July 31 marks the anniversary of the 1740 death of Lady Ann Keith, wife of Sir William. After being removed from the governorship in 1726, Keith returned to England in 1728 to seek another appointment. Before leaving, he ensured that his wife would have access to all the rents and emoluments of Graeme Park for […]
On this day in 1772, at 9:00 p.m., Elizabeth Graeme and Henry Hugh Fergusson were married. The ceremony took place in the garden of Swedes’ Church (Gloria Dei (Old Swedes’) Episcopal Church) without the knowledge of Elizabeth’s father, Dr. Thomas Graeme. Elizabeth’s close friend, Dr. Benjamin Rush attended the wedding along with several other of […]
These photographs were among those submitted with the application to make Graeme Park a National Historic Landmark, back in 1974. The the landscape photos in particular are interesting, as they show the most change! The first photo below shows what is now our parking lot, back when it was nothing more than a driveway with a few […]
On this day in Graeme Park history, 1766, Elizabeth’s only remaining sibling, Ann Graeme Stedman passed away of an unknown, painful disease: the air “pierced with her departing Crys.” Elizabeth believed she’d died of a broken heart, mourning their mother, who had died 10 months prior. “She saw good Anna go: her gentle Soul / […]
On this day in Graeme Park History, 1801, Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson passed away at the home of Seneca Lukens, the clockmaker and friend with whom she stayed at the end of her life. Her friend Betsy Stedman composed the following letter to her cousin Deborah Senior in Jamaica informing her of the sad news: Dear […]
You may remember our earlier piece on the Lichfield, or Johnson’s, Willow, a tree in England that captured Elizabeth’s imagination and led to her writing of two “Odes to the Litchfield Willow” (Elizabeth added the “t”). Our contact in England, John Winterton, has been hard at work negotiating a plan to get a descendent of […]
FROM THE ARCHIVES: This photograph of the parlor was taken in 1869 by John Moran and is held by the Library Company of Philadelphia. John Moran (February, 1831 – February 19, 1902) was a prominent landscape, architectural, astronomical and expedition photographer whose career began in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area during the 1860s. Moran was the […]
On this day in Graeme Park history, Elizabeth Graeme was born (1737). She was the youngest of the Graeme children, who numbered somewhere between 10-12. By the time Elizabeth joined the family, the Graeme’s had already buried William (1723-1733), and two sets of twins: Rebecca and Rachel (b. 1728), and Patrick and Elizabeth (b. 1731). […]
On this day in Graeme Park history, Elizabeth’s sister Mary Jane Graeme and her husband James Young passed away. Jane died in 1759 in childbirth with the couple’s fourth child. She was 32 years old. James outlived his wife by 20 years, passing away in 1779.
FROM THE ARCHIVES: This photograph of the parlor, taken by Frank Cousins, dates to sometime between 1865 and 1914 and is held by the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. It is one of a collection of 18 of his photographs held by the library featuring the interior and exterior of the […]