apparently damaged, which led to his premature death in 1929. 

ABC:LHS #074-4   Alfred Reginald Allen, MD... ...was a UPenn med school grad, a clever researcher in neurologic injuries, a brilliant composer of operas and hymns, founder of the Savoy Company, and one of the finest photomicrographers in the world. But when he joined the Army, it was as a combat officer. He was killed, ironically, by shrapnel to his brain at Meuse Argonne. He has a cenotaph at Lau...

ABC:LHS #074-3   CPT Alan Wood Lukens... ...was variously reported as killed in action, missing in action, hospitalized at an unknown site in France, and possible prisoner of war. He had been killed in action in September, but it took the Lukens family until January to determine what had really happened to Allen. He was awarded a posthumous Distinguished Service Medal

ABC:LHS #074-2   1LT Dillwyn Parrish Starr... ...joined the military long before the United States entered the war. He had been a football star at Groton and at Harvard. He ended up with the Coldstream Guard where he was killed in action during the Battle of Somme. He is buried in France, but his family has added his name to their stone at Laurel Hill East.   

ABC:LHS #074-1   "The Workshop of the World"... ...provided doughboys with blankets, footwear, and head gear. By the time the US Congress declared war in April, 1917, hundreds of Americans had already been fighting, and many had died, the first of more than 125,000 Americans to die, including 1400 Philadelphians, in what many thought would be the "war to end all wars."  

ABC:LHS #074   The United States was dragged into a war... ...that it seemed nobody wanted, but that was inevitable anyway. Philadelphia produced massive amounts of materials for the American doughboys. 1LT Dillwyn Parrish Starr was impatient for action. He joined Britain’s esteemed Coldstream Guard and was readily accepted by them. He was killed at the Battle of the Somme before the United States...

BBB:LHWS #043   Polish born violinist Timothee Adamowski... ...was soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for many years and served as one of the first conductors of the Boston Pops Orchestra. For many years his name was romantically linked with that of famed Australian soprano Nellie Melba, but he surprised everyone when he married Gertrude Pancoast of a famed Philadelphia medical family.

ABC:LHS #073-5   George W. Melville... ...was the MacGyver of his day. He could seemingly create anything out of nothing when the situation called for it. As an engineer he was unsurpassed. He was one of only a few survivors of the ill-fated attempt to reach the North Pole by the ship Jeannette, captained by George DeLong. He then went back to recover the bodies of those who had been left behind....

ABC:LHS #073-4   Admiral Sylvanus William Godon... ...spent his life in the Navy. The high point was probably the capture of the USS Erie with its cargo of 897 enslaved Africans. The captain of that ship, Nathaniel "Lucky Nat" Gordon, went to the gallows for his crime. 

ABC:LHS #073-3   Commodore David Conner... ...was responsible for the successful amphibious landing of 12,000 men at Vera Cruz during the Mexican American War. His presentation sword and two medals are on display in the Cincinnati Room of the Hill - Physick - Keith House, along with a fine portrait. 

ABC:LHS #073-2   Isaac Hull... ...was a lifelong sailor from a family of sailors. He is best remembered today for being commander of the USS Constitution when it captured HMS Guerriere during the War of 1812. Fellow tour guide Russell Dodge wrote this script about the life of this great seaman. 

ABC:LHS #073-1   The United States... ...tried very hard to not have a Navy. It wasn't until the early 19th century that congress realized the need for a fighting force on the water. Capture of American merchant ships by the Barbary pirates and corsairs with letters of marque forced congress to release funds to fortify the Navy. Eventually the United States Navy was second only to the Royal Navy o...

ABC:LHS #073   Philadelphia has always been a Navy town... Isaac Hull led USS Constitution to victory against HMS Guerriere in the early days of the War of 1812. Fellow tour guide Russ Dodge wrote this script but declined the opportunity to narrate it. David Conner worked with Winfield Scott to arrange the largest amphibious assault of the 19th century at Vera Cruz during the Mexican American War....

BBB:LHWS #042-5   Dorothy Burr Thompson ("DBT")... ...was acknowledged as one of the best archeologists of her day. Her work of Hellenistic terra cottas has never been surpassed. Her younger sister Pamela Burr wrote a play while at Bryn Mawr that featured her classmate, Katharine Hepburn. 

BBB:LHWS #042-4   Anna Robeson Burr Brown... ...was an American writer of novels, poetry, stories, essays, and biographies. Her The Autobiography: A Critical and Comparative Study (1909), was the first book on the subject.

BBB:LHWS #042-3   Henry Armitt Brown... ...became the finest orator of his generation, frequently compared to Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. His life was cut short only weeks after his greatest triumph. You can read his words today at the Valley Forge Memorial Arch.  

BBB:LHWS #042-2   Frederick Brown... ...was a very successful druggist and a founder of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. When his friend John Jay Smith invited him to be a founder at Laurel Hill Cemetery, he accepted the offer. 

BBB:LHWS #042-1   Charles Brockden Brown... ...is regarded by scholars as the most important American novelist before James Fenimore Cooper.  His best-known works include Wieland and Edgar Huntly, both of which display his characteristic interest in Gothic themes. His works heavily influenced both Mary Bysshe Shelley and Edgar Allen Poe. 

ABC:LHWS #042   Five Generations of the Brown family... ...are interred at Laurel Hill Charles Brockden Brown was American’s first successful novelist. his influence on Edgar Allen Poe was immeasurable. He has a cenotaph in the South section of Laurel Hill East. Charles' nephew Frederick Brown was a successful druggist because of his ginger root-based nostrums. He was also one of four co-founders...