A request from the mailbag:
My name is Debbie Strand, and I am assisting with the effort to help restore Mount Moriah Cemetery to some semblance of a respectable resting ground for thousands of Philadelphia's great ancestors (including a great-great-grandfather of mine). I spent some time reviewing your website last night, and I must tell you it is very interesting! Thank you for taking the time to enlighten others about the responsibility we have as a society to respect and maintain such important historical structures.
I have been trying to gather information on a church called Advent Protestant Episcopal Church, or Church of the Advent, in Philadelphia. Supposedly this church owned a section of burial plots at Mount Moriah, but I have been unable to find any information online which could be helpful to me. I did uncover an artist's drawing of the church on Flickr-- http://www.flickr.com/photos/library-company-of-philadelphia/4700228189/, and the note below the photo which says it is located on Old York Road.
My question is-Have you ever heard of this church, or photographed it? Is it still standing? Or perhaps you know if it has been refurbished for a different purpose? Better yet, maybe you know whom would I contact to find out if any records were kept regarding burials of former parishioners at Mount Moriah? Any information you could provide would be helpful.
I appreciate your consideration-
Ooooo, I love a good treasure hunt.
For what it's worth, I've attached Debbie's photo above. I did some checking around, and I found an entry in a Philadelphia architectural database for a Church of the Advent at 2507 N. 5th Street, near 5th & Cumberland. The church is still standing, and is apparently still in use as the Juan 3:16 Asambleas de Dios, a chapter of the Assemblies of God sect.
However,
that's the only entry for a church with that name. Nothing comes up on
or near Old York Road, and the church (which you can see through Google streetview) isn't an exact match for the one in the picture.
Even
given the inevitable exaggerations that come with artists' renderings,
the different address makes me think it's not the one she's looking
for--although
if there was another Church of the Advent, or if it had a different
location originally, I'd think it would have shown up in the database.
So I put it to you, good readers. If anyone knows anything about this church or its whereabouts, please chime in.
book record for a history of the church: http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008414357
ReplyDeleteAvailable through Google - http://books.google.com/books?id=V1VKAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
ReplyDelete-Christopher William Purdom
http://www.ushistory.org/philadelphia/formerstreets.htm
ReplyDeleteFifth Street, from Green Street to the Cohocksink Creek (at Thompson Street) used to be called Old York Road
which would be consistent with it being above Buttonwood.
-Chris
The church history also says they walked to the new church building from 6th and Green, so I'm thinking not that far North.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pr_display.cfm/27050
ReplyDeleteParish House of the Church of the Advent, 507 York (aka N. 5th)
Phillyhistory.org has no pictures from the East side of the 500 block of North 5th. Several from the West side, including 508, but nothing on the East. That whole area was torn down in the late 60s or early 70s.
ReplyDeleteDebbie Strand (whose name is SO familiar to me but I can't place WHY!) may be able to get some info from the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania- which keeps records of defunct Episcopal churches in this area. They have an archivist on staff- perhaps he can help. Here's the link. good luck! http://diopa.org/governance/diocese/staff/
ReplyDeleteThe genealogy society of Pennsylvania, housed in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania has two microfilm reels of records of the Church of the Advocate. that would be a good place to begin.
ReplyDeleteThanks to everyone for their replies! I am in the process of reviewing your suggestions and links, and will update with my results. I appreciate the feedback very much.
ReplyDeleteHello Debbie:
ReplyDeleteMy great great great grandfather was a member of this church too. He passed in 1894 and was buried in Odd Fellows Cemetary. An old 1895 map at Philageohistory.org show that the church was indeed on 5th Street about 100-200 feet before Spring Garden Street. At the time of the Map, Spring Garden Street did not exist...Spring Garden ended at 6th street in 1895. Old York Street would have intersected with 5th and Spring Garden.
I looked in the 1867 McElroy's City Directory in the back on page 1149 where the Protestant Episcopal Churches are listed and they give the address as York Av ab Buttonwood.
ReplyDeleteAncestry has records for them and the title page says 1841 to 1876. Hope this helps.
Marge Ansley
As far back as the 1875 map of Phila. there was a Church of the Advent at 511 York Ave. The back of the church was China St., later to be renamed to Lawrence St. and Buttonwood St was just below (South) of the church.
ReplyDeleteStarting with the 1862 map of Phila the church on the same spot was named Milestown Methodist Episcopal church.
After the 1962 Phila map, urban renewal wiped out both York Ave., Lawrence St. below Spring Garden St. and Buttonwood (between 4th & 5th Sts.).
Hope this helps
Philllips Brooks, who wrote O, Little Town of Bethlehem," was the rector of the church before he resigned to become rector of Trinity Church, Boston.
ReplyDelete