Category: history

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Becks’ Philadelphia Brigade Band

Tanks to the Grand Army of the Republic Museum:

Becks’ Philadelphia Brigade Band is a Civil War era brass band portraying the brass band of the 2nd Division, 2ndCorps, 2nd Brigade of the Union Army of the Potomac in 1863. The Band plays the music of the Victorian era for concerts, ceremonies, balls, parades and commemorations. The band is authentically uniformed, playing music of the period on instruments that were correct for the time.  The program featured tunes played during the Civil War era, including Christmas songs that date back to the 1850’s, plus some vocal renditions from that period. Songs will include “Cheer Boys Cheer”, “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, “Shenandoah”, “Battle Cry of Freedom”, and “Dixie” (a personal favorite of President Lincoln.)

The music comes from manuscripts dating back to 1830, publications courtesy of the Library of Congress, and arrangements created for the band by our own members.

 

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Historical Society December Meeting – Carol Smith

The Historical Society of Frankford is hosting Carol Smith, the archivist for both Christ Church and its Preservation Trust, at its meeting and lecture on December 9, 2025, at 7:30 PM.

She will demonstrate the Digitizing Philadelphia’s Historic Congregations website, and discuss individual records found during the project. The Digitizing the Records of Philadelphia’s Historic Congregations project demonstrates that dissension, political unrest, and social reform initiatives are not without past precedent. Vestry minutes, sacramental registers, account books, sermons and more from Philadelphia’s earliest congregations help interpret the social and political world Philadelphia’s 18th and 19th century worshippers at 17 congregations inhabited. A grant from the Council for Library and Information Resources, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, supported this multiyear project. Supplemental funds from other sources and harvesting of previously scanned materials brought in other records and today there are more than 141,000 records online.

Carol W. Smith is an independent curator and archivist who has worked with the Christ Church Archives since 2005. She has a BA in American Civilization and an MA in Material Culture from the University of Pennsylvania and is a certified archivist. In 2022 she received the Sister M. Claude Lane award from the Society of American Archivists for the Congregations project.

The meeting and lecture will occur at the HSF library/museum at 1507 Orthodox St, Philadelphia. The event is free and open to the public. Live stream also available at this link:  https://www.facebook.com/TheHistoricalSocietyofFrankford/.  Light refreshments will be served.

The Historical Society of Frankford, founded in 1905, preserves and interprets the history of Frankford and Northeast Philadelphia  through its collections, exhibitions, and educational programs.

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March Meeting Historical Society of Frankford

March 11th is the opening day of the Historical Society’s 2025 program series. The subject is something never discussed in my memory, organ building in Frankford.  see below for more information.

John Roberts (1829-1877), Frankford Organ Builder

presentation by Gail Rodgers McCormick and Paul Marchesano

A native of Salford, England, John Roberts arrived in Philadelphia with his parents and siblings in 1848. Apprenticed in the organ trade in England, Roberts was soon offering his services repairing and building pipe organs in his shop on Frankford Avenue and Orthodox Street. He built organs in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, for a few years in the late 1850s, then returned to Frankford, setting up his residence and workshop at Orthodox and Penn Streets. Roberts and members of his family were among the early residents of the Orthodox Street block that was developing in the 1860s and has been home to the Historical Society of Frankford for over a century. Roberts’ organs graced many churches in the Philadelphia area, as well as in Chicago, Wilmington, and Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh organ (1874), one of only two Roberts organs known to be extant, was the first of many financed by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Although little-known now, John Roberts was at the forefront of organ building in Philadelphia during an early period of growth in the industry. 

Gail Rodgers McCormick, historian, archivist, and author, will discuss Roberts’ background and his life in Frankford. McCormick’s new two-volume history Charity, Change, and Community: Frankford’s Swedenborgians, 1817-1971, features John Roberts and his family, who were longtime members of the New Jerusalem Society of Frankford. 

Paul Marchesano, a professional pipe organ restorer, historian, and chairman/editor of the Organ Historical Society’s Pipe Organ database, will discuss the basics of organ construction and John Roberts’ role among other organ builders in Philadelphia and the United States. Paul recently advised the University of Pennsylvania on restoring its Curtis Sesquicentennial Exhibition Organ (Austin, 1926). He is president of Fans of the Curtis Sesquicentennial Exposition Organ, which plans to hold a centennial Symphonic Organ Symposium in 2026.

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Doors open at 6:30pm for in person attendance, live streaming begins at 7:30pm, click the Facebook link to the right. Refreshments served after the program.

 

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Looking for Everett Sons

From Patricia Biswanger”

I know this is an extremely long shot, but did anyone happen to know EVERETT SONS? He and his wife OLIVE SHEVLIN SONS lived in Frankford most of their adult lives; they both died in the early 70s. (They were my grandparents.) If you have a parent or grandparent still living who lived in Frankford in the 50s, 60s, or 70s,, can you please ask that person if s/he knew EVERETT SONS or OLIVE SONS? (If so, please message Patricia Biswanger on Facebook.https://www.facebook.com/patricia.biswanger)

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Thank You

I was just reviewing our Amazon book sales page and saw 5 books sold so far in September.  That was a lot of books but what surprised me was that they were all to one person.

3 were the “Heroes of Frankford High School” and 1 each of “Frankford Stories” and “Frankford Heroes“.

The “Heroes of Frankford High School” has been very popular this year.  It attempts to include all students (over 200 men and 1 woman) who attended Frankford High and later gave their life in service to their country.

Frankford Heroes is the story of the Frankford residents who gave their lives in service from the Civil war to the present time.  Frankford Stories is a good read about life in Frankford.  Its lots of nostalgia.

These books all came out of my experience of writing the Frankford Gazette for 13 years. I met Leon Brantley and he introduced me to Ned Johnson and they wanted some recognition for Frankford veterans.  Since I’m a veteran myself, I agreed and we started a monthly feature for the veteran of the month.

Doing all those stories, it reminded me that veterans are the ones who came home.  That was when I started to look for the stories of those who did not return. Every veteran remembers the day that he left home for basic training after taking the oath, not knowing what lay ahead.

Every Veterans Day we take pride in our service but think back to the sacrifice of those who did not return.  It could have been any one of us.

Veterans day is November 11th.