This year's focus is also about a Burlington County, New Jersey resident and Revolutionary War Soldier, Oliver Cromwell.
Oliver was born in 1752 in Black Horse, NJ (now Columbus). It's believed he was a free from birth, and his ancestry was mixed with White and possibly Indian (side note: I looked up a few different US Census records from his lifetime and his race is listed as either Mulatto or Black depending on the year). Oliver spent his early life working on a farm owned by an uncle but unfortunately, didn't learn to read or write.
Oliver enlisted in the Second New Jersey Regiment in November 1776, and was part of the first group of African Americans to join in the war. At the start of the Revolutionary War, the official policy was that no African Americans would be allowed to enlist. However, this ban was lifted after the British offered freedom to any enslaved Blacks who joined their cause.
During his more than six years of service, Oliver fought in many key battles and milestones of the war, including crossing the Delaware with Washington on Christmas Day, wintering in the harsh conditions at Valley Forge,the Battle of Monmouth, and the final battle of Yorktown. His discharge papers were personally signed by General Washington and he was awarded a "Badge of Merit" ( an early version of the Purple Heart) for his long and dedicated service.
Afterwards, Oliver returned to normal life and fathered 14 children. In 1818 he applied for a military pension for his service under a new law that granted pensions to Revolutionary War veterans in need.His first request was denied, but with the help of a local lawyer and politician wrote wrote letters on his behalf, he second request was approved in 1820 and he was approved to receive a small sum of $96 per year (equivalent to about $2,000 today). Oliver owned a 100 acre farm outside of Burlington, NJ until 1840, when he moved into a home at 114 E Union St, Burlington, NJ.
Oliver loved to tell stories about his time fighting in the Revolutionary War and spoke fondly of General Washington. After his death in 1853 at 100 years old, Oliver was buried at the Broad Street Methodist Church however, his grave was never marked with a headstone and its exact location is unknown. His home at 114 E Union Street is still standing and is a private residence.
Sources:
I first heard about Oliver Cromwell from the Burlington County Black History tour pamphlet
Revolutionary War Journal is a great source if you are interested in learning more about Oliver's Military service
Crossroads of the American Revolution has an interesting page about Oliver, which mentions some facts I didn't find anywhere else
]]>For Black History Month this February, I wanted to focus my research on someone local, and by local, I mean really local. I love Philly and live in the Greater Philadelphia Area, but on the other side of the river in New Jersey, specifically Burlington County (no Jersey jokes please, we're not that bad). There were many fascinating people to choose from (I already have my project for February 2021!) but this year my focus was on Dr. James Still, the "Black Doctor of the Pines", who lived and practiced herbal medicine in Medford, NJ, in the mid-late 1800's.
Despite growing up just a short drive from Dr Still's Office site, I had never heard of him before I started my research last fall. Luckily, Dr. Still published an autobiography of his life in 1877, still in print and available at the library, which made my job a lot easier. Next, I visited the Dr. James Still Historic Office and Education Site and interviewed Samuel Still, director and second great nephew (!) of Dr. Still.
I made the Dr. James Still illustration above based on his suggestions and feedback, and it will be sold at their museum store and events. Their organization is fundraising to restore and re-open Dr. Still's original office on Church road in Medford, and sales of my design will help this cause and expand the offerings at the Education Center.
As I read through Early Recollections and Life of Dr. James Still I found it very fascinating how he managed to become a doctor at a time when many black people in the United States were still enslaved, people of color were not allowed to go to medical school and racism was not only legal, but also the norm– yet he treated both blacks and whites and his practice became so successful he became one of the biggest landowners and richest men in Burlington County, NJ. Read on to hear a bit of his story.
James’ parents were both former slaves; his father, Levin, had bought his own freedom and helped his wife, Charity, escape from slavery. They moved from Maryland to Shamong, New Jersey a few years before James was born. While his parents enjoyed their freedom, they were also very poor. They lived in a simple log cabin without a stove or windows and were often short of food and clothing.
In 1815, when James was 3 years old, a local doctor visited to give vaccinations to James and his siblings. Of that day James said,
“ The doctor performed the duty and I have sometimes thought that the virus being inserted in my arm must have taken better than usual, for the sting of the lancet yet remains.”
From this day forward, James felt strongly in his heart that he wanted to be doctor, he found piece of glass and attached a little bit of bark to be the needle and would play and pretend to be healing the sick. As he grew older he began to realize it was an impossible goal - the only doctors he knew were white, medical schools did not accept black students and even if they did, he was from a poor family with no money to pay for college.
James became an adult, and as many adults do, put his childhood dream aside and busied himself with other jobs. While he continued to be very poor, he was able to buy a small plot of land, build a cabin in Medford, NJ and start a family. Sadly, he would lose both his wife and young daughter, one of his brothers and his father in the span of a few years. Seeing his father die with just enough money to pay his debts, with nothing left over for his wife and children, motivated James to find a more lucrative profession than farming & laboring.
At age 31, James bought a still and began to distill herbs like peppermint and sassafras into oils. His oils were not medicinal but he sold them to pharmacists in Philadelphia and going into pharmacies reminded him of his past interest in medicine. So he decided to expand his knowledge and bought two books about medical botany. Reading through the books awakened a passion inside of James and a feeling that this was what he was born to do. He started by making tinctures for his family and then a neighbor offered to let him dig up some sassafras roots in his yard if James would give him something to cure him of the piles.
James studied his books, gathered some herbs and borrowed a mortar and pestle from a friend to grind them. He gave the treatment to his neighbor and within a few days, his neighbor was delighted to find he was well. Word quickly spread about James’ work and more and more people were beginning to call on him for his herbal medicine. He found he had a natural ability to know just the right medicine for a particular disease despite not having formal medical training. So many neighbors called upon James for his treatments, he built a wagon so he could attend to them faster. The local doctors would see James riding in his homemade wagon made of rough pine boards and make fun of him, “There goes black Jim, healing the sick!” James would sometimes laugh at himself, but it also occurred to him that he was fulfilling his childhood dream of practicing medicine.
James continued to improve his knowledge and bought a book about disease and the human body. His popularity as an herbal doctor was spreading fast, and he continued to tend to the sick, but was not charging any money for his services as he considered it “a friendly service to a fellow being”. He needed to keep up his distillery business so he could make a living but so many people were requesting his treatments, he had little time for distilling. His work with herbal medicine felt more important but he was afraid of charging money because he didn’t have a medical license.
James consulted with a lawyer who confirmed he couldn’t legally charge money for medical treatments, but he could charge for his medicines and delivering them to him patients. So, in 1849, nearly six years after he bought his first book on medical botany, James adjusted his way of working and was finally able to benefit financially from all his hard work. From this point on, James said,
“it seemed as though the dark and cloudy morning of my life was about to give way to a bright and shining day.”
He was able to get a more respectable wagon, pay off his debts, buy several plots of land and a new house along the main road in Medford, where he eventually built an office to see patients and dispense his medicines.
James enjoyed a long career in medicine and treated the sick from his office on Church Road in Medford, NJ, until his death in 1882. He attended a great range of patients, from babies a few weeks old, to people in their 90s, and even other doctors, who would call on him when their own treatments failed. Despite being born into poverty and not being allowed to go to medical school, Dr. James Still achieved an impossible goal and became the “Black Doctor of the Pines”.
The Dr James Still Education Center is small but definitely worth a visit! There is a outdoor garden and two mile nature trail behind the center and you can enjoy both in a two hour visit.
Dr. James Still Historic Office and Education Site
211 Church Road, Medford, NJ 08057
Open 1st and 3rd Sundays from 1 to 4 pm every month
Early Recollections and Life of Dr. James Still - Autobiography by James Still, available on Amazon or at the Dr James Still Education site.
]]>Whether you’re a tourist visiting Philly for the first time or a lifelong native who hasn’t studied local history since your 5th grade social studies trip, you owe it to yourself to experience at least a little taste of Ben Franklin. If you’re short on time, this itinerary is FOR YOU. Oh, and did I mention, it’s all FREE?
]]>Philadelphia has so much BEN, you could easily spend an entire day or three, trying to squeeze in all the sights, but then you’d miss all the other great spots the city has to offer. If, like me, you’re short on time, this itinerary is FOR YOU. At the end of the tour, you’ll feel like B.F.’s B.F.F and only be down about 90 minutes. Oh, and did I mention, it’s all FREE? After paying to park in that all day garage or taking a chance with on street parking and feeling the wrath of a PPA ticket, trust me, you’ll like that price. Let’s get started!
Start your trip on Market between 3rd & 4th streets, where you can leave the bustle of the modern city and step back in time and into a colonial themed and fully operational post office. If you’re sending a Philadelphia postcard back home, make sure you send it from the B. Free Franklin post office, where your stamp will be hand canceled with Ben Franklin’s signature. Even if you’re not planning on mailing anything, it’s still worthwhile to take a quick peek inside.
Why it’s important: This post office was started by Ben Franklin in 1737 and quickly became a city landmark. In 1775, Ben Franklin was appointed the first Postmaster General and helped to shape the modern US Postal service.
To the right of the post office, you can walk through the same tunnel Ben Franklin walked through and explore Franklin Court Courtyard. The courtyard is filled with many interesting historical markers, gardens and pathways, making it a nice place to visit for everyone in your group, including younger children and those not that interested in history.
Why it’s important: The courtyard “ghost house” shows the size and location of the home Ben Franklin lived in until his death in 1790, and markers around the house help you imagine what the house was like.
From the courtyard, you can enter into the back of Franklin’s print office, where there are two working printing presses and a bookbindery. You can stay for a demo and learn about typesetting and printing during Ben Franklin’s time.
Why it’s important: Ben Franklin started his professional life (and made his fortune) as a printmaker, publishing influential papers including the Pennsylvania Gazette newspaper and Poor Richard’s Almanac.
Just a quick 5-10 minute (2.5 block) walk from the Franklin court printing office is the final destination of both your tour and Ben; Ben Franklin’s grave at Christ Church burial ground. The burial ground is open for paid admission & tours from March – November, but for those visiting in the off season or needing to get back to work (ahem, as your 90 minutes is almost up), entrance isn’t necessary, as the Franklin family plot is visible and accessible from the sidewalk along Arch street. It’s customary to toss a penny on Franklin’s grave, “a penny saved is a penny earned”, but feel free to skip that part in the spirit of keeping this tour completely free.
Why it’s important: Ben Franklin died in 1790, and more than 200 years you're reading this blog post....... I'd say that's worth a visit!
*** If this itinerary has made you a Ben Franklin fan ( or you just love Philly history!) please check out my hand illustrated Ben Franklin Philadelphia postcard , which celebrates his achievements as a scientist, statesman, author and inventor.
]]>This Thursday, as you get ready to shop, cook, and overeat four different types of pie (or is that just me ;), I want you to remember not only the Pilgrims and Wampanoag Tribe who celebrated the first Thanksgiving in 1621, but also the woman who helped make it a national holiday.
Sarah was a Ben Franklin type, with far too many accomplishments to list here, but her greatest legacy was being editor of the Godey's Lady's Book, the most widely distributed magazine of the mid-1800's. The Philadelphia-based magazine was the only one of its kind and had a HUGE influence over American culture and trends. Hale served as editor from 1837-1877, an incredible 40 years.
The first Thanksgiving may have been celebrated in 1621, but for more than 200 years, it was not an official US holiday and had no set date. Depending on what state you lived in, you might not have even celebrated it. But Sarah was born in New Hampshire, where Thanksgiving was a big thing and she wanted it to become a holiday for everyone in the county. She used her influence as editor of Godey's Lady's Book to promote its importance and wrote letters to government officials about it for over 20 (!!!) years.
In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln was either sick of hearing about it or convinced, because just 5 days after receiving Sarah's letter, he made an official declaration making the last Thursday in November a nationally observed holiday. The country was in the midst of the civil war and Lincoln hoped celebrating Thanksgiving would “heal the wounds of the nation.” Except for a brief period from 1939-1940, when President Franklin Roosevelt tried to move Thanksgiving up a week to extend the holiday buying season, Thanksgiving has been celebrated at the same time ever since.....
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Not only is Bassett's the Reading Terminal's oldest vendor, they were the very first business to reserve a stall and have been serving the Reading Terminal Market ice cream since opening day in 1893. Bassett's has moved to different locations within the market, but incredibly has used the same marble countertop for over 120 years.
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When the Reading Terminal Market first opened in 1893, one of its most high tech features was the huge, cold storage facility in the basement. Cooled by ammoniated brine running through miles of coils, the basement was filled with cold storage rooms both large and small. Spaces were rented by Reading market vendors and the public, including wealthy families looking for more refrigerator space, breweries for storage of hops and hospitals to preserve medicines. In the early days of Reading Terminal Market, long before the wonders of air conditioning, tours of the space during the summer months were very popular. Though it was incredibly expensive to run, the original cold storage was used until 1960 before being shut down and abandoned for 20 years. After renovations in the 1980's, the basement again became a cold storage space and continues to be used by vendors today.
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Amazingly, many of the booths in Reading Terminal Market are original market stalls, with shelving, hooks, and decorative wood pieces, dating back to 1893. DiNic's Roast Pork in booth 616 (once the location of H. G. Ochs Meats) is a great example of the market's original meat hanging hooks. All throughout the market floor, the thick, steel support columns throughout the market also original to 1893.
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If you visit Reading Terminal Market today, you will see signs throughout advertising free grocery delivery for a 16 miles radius. While home grocery delivery feels like a modern trend, it is actually a return to earlier times. Reading Terminal Market had its first telephone installed in 1902, and by the 1930s did half its business over the phone. The market was famous for its free delivery - both by local delivery boys working within Philadelphia and also the option to have groceries shipped by train along the Pennsylvania and Reading railroad lines, where you could pick up your purchases up at the closest train station.
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The Amish at Reading terminal are one of the most memorable vendors in the market, with their handmade wares and traditional offerings, they seem to fit in perfectly with the original businesses from the late 1800's. But, while the Amish themselves are a group with a long history, they are a more recent addition to the market. The Reading Terminal Market Amish vendors came in 1980, during a rough time in the market's history. Starting in the early 1950's, the market had been in a decline - rents continued to rise, the building was badly in need of repairs, and more and more vendors were leaving. Following a few years of bad management, the market was at its lowest point in 1977, with 80% percent of the stalls empty. With low start up fees and lots of empty space to choose from, the Amish took a chance and rented a large market stall space near 12th & Arch Streets. In the next few years, the market saw a revival and not long after Reading Terminal's 100th Birthday, was again full of merchants. Today there are 11 Amish-owned businesses in the market, selling pretzels, meats, cheeses, produce and more.
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If you're a fan of Reading Terminal Market, check out PhilaCarta's Reading Terminal Market Collection featuring favorite Reading Terminal Market food.
]]>If, like me, you missed the controversy, here's a quick run down : to celebrate the 4th of July, Nike announced it was releasing a special edition of their Air Max 1 shoes with a Betsy Ross flag embroidered on the heel. Many activists were angered by the new Nike Betsy Ross Flag sneaker, including most famously, former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and saw the 13 star flag as a racist symbol and a celebration of slavery in the United States. Nike responded by canceling the release of the Betsy Ross flag shoes and creating a larger conversation on whether or not the colonial American flag from 1776 should be seen as a hate symbol with both support and criticism from different sides.
Now, I began to feel confused and ashamed. Did selling products with the 13 star, Betsy Ross flag make me a racist? I felt particularly bad about it because a wonderful customer and strong supporter of small, independent artists had hired me to create personalized cards with the flag to send to his clients for 4th of July this year. He had reached out to me about the design back in February, long before the Nike announced the Betsy Ross Flag shoes, and unknowingly sent the cards at the same time the story broke.
When I had created the Betsy Ross Flag art in 2018, under the guidance of the Betsy Ross House Museum, I was making it as a celebration of of history and education - the design explains the meaning behind the first American flag's colors and symbols and lists the original 13 colonies in the order they entered the union. I didn't know the Betsy Ross flag had begun to be used as a symbol of hate groups.
But as I researched more about the Betsy Ross flag controversy, I was reminded of another group of people who had adopted a historic symbol and turned it into something it was not.
The swastika is an ancient symbol first used during the neolithic period (aka the Stone age). In the 10,000 years since, the symbol has been used in many religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, often as a symbol of spirituality and peace. In Japanese culture specifically, the symbol has been used for over 1,500 years, the Chinese character for swastika translates to "good fortune" and the swastika has been used on maps to mark locations of buddhist temples.
But 1,500 years of symbolizing peace & good fortune were erased by a comparatively short period of history, when the Nazi party adopted a version of the swastika as their symbol and it became a representation of hate. Nearly 100 years have passed and use of anything close to the symbol (at least in Western opinion) is still taboo - when searching for a swastika image on Wikipedia commons to use in this blog post, I had to read through disclaimers and guidelines alerting me the image was banned/illegal in Germany and nine other countries.
While I don't support the views of Nazi party or the hate groups that have adopted the Betsy Ross flag, I also feel that the opinions of one group of people shouldn't erase the past. If a symbol is turned into something it is not, and we let that symbol go quietly without a fight, and ban the use of that symbol going forward we are letting the hate group win. I want to pause for a moment and acknowledge I am not black, nor Jewish, so I can't know how I would feel about these issues if I were in their shoes. I want to be sensitive to their views, but also not shut down opposing opinions without a discussion.
]]>I'll start in the very beginning:
I love to draw. This love started in toddlerhood and never went away. My mom likes to tell a story of when I was 2 or 3 and she found me holding a small plastic pig in one hand and a crayon in the other - I was staring intently at the pig and trying hard to draw it, exactly the way it looked in real life. I remember this pig very vividly - it was not a cartoon fisher price pig, it was a realistic looking pig from one of those basic, cheapie farm sets and it was not cute and not smiling and I thought it looked a little scary...but I would stare at it often, trying to figure out all the parts, especially the place at its mouth where there was an extra bit of plastic that I knew was a mistake and wasn't supposed to be there. Maybe it wasn't only because of this pig, but anyway, I love to draw, enough so that when it came time to go to college, I couldn't think of anything else I wanted to study more than drawing, eventually earning a BFA in Illustration from University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
I was very lucky during college to get my *very first* freelance illustration job - creating handbills/posters for shows at the Electric Factory and other Philly concert venues. It didn't pay very much money, but I had almost full creative freedom, refined my drawing skills and got into a ton of concerts for free - it is still one of my favorite jobs of all time. I also started an online shop on eBay and Etsy (during the early days of Etsy - 2006!) selling prints/posters of my work directly to customers. I got some sales but I wasn't too serious about putting myself out there ( if only I could go back in time, I'd do a ton of things differently!)
After a few years, my concert poster job ended I stopped selling my work online. I also found out it was hard to find consistent illustration work, so I ended up getting a full time job as a graphic and product designer. This job had its perks - I worked on projects that were sold nationally in huge stores like Target and Walmart, I learned to work fast and started recognizing market trends. However, my job was to be be a designer, not an illustrator so I rarely had the opportunity to draw. The company I worked for only made items that were mass produced in China and sold at $5 or less, so they were often low quality and would quickly break and become trash. Trying to buy locally made products, being kind to the environment and reducing waste is important to me, so these two parts of my job weighed heavy on my mind.
Fast forward to 2017 - I had now been working in the design world for over a decade - after leaving my product design job, I had worked at various design companies and dabbled in multiple types and styles, including corporate design for a large financial institution, production work for an ad agency, web design for small businesses and packaging design for a toy company. After trying all these different paths, I kept coming back to three main points, I loved the flexibility and freedom of working from home, I wanted to own my own business, and most of all, I wanted to draw as much as possible.
There is one big part of my story I haven't mentioned yet, and that's the history component - I like to add a bit of historical research behind all of Phila Carta's products, even though it makes everything take longer to finish. I will admit, I have NOT been a history fan since childhood, after math and gym it was one of my least favorite subjects in school. I don't have a great memory for facts or names or places and I didn't know much about Philadelphia history before I started. But I have always loved learning new things, and I happen to have a husband with a great memory and degree in history who would occasionally mention some random historical fact which would start my head spinning and make me want to know more. It also helps that he works at a family business that has been operating on Philadelphia's Jewelers Row since 1898 (!!!) and sometimes brings home historic relics that he finds in the basement.
My husband was the one who told me about the first map of Philadelphia from 1683 and William Penn's plan for the new city and the importance of Philadelphia's five squares. This inspired me to create a modern day version of the map for my final project of a letterpress class I was taking in early 2017. While the map started as a "just for fun" personal project, something clicked while I was working on it and I knew I wanted to turn it into something more. When the class ended, I hired a letterpress printer (who actually knew what they were doing, unlike me) to re-print the map and reached out to a few stores/museums to see if they would be interested in buying it. The rest is, (as they say) HISTORY ;)
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Elfreth's Alley has a long history of being home to artisans, tradespeople and small business owners and being a working artist and wannabe entrepreneur, I immediately felt a connection to the past residents of the street. Like myself, the small business owners of Elfreth's Alley all worked from home. Read on for some some work from home tips I learned from Colonial America:
]]>2) Give the Kids a Job
Childhood was not the carefree, kid-centered time it is now, children were expected to WORK and work hard. From toddler age up until 12 or 13 when they were old enough to get an apprenticeship and start making money outside the home, there were few toys and little to no time to play or spend long hours attending school - kids helped out with both the family business and household chores. Now that I'm thinking about it, I have a 12 year old who's old enough to apprentice out.... there's no reason why she couldn't write a few blog posts for me ;)
3) No Pulling All Nighters
It's tempting to try to get a few extra hours of work in when you should be sleeping, but for the colonial era residents of Elfreth's Alley this was not very practical. The purpose of large front windows in colonial homes was not just to let passersby see their handiwork, but also to let as much sunlight in as possible. Without daylight, 18th century homes were very dark and for many types of makers, it became difficult or impossible to work. While candles were used during this time, they were pricey and conserved as much as possible - especially during the gloomy winter months, one really had to decide if their work was "worth the candle". With all the current research on the dangers of not getting enough sleep, maybe colonial people actually had the lack of light to their advantage.
If you haven't visited the Elfreth's Alley Museum House yet (or it's been a few years since you've been), make a point to make it there this summer. The museum has gone through a few changes recently and has a few new features, including my favorite - a new garden filled with plants that would have been growing in the colonial era. The admission fee is just just $3 for adults ($8 for a guided tour) you can visit in less than an hour, and get a great feel for the life of Philadelphia's earliest residents. I've made a few items featuring Elfreth's Alley, including a kitchen towel, postcards and letterpress map and you can find them on my site here: PhilaCarta Elfreth's Alley Products.
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