All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories Biographical podcast highlighting the permanent residents of Laurel Hill Cemetery in Pennsylvania.

On this day in 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, beginning World War I. The United States was dragged into t...
07/28/2025

On this day in 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, beginning World War I. The United States was dragged into this 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 (pictured) 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 even got officially involved.

For his story and more, check out episode #074 of All Bones Considered, available here or wherever you get your podcasts: https://jrlexjr.podbean.com/e/the-killing-fields-of-france-part-1-1lt-dillwyn-parrish-starr-cpt-alan-wood-lukens-maj-alfred-reginald-allen-2lt-elisha-kent-kane-wetherill/

07/23/2025

Brief biographies of permanent residents of Laurel Hill East in Philadelphia and Laurel Hill West in Bala Cywnyd, Pennsylvania. Often educational, always entertaining.

Available wherever you listen to podcasts.
https://jrlexjr.podbean.com/

07/16/2025

For about 30 years in the middle of the 20th century, medical wisdom had declared that destroying organically healthy brain tissue was a legitimate treatment for varying psychiatric disorders. The concept of psychosurgery dates back to the Neolithic period but became more prominent in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The champion for destroying healthy brain tissue was a Philadelphia born-and trained neurologist Walter Freeman, who performed the procedure several thousand times.

Robert A. Groff, MD, also trained at Penn, as well as under the legendary Harvey Cushing in Boston. Toward the end of his legendary career, he was convinced to perform a lobotomy on a patient who had already failed the procedure once. Groff did it twice, and when the patient and his mother were disappointed by the results they sued. But Dr. Groff died after giving his deposition, but before his case came to trial.

This podcast gives a history of psychosurgery, starting with trepanning, and covers it through the horror days of blind lobotomies with a butter knife to present-day stereotactic deep stimulation techniques.

https://jrlexjr.podbean.com/e/robert-a-groff-md-cutting-brain/

Born on this day: Dave Garroway!In the early days of daytime television, Dave Garroway was king. His laid-back style wa...
07/13/2025

Born on this day: Dave Garroway!

In the early days of daytime television, Dave Garroway was king. His laid-back style was perfect for the new medium and he became one of its top stars by hosting The Today Show.

For his story and more, check out episode #13 of All Bones Considered, available here or wherever you get your podcasts: https://jrlexjr.podbean.com/e/dave-garroway-and-the-today-show-peace/

London-born Esther DeBerdt Reed married a man who became George Washington’s right-hand man and switched her Tory allegi...
07/04/2025

London-born Esther DeBerdt Reed married a man who became George Washington’s right-hand man and switched her Tory allegiance to become a radial patriot; the organization she founded to provide some relief to the soldiers fighting for her freedom didn’t quite go the way that she had planned.

This Independence Day, take a listen to her story in episode #60 of All Bones Considered, available here or wherever you get your podcasts: https://jrlexjr.podbean.com/e/esther-deberdt-reed-from-tory-to-american-patriot/

This day (July 2), marks the 61st anniversary of the signing of The Civil Rights Act of 1964. Cynthia DeLores Tucker was...
07/02/2025

This day (July 2), marks the 61st anniversary of the signing of The Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Cynthia DeLores Tucker was a Philadelphia born and raised champion of Civil Rights in the 1960s and 1970s and worked closely with such icons as Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Shirley Chisholm, and Cecil B. Moore. She chose to spend the last years of her life fighting what she saw as the po*******hy of gangsta rap. She was vilified by the music community, which spared no words in trying to show how sad and out-of-date her thinking was. She now lies in an unmarked grave at Laurel Hill West in Bala Cynwyd.

For her story, check out episode #012 of Biographical Bytes from Bala. Available here or wherever you get your podcasts: https://jrlexjr.podbean.com/e/c-delores-tucker-turbaned-warrior-for-justice/

07/01/2025

This July 2025 episode tells of five people who really didn’t fit anywhere else.

Morton McMichael Hoyt married the same woman three times and once jumped off a steamship to impress a 17-year-old girl.

Major Wakeman Griffin Gribbel was gassed and wounded during the Great War; during one of several psychotic breaks, he mortally wounded a police officer, but a jury found him “not guilty.”

Fellow guide and amateur cemetery historian Tom Keels tells the rollicking story of Mabel Tinsley, one of the great con artists of the Gilded Age.

Louis Bossle was the city’s best-known ratcatcher; when he died, his nickname “Ratcatcher Lou” was carved on his obelisk.

For their stories and more, visit https://jrlexjr.podbean.com/e/a-handful-of-eccentrics/ or wherever you get your podcasts.

Lampmaker Robert Cornelius was interested and took what is now recognized as the first “selfie.” Frederick Gutekunst ope...
06/29/2025

Lampmaker Robert Cornelius was interested and took what is now recognized as the first “selfie.”

Frederick Gutekunst opened a studio where people flocked to have their picture taken.

Mathew Carey Lea helped photography make giant strides forward through his knowledge of photochemistry and then invented an entirely new branch of chemistry almost through serendipity.

Coleman Sellers II was a nationally renowned mechanical engineer for whom photography was a hobby, yet he managed to produce what is now acknowledged as the first motion picture.

For their stories and more, check out episode #033 of All Bones Considered, available here or wherever you get your podcasts: https://jrlexjr.podbean.com/e/smile-for-the-birdie-philadelphia-s-photography-pioneers/

06/26/2025

Rat Catcher Lou Bossle was proud of his profession - it is even carved onto his Laurel Hill West tombstone. Twice in the 1890s, Philadelphia newspapers sent a reporter to keep him company in rat-infested basements while he was on the job.

I'll tell you about the long relationship between humans and rats, and share some of the methods used by ratcatchers of yore.

If you're a little squeamish, this one might make you squeam.
https://jrlexjr.podbean.com/e/louis-bossle-the-best-rat-catcher-in-the-land/

Coming Soon! All Bones Considered: 52 Women of Laurel Hill CemeteryAvailable for Pre-Order NowAll Bones Considered: 52 W...
06/22/2025

Coming Soon! All Bones Considered: 52 Women of Laurel Hill Cemetery
Available for Pre-Order Now

All Bones Considered: 52 Women of Laurel Hill Cemetery tells the stories of radical patriot Esther DeBerdt Reed; founder of Mother's Day Anna Jarvis; America’s first prima ballerina Mary Ann Lee; champion amateur golfer Glenna Collette Vare; best-selling author Catherine Drinker Bowen; religious cult leader Jehovah Elimar Mira Mitta; early he**in overdose victim May Bibighaus; and a few dozen more women who made Philadelphia the vibrant city it has been for more than 250 years.

https://a.co/d/9oow3Fw

Address

Philadelphia, PA

Telephone

(215) 228-8200

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category