Tag: History

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Lydia Darragh

One of the most frequent search terms that brings people to the Frankford Gazette is “Lydia Darragh”.  I am not sure why but, possibly, there are not many sources of information on the web and we have had a few posts featuring her.  So in that light, our Friend, Joe Menkevich, has offered to share some of his research with a wider audience.

This first installment is a PDF of the Lydia Darragh story done by the Center City Historical Society in 1910 or 1911.  It is provided courtesy of the Historical Society of Frankford and was digitized by Joe Menkevich.

Although Joe does not entirely agree with any of the accounts, he says of this account: “It is pretty much the most thorough investigation and explanation of Lydia’s Walk to Frankford. It is largely the foundation for many of the modern day accounts on Lydia Darragh.”

He has provided some other information that we will be posting in the future.   At some point Joe will summarize with the conclusions he has drawn and provide what he believes to be the definitive account the the Lydia Darragh story.

Follow this link to download the file.  click on the “Save a Copy” tab in the upper
left hand corner of the Adobe Acrobat window to save to your hard drive or desktop.

From Joe:  “Although this publication from 1916 may now be considered Public Domain, you have not found it until now, close to 100 years later.  Please give credit where credit is due. It takes time, labor, generosity to preserve the historical records of our heritage and digitizing the records.

The Historical Society of Frankford has been preserving the documents for over 100 years. It also costs money to keep a roof over their head, pay the gas electric, water and taxes. This PDF. is a promotional  in the hope that you will visit, join and support The Historical Society of Frankford.”

“Please join the Society or donate some money.  The history you save is your own. Thank you.”

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William H. Sliker Photo and Arts Studio

The Norteast Times this week has another facinating (to me anyway) story on Northeast history.  The subject is the William H. Sliker Photo and Arts Studio in Bridesburg.  It is more personal to me because I grew up living on the opposite side of the street from the studio and remember the comings and goings of the studio very well.

The story is authored by Dr. Harry C. Silcox and Jack McCarthy of the Frankford Historical Society.  It is thanks to Sliker that we have so many views of Frankford and the Northeast surviving today.  These photographs were printed on postcards and offered for sale all throuthout the Northeast.  Back in that day when the telephone was rare it was at all unusual for people to send postcards the way we might call someone today.  To say, hey I got home ok or I’ll be coming to see you next month.  Many of them for sale on ebay still have those interesting messages

This is a Sliker image of the old police station and fire house in Frankford.  The fire house is now the Police Athletic League building.  They were a bit casual about the captions for their pictures and wrote them on the original negative in india ink which when printed came out white on the print.
Read the entire story here.

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An Evening with the Butch Ballard Trio

Butch BallardThe Historical Society of Frankford presented an evening with the Butch Ballard Trio last night.  This was a fund raiser for the benefit of the Bhilding Renovation Project.

It’s not every day we get to spend that much time with a legend but well over 100 people were there last night to enjoy the wine and cheese, the music and an opportunity to get together for a great cause.

Butch BallardThe Butch Ballard Trio last night was Butch on the drums, Sam Dockery on the piano and Dylan Taylor on the bass.  Now if we could make this a monthly event we would be on to something.  Butch Ballard Trio

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John Adams in Frankford

HBO began running the film version of David McCullough’s book “John Adams” last Sunday. It is a great story of a unique man in a unique time. I was curious if they would portray the trips that Adams had to make from Massachusetts to Philadelphia since he would have passed right through Frankford on the Kings Highway. The story jumped from his departure from home in Massachusetts and suddenly he was in Philadelphia at least 3 weeks later.

This week as I was reading the book, (John Adams by David McCullough, Simon & Schuster paperback, page 93) I came upon this passage which is of interest to us. It mirrors a scene in the movie that took place outside of the State House in Philadelphia.

In later years Adams would recall the warning advice given the Massachusetts delegation the day of their arrival for the First Congress. Benjamin Rush, Thomas Mifflin, and two or three other Philadelphia patriots had ridden out to welcome the Massachusetts men, and at a tavern in the village of Frankford, in the seclusion of a private room, they had told the New Englanders they were “suspected of having independence in view.” They were perceived to be “too zealous” and must not presume to take the lead. Virginia, they were reminded, was the largest, richest, and most populous of the colonies, and the “very proud” Virginians felt they had the right to lead.

So now we know, in his own words, what happened in a small room in a tavern in Frankford in 1775.

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History Shmistory

It is almost hidden in plain sight googlemap
on a busy street in Frankford. The Historical Society of Frankford is opposite the Frankford Friends school. These two venerable institutions form a vortex of learning and culture in a neighborhood rarely associated with either.

We visited the Historical Society (HSF) last week and took a tour with Debbie Klak, the current president. While the HSF has no public programs during January and February, work still goes on.

We met Harry Silcox, the prominent local historian, doing some research on the Edwin Forrest Home for Retired Actors and also Jack McCarthy the society’s archivist. We discussed the new organization of a Center for Northeast Philadelphia History which HSF is coordinating. A flock of volunteers came in while we were there and I could not tell you what they were doing except to say that they were very busy.

The building is larger that it first appears. Using parts of 3 floors, it is filled with both documents and artifacts from the 17th century through the present day. It would takes days to do justice to a review of the exhibits but some of our favorites were related to Benjamin Franklin, the Marquis de Lafayette, Hessian soldiers during the revolution, Lydia Darragh and Frankford during the Revolutionary War, the Civil War period in Frankford and of course the Lenape indians. It was something like the Antique Road Show of Frankford.

The document collection is extensive with literally thousands and books, records and maps to offer the researcher hours of new avenues to peruse. Genealogists looking for new routes to search, if your have ancestors in the Northeast, you may find that missing link right here.

Every institution goes through cycles of growth and rest. The Historical Society of Frankford is moving into the 21st century in a growth mode. With the influx of new folks coming into Frankford and the increasing interest in local history throughout the Northeast, things are definitely looking up.

It was a great tour for us and open house will resume for the public on the first Sunday in March at 1:00 PM. Meanwhile have a look at our slide show of some of the pictures from our tour on flickr.com.

[where: 1507 orthodox st. Philadelphia, pa 19124]