As part of the work we are doing on Bethel Burying Ground, we began to more closely look at the connections between who is buried at Bethel and who shows up in the 1838 Census. We have also been thinking through physical space and trying to find homes from the 1838 census that are still standing.
This led us to Francis Petts, cannon fire and the complicated timespace of 115 Queen Street.
Francis Petts (also listed as Peates and Peets in various documents) owned what was once 115 Queen Street. The numbers have now changed but the building is still there. The house includes three additional smaller townhomes as part of the property. The house fronting Queen street and these three smaller townhomes share a courtyard.
Francis Petts purchased the home in 1837 and owned it until his death in 1851 (please see all the evidence below). During that time, he provided his information to 1838 Pennsylvania Abolition Society census takers, listing himself, his wife and a child.
There are a total of 5 family groups at that address. 20 were native to Pennsylvania indicating that they most likely were not freedom seekers. 5 people however are not native and could have been freedom seekers. There are 4 children attending school and 5 not attending school. Most of the families attended Bethel, one family attended Wesley and the Petts family attended St. Thomas.
A Well Documented Life
Francis has a remarkable set of documents that still exist for him. He attended St. Thomas and he was a Mason. He has deeds, a will with notes about the disposition of his estate, he is listed as a Vestryman in the 1834 and 1835 records of St. Thomas, his funeral was advertised in the Public Ledger by his family and by his lodge. His lodge remembered him with a ceremony at the Philadelphia Institute.
We think that Francis Peets buried at Bethel Burying Ground is his son. Francis Peets died of tuberculosis on August 12, 1842. We think that Francis Peets is really Francis Petts jr. because a child is indicated in the 1838 census and in the 1840 US census, that child in Francis Petts household is in the correct age bracket, but the child is not in the 1850 US Census, and there is no mention of a child in the will.
The thing about Francis Petts is that, his existence and the way he lived, and where he lived, help us to see things in a new way
First, his will proves the circulation of the Black dollar
In his will he receives payments from two beneficial societies; the Sons of St. Thomas and The Benezet Society. One of the main reasons beneficial societies existed was to help with funeral costs, and in his will we can find proof of the dollars he put into the societies coming back to him and his family.
We also see that he is a landlord. People at 115 Queen and Gaskill are shown as making payments. As Gaskill was predominantly Black at the time, and as we have people listed in both 1838 and 1847 PAS census at 115 Queen, we assume that most of his tenants were Black.
In his will we see payments to Black businesses. There are payments to Francis Duterte, an undertaker who had a funeral home. There are payments to Sarah Ash, who was a known ‘layer of the dead’ who prepared bodies for burial. There is a payment to Jacob C. White for burial at Lebanon Cemetery.
Another interesting fact - William Rawle, a white abolitionist and first president of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, was Petts' lawyer.
All of this is vivid proof of an economically connected Black community.
Second, his location challenges our conception of Black socioeconomic concentration
Francis was wealthy and yet he lived in Southwark, an area that historically has not been associated with Black wealth. This is because Lombard and Pine between 2nd and Broad were where most wealthy Black people lived in the 1830s and 1840s.
After visiting the house and seeing the space, it’s clear that if 25 people lived there, they would be bumping into each other. The place seems large enough for families to have their own space, but small enough that there would be shared communal spaces. So unlike James Forten, another St. Thomas attendee, Petts' personal space was in very close proximity to people who were not in his wealth strata.
Knowing this changes how we think of Black elites during this time period. Because we now know of at least one Black elite family, the Petts, who lived a a more moderate lifestyle. This has us relooking at the 1838 statistics so that we too don’t fall into perhaps too easy definitions of social stratification and class in the Black community.
Third, his location brings brings the Black experience into conversation with and connecting two mob attacks
If Francis Peets was indeed the son of Francis Petts, it sets up a potentially complicated story involving mob attacks over time and trauma revisited.
Francis Petts died on August 12, 1842. This was 10 days after the 1842 mob attacks. He died of consumption, so he may have been sick at home for a period. This would have been a very difficult time for Petts Sr. and his wife who would have been dealing with the illness of their son, while also living through a violent and turbulent external environment.
Who knows how the mob attacks may have affected day to day operations of places like burial grounds. Petts Sr. was an active member of St. Thomas and yet his son was buried at Bethel Burying Ground. Was this because St. Thomas’ burial ground was not capable of holding a service during those times? Or maybe the parents wanted to bury their son close to home, where they could watch over his grave. Bethel Burying Ground was three blocks away from the Petts’ home.
This traumatic time was mostly likely re-surfaced in early July of 1844 when the church directly across from the Petts’ home became the scene of the mini civil war.
‘Nativists’ - people who believed that they had a right to space in Philadelphia because they were white, protestant and ‘native’ to Pennsylvania, entered into days of violence with people who were recent immigrants, white, and Catholic. These multiple days of violence are generally referred to as ‘The Nativist Riots’.
Black and white community leaders voiced their opinion that a decade of violence was allowed to continue unanswered against the Black community during the 1830s. The municipality sent a message that violence would be tolerated.
To be sure lax punishment from authorities helped to open the door for the white protestant vs. white catholic violence that occurred in July, 1844.
By 1844, 115 Queen was literally on the firing grounds of cannon fire and witness to over 15 deaths by gunfire on the street. St. Phillip Neri church, directly across from the Petts’ home was the scene of one of the most intense gun battles in Philadelphia’s history.
“By the evening, a large number of soldiers arrived with orders to clear the streets, only to be stoned in the process. After a captain was attacked, the order was given to fire on the mob, which resulted in seven fatalities and nine injuries. Not long after, people with muskets and cannons arrived, and fierce fighting broke out between the soldiers and the mob. The fighting lasted for several hours, with the soldiers being fired upon from alleyways and the windows of nearby buildings.
The soldiers brought in two cannons of their own and fired on the mob; the mob returned fire using their own cannons, armed with items such as nails, chains, knives and broken bottles. In an attempt to capture the mob's cannons, soldiers charged one cannon's position, only to be knocked off their horses by a rope tied across the street. The cannons were all eventually captured, and by early morning on July 8, the fighting had ended” (Wikipedia)
This violence was the driver for Philadelphia to create a stronger municipality - resulting in the Consolidation of 1854.
To Recap - An Unusual Space
A small community of Black families lived at 115 Queen street. St. Phillip Neri church was directly across the street and served the Irish Catholic community. The white protestant episcopal graveyard was directly to the east of 115 Queen and the Black protestant Bethel Burying ground directly to the west of 115 Queen making the 1844 timespace of Queen between 2nd and 3rd into a metaphorically and energetically complicated space.
What was it like for Black people living at 115 Queen who had just endured a decade of mob attacks to have this violence at their front door? What must it have been for the Petts family to re-experience the same spatial instability that surrounded the death of their son?
And what ‘side’ would most of the people at 115 Queen have taken as they watched a massive street battle unfold before them?
Finding Francis Petts' House
Francis Petts' deeds are listed here:
He also mentions the deed owned by the Queen street location’s previous owners in his will. Even though the names are different, this is the same person. He references deeds in his will as Francis Petts and his estate records show the selling of the home on Queen. Below you can see how the city directories also changed his name.
At some point after his death, the home must have been sold. We start to see Charles Beck at 115 and 117 Queen. After the consolidation the homes become 233-237 Queen.
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