Places and Their People, History, and Lore
Here is songwriter Stephen Foster’s grave and also those of his parents at Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh.
From this photo, you can see that:
1.) Stephen Foster’s birthday is July 4.
2.) Stephen’s father, William Barclay Foster, served as a veteran in the War of 1812.
In 2018, I took a guided tour of Allegheny Cemetery. This cemetery is on the National Register of Historic places.
Allegheny Cemetery includes a National Cemetery Administration’s soldiers’ lot. The Allegheny Cemetery Soldiers’ Lot is located in Section 33 of Allegheny Cemetery. The majority of the 303 soldiers buried here were Civil War soldiers. Most of the burials were of Union soldiers; however, the lot also contains several Confederate soldiers.
I returned to the Soldiers’ Lot in 2019 in order to take some photos.
I didn’t have any prior knowledge of this following soldier, but I Googled his name when I returned home.
From the Veterans Affairs / website for Allegheny Cemetery Soldiers’ Lot: Corporal John M. Kendig (Civil War). He received the Medal of Honor while serving in the U.S. Army, Company A, 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry, for actions at Spotsylvania, Virginia, May 12, 1864. His citation was awarded under the name of Kindig. He died in 1869 and is buried in Section 33, Lot 66, Site 32.
Here’s a grave for an unknown Union (United States) Civil War soldier:
Finally, here is a Confederate grave that I saw at the Soldiers’ Lot. Note how the headstone differs from that of a Union soldier.
I took a guided tour of Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh, in 2018. This tour included the Byers Mausoleum. The industrialist Eben Byers now rests here, inside of a lead-lined coffin.
Here are my absolute favorite history podcasts. These are the podcasts to which I re-listen to episodes.
I, personally, download podcasts from iTunes. However, I linked to each podcast’s website.
1.) Uncivil, from Gimlet Media, hosted by Jack Hitt and Chenjerai Kumanyika
I blogged about this Civil War podcast a few months ago. Each episode discussed stories and events that aren’t part of the common Civil War narrative. For instance, one episode taught me about female soldiers who enlisted in the army as men. Many of the episodes featured stories and events involving African Americans.
I complained about this podcast last year because Season #1 ended with no announcement and Gimlet said nothing about the status of Season #2.
2.) American Hauntings Podcast by Troy Taylor and Cody Beck
I included American Hauntings because the podcast actually taught me more about history then it did about the supernatural.
I posted about American Hauntings last month. Co-host Cody Beck commented on my post! Thanks, Cody!
Season #4 is Haunted New Orleans! I learned that Jean Lafitte the pirate might actually have NO actual connection to the building known as “Lafitte’s” Blacksmith Shop Bar. That the most graphic stories about Madame LaLaurie’s mansion may be fiction. (Though the LaLaurie family’s brutal cruelty towards their enslaved servants DID happen.) I learned about “quadroon balls.”
I even learned that Nicholas Cage (who also owned the LaLaurie Mansion) purchased for himself a pyramid-shaped tomb in New Orleans’ St. Louis Cemetery No. 1!
The entire first season highlighted Alton, Illinois. I didn’t even know that Alton existed until I found American Hauntings. I learned that Alton competed economically with St. Louis. It hosted a Civil War Prison AND a tuberculosis sanitarium. A LOT of people died horrible deaths in Alton.
I learned that an abolitionist named Elijah Lovejoy ran a printing press in St. Louis. Three angry mobs destroyed Lovejoy’s printing press three separate times. Lovejoy moved to Alton, Illinois and bought yet another printing press. A FOURTH angry mob, this time in Alton, destroyed Lovejoy’s fourth printing press. Also, the fourth angry mob shot and killed Lovejoy.
The Season #2 taught me about St. Louis, Missouri. Season #2 included a multi-episode feature on the Lemp brewing family. I learned that the most atrocious stories about the Lemps did NOT happen! (There is NO record that the young boy known as “Zeke” Lemp actually existed. Charles Lemp DIDN’T kill his dog. Lillian Lemp AKA “the Lavender Lady” DID face a child custody challenge from her ex-husband after she wore trousers in a photo.)
The audio quality of the episodes in the middle of the first season was not great. However, the audio quality improved greatly in Season #2.
Season #3, titled Murdered in Their Beds, covered the string of midwestern ax murders (including Villisca) that occurred at the turn of the last century. This was my least favorite season.
3.) Southern Gothic by Brandon Schexnayder
Each episode explored a dark historical event, place, or folklore tale from American Southern history.
I included Southern Gothic on this list because the host did advise when folklore did not match historical records. For example, in the episode about the Myrtles Plantation, the host noted that dates on the local death records do not match the storyline involved with the plantation’s most famous ghost story. (Troy Taylor mentioned this same thing during an episode of American Hauntings.)
I own a signed copy of Pittsburgh: The Story of An American City, written by Stefan Lorant with several contributors. I purchased it for $5 from a used bookstore. The book came apart in several places at the binding. The book contains almost seven hundred pages of Pittsburgh history and photos.
This book’s Chapter 3 The City Grows by Oscar Handlin includes a sidebar titled Pittsburgh in the News. This sidebar includes the following item:
“Joe Barker, a colorful street preacher, was arrested in 1849 when he was involved in a riot while delivering one of his many tirades against Catholicism. He was thrown into jail and while in prison he was elected as mayor of the city. After serving for one year he was defeated for re-election and sank into obscurity. He died in 1862 when run over by a train.“
(Wikipedia taught me that the train decapitated Mayor Joseph Barker. He is buried in Allegheny Cemetery.)
I took this at the Allegheny Cemetery Soldiers’ Lot, Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh, PA. This headstone marks the grave of a Confederate soldier from the American Civil War. (C.S.A. stands for “Confederate States of America.”)
Today marks a grim anniversary.
On September 17, 1862, Pittsburgh’s Allegheny Arsenal exploded.
Most of the 78 arsenal employees killed were young females (teenage girls). The arsenal manufactured munitions for the United States for the American Civil War.
Here are the photos that I took of the marker in Allegheny Cemetery for these industrial accident casualties.
A few months ago, I blogged about the time that Harry K. Thaw shot Stanford White over White’s relationship with Thaw’s wife, Evelyn Nesbit. (Thaw was from Pittsburgh, and Nesbit was born in Tarentum, PA, although the two of them met in New York City.)
I visited Thaw’s grave in Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh.
I didn’t put the rosary on this grave. I don’t know who put the rosary on the headstone.
Here is the marker for the Thaw family plot:
If you want to hear a podcast or two about Evelyn Nesbit, “The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing,” and Thaw’s murder of White, check out these podcast episodes:
1.) Criminal (hosted by Phoebe Judge), covered this in episode 91, The “It” Girl.
2.) Then, an episode of the podcast My Favorite Murder talked about this in episode 136 and heavily “cited” Criminal. (In my opinion, the bulk of the My Favorite Murder host’s “research” consisted of her listening to the Criminal episode! This is merely my personal opinion, though.)
In June 1906, Pittsburgh millionaire Harry K. Thaw shot and killed architect Stanford White on the rooftop of Madison Square Garden in New York City. In front of hundreds of witnesses.
Then Thaw shouted either “You ruined my life” or “You ruined my wife.”
White allegedly sexually exploited Thaw’s wife, Evelyn Nesbit, when she was 16 or 17 years old.
(Nesbit was born in Tarentum, Pennsylvania, which is across the Allegheny River from New Kensington.)
The resulting trial became known in that day’s media as the “Trial of the Century.”
One of my favorite true crime podcasts, Criminal (hosted by Phoebe Judge), covered this last year in episode 91, The “It” Girl. Then, an episode of the podcast My Favorite Murder talked about this and heavily cited Criminal.
I’m not going to regurgitate the Criminal podcast episode here. You should probably go listen to Criminal now.
However, this murder and trial in New York City involved two natives of Western Pennsylvania.
Nesbit was born in 1884 or 1885. Her father died when she was 10 or 11. The family ended up dependent on family charity and whatever income her mother could scrape together as a dressmaker. They left Tarentum. They moved to Pittsburgh and then Philadelphia. They moved to New York City when Evelyn was 15 or 16.
Nesbit supported her family through work as a model, chorus girl, and actress. She was still a teenager. She met the famous architect White. White was several decades older and married. They allegedly ended up in a relationship.
After Nesbit’s relationship with Stanford White ended, Nesbit married Thaw.
After Thaw murdered White, White’s alleged sexual exploitation of Nesbit and other young girls came out in the press.
Hollywood made a film about Evelyn Nesbit in 1955 titled “The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing.” The title of the film comes from a red velvet swing that White allegedly had installed in a “secret room” where he brought young girls.
Again, go listen to the Criminal podcast or else look up Stanford White on Wikipedia.
Nesbit and Thaw eventually divorced.
I joined an Allegheny Cemetery tour last year in Pittsburgh. I saw Harry K. Thaw’s grave on this tour.
Okay, now here’s something that bothers me: I’ve seen mention of Thaw’s murder of White in several books, websites, pamphlets, etc, about Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania. And in some of these places, I’ve read that Thaw shot White over a “love triangle” involving Thaw’s wife.
Now, if the allegations made against White are true, this wasn’t a love triangle!
White allegedly took Nesbit to a “secret room” that he had designed. He allegedly gave her drugs and / or alcohol. He allegedly took advantage of her while she was unconscious. He allegedly continued to exploit her. Then, he allegedly got bored with her and moved on to another young girl.
Keep in mind that Stanford White was a wealthy, highly respected New York City “thought leader.” Evelyn Nesbit was a teenager who HAD to work in order to feed her family.
Calling this a love triangle trivializes what really happened.
What stories from the past remind you of the “Me Too” movement?