Mount Moriah Cemetery
History
Mount Moriah Cemetery, incorporated in 1855 and established by an act of the Pennsylvania legislature, was operated under the auspices of the non-sectarian Mount Moriah Cemetery Association. The original cemetery occupied 54 acres in southwest Philadelphia, along Cobbs Creek. It boasted an ornate Romanesque entrance and gatehouse built of brownstone, on Islington Lane, today known as Kingsessing Avenue. Noted Philadelphia architect Stephen Decatur Button (1813-1897) designed this structure.
Mount Moriah Cemetery was among a number of cemeteries established along the "rural ideal" in vogue at that time. Philadelphia was a booming city, and many of its older, smaller urban graveyards, located in city blocks and alongside churches, stood in the way of development. The concept of large pastoral cemeteries originated in Paris, and Laurel Hill Cemetery brought this concept to Philadelphia in 1836, followed closely by Monument Cemetery and in 1840 by the Woodlands Cemetery. A spate of new cemeteries, including Mount Moriah, followed these and put the bucolic rural cemetery within the grasp of much of Philadelphia's middle class.
Over time, Mount Moriah grew to up to 380 acres, spanning Cobbs Creek into the Borough of Yeadon in neighboring Delaware County. The cemetery's large size made it the resting place for many Philadelphians, whether famous or ordinary. The scale of the cemetery also enabled churches, institutions and fraternal organizations to establish their own subsections within its bounds. An expansion called North Mount Moriah Cemetery, or Graceland Cemetery, in Yeadon was later abandoned.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Mount Moriah Cemetery held a notable place among Philadelphia's grand rural cemeteries. Easily accessible by streetcar, it was a popular public destination for remembrance or just a quiet retreat along the hillsides down to Cobbs Creek.
Mount Moriah has had its moments in the historical spotlight. Betsy Ross, Philadelphia's beloved seamstress of the first American flag, died in 1836, and in 1856 the remains of Ross and her later husband John Claypoole were moved from the Free Quaker Burying Ground in Old Philadelphia to Mount Moriah. In the run-up to Philadelphia's celebration of the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial, the remains of Ross and Claypoole were to be moved again, this time to the historic Betsy Ross House. Remains were not found at the monument at Mount Moriah, though, and remains found elsewhere in the same lot, believed to be those of Ross and Claypoole, were relocated to the Betsy Ross House, thus creating still-lingering doubts.
In the 1870s, the funeral procession for Henry Jones was turned away at Mount Moriah's gate. Jones, a caterer who previously had bought a lot in the cemetery, was of African-American descent. On March 6 of the Centennial year 1876, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Jones' right to burial.
In the mid-twentieth century, Mount Moriah Cemetery was one element standing in the way of a proposed Interstate highway I-695 called the Cobbs Creek Expressway, an upgrading of an earlier plan for a four-lane Cobbs Creek Parkway. The Fairmount Park Commission objected to the Expressway plans, and both Philadelphia and Yeadon interests wanted it built on the "other side" of Cobbs Creek from them. Not only was the cemetery in the way, but as a result of earlier road intrusions through cemeteries, its century-old enabling legislation stipulated that "no road or highway could be enforced" through it. The Cobbs Creek Expressway was never constructed.
During the latter half of the twentieth century, Mount Moriah and many other cemeteries of Philadelphia became victims of neglect. Suburban cemeteries replaced them in popularity, and the economics of perpetual care in the face of dwindling new business took its toll, aided by vandalism, dumping and theft. There has been a recent revival of interest in some Philadelphia cemeteries, through cooperative efforts by cemetery managements, "friends" organizations, foundations and volunteers. Sadly, even though Mount Moriah Cemetery is a National Historic Landmark and is on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, its fate is still in limbo. Mount Moriah Cemetery was placed on Preservation Pennsylvania's Most Endangered Historic Properties List in 2004 and on The Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia's Endangered Properties List in 2005.
On April 6, 2011, it was reported by the local news media that the cemetery was officially closed for business. Calls to the cemetery telephone number were greeted with the message "The Mount Moriah Cemetery is now closed for business effective immediately. Mount Moriah Cemetery is no longer accepting any orders. This includes orders for funerals or burials of any kind. No further information is available at this time."
Sections Within Mount Moriah Cemetery
U.S. Military Over 5,000 war veterans from the Civil War onward are buried at Mount Moriah Cemetery. A ten-acre "Naval Asylum Plot" within the cemetery was purchased in 1864 as a burial site for residents of the Naval Asylum, later known as the Naval Home, and remained in use until 1976; the Department of Veterans Affairs Plot holds over 2,000 burials and is maintained by the National Cemetery Administration unit out of the Beverly National Cemetery in Burlington County, New Jersey. The Civil War Soldier's Plot, containing over 400 burials, holds Civil War veterans.
Fraternal Organizations Organizations known to have plots within Mount Moriah Cemetery include the Masons (Keystone Chapter No. 175), Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and American Mechanics.
Removals From Other Cemeteries To Mount Moriah Cemetery
- Fourth Presbyterian Church
- First Baptist Churchyard (1889)
- Machpelah Cemetery (11th St. & Washington St.) (1895 to Graceland (North Mount Moriah) Cemetery, later abandoned)
- Ninth Presbyterian Church
- St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church
- St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Churchground (3rd St. & Spruce St.) (1855)
- Trinity Protestant Episcopal Grounds (Catherine St. below 3rd St.)
- Rose Burying Ground (41st St. & Ludlow St.) (1922)
- Roxborough Baptist Burying Ground (41st St. & Ludlow St.) (1922)
- Wharton_Street_M._E._Church Grounds (4th St. & Wharton St.)
Plot And Interment Records
Plot and interment records are not made readily available today by Mount Moriah Cemetery staff. Fortunately, interment records were gathered and microfilmed earlier and are available today in two places:
Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania 215 S. Broad St., 7th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19107-5325 215- 545-0391 www.genpa.org
Historical Society of Pennsylvania 1300 Locust Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 215-732-6200 www.hsp.org
Both organizations are located in Philadelphia and have visitor or membership fees and limited hours of operation, so call first. Both organizations have records for many Philadelphia-area cemeteries, including three reels of microfilm for Mount Moriah Cemetery burials, as follows:
- Reel 1: 1856 - June 1869, Surnames A - Z. June 1869 - June 1885, Surnames A - M.
- Reel 2: June 1869 - June 1885, Surnames M - Z. June 1885 - March 1898, Surnames A - Z. March 1898 - Aug. 1911, Surnames A - S.
- Reel 3: March 1898 - Aug. 1911, Surnames S - Z. Sept. 1911 - Dec. 1927, Surnames A - Z. 1928 - 1962, Surnames A - Z. 1963 - 1978, Surnames A - Z.
In addition, the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania has a mostly-complete computer database (in Microsoft Access) of Mount Moriah Cemetery interment records available at its facility. It contains over 79,000 individual records. While a few are duplicates and others contains partial and questioned spellings, it is possible to browse the file (be sure to go all the way to the end -- the alphabetical order repeats), and to filter by Section and Lot to see all records for a known lot.
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania holds various other documents concerning the cemetery. On its website, click on "Online Catalogs," then on "HSP OPAC" (Online Public Access Catalog) to run a search for them. A visit is required to view them.
Paper records are one thing, and on-site gravestones are another. The interment records simply contain names, interment dates, section, lot and grave numbers, and possible any notes. Gravestones can provide birth and death dates or years, and can indicate relationships. Unfortunately, at Mount Moriah Cemetery the presence of gravestones is outweighed by the lack of gravestones. It may be worth a trip, but be prepared for confusion, frustration and disappointment.
If you are seeking assistance with genealogy lookups, photo requests, or interment information, please subscribe to the Mount Moriah Cemetery email listserv (hosted by Rootsweb) and post your query; there are many volunteers who might be able to help. Please consider contributing your findings to this website.
From A Brief History And Research Resouces For Mount Moriah Cemetery Of Philadelphia, Pa, by R. D. Kerr
Published History
Mount Moriah Cemetery, north of the road to Darby, near the Blue Bell Tavern, was established about 1855, and opened about the beginning of July. The company was incorporated March 27th of that year. This ground, far removed from the heart of the city, is in a situation where improvements and the opening of streets will be less likely to interfere with it than any other cemetery in the city.
In this ground, principally by removal from other burying-grounds, are the tombs of men of considerable distinction in their time. The Baptists have a portion of the cemetery for their own dead, and the following are some of the inscriptions:
- "First Baptist Church — In memory of Mr. Abel Morgan, Baptist minister, who departed this life Dec ye 16th, 1722, in ye 49th year of his age."
- "The Rev. Mr. Jenkln Jones, late minister of the Baptist Church in this city, in which station be served 35 years. Died Jnly 6, 1769."
- "Rev. Henry Holcomb, D.D., ordained Sept. 11,1785. He was an officer of the Army of the Revolution, and a member of the South Carolina Convention which approved the Federal Constitution. Died May 22nd, 1824."
- "In memory of Rev. Morgan Edwards, A.M., pastor of the first Baptist Church of Phlla. for 11 years. Died June 28th, 1795,aged 73 years."
- "Rev. Tbomas Ustick, A.M., who was upwards of 20 years minister of the first Baptist Church of Phlla. Died April 18,1803."
- "Rev. Wm. Rogers, D.D., pastor of the first Baptist Church, ordained 1772. Died April 7,1824. In memory of their affectionate remembrance of a faithful pastor and of his services the first Baptist Church have erected this monument to his endearing memory."
Other ministers lie in this cemetery, among them Rev. Thomas H. Stockton, Methodist Protestant, and Rev. Newton Heston, Methodist Episcopal divine.
Commodore Jesse D. Elliott, of the United States navy, who died Dec. 10, 1845, is commemorated by a simple slab. Commodore Peter Turner lies near him. The lot of the National Guards contains a monument surmounted by the bronze figure of a soldier. When the cemetery attached to the United States Naval Asylum was abandoned, the remains of the seamen and officers were removed to Mount Moriah. There were four hundred and forty bodies, and each is marked by a separate gravestone. One of them is "to the memory of Thomas Johnson, who died July 12, 1851, aged one hundred years." Some of the family monuments are very handsome. That of John J. Jones, of West Philadelphia, has a colossal marble statue of "Time" upon a base of granite about twelve feet in height. Robert P. King, printer and publisher, who was the first president of the Cemetery Company, lies near a massive base of white marble surmounted by a marble cross. He died Sept. 27, 1868. Among the tombs of soldiers is that of Joseph C. Reynolds, private in Company D, Ninetyfirst Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers; he has an altar tombstone, on the face of which are carved in relief a musket, knapsack, cartouch-box, and haversack. He died from wounds received at the battle of Spottaylvania Court-House, Va. Upon the tomb is the sentence:
"Mother, one of us ought to go, Why not me?"
Other memorials are of Col. John W. Moore, of the Ninety-ninth and Two Hundred and Third Pennsylvania Volunteers, killed at the attack on Fort Fisher; Lieut.-Col. George W. Hawkins, Ninety-seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, killed at Hatcher's Run, Oct. 28, 1864 ; Col. George C. Spear, killed May 3, 1863. A striking memorial is that erected by William Wheatley, the actor, in memory of the Gale sisters, who were burned to death by an accident at the Continental Theatre in 1861:
"In memory of the Gale sisters, Ruth, died Sept. 17th, 1801, aged 16 years. Zella, died Sept. 25th, 1861, aged 17 years. Adeona, died Sept. 15, 1861, aged 19 years. Hannah, died Sept. 15, 1861, aged 22 years.
Strangers who through this city of the dead, With thoughtful soul and feeling heart may tread, Pause here a moment: those who sleep below With careless ear ne'er heard a tale of woe. Four sisters, fair and young, together rest In saddest slumber on earth's kind breast, Torn out of life in one disastrous hour, The rose unfolded to the budding flower, Life did not part them,—Death might not divide. They lived, they loved, they perished side by side. O'er doom like this let kindly feelings shed The softest tears that mourn the early fled, For whom, lost children of another land. This marble raised by weeping friendship's hand. To us—to future times remains to tell How even In death they loved each other well. With a mother's tearful blessing They sleep beneath the sod; Her dearest earthly treasures Restored again to God."