Northeast Historical Archaeology

Volume 39 Article 5

2010 "That Class of Person Who Cannot Afford a Pew": Analysis of the Human Remains from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Burial Vaults Thomas A. Crist

Follow this and additional works at: http://orb.binghamton.edu/neha Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons

Recommended Citation Crist, Thomas A. (2010) ""That Class of Person Who Cannot Afford a Pew": Analysis of the Human Remains from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Burial Vaults," Northeast Historical Archaeology: Vol. 39 39, Article 5. https://doi.org/10.22191/neha/vol39/iss1/5 Available at: http://orb.binghamton.edu/neha/vol39/iss1/5

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). It has been accepted for inclusion in Northeast Historical Archaeology by an authorized editor of The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). For more information, please contact [email protected]. Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 39, 2010 65

“That Class of Person Who Cannot Afford a Pew”: Analysis of the Human Remains from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Burial Vaults

Thomas A. Crist The analysis of the skeletal remains of 85 people interred between ca. 1820 and 1846 in the vaults of the abolitionist Spring Street Presbyterian Church provides unique insights regarding the biological history of antebellum New York City unavailable from other sources. Even though the sample size is small, the remains reflect the prevalence of infectious diseases, metabolic disorders, nutritional deficiencies, premature deaths, and high infant mortality that characterized the rapidly industrializing city. Among the most remark- able discoveries were a rare case of abdominal cancer; a mother and her full-term fetus in utero buried together; two autopsied children; and a dental bridge made of gold that may have been buried with Nicholas Ware, United States Senator from Georgia, whose coffin plate from 1824 was unexpectedly found in one of the vaults. Although none of the individuals could be conclusively identified as being of African descent, skeletal evidence of possible admixture underscores the particularly active role of the church in the abolitionist movement of the 1830s. L’analyse des squelettes de 85 individus enterrés dans des caveaux de la Spring Street Presbyterian Church entre c. 1820 et 1846 fournit un aperçu unique et inédit de l’histoire biologique humaine de New York avant la guerre de Sécession. Malgré ce petit échantillon, les restes analysés reflètent la prédominance de maladies infectieuses, de carences nutritionnelles, de décès prématurés et de taux de mortalité infantile élevé, ce qui caractérise la ville en cette période d’industrialisation rapide. Les découvertes les plus remarquables comprennent un cas rare de cancer de l’abdomen, une mère et son fœtus à terme in utero, deux enfants autop- siés, et une prothèse dentaire en or qui aurait pu être enterrée avec Nicolas Ware, un sénateur américain de Géorgie dont la plaque de cercueil datée de 1824 a été découverte de manière fortuite dans l’une des voûtes. Bien qu’aucun des individus ne soit d’origine africaine confirmée, les analyses des squelettes proposent un possible mélange, ce qui souligne le rôle particulièrement actif de l’église dans le mouvement abolitionniste des années 1830. Introduction and Historical Context of Spring and Varick Streets in Lower Manhattan. The first church building was built In a letter that he wrote to his sister in 1828, Reverend Henry G. Ludlow described at the site in 1811. Incomplete church records the 330 members of New York City’s Spring indicate that interments in the vaults were Street Presbyterian Church as “…most of made by 1820; the earliest legible coffin plates whom belong to that class of person who recovered from the vaults date to 1823 in Vault cannot afford to purchase or hire a pew in our 3 and 1820 in Vault 4. Use of the vaults con- city churches” (quoted in Meade 2008: II–3). tinued through at least 1835 despite the Reverend Ludlow would know from personal Manhattan Common Council’s prohibition on experience; this abolitionist minister served as burials in the city south of 14th Street after their pastor from 1828 to 1837, a momentous 1832 due to unsanitary conditions from ceme- time for the small church as well as for the city tery overcrowding (Meade 2008: III–1). Proof rapidly emerging around it. of these later interments comes from other Excavations associated with construction coffin plates: Vault 3 included two plates with of a 46-story condominium hotel in late 2006 dates of death from 1841, two from 1842, and and early 2007 revealed four partially dis- one each from 1845 and 1846. Of the 22 legible turbed brick vaults used by the Spring Street plates found in Vault 4, 17 were dated between Church congregants to inter the remains of 1820 and 1829; four between 1830 and 1835; their families and friends. Contiguous with and one from 1843. Consequently, the broadest each other and oriented along a north-south date range for the interments in the four vaults axis, these vaults (numbered 1 to 4 from south is 1811–1846, with most of the individuals to north) were located at the southeast corner buried between ca. 1820 and 1835. 66 Crist/Human Remains from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Burial Vaults Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 39, 2010 67

This was a period of intense socio-economic American Anti-Slavery Society, held in the city archaeological excavations of the vaults with Burial Ground or Revolutionary War-period transition in both New York City and the in May 1834, heated debates fueled by racist the results of historical research and the skeletal anal- prisoner interments. Excavations in City Hall nation. The rise of the urban-based industrial newspaper editors over the increasing political ysis to create a unique portrayal of the people who Park itself between 1999 and 2001 revealed manufacturing economy brought waves of and economic roles of African Americans comprised the congregation during New York City’s additional human remains including intact young people and immigrants to the large East sparked a series of physical confrontations pivotal antebellum years. burials most likely from the almshouse burial Coast cities; immigration alone accounted for throughout Manhattan. These culminated in ground (Anderson 2000; Hartgen Archaeological an increase of between 20,000 and 30,000 July in the city’s largest race riot (Harris 2003: Significance of the Human Remains Associates, Inc. 2003; London 2004). people annually during the 1820s and this 197). Between July 9th and 12th, rioters from the Spring Street Church Historical skeletal remains have been figure increased to over 200,000 per year by destroyed the home of abolitionist Arthur found in other Manhattan locations, both in the late 1840s (Margo 1996: 606). New York Tappan, homes and businesses owned by Notwithstanding the city’s long and varied former burial grounds and under less typical City was particularly attractive to young men African Americans in the Five Points district history, relatively few bioarchaeological proj- circumstances. For example, the remains of and women from the rural counties of the (the notorious slum located in central Lower ects have been conducted in the five boroughs two full-term neonates and a fetus were dis- mid-Atlantic region due to its expanding Manhattan), and the homes and churches of of New York, particularly in Manhattan. In covered in privy shaft deposits from the 1840s economy and the social opportunities offered several abolitionist ministers. Among the their broad review of New York City archae- associated with a tenement at 12 Orange Street by the vast anonymity of its urban landscape. targets were the Spring Street Presbyterian ology, Cantwell and Wall (2001) noted that the (now Baxter Street) in New York City’s former Dramatic shifts in demography followed: in Church and its pastor Henry G. Ludlow, excavation of over 400 individuals from the Five Points district (Crist 2005). During con- 1800, New York City’s population was about who was rumored to have officiated mixed- African Burial Ground (ca. 1640–1795) in 1991 struction activities in 2008, the remains of at 60,000 and, by 1850, it had reached 600,000 race marriages. was the only major bioarchaeology project least four intact burials and other previously people, of which more than half was foreign On July 11, 1834, a gang of rioters conducted in the city. These graves were dis- disturbed remains were uncovered in born (Gorn 1987: 393). Cheap labor became destroyed the interior of the church and nearly covered during excavations for a new federal Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, plentiful, leading to wide swings in demolished the building itself (Meade 2008: office building located along Broadway the site of a former potter’s field dating unemployment and inflation throughout II–4). A contemporaneous account printed by between Duane and Reade Streets and they between 1797 and 1825 (Chan 2008). In 2010, the 1840s and 1850s. Niles’ Weekly Register (1834: 357–360) described generated intense public interest and consider- 21 intact burials, 14 previously disturbed New York’s antebellum working-class how the 27th Regiment of the National Guard able scientific controversy (African Burial graves, and numerous headstones were culture included withdrawal from conserva- was dispatched to the scene to quell the Ground 2012; Blakey and Rankin-Hill 2004a; recorded during archaeological monitoring of tive, organized religion, freedom from its assault, which they did after overcoming two LaRoche and Blakey 1997). Apart from the excavations associated with repairs to the social limitations, and greater social differenti- lines of barricades erected by the rioters using analysis of the remains of 36 people who died brick wall at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral ation based on widening class disparities and debris from the church. The crowd then during the 1840s and 1850s at the former Cemetery, located on Prince Street 11 blocks racial segregation. By 1820, most of the African moved on to Reverend Ludlow’s house on Marine Hospital in St. George, Staten Island east of the Spring Street Church site (Audin Americans in New York City were free but Thompson Street, where they “broke in the (Dwyer 2009), a recent review of the bibliog- 2010). And most recently, a local community found themselves in increased competition windows and doors, and did all the injury raphy of archaeological reports maintained by organization mobilized to protect human with recent immigrants for jobs, stirring racial they thought proper.” The government even- the New York City Landmarks Preservation remains possibly still interred in a colonial tension that grew stronger through the 1830s. tually regained control of the city, imprisoning Commission (2012) confirms that no other burial ground for Africans and African Virtually all aspects of society were affected by at least 150 rioters. large-scale bioarchaeological projects have Americans located at the current site of the the new economy and its ripple effects, The congregants of the Spring Street been conducted in New York City since then. 126th Street Bus Depot in Harlem (Harlem including a rapid increase in tenement Church subsequently raised sufficient funds to Consequently, the Spring Street Church burial African Burial Ground Task Force 2012). housing and an upsurge in infectious disease replace the damaged wood-frame church with vaults project represents the city’s largest bio- Established in 1660 by the Reformed Low and infant mortality rates. a brick building that opened in 1836. The archaeological study in the last 20 years. Dutch Church at First Avenue between 126th Amidst the racially divisive atmosphere of church prospered through the 1840s, counting Other historic-period burials have been and 127th Streets, the burial ground included a antebellum New York City, the Spring Street more than 800 members among its vestry, but located in Manhattan; most of these have been section for free and enslaved Africans and was Church was one of several religious institu- struggled in the 1850s and 1860s with the recorded in the vicinity of City Hall Park in use until 1845. This cemetery was rediscov- tions that formed the core of the abolitionist burden of the debts incurred during the pre- (located 20 city blocks southeast of the Spring ered in 2008 during the expansion of the Willis movement in the 1820s and 1830s. The vious decades. After moving through intermit- Street Church site). The discoveries there Avenue Bridge, and a plan proposed in 2009 church’s second pastor, the Reverend Dr. tent periods of expansion and retrenchment, the include partially intact and disturbed remains by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Samuel Hanson Cox, preached in support of congregation was dissolved in 1963 due to a lack found during utilities repairs under Chambers (MTA) to replace the 1940s-era depot abolition during his pastorship (1821–1825). of members. The 1836 building was demolished Street in 1993 (Hunter Research, Inc. 1994); in prompted the group to seek landmark status Also during the 1820s, the congregation and replaced by a surface parking lot in 1966. 1995 and 1996 (Stone 1997); in 1998 (Crist et al. for the burial ground (Willis 2010). In 2011, the admitted African Americans as full members It is within this historical context that the 2000); and again in 2002 (Hartgen MTA agreed to conduct archaeological testing and established an inter-racial Sunday school. skeletal remains from the Spring Street Archaeological Associates, Inc. 2004). These to determine whether human remains were It was in the 1830s, however, that the Presbyterian Church’s burial vaults were remains are likely associated with the city still present at the site. history of the Spring Street Church intersected analyzed and interpreted. Combining a scientific almshouse that was located at the northern The human remains from the Spring Street most forcefully with the abolitionist movement. approach with a humanistic perspective, the part of City Hall Park between 1735 and 1816 Church vaults are significant not only for the In the wake of the annual meeting of the Spring Street project combines data from the but also may have come from the African number of excavated individuals but also for 68 Crist/Human Remains from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Burial Vaults Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 39, 2010 69

the fact that these interments are the only physical anthropologists generate data that to the Physical Anthropology Laboratory at Objectives of the Skeletal Analysis Utica College in Utica, NY for examination and sample found to date that represents the may be compared with other historical and To fulfill the LPC’s requirements for the analysis. The remains from the Spring Street growing “middle class” of antebellum New modern skeletal collections. This analysis is analysis of the human remains from the Spring vaults comprised four groupings of skeletal York City. In contrast to Reverend Ludlow’s most effectively accomplished by following Street Church burial vaults and to generate material, based largely on their degree of com- description in 1828 of his congregants as standard physical anthropological procedures comparable data useful to other bioarchaeolo- pleteness and level of preservation: (1) intact unable to afford pews at other churches, for collecting and recording morphological gists, several major objectives for the physical individuals including most or all skeletal ele- census data, contemporary newspaper and metrical information. For the present anthropological component of the project were ments; (2) incomplete but distinguishable indi- accounts and the archaeological evidence all study, data were collected following the rec- defined. These objectives included: indicate that successful businessmen and their viduals with some articulated skeletal ele- ommendations in Skeletal Database Committee • determining the minimum number of ments; (3) unassociated but intact diagnostic families were interred in the vaults along with Recommendations (Paleopathology Association individuals represented by the bones and a few people buried with silver coffin plates 1991); Standards for Data Collection from Human bones (those that allow determinations of sex, bone fragments; (see White and Mooney, this volume). Among Skeletal Remains (Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994); age, or ancestry) and large bone fragments • establishing a demographic profile (sex, these merchants was Rudolphus Bogert (1766– and Data Collection Procedures for Forensic (including individual crania and mandibles); age at death, and ancestry or social identity) for 1842), a member of one of the city’s oldest Skeletal Material (Moore-Jansen et al. 1994). and (4) unassociated and poorly preserved each individual, when possible; non-diagnostic bones and bone fragments. Dutch families, whose remains were discov- The skeletal and dental inventories, infor- • providing a description of the personal The skeletal remains in the first three cate- ered in Vault 3 with his legible coffin plate. mation on demographic assessments, and characteristics (including stature, handedness, gories, many of which had been identified as Additionally, a coffin plate from a disturbed measurements of the skeletal remains were evidence of pregnancy, occupation, and individuals during excavation, were sorted; repeated activities) and paleopathological context in Vault 4 indicates that Nicholas recorded using standardized forms from both cleaned of adherent soil with dry brushes and lesions of the individuals represented by the Ware, a United States senator and former Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994) and Moore- sparingly with water; allowed to air dry on remains; and mayor of Augusta, Georgia, was buried in one Jansen et al. (1994). Determinations of the steel drying racks; and subsequently examined, • identifying skeletal lesions that may have con- of the vaults. According to the coffin plate and demographic profiles, stature estimations, documented, and analyzed. Since they held tributed to the individual’s cause of death. historical documents, Senator Ware died in New handedness, and other personal characteristics little to no analytical information, poorly pre- York City on September 7, 1824, aged 48 years for each individual were made following stan- and seven months. served and badly fragmented remains in the Results dard forensic anthropological methods as pre- fourth category were examined and then Given the small number of bioarchaeolog- sented and discussed in Byers (2005), White ical projects in New York City, the analysis of placed in bags and boxes for storage and Inventory and Burial Designations and Folkens (2005), and other relevant journal eventual reburial. the human remains from the Spring Street In December 2006, large-scale construction articles. Analysis of the subadult remains was To most efficiently examine and analyze the Church burial vaults provides unique informa- activities revealed the four contiguous brick based on these sources and as well as Baker et thousands of commingled remains recovered tion about the health, diseases, and activities burial vaults from the Spring Street Church at al. (2005) and Scheuer and Black (2000, 2004). from the four burial vaults, the physical of a sample of New Yorkers who lived and 244–246 Spring Street. Vault 1 was badly dam- When possible, a differential diagnosis was anthropology team split the collection into two died as the city evolved from a colonial port aged by the excavation machinery; the other made to account for the observed pathological parts according to the vault numbers. The into the economic capital of the new nation. three vaults had been previously disturbed lesions presented by each skeleton or skeletal remains from Vaults 1 and 3 were cleaned, The significance of the remains lies in the when the site was cleared for a parking lot in element. These diagnoses were based on the examined, and analyzed at the Utica College number of individuals available for study, the 1960s. Forensic anthropologists from the nature and distribution of the observed lesions Anthropology Laboratory. The individuals their social status, and the array of pathological Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) and were determined through comparisons from Vaults 2 and 4 were washed at Utica conditions that characterize this group of people. recovered fragmentary human remains from with lesions previously described in standard College and then transported to the Syracuse Vault 1 and determined that they were of his- references on paleopathology (Aufderheide University Anthropology Laboratory in torical origin (Crowder et al. 2008). Methods and Rodríquez-Martin 1998; Mann and Hunt Syracuse, NY for examination and analysis Archaeologists from URS Corporation later 2005; Ortner and Aufderheide 1991; Ortner under the direction of Shannon A. Novak, Like all archaeological resources discovered numbered the Vaults 1 to 4 from south to north 2003; Steinbock 1976; Zimmerman and Kelley in New York City, historical human remains Ph.D., Associate Professor of Anthropology. In and excavated the three northernmost vaults 1982). Among the lesions analyzed for this fall under the jurisdiction of the Landmarks addition, the soil from Vaults 2 and 4 contained over the next several weeks. study were those related to dental health; met- Preservation Commission (LPC). According to a large number of commingled, fragmentary During excavations, each individual whose its Guidelines for Archaeological Work in New abolic disorders and nutritional deficiencies; skeletal remains. This soil was screened and remains were clearly distinguishable was York City, the analysis of skeletal remains from nonspecific infections including periostitis and the recovered remains were sorted at the assigned a unique identifying number, gener- historical cemeteries must include the min- osteomyelitis; identifiable diseases such as Syracuse University Anthropology Laboratory. ally in the order in which the burials were dis- imum number of individuals represented by tuberculosis and syphilis; enthesopathy (evi- Individuals identified in this manner were covered within each vault. No distinctions the remains; each individual’s demographic dence of biomechanical stress where muscle assigned letter designations. The final report were made in numbering the burials based on profile (sex, age range at death, and ancestry tendons attach to bones); various arthritic regarding the skeletal analysis of the remains the presumed age of the individuals (i.e., the or social identity); and descriptions of any conditions; and degenerative joint disease. from the Spring Street Church burial vaults remains of infants and children were num- paleopathological lesions that may be present Upon completion of the field excavations, (Crist et al. 2008) was submitted to the LPC as bered in the same manner as the remains of (New York City Landmarks Preservation all of the human remains from the Spring an appendix to URS’s overall project report adults). In terms of the minimum number of Commission 2002). By following these requirements, Street Church burial vaults were transported (Mooney et al. 2008). individuals documented in the field, the 70 Crist/Human Remains from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Burial Vaults Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 39, 2010 71

OCME anthropologists determined that 16 nature of the remains, the age, sex, and Table 1. Demographic data for individuals from the Spring Street Church burial vaults. individuals were represented by the badly ancestry determinations for the 16 individuals Burial # Sex* Age Range Burial # Sex* Age Range fragmented remains from Vault 1. The URS from Vault 1 were listed as indeterminate. Vault 2 Vault 3 (cont’d.) archaeologists subsequently documented the A total of 85 individuals was identified and 1 F <35 12 M 70+ remains of 12 individuals in Vault 2, 18 individ- analyzed from Vaults 2, 3, and 4 (tab. 1). This uals in Vault 3, and 16 individuals in Vault 4 total includes the skeletal remains of a full- 2 C 2.5–3.5 13 F 30-34 (Mooney et al. 2008: 4.16). term fetus discovered within the abdominal 3 C 4.5–5.5 14 M 35-39 In addition to these 62 individuals, hun- area of a woman in Vault 3 (Burial 17A). Table 4 F 40–49 15 M 45-49 dreds of intact and fragmentary bones and 2 presents the distribution of individuals in 5 M <35 16 M 30-34 teeth that had been previously disturbed (col- each vault (tab. 2). 6 F <35 17A and B F 25-29/full-term fetus lectively grouped as “unassociated remains”) Regarding the subadults (children 16 years 7 C 4.5–5.5 18 F 25-29 also were recovered from each of the vaults. of age and younger), the remains of 30 infants 8 F 25–29 18A I 50+ Many of these remains, particularly the and children were identified during the labo- 9 M 40–49 A M 40-45 crania and mandibles, represented dis- ratory analysis. These included 14 subadults in tinct individuals and were subsequently Vault 2 and 16 in Vault 4. (The remains of at 10 M 20–29 B I 35+ assigned unique identifying numbers least 50 additional subadults have been subse- 11 C(F) 14.5–15.5 C I 35+ during the laboratory analysis. quently identified after screening soil from 12 M 20–24 D I 35+ Vault 4; see Ellis, this volume). Commingled A C Newborn E C 8-16 mos. Demography mandibular fragments from three children B C <6 mos. F C 5-6 were present in the soil beneath Burial 13 in After sorting in the laboratory, the remains C C 6 mos.-1.5 yrs. G C 6-7 Vault 3; together with the full-term fetus D C 3.5-4.5 Vault 4 of at least 101 discrete individuals were identi- (Burial 17B from Vault 3), 34 subadults were E C 7.5-8.5 1-4A C 5 mos. fetus fied. Screening and sorting of the fragmentary available for this analysis. F C 7.5-8.5 1-4B C <6 mos. remains in Vault 4 is ongoing and will gen- Table 3 presents the demographic data for G C 10.5-11.5 1-4C C <6 mos. erate additional individuals from this context. the subadults in Vaults 2, 3, and 4 (tab. 3). The The remains of the 101 people were distrib- 34 subadults accounted for 40.0% of the 85 H C(F) 9-11 1-4D C 2-3 mos. uted as follows: Vault 1: 16 individuals, Vault individuals from the three vaults. Their I C(M) 13-13.5 1-4E C 6 mos. 2: 31 individuals, Vault 3: 27 individuals average age at death was just over four years. J C(M) 13.5-14.5 1-4F C 6 mos.-1.5 yrs. (including one set of fetal remains found in The distribution of their deaths varied by age: K F 35-39 1-4G C 6 mos.-1.5 yrs. utero), and Vault 4: 27 individuals. 15 of the 34 subadults (44.1%) had died before L M 30-34 1-4H C 6 mos.-1.5 yrs. The remains from Vault 1 were signifi- reaching the age of 18 months. Children M M 60+ 1-4I C 4.5-5.5 cantly fragmented, commingled, and eroded. between the ages of three and ten years old N M 50+ 1-4J C 5.5-6.5 Consequently, individuals from this vault accounted for 11 (32.4%) of the individuals. were neither labeled in the field nor assigned Just under 15% of the subadults (n=5) were O F 35-39 1-4K C 2.5-3.5 specific numbers during the laboratory anal- between ten and 15 years old at death. P M 18-22 1-4L C 6 mos.-1.5 yrs. ysis. The forensic anthropologists from the Eleven legible coffin plates associated with Q M 40-44 1-4M C 5.5-6.5 OCME identified skeletal elements from a infants and children 16 years of age and R M 18-22 1-4N C 6 mos.-1.5 yrs. number of adults and subadults (children younger were found during the excavation of S M 50+ 1-4O C 1-3 under 16 years old). Among these remains Vaults 3 and 4 (see White and Mooney, this Vault 3 5 M 20-24 were 32 bones or bone fragments from infants volume). The information engraved on these 1 F 25-29 6 M 35-39 and children including one mandible, several plates provides comparative demographic 2 F 20-24 7 F 30-34 cranial vault fragments, numerous long bones, data to that generated through the analysis of 3 F 20-24 8 M 60+ and six innominates. Based on this distribution the skeletal remains. Dating between 1820 and 4 M 25+ 9 M 50-59 of bones, the OCME anthropologists deter- 1835, the plates identified six boys, four girls, mined that at least three subadults were and one infant of unknown sex. The children’s 5 M ,35 10 M 40-44 present (Crowder et al. 2008: 2). Vault 1 con- ages ranged from four months to 16 years of 6 M 25-29 11 F 30-34 tained 308 adult skeletal elements including 50 age, including three teenagers (aged 12, 14, 7 F 20-24 12 M 50-59 cranial fragments, four teeth, and numerous and 16). Five of the 11 individuals (45.5%) 8 F 25-29 13 F 20-24 fragmentary long bones and vertebrae. were infants 18 months old and younger. The 9 M 35+ 14 M 30-34 Crowder et al. (2008: 2) determined that the average age at death for these 11 subadults 10 M 30-34 15 M 40-44 bones from Vault 1 represented a minimum of was five years old; the average for the six 11 M 25-34 16 C(F) 14.5-15.5 13 adults. Subsequent laboratory analysis con- boys was three years old and the average firmed these results. Given the incomplete for the four girls was nine years old. * Male is M; female is F, indeterminate is I, and child or infant is C. Total N=85. (Vault 2, n=31; Vault 3, n=27; Vault 4, n=27). 72 Crist/Human Remains from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Burial Vaults Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 39, 2010 73

Table 2. Spring Street Church demography by vault. The demography of the adults is presented more men had reached their 40s than in Table 4 (tab. 4). A total of 51 adults (60% of women—12 men to only two women. Just Sex Vault 1 Vault 2 Vault 3 Vault 4 Total the 85 individuals from Vaults 2, 3, and 4) was over half of the women (56.3% of the 16 Male 11 11 8 30 analyzed; two males and two females were women) died before reaching 30 years of age, excluded from the demographic analysis with only seven (43.7%) older than that at death. Female 6 8 3 17 because their incomplete remains precluded Conversely, 18 of the 27 men (66.7%) died after Child/Infant 14 4† 16 34 generating an age estimate (listed only as <35). the age of 30. Death still came early for men— Four additional adults of indeterminate age only six (22.2%) were older than 50 years when Indeterminate 16* 4 20 and sex from Vault 3 also were excluded from they died. When further analyzed by sex (tab. 5), ‡ Totals 16 31 27 27 101 this analysis. Analysis of the remaining 43 these trends are even more pronounced. * MNI based on fragmentary, commingled remains. adults indicates that the men (n=27; 62.8%) As with the infants and children, the † Includes Burial 17B, a full-term fetus found in utero. ‡ outnumbered the women (n =16; 37.2%) in the recovery of coffin nameplates provides com- Analysis of the commingled remains from Vault 4 is ongoing. assemblage. The average age at death for all 43 parative demographic data for the adults. A Table 3. Spring Street Church subadult demography by age. adults was 35 years, calculated by tallying the total of 20 legible coffin plates associated with number of individuals in each five-year age adults was recovered: three from machine-dis- Age range Number of Percentage* Percentage range and dividing by total number of people turbed contexts, seven from Vault 3, and ten individuals of group† in the sample. While only estimates (due to the from Vault 4. These coffin plates ranged in standard error inherent to all age estimation date from 1822 to 1843 and included the Fetus/Newborn 3 8.8 3.5 techniques), the average age at death for the 26 names of 12 men, six women, and two adults 1-6 months 5 14.7 5.9 men was 39 years and for the 16 women was whose sex could not be determined. These 20 6 months-1.4 years 7 20.6 8.2 31 years, a difference of eight years. Chi- individuals included two teenagers (18 and 19 squared analysis of these data indicates that years old, respectively) and 12 people (60.0%) 1.5-2.9 3 8.8 3.5 this difference in the average ages at death who were older than 45 years when they died. 3.0-4.9 5 14.7 5.9 is not statistically significant (p=0.1317). Five of these older people (25%) were over 70 5.0-9.9 6 17.6 7.1 Among this group of 43 adults, 34.9% (n= years old (three men aged 71, 74, and 76 and 15) of the group died between the ages of 20 two women aged 70 and 76). The average 10-14.9 5 14.7 5.9 and 29 years while 27.9% (n= 12) died between age at death for all 20 adults was 46 years; Total 34 the ages of 30 and 39 years. Of the 43 adults, the average age at death was also 46 years only eight (18.6% of the group) died after for the 12 men and the six women when * Percentage of total number of subadult burials identified (N=34); includes the full-term fetus from Vault 3. † Percentage of total number of individuals, including adults (N=85). reaching the age of 45. When analyzed by sex, analyzed separately.

Table 4. Spring Street Church adult demography by age and sex. Table 5. Spring Street Church adult demography within sex subgroups.

† Age range Adults* Percentage† Males Percentage† Females Percentage† Age range Males Percentage* Females Percentage 15-19 2 4.6 2 4.6 0 0.0 15-19 2 7.4 0 0.0 20-24 7 16.3 3 7.0 4 9.3 20-24 3 11.1 4 25.0 25-29 8 18.6 3 7.0 5 11.6 25-29 3 11.1 5 31.3 30-34 7 16.3 4 9.3 3 7.0 30-34 4 14.8 3 18.8 35-39 5 11.6 3 7.0 2 4.6 35-39 3 11.1 2 12.5 40-44 6 14.0 5 11.6 1 2.3 40-44 5 18.5 1 6.3 45-49 1 2.3 1 2.3 0 0.0 45-49 1 3.7 0 0.0 50-54 4 9.3 4 9.3 0 0.0 50-54 4 14.8 0 0.0 55-59 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 55-59 0 0.0 0 0.0 60-64 2 4.6 1 2.3 1 2.3 60-64 1 3.7 1 6.3 65-69 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 65-69 0 0.0 0 0.0 70+ 1 2.3 1 2.3 0 0.0 70+ 1 3.7 0 0.0 Totals 43 27 16 Totals 27 16

* Excluding all indeterminate adults and two males and two females aged <35 years due to incompleteness of remains. * Percentage of total number of males discovered (N=27); excludes two males aged <35 years, † † Percentage of total number of adults (N=43). Percentage of total number of females discovered (N=16); excludes two females aged <35 years. 74 Crist/Human Remains from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Burial Vaults Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 39, 2010 75

The ages at death estimated from the Forensic anthropologists assess ancestry using individuals’ skeletal remains may be inaccu- a variety of morphological and multivariate rate for the reasons that affect most archaeo- statistical methods that primarily involve ele- logical population samples: the incomplete ments of the cranium, mandible, and teeth nature of the skeletal remains; variation in (Byers 2005; Gill and Rhine 1990). These fea- human aging patterns; and the imprecision of tures include the sizes and shapes of the cra- the aging techniques used by physical anthro- nial vault, nasal aperture, orbits, and the max- pologists, especially when applied to the illae as well as the forms of the maxillary inci- elderly. Even with these limitations, however, sors and molar cusp patterns. Secondary and the data indicate that infants and young chil- more variable information comes from the dren were at the highest risk for death before degree of femoral curvature, widths of the reaching their second birthday. Adults also intercondylar notch, and dimensions of the died young with a high percentage of women femora and tibiae. Clusters of these traits dying before they reached the age of 30 (25.0% determined by an individual’s unique genetic died between the ages of 20 and 24 years and composition are then associated with an ethnic 31.3% between 25 and 29 years). These data identity within the context of the person’s are broadly supported by the demographic society. In the United States, ancestry or race is information from 31 of the 37 legible coffin typically reported by forensic anthropologists plates recovered, although the artifacts indi- as European (white), African (black), or cate that a greater number of people older Asian/Native American. No single skeletal than 45 years, and particularly over 70, were feature can be used to identify an individual’s interred in the vaults than was determined ancestry or social identity but certain fea- from analysis of the skeletal remains. tures, when present, may indicate parents of Figure 1. Crania from Burials 5 (at left) and 9 in Vault 4; note differences in the nasal roots and the shapes of the two different ancestries. apertures. (Photograph by Dana Kollman.) Ancestry and Possible Evidence of African Among the ten individuals (11.8% of the 85 Americans people in Vaults 2, 3, and 4) who presented at The remaining two individuals, both from Chambers Street at the time of her death; her least one skeletal feature associated with Despite New York’s 1817 manumission Vault 4, featured several distinct traits sug- funeral was held there in the family’s apart- African descent, two were young children law, African Americans remained an gesting mixed ancestry. The first was a man ment rather than at the Spring Street Church with nasal sulci (grooves at the base of the oppressed demographic minority throughout about 50–59 years old (Burial 9) whose cra- (see White and Mooney, this volume). A nasal aperture) and arched transverse palatine the use of the Spring Street Church’s burial nium was nearly complete. His facial mor- second teenager, a boy from Vault 2 (Burial I), sutures observable in the hard palate where vaults and long afterwards. While historical phology was more typical of European descent also presented crenulated first molars. While the palatine bones articulate with the posterior documents indicate that African Americans but also included a wide nasal aperture, not necessarily identifying themselves as margins of the maxillae (tab. 6). One of these were members of the Spring Street Church square orbits, and a low and round nasal root African Americans, both Burial 9 and Burial 16 children also presented crenulated cusps on congregation, thus far, no records have been contour (fig. 1), the latter three features are from Vault 4 may have been counted among their first molars; people of European descent found to indicate whether these individuals or more common among people of African the mixed-race congregants admitted to the their families were interred in the vaults. typically exhibit a +4 or Y-5 cusp pattern on descent. Unfortunately, most of his upper teeth Spring Street Church. Based on the skeletal analysis, all of the exca- these teeth. While the presence of these fea- were lost before death and, therefore, the max- vated individuals whose cranial remains and tures hints at the possibility of mixed ancestry, illae could not be assessed for prognathism subadults are particularly difficult to evaluate Paleopathology: Infectious Disease and dentition could be assessed for ancestry pre- (the degree of anterior protrusion). This man’s Trauma sented features consistent with European because of their immature features and the cranial vault was characterized by a distinct post- descent and were most likely recognized as lack of comparative metrical standards. Of the bregmatic sulcus and oblique mastoids, and the As a major port at the advent of industrial- white. Ten of the individuals in Vaults 2 and 4, seven adults with possible African skeletal shafts of both of his femora were straight. ization with increasing numbers of immigrants however, presented cranial or postcranial fea- traits, three presented only straight femoral The second person was a teenage woman arriving every year, antebellum New York was tures more frequently observed among people shafts with no cranial or dental features (Burial 16) who presented European cranial rife with unsanitary conditions, chronic and of African descent, suggesting the possibility of available to assess (tab. 6). A fourth adult traits mixed with prognathism, an arched pal- epidemic diseases, poverty, and violence admixture. None of these individuals exhibited was a young man who presented bossing atine suture, oblique mastoids, and crenulated (Rosner 1995). Public health pioneer Dr. John skeletal evidence indicating that they might have (rounded prominences) of his frontal bone, first molars. Presumptively identified as Hoskins Griscom (1845: 2–3) summarized the been socially identified as African Americans. while another older man presented both Louisa Hunter who died in 1825 (see Werner situation this way: “there is an immense The determination of ancestry from skeletal frontal bossing and a post-bregmatic and Novak, this volume), her femoral shafts amount of sickness, physical disability, and remains is controversial and difficult to estab- depression (a small dip in the anterior part were curved rather than straight but the inter- premature mortality, among the poorer lish definitively (see Brace 1995; Ousley et of the parietals immediately posterior to the condylar notches were wide. Of note, Louisa classes [but] these are, to a large extent, al. 2009; Sauer 1992; and Relethford 2009 for frontal bone that is more common among Hunter’s father John was the Assistant unnecessary, being in a great degree the various perspectives regarding this issue). people of African descent). Superintendant of the City Almshouse in results of causes which are removable.” 76 Crist/Human Remains from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Burial Vaults Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 39, 2010 77

Beyond the poor individuals and families Of the 85 individuals recovered from primarily transmitted living in the tenements, all New Yorkers were at Vaults 2, 3, and 4, 37 (43.5%) presented evi- by sexual contact. It also risk for disease and premature death. In his 1842 dence of infection or inflammation on at least may be transmitted mortality report for the city, Griscom noted: one bone. This total does not take into account from an infected mother it is a well-established fact, that diseases are not the degree of preservation of the skeletal to her fetus during preg- confined to the localities where they originate, remains available for analysis; many of the nancy contributing to but widely diffuse their poisonous miasma. individuals’ remains were incomplete or too the formation of dental Hence, though the poor may fall in greater badly eroded to observe. The evidence does lesions including discol- numbers because of their nearer proximity to indicate the presence of a wide range of disor- ored enamel; small, the causes of disease, yet the rich, who inhabit ders that reflect the conditions described by widely-spaced incisors the splendid squares and spacious streets of this with distinct notches metropolis, often become the victims of the Griscom during the antebellum period. Sixteen characterizing their same disorders which afflict their poorer of the 37 individuals were infants or children occlusal surfaces brethren (quoted in Bremner 1992: 7). (including 17B, the full-term fetus from (Hutchinson incisors); or Vault 2), most of whom exhibited evidence Stark evidence of these problems is manifest the development of rudi- of nutritional disorders including vitamin C among the skeletal remains from the Spring mentary cusps on the Street vaults. While the effects of acute, soft deficiency (scurvy), anemia, and vitamin D permanent first molars, tissue disorders are not typically observable in deficiency (rickets). These 16 individuals known as “mulberry” dry skeletal remains, physical anthropologists represent 47.1% of the 34 infants and children molars (Ortner 2003: 595). employ a variety of gross and microscopic from Vaults 2, 3, and 4. Two of the individ- techniques to document and diagnose lesions Among the 16 infants and children uals with lesions sug- associated with chronic infections, metabolic with skeletal lesions, two of them (Burial 7 gestive of syphilis were disorders, nutritional disorders, and trauma. from Vault 2 and Burial 1–4H from Vault 4) Figure 2. Periosteal reactive bone indicative of thoracic infection, probably tuberculosis, located on the visceral surface of rib shaft; Vault 4, Burial 5. men (Burial 12 from Table 6. Individuals presenting possible African skeletal traits. (Photograph by Dana Kollman.) Vault 2 and Burial 10 from Vault 4) and the presented active periosteal reactive bone third, Burial 16 from Vault 4, was the teenager Burial Sex and age Cranial Dental Postcranial (ossification of the periosteum that covered presumptively identified as Louisa Hunter. Vault 2 the bony surfaces during life) across the vis- Burial 12 was 20 to 24 years old when he died. 2 C, 2.5–3.5 yrs. Nasal sulcus; arched palatine Crenulated first ––– ceral surfaces of their ribs. They also exhibited He presented ectocranial porosity of the cra- suture molars lytic (resorptive) lesions of the vertebral nial bones, mulberry molars (fig. 3), bodies. Together, these lesions are indicative of Hutchinson incisors, active and healed perios- 9 M, 40-49 ––– ––– Straight femoral shafts; wide pleural inflammation or infection. Three adults teal reactive bone on the surfaces of his right intercondylar notch (Burials 8 and C from Vault 2 and Burial 5 tibia and left femur, and expanded cancellous from Vault 4) also presented active periosteal bone in his scapulae. Burial 10 from Vault 4 12 M, 20–24 Frontal bossing ––– ––– reactions on the visceral surfaces of their ribs was represented only by appendicular bones, I C(M), 13–13.5 ––– Crenulated first ––– (fig. 2). Although these lesions may have including the femora and tibiae. He presented molars resulted from several possible pulmonary con- both active and healed periosteal reactive bone Vault 4 ditions, tuberculosis is the most likely cause of moderate severity across the shafts of his given its high prevalence during the 19th cen- tibiae, possibly the result of syphilis. The third 1–4I C, 4.5–5.5 yrs. Nasal sulcus; wide nasal ap- ––– ––– tury, especially in densely populated commu- set of remains was from Burial 16 in Vault 4, a erture; arched palatine suture; nities like New York City (Ortner 2003: 227– young woman who was 14 to 15 years old square orbits; prognathism 263; Roberts and Buikstra 2008). Nutritional when she died. Like Burial 10, she presented 7 F, 30–35 ––– ––– Straight femoral deficiencies including anemia and rickets also active periosteal reactive bone on her left tibia shafts raise the risk for contracting tuberculosis. Two of which may represent localized inflammation 9 M, 50–59 Post-bregmatic sulcus; wide ––– Straight femoral the children with the rib and vertebral lesions or a non-specific infection (see Werner and nasal aperture; square orbits; shafts presented bilateral cribra orbitalia (porosity Novak, this volume). In addition, she exhib- oblique mastoid located across the roofs of the orbits) that is typi- ited resorptive lesions of the internal surface of 11 F, 30–35 ––– ––– Straight femoral cally associated with iron-deficiency anemia. her cranial vault bones and gray discoloration shafts While most of the periosteal lesions of all of her teeth. This combination of lesions observed among the Spring Street skeletal suggests that she suffered from congenital 15 M, 40–45 Frontal bossing; post-bregmatic ––– Wide intercondylar remains resulted from non-specific infections, syphilis (see Ortner 2003: 297–319 for a discus- sulcus notch three of the individuals presented lesions sion of the paleopathology of syphilis). 16 C(F), 14.5–15.5 Prognathism; arched palatine Crenulated first Wide intercondylar indicative of syphilis. Syphilis is a disease Trauma was not well represented among suture; oblique mastoid molars notch caused by a spirochete bacterium that is these remains. Six people from Vaults 2, 3, and 4 78 Crist/Human Remains from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Burial Vaults Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 39, 2010 79

(7.1% of the 85 people from these vaults) Table 7. Types and distribution of traumatic lesions by individual. presented fractures, all of which were healed. None of the fractures was associated with a Burial Sex and age Type of trauma and location* cause of death or could be conclusively attrib- Vault 1 uted to interpersonal violence. There was no evidence of sharp-force trauma, gunshot No # I (young adult) Colles fracture of distal left radius wounds, or surgical intervention. Two of the Vault 2 individuals were infants who presented par- N M, 50+ Dislocation of distal left radius onto ulna tially healed rib fractures (tab. 7). The others were a woman who presented a small, O F, 35–39 Small, oval, depressed fracture in ectocranial surface of occipital depressed cranial fracture; a woman with a left Vault 3 clavicular fracture; an older man with frac- 13 F, 30–34 Fracture of midshaft of left clavicle tures of his sixth cervical vertebra and one right rib; and another older man with a mildly 15 M, 45–49 Wedge fracture of sixth cervical vertebra displaced, healed fracture of the right distal Fracture of right rib shaft tibia. In addition, one individual from Vault 2 A M, 40–45 Fracture of distal right tibia with displacement presented dislocation of the distal left radius Vault 4 and another unassociated left radius from Vault 1 presented a healed Colles fracture of 1–4D C, 2–3 mos. Fractures of shafts of four right ribs the distal shaft, located just proximal to the 1–4F C, 6 mos.–1.5 yrs. Fractures of two right ribs at necks wrist (fig. 4). The Colles fracture most likely * All lesions were healed. occurred from a fall on the outstretched left arm and subsequently healed with mild poste- least one traumatic event that ultimately led to characterized antebellum New York, especially rior displacement and angulation of the distal the fusion of his joints some years afterwards. tuberculosis and syphilis. The overall preva- articular end. The dislocated left wrist also In addition, Rudolphus Bogert (Burial 12 from lence of trauma was low and no evidence of most likely resulted from a fall. Vault 3), a 76-year-old man identified by a leg- knife wounds, gunshots, or surgical treatment One man from Vault 3 (Burial 14) ible coffin plate, presented numerous degener- was observed. This general profile of people ative spinal lesions including fusion of the presented several skeletal lesions that may infected with urban diseases but suffering Figure 3. Maxillary first molar with “mulberry” fifth and sixth cervical vertebrae, the latter reflect one or more injuries. Among these was cusps indicating congenital syphilis; Vault 2, Burial little or no trauma is consistent with the bilateral ankylosis (fusion) of his sacroiliac probably the result of a disc herniation. His 12. (Photograph by Dana Kollman.) Spring Street Church congregants occupying joints, where the innominate bones articulate osteobiography is included below. the city’s burgeoning middle class. with the sacrum at the base of the spine (fig. patellar misalignment and loss of cartilage); Overall, these data portray the congre- 5). This man was 35–39 years old at death and and healed osteomyelitis (cortical or marrow gants of the Spring Street Church as people exposed to the various infectious diseases that presented remodeling of the facets of the infection) of the left tibia. Fusion of the sacro- Metabolic Disorders and Nutritional Deficiencies apophyseal joints between his ninth and tenth iliac joints also is a marker of several autoim- Holding positions thoracic vertebrae; mild degenerative changes mune disorders, including ankylosing spondy- in the city’s business to both knees; eburnation of the anterior sur- litis and rheumatoid arthritis, but, taken community and pos- face of the distal left femur (the result of together, this man’s lesions probably reflect at sessing disposable income to purchase nicely engraved coffin plates did not keep the members of the Spring Street Church, especially the children, from suffering meta- bolic disorders and nutritional deficiencies. Nutritional deficiencies result from limited access to required nutri- ents or from a disease Figure 4. Unassociated left radius from Vault 1 presenting a Colles fracture of the distal end, lateral view. Figure 5. Bilateral ankylosis of the sacroiliac joints (the sacrum is fragmentary); that compromises the (Photograph by the author.) Vault 3, Burial 14. (Photograph by the author.) normal digestion and 80 Crist/Human Remains from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Burial Vaults Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 39, 2010 81

to leak, resulting in localized inflammation. Evidence of tobacco use by both sexes was Among the skeletal elements from Vault 1, one present. Five men and three women displayed 4–5-year-old child’s fragmented mandible pre- dark stains on either the enamel or the cal- sented active porosity extending across the lin- culus covering the occlusal surfaces of their gual surface of the left ascending ramus. In teeth (tab. 9). Combined, these eight individ- addition, two infants and children from Vault uals represented 9.4% of the 85 individuals 2 and three from Vault 3 (14.7% of the 34 sub- recovered from Vaults 2, 3, and 4. In addition, adults) also exhibited cranial lesions indicative one teenager (Burial J from Vault 2; a probable of scurvy (tab. 8). These included porosity of male 13–14 years old) presented dark staining the sphenoid, the ascending rami of the man- of the eight maxillary teeth available for exam- dible (fig. 7), and the posterior surfaces of the ination. Only two individuals, both men from maxillae. Three of these children also dis- Vault 4 who were in their 50s when they died, played cribra orbitalia, which most likely presented possible wear facets on at least one reflects the coincident presence of anemia. tooth consistent with pipe-stem wear. Burial 9 exhibited a facet on his mandibular left first Dental Disease and Treatment premolar and Burial 12 displayed one on his Together with analysis of the bones of the maxillary right first molar. vault and face, the dentition reveals informa- Occupations or repeated activities were tion regarding an individual’s age at death, also suggested by the wear on the teeth. Two ancestry, health status, cultural practices, and women, both from Vault 2, presented small various activities. While a full description of notches in their anterior teeth that may have the dental analysis of the Spring Street Church resulted from sewing. Known as “seamstress individuals is beyond the scope of this paper, notches,” these grooves result from repetitive Figure 6. Bilateral porosity in the orbits (cribra orbitalia) associated with anemia; Vault 3, Burial 13, Child 1. several aspects are of particular interest. wear of the enamel from holding pins and (Photograph by the author.) Table 8. Distribution of porotic lesions associated with nutritional deficiencies by individual.*

tab absorption of the required nutrients from food. one orbit ( . 8). In addition, four adult males Burial Sex and age Frontal Sphenoid Mandible Maxilla These disorders are typically indicated in dry also presented active cribra orbitalia. Based on (orbital roof)† (external surface) (ascending ramus) (posterior surface) skeletal remains by resorptive porosity located the presence of widespread porosity among Vault 2 across the external surfaces of the cranial vault their postcranial bones, one of these men, and facial bones, the mandible, the scapulae, Burial 6 from Vault 4, was diagnosed with 2 C, 2.5–3.5 X X X X the long bones, and the vertebrae. The distri- anemia. Two other infants (Burials 1–4D and 3 C, 4.5–5.5 X X X bution and appearance of the porosity may 1–4F from Vault 4) who did not present cribra 7 C, 4.5–5.5 X allow for a diagnosis of the specific deficiency, orbitalia were also diagnosed with anemia but nutritional deficiencies often occur based on the distribution of widespread post- J C(M), 13.5–14.5 X together and affect children who are ill from cranial porosity. Combined, the 14 individuals P M, 18–22 X other diseases, particularly diarrheal disorders with either cribra orbitalia or postcranial Vault 3 (Ortner 2003: 385). Skeletal lesions previously lesions associated with anemia represented documented as resulting from three major 16.5% of the 85 people from Vaults 2, 3, and 4. 15 M, 45–49 X nutritional deficiencies were observed among The ten infants, children, and teenagers E C, 8–16 mos. X X the skeletal remains from the Spring Street accounted for 29.4% of the 34 subadults. Church vaults. These were iron-deficiency Scurvy is indicated by porosity where the F C, 5–6 X X X anemia, vitamin C deficiency (scurvy), and muscles of chewing (the medial and lateral G C, 6–7 X X vitamin D deficiency (rickets). Ellis (this pterygoid muscles) attach to the lingual sur- Vault 4 volume) discusses the prevalence of vitamin D faces of the mandibular ascending rami, the deficiency (rickets) among the subadults. external and inferior surfaces of the sphenoid, 1–4I C, 4.5–5.5 X Porosity of the orbital roof (cribra the posterior surfaces of the maxillae, and the 1–4M C, 5.5–6.5 X orbitalia; fig. 6) has been associated with both anterior portions of the temporals. The 5 M, 20–24 X iron-deficiency anemia and vitamin C defi- porosity results from inflammation of the ciency. Among the individuals from the Spring attachment sites in response to the biomechan- 6 M, 35-39 X Street Church burial vaults, six children and ical stress of the muscle contractions as an 8 M, 60+ X two teenagers (accounting for 23.5% of the 34 individual chews. This is because a vitamin C * Lesions present on at least one side of the body. subadults) presented cribra orbitalia in at least deficiency causes the walls of the blood vessels † Cribra orbitalia 82 Crist/Human Remains from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Burial Vaults Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 39, 2010 83

1840, the country’s first dental college of which are normally found opened in Baltimore, and the American between the canine and the first Society of Dental Surgeons was organized molar in adults. This evidence of in New York City. It was not for another early cosmetic dentistry reflects 25 years that the New York College of the high social status of at least Dentistry opened in Manhattan, in 1865. one person, possibly Senator Given their expense, dental restora- Nicholas Ware, interred in the tions generally were restricted to elite Spring Street Church vaults. members of 19th-century America. United Apart from the two gold-filled States Senator Nicholas Ware of Georgia, molars, none of the other indi- whose legible coffin plate was found viduals in the vaults had dental loose in the disturbed soil of Vault 4, may restorations despite the preva- be the source of the two molars with gold lence of carious teeth among people of all backgrounds during Figure 8. One-unit dental bridge made of gold discovered in western fillings. Although historical documents half of Vault 4. (Photograph by the author.) indicate otherwise, Ware, who died in the antebellum period. New York City on September 7, 1824, may have been buried in Vault 4. While his Evidence of Autopsy skeletal remains have not yet been identi- Although none of the indi- fied, a man of Ware’s standing certainly is viduals from Vaults 2, 3, and 4 an excellent candidate for having had presented evidence of surgical expensive dental work performed. Ware treatment or sharp-force trauma, was just over 48 years old when he died two of the children had been sub- Figure 7. Porosity indicative of scurvy on the lingual surface and may have lost some teeth or pre- jected to autopsies or dissection of the right ascending ramus; Vault 2, Burial 3. of their crania. While not (Photograph by the author.) sented at least some caries that required attention. Intriguingly, a removable dental unknown in early 19th-century American medical education, thread in the mouth (Herschaft et al. 2007: 68). appliance made of gold also was recovered Figure 9. Detail of dental bridge from Vault 4 depicting holes and pin autopsies, either to determine the Burial 8, 25–29 years old, presented notches in from the disturbed soil in the western half of to secure false tooth. (Photograph by the author.) cause of death or to dissect for Vault 4. Likely from the same person as the the occlusal surfaces of her maxillary left lat- anatomical study, were relatively uncommon bioarchaeological record (Crist and Crist 2011). eral incisor and right canine. Burial O, 35–39 molars with gold fillings, this dental appliance for children as compared to those for adults; To date, the only other conclusively autopsied years old, exhibited a notch in her mandibular reflects cosmetic dental work that a senator consequently, their remains are rare in the or dissected individual whose remains have left lateral incisor. might want and be able to afford. Dental restorations were not observed Initially thought to be a fastener from a Table 9. Distribution and location of dental staining and occlusal wear associated with smoking. among the teeth from any of the 85 individuals piece of jewelry (Mooney et al. 2008: 5.27), in Vaults 2, 3, and 4. Two loose molars unasso- URS Laboratory Manager Rebecca White later Burial Sex and age Location of dental stains Location of pipe stem wear ciated with any of the labeled individuals from identified the device as a dental bridge. The Vault 2 Vault 4, however, each presented yellow metal bridge measured 23.9 mm (0.94 in.) long and restorations in the middle of their occlusal sur- was formed from a single, thin strip of gold. 1 F, <35 Multiple loose teeth ––– faces. These fillings were almost certainly The ends of the piece were shaped to fit over a 8 F, 25–29 Maxillary first molars and left second ––– formed from 24-kt-gold pellets or foil, tooth, probably a molar in the square opening premolar common materials used by dentists beginning and a canine or premolar in the round space 12 M, 20–24 Maxillary right first and second molars ––– in the 1820s (Taylor 1922: 125–126). Mild wear (fig. 8). Each end of the bridge terminated in J C(M), 13.5–14.5 Maxillary teeth ––– of the occlusal cusps with no dentin exposure flattened points. It is unclear if this was a max- indicated that the teeth were from younger illary or mandibular appliance. The middle O F, 35–39 Mandibular left second premolar and ––– adults of indeterminate sex, possibly the same part of the bridge was flat and would have first molar person based on their size and cusp patterns. been oriented toward the cheek (buccally) to R M, 18–22 Mandibular right first molar ––– That only one or possibly two people from the mount a false tooth, which was not present. Vault 4 Spring Street Church vaults presented dental This part of the bridge included two small restorations reflects the infancy of the dental holes, one of which contained a tiny iron nail 5 M, 20–24 Mandibular molars ––– field and the expense of restorations during or pin (fig. 9). The nails would have held the 6 M, 35–39 All teeth, especially maxillary left first ––– this period. Initially a branch of surgery, the false tooth in place so that it filled a gap in the and second molars formal practice of dentistry emerged in the dental arcade and was visible when the wearer 9 M, 50–59 ––– Mandibular left first premolar United States during the same period the opened his or her mouth. The device was Spring Street Church vaults were in use. In likely fashioned to replace a lost premolar, two 12 M, 50–59 Maxillary right first and second molars Maxillary right first molar 84 Crist/Human Remains from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Burial Vaults Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 39, 2010 85

been found in Manhattan came from the urethra and serves as part of the reproductive dense bone, also characterized the three frag- the medical journal The Lancet regarding his African Burial Ground. Burial 323 was a man system. Prostate cancer causes enlargement of ments of the sacrum that were present. None postmortem examination of a 59-year-old 19 to 30 years old whose dissected cranial vault the prostate, progressively restricting the flow of the lumbar vertebrae were present for patient. Adams (1853: 393) reported that the was lying in his abdomen and beneath his right of urine through the urethra as the condition observation. The disorder also affected Burial subject of his paper had died three years after upper limb when he was excavated (Blakey progresses. National health data indicate that it 9’s groin and thighs. Both femora presented the onset of his symptoms, which included a and Rankin-Hill 2004b: Section IV: 111; Heilen is the most frequently diagnosed type of non- widespread microporosity across the proximal “frequent desire to pass urine and required the et al. 2009: 84). Saw marks located along the skin cancer and is the second leading cause of thirds of the shafts. This reactive bone constant use of the catheter…pains about the margins of the separated cranial vault bones cancer deaths among modern American men extended down the medial surface of the right pelvis ensued; the saphena vein became thick- clearly indicated that he had been autopsied or (National Cancer Institute 2012). Prostate femoral shaft, gradually becoming less pro- ened; [and] the thighs were drawn up upon dissected prior to interment, most likely cancer is rarely observed in men under the age nounced inferiorly. The left femur and tibia the trunk.” Writing about prostate cancer 15 between 1776 and 1795. of 40 and is more common among African also exhibited active, mild porosity that years later, Thompson (1868: 270–271; first It is remarkable that both of autopsied indi- Americans, who present the highest incidence extended along the shafts of these bones. The published in 1858) described the symptoms of viduals from the Spring Street church vaults of prostate cancer and associated mortality right tibia was not present. Burial 9’s right prostate cancer as “severe pain, often very were children. Burial J from Vault 2 was 13–14 rates in the world (Anglade and Babayan 2003: ulna and left maxilla also presented wide- intense; occasional, often frequent, hemor- years old at death and Burial A from Vault 4 121; Sawczuk and Shabsigh 2003: 115–116). spread porosity. Based on appearance and dis- rhages; and more or less constitutional was about one year old. A metal pin embedded Unlike many other forms of cancer, prostate tribution of these lesions, the Syracuse cachexia [overall bodily wasting]…The pain is in Burial J’s frontal bone indicates that this cancer commonly results in the formation of University researchers determined that the felt in the rectum, or in the region of the teenager’s cranium was used as an anatomical osteoblastic (bone-forming) metastases most likely cause for the lesions was meta- sacrum, and shooting down the thighs, either specimen. Novak and Willoughby (this (Aufderheide and Rodríquez-Martin 1998: 388; static prostate cancer (Crist et al. 2008: D.16– the anterior or posterior aspects.” These clinical volume) present more detailed analyses of Ortner 2003: 543–544). D.18). While other types of intestinal cancer symptoms are reflected in Burial 9’s bony lesions. these two individuals and the social context in During their examination of Burial 9 from may have caused the lesions, a subsequent In his practical guide to prostate disease which their postmortems were performed. Vault 2, Dr. Novak and her assistants at review of cases of prostate cancer reported in published more closely to Burial 9’s lifetime, Syracuse University identified lesions the paleopathological literature has provided Courtenay (1839: 75–76) described the current reflecting neoplastic bony growth as well as Osteobiographies further support for this differential diagnosis treatments available to the physicians of his day: lytic resorption located across this individual’s (Hosek and Novak 2011). Several individuals from the Spring Street regular use of the catheter…the local abstrac- innominates, sacrum, and femora. Based on the Skeletal lesions in human remains from Church burial vaults presented remarkable tion of blood [using leeches], and the warm appearance of his innominates and the degree archaeological contexts often reflect the burial circumstances and unusual pathological hip-bath night and day; and after two or three of dental attrition, Burial 9 was 40–49 years old extreme manifestations of a disease, since lesions. Osteobiographies provide in-depth his- local bleedings, we may employ with advan- at death. His skeleton was poorly preserved treatment options were few and generally inef- tories for these individuals based on their skel- tage an ointment composed of iodine, camphor, but included the partial remains of his pelvic fective. In Burial 9’s case, the lesions of his &c., which should be rubbed on the perineum etal data, offering a humanistic perspective girdle and lower limbs. His fragmentary left pelvis suggest a painful condition of some night and morning…[and] administer at bed- regarding their lives and deaths. maxilla was identified during the screening of duration. While recognized earlier in the 19th time an anodyne [pain reliever] enema. soil from Vault 2; the maxilla articulated with century, prostate cancer was first described in He further recommended that the patient Burial 9: The Man with Prostate Cancer the frontal process that was associated with the the medical literature in 1853 when British sur- “should as much as possible keep in the Cancer is one the most uncommon diseases partial remains in the grave for Burial 9. geon Dr. John Adams published an article in horizontal posture; his diet should consist prin- observed among historic-period skeletal Determination of Burial 9’s ancestry was incon- cipally of milk and light remains. In its most basic form, cancer is the clusive: the femora were straight and the inter- puddings, and of course condylar spaces were wide, both morpholog- uncontrollable growth of abnormal cells in any he should avoid all ical traits typically associated with African part of the body. The onset of cancer may be spirits, wine, and beer.” ancestry, but the appearance of the partial left genetic; may be triggered by exposure to an Apart from catheteriza- maxilla indicated that he had a narrow nasal environmental factor such as toxic chemicals or tion, an uncomfortable aperture and a flat face, which are features radiation; may be caused by viruses; or may procedure where a arise from random mutations. The types of consistent with European ancestry. metal tube is passed cancer and the frequency of their incidence The neoplastic lesions were represented by through the penis into vary by population and geographic location new bone that had formed across the visceral the bladder to open the (Micozzi 1991). surfaces of Burial 9’s ilia, presenting a fuzzy, One man from the Spring Street Church velvet-like appearance (fig. 10). The growth urethra, it is unlikely vaults (Burial 9, Vault 2) presented lesions of was denser and more prominent on the left that any of these his pelvic bones and femora strongly sug- ilium. The innominates were pitted with methods provided gesting that he suffered from some form of numerous lytic lesions, which were espe- much relief. metastatic carcinoma, most likely prostate cially prominent across the posterior sur- Given these cancer. The prostate is a small gland located faces of the ilia. Similar lytic lesions, Figure 10. Proliferative and lytic lesions of the right ilium indicating probable descriptions and how below the bladder in men. It wraps around the appearing as large pores surrounded by case of prostate cancer; Vault 2, Burial 9. (Photograph by Dana Kollman.) the historical treatments 86 Crist/Human Remains from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Burial Vaults Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 39, 2010 87

Rudolphus Bogert, New York that he was a gentleman rather than a man Merchant who had labored physically. Commensurate with his advanced age, Although more than 35 leg- Bogert lost many of his teeth well before death. ible coffin plates were recovered Most of his maxillary teeth were lost ante- during the archaeological exca- mortem with complete resorption of their vations of the Spring Street sockets; both right incisors, both canines, the Church burial vaults (see White right second premolar, and the left third molar and Mooney, this volume), only remained (fig. 11). An active abscess was one was clearly associated with a located at the root of the left canine. All of his set of skeletal remains. Burial 12 mandibular molars also were lost antemortem from Vault 3 was found with a with complete socket resorption, as were the coffin plate inscribed left second and right first premolars. Both man- “Rudolphus Bogert/Died 15th dibular canines, three incisors, and the left first Nov 1842/Aged 76 Yrs” in close premolar all were present in their sockets. The proximity to his cranium. left lateral incisor and right second premolar Subsequent laboratory analysis were lost postmortem. The cusps of all of indicated that Burial 12 was Bogert’s teeth were completely worn away, indeed a man at least 70 years resulting in moderate dentin exposure. old at death. An examination of Bogert’s long bones Rudolphus Bogert was born revealed a leg-length discrepancy: his left on February 16, 1766 and was femur was 14 mm (0.55 in.) longer than his baptized four days later at the right one. A small osteophyte (a bony spur) New York Reformed Dutch projected superiorly from the lateral eminence Church. A merchant from one of of his right tibia; this bony growth may reflect Figure 12. Posterior view of Rudolphus Bogert’s the New York’s oldest Dutch lower cervical spine (C5–C7) depicting ankylosis of the ossified remains of a torn anterior cruciate families, he served as a captain the apophyseal joints at the fifth and sixth vertebrae. ligament of his knee. A number of degenerative (Photograph by the author.) in the New York State Militia and changes affected Bogert’s spinal column. All of was a member of New York City his cervical vertebrae presented osteophytes Fire Company #36 (Mooney et al. thoracic vertebrae, their bodies exhibited mul- and porosity of their bodies, probably due to tiple syndesmophytes (beak-like osteophytes 2008: 5.8). He married Ann Clark his advanced age but possibly resulting from a that cross the disc spaces) and marginal osteo- (1784–1850) on May 2, 1802 and traumatic event that affected his fifth and sixth phytic ridges. The syndesmophytes located on together they had ten children cervical vertebrae. These vertebrae were fused the bodies of the eighth through eleventh ver- between 1803 and 1826 (Riker together at their bodies and at both apophyseal tebrae were large and had begun to fuse (fig. 1904: 457). Working for his articular facets (fig. 12). This ankylosis (fusion) 13). The twelfth thoracic vertebra presented family’s cotton business most likely resulted from a localized neck minor anterior wedging, possibly from a com- (Bogert and Kneeland, founded injury, probably an intervertebral disc hernia- pression fracture. Bogert’s lumbar vertebrae Figure 11. Facial skeleton of Burial 12 from Vault 3; identified as in 1803 and closed in 1870), he Rudolphus Bogert who died in 1842 at age 76. (Photograph by the tion that occurred when he was much younger. also presented marginal osteophytic lipping was successful enough to have a author.) Modern medical data indicate that the over- and syndesmophytes. Eburnation from bone- miniature portrait of his likeness whelming majority of disc herniations in the on-bone contact of the third lumbar vertebra’s made in 1806 by New York artist Parmenas contrast with the practice of modern medicine, neck occur between the fifth and sixth verte- right inferior facet and remodeling of the left one can only imagine the pain and indignities Howell, an item now on display at the New brae, the site of maximum cervical mobility superior facet from the fourth lumbar vertebra that this man, now known as Burial 9, suf- York Metropolitan Museum of Art (see White (Schoen 2000: 235). The resulting clinical symp- suggest that Bogert suffered a localized injury fered due to his condition. Burial 9 died at and Mooney, this volume). toms include intermittent paresthesia (the to his lower back. It is possible that this injury least a decade before Dr. Adams published Bogert’s skeleton was generally intact, “pins-and-needles” sensation) of the thumb occurred in association with the disc hernia- his article in 1853 and, similar to the patient although his cranium and ribs were frag- and lateral side of hand along with weakness tion that resulted in the fusion of his fifth and described in the article, likely suffered from mented and his scapulae, fifth lumbar ver- and atrophy of the biceps. It is possible that sixth cervical vertebrae. his disease for some time, possibly for years. tebra, and sacrum were absent. His spinal Bogert experienced these symptoms in both Rudolphus Bogert was part of a Dutch Burial 9’s lesions reflect what must have column presented significant pathological arms due to progressive compression of the family whose members were among the ear- been an agonizing affliction, underscoring lesions, including fusion of the fifth and sixth sixth cervical spinal nerves as the two verte- liest settlers of New Netherland in the late the human dimensions both of medicine cervical vertebrae. The joints of his lower brae fused together. 1600s. Born into the Reformed Dutch Church, during the antebellum period and of extremities, however, exhibited minimal While there were minimal arthritic changes Bogert apparently chose to join the Spring paleopathology today. evidence of degenerative changes, suggesting to the apophyseal articular facets of Bogert’s Street Presbyterian Church and was buried in 88 Crist/Human Remains from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Burial Vaults Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 39, 2010 89

one of its vaults in 1842, seven years after Burials 17A and 17B: Mother and Baby given the position of interments in Lower Manhattan were specifi- Perhaps the most compelling story the fetal remains in cally prohibited by law. It is unclear whether depicted by the skeletal remains from the her lower abdominal Bogert’s wife Ann (who died on April 13, 1850 Spring Street Church vaults is that of a young region. Another pos- in Brooklyn) or any of their ten children (three woman interred with the remains of a full- sibility, however, is of whom predeceased him) were interred with term fetus. Although DNA analysis was not suggested by the him in the vaults. Although prosperous and performed to confirm their relationship, the lesions present on civically active, Bogert’s remains indicate that position of the fetal remains makes it almost the woman’s cranial bones. Her frontal his last years were marked by discomfort from certain that the skeletons represent a mother exhibited a thin neck and back pain, limited mobility, and and her baby. layer of light-col- dental problems; his skeleton serves as a testa- Burial 17A was a woman of European descent who was 25 to 29 years old when she ored, remodeled ment to a long life as a successful merchant died. During excavations the URS archaeolo- bone that extended who helped build New York City into the gists discovered the remains of a full-term across the internal economic engine of the early United States. fetus in the woman’s lower abdominal region, (endocranial) sur- with most of the immature bones laying pri- face from the orbital marily on her sacrum and right innominate plates superiorly to (fig. 14). There was no evidence of a separate the coronal suture coffin for the fetal remains, indicating that the (fig. 16). In contrast, woman most likely died either during child- the unaffected por- birth or as the result of some other cause tions of the bone during her ninth month of pregnancy. It is also were characterized possible, though less likely, that the baby was by a smooth, tan-col- born alive and that they both died and were ored surface. The buried together shortly thereafter. atypical surface was The skeletal remains of both the woman bumpy with wide- and the baby were well preserved, with most spread porosity and skeletal elements and the woman’s teeth elongated cavita- present and intact. Her cranium and facial tions. Both parietals bones were present but fragmentary and also presented sim- eroded. Almost all of the bones of the fetus ilar endocranial were present with the exceptions of the facial porosity in the cen- bones, the right innominate, and portions of Figure 14. In situ view of the remains of a full-term fetus located in the abdominal ters of the bones and the unfused vertebrae (fig. 15). The bones of cavity of probable mother; Vault 3, Burials 17A and 17B. (Photograph by the author.) along the channels the cranial vault were fragmentary. No imma- ture dental remains were found. The sex and ancestry of the fetal remains were indeterminate, but his or her age was clearly indicated by fusion of the tympanic ring and petrous portion of the right temporal, which occurs just before birth. The lesser wings of the sphenoid also were fused to its body, another normal development in a full- term fetus. The left greater wing was partially fused; this portion normally joins the body during the first year of life but also may do so in utero. Measurements of the long bones indi- cated that the fetus was small relative to others in this age range, but within normal parameters. Figure 13. Left antero-lateral view of Rudolphus The woman’s remains presented no Bogert’s lower thoracic spine (T8–L1); note bridging evidence of trauma or cause of death. syndesmophytes located along the right side of the Complications of labor, including obstruction vertebral bodies. (Photograph by the author.) of the fetus, are likely possibilities, especially Figure 15. Remains of the full-term fetus from Vault 3, Burial 17. (Photograph by the author.) 90 Crist/Human Remains from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Burial Vaults Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 39, 2010 91

for the blood vessels, especially around the osteological evidence of these diseases was adult skulls in the Hamann-Todd Collection in most of American history, an important part of grooves for the meningeal arteries. This present on her other bones, both tuberculosis Cleveland may support a link between Burial women’s experience of childbirth was their porosity and remodeling probably reflect men- and syphilis were common in antebellum New 17A’s cranial lesions and infection with tuber- anticipation of dying or of being permanently ingitis, which is an infection of the thin mem- York and their respective causative organisms culosis. Hershkovitz et al. (2002) identified injured during the event.” branes that cover the brain and lie close to the may have infected this woman’s brain or its superficial endocranial lesions and discolored endocranial surfaces of the cranial vault bones. surrounding tissues. Historical research sup- bone that they collectively termed serpens endo- Discussion and Conclusion Acute meningitis arises from a variety of ports this possible explanation: “Tuberculosis cranial symmetrica in 32 of the 1,884 skulls causes, most commonly viruses and bacteria. in the nineteenth century disproportionately (1.7%) that they examined. These individuals In 1865, some 31 years after their church Even with modern antibiotic treatment, bacterial attacked young women between the ages of 15 had all died during the first four decades of and house had been destroyed by anti-aboli- meningitis may be quickly fatal. to 45, and frequent pregnancies in these same the 20th century. Of significance, 29 of the 32 tionist mobs, Reverend Henry G. Ludlow’s Burial 17A’s endocranial lesions actually women put them at a greater risk of early people (90.6%) were reported to have had tho- son, Fitz Hugh Ludlow, wrote about the night may have resulted from a more chronic menin- death” (Leavitt 1986: 25). racic infections; tuberculosis was listed as the that his family returned to their home: geal infection, such as tubercular meningitis or A study of the frequency and distribution cause of death for 25 of them (78.1%). The When [my family] came cautiously back, their syphilitic aseptic meningitis. While no other of endocranial lesions among a large sample of lesions were bilateral in 90.9% of the cases, as home was quiet as a fortress after it had been were those presented by Burial 17A. blown up. The front-parlor was full of paving- Lesions presented by Burial 17A’s baby stones; the carpets were cut to pieces; the pic- tures, the furniture, and the chandelier lay in also may have resulted from tuberculosis or one common wreck; and the walls were cov- syphilis. While some porosity is a normal char- ered with inscriptions of mingled insult and acteristic of the developing bones, extensive glory. Over the mantel-piece had been char- fine to coarse porosity was present across the coaled “Rascal;” over the pier-table, surfaces of the basilar and left lateral portions “Abolitionist” (1865: 504–505). of the occipital, the right temporal, the petrous Such was the state of affairs for the leader and portion of the left temporal, and the surfaces the congregants of the Spring Street of the mandible. The right greater wing of the Presbyterian Church amidst the explosive ten- sphenoid also presented a thin, white-colored, sion that the abolitionist movement generated slightly raised layer of bone across the endo- in New York City during the 1830s. cranial surface. Its entire external surface was This was an unusual group of people: pro- covered by widespread, fine porosity. All of gressive and open to a mixed-race congrega- the ribs presented fine to coarse, honeycomb- tion, willing to follow a controversial aboli- like porosity across their external and internal tionist pastor, and many with money to spend surfaces. Fine, smooth porosity was also on silver coffin plates and rebuilding their present on the scapulae, humeri, ulnae, the left church quickly after its destruction in 1834. It ilium, and the lower limb bones. The appear- is unfortunate that history does not record ance and widespread distribution of this more of their personal stories. The discovery porosity was most likely pathological and and excavation of the Spring Street Church resulted from a systemic illness, probably trans- burial vaults, however, brings these church mitted from the woman during pregnancy. members back to life, even though only a few In a report written in 1857, New York phy- of them can be personally identified. Their sician David Meredith Reese tabulated a total skeletons also provide a glimpse into the bio- of 24,164 stillborn and premature births logical history of antebellum New York. As the recorded in New York City between 1804 and only group of human remains from this period 1853 (Reese 1857: 18). A further 78,762 infants available for study to date, the demographic under one year old reportedly died during and paleopathological data that they generate these 50 years, which span the period when allow for a more accurate reconstruction of the the Spring Street Church burial vaults were in nature of life and death during this turbulent use. Combined, these infants accounted for period in the city’s history. 28% of the 363,242 deaths reported in New Even considering the small sample size rel- York City during this period. Burial 17B serves ative to New York’s population of a quarter as a poignant representative of these many million people in the 1830s, virtually every premature deaths. Together, these individuals disease and disorder described in the city’s dramatically reflect the high risk of childbirth for historical accounts are represented among the Figure 16. Endocranial surface of the frontal presenting reactive periosteal bone and remodeling; Vault 3, Burial mothers and their babies during the historical Spring Street Church congregants’ remains. 17A. (Photograph by the author.) period. As noted by Leavitt (1986: 14): “During These include cases of syphilis and tuberculosis; 92 Crist/Human Remains from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Burial Vaults Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 39, 2010 93

nutritional disorders including anemia, rickets, Mooney, Rebecca White, Robert Wiencek, Audin, Michael Cantwell, Anne-Marie E., and Diana diZerega Wall and scurvy; a small number of accidental frac- Edward Morin, and Stephen Tull for their col- 2010 Archaeological Monitoring Report for the 2001 Unearthing Gotham: The Archaeology of New tures; a possible case of abdominal cancer; and laboration and assistance. I would like to Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral Cemetery Wall York City. Yale University Press, New Haven. one poignant burial where a mother and her thank Diane Dallal, Claudia Cooney, and Restoration Project, Manhattan, New York baby had apparently both died during child- Elizabeth Meade at AKRF, Inc. for their collab- County, New York. Report prepared by Chan, Sewell Archaeology Resource Services, LLC for birth. Almost half of the 85 individuals pre- oration as well, along with Bradley Adams 2008 Skeletal Remains Discovered in the Archdiocesan Building Commission sented evidence of skeletal infection or inflam- Washington Square Park. Accessed May 11, and Christian Crowder, forensic anthropolo- and Acheson Doyle Partners Architects. mation and about 10% of the adults had a 2012. resulted from injuries of a violent nature. Novak and her students at Syracuse New York. About one-third of the 34 infants and children University, especially Meredith Ellis, Lauren Courtenay, Francis B. appeared to have suffered from anemia and at Hosek, William Werner, and Wesley Aufderheide, Arthur C., and Conrado Rodríquez- 1839 Practical Observations on the Chronic least five of them may have had scurvy. Willoughby, for their work with the remains Martin Enlargement of the Prostate Gland. Francis B. When compared to the modern American from Vaults 2 and 4 and their contributions to 1998 The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Courtenay, London. population, the average age at death of the the project report and subsequent research. Paleopathology. Cambridge University adults in the Spring Street Church vaults at just Press, Cambridge. Dana Kollmann photographed the remains Crist, Thomas A. over 35 years old was strikingly low. This depicted in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 10. Utica 2005 Babies in the Privy: Prostitution, average age also was lower than that reported College students Tinh Nguyen, Laura Prestia, Baker, Brenda J., Tosha L. Dupras, and Matthew W. Tocheri Infanticide, and Abortion in New York for adults in New York City when the vaults and Brittany Wolanin also contributed to the 2005 Osteology of Infants and Children. Texas City’s Five Points District. In Sin City: The were in use; during the 1820s the average age success of this project, as did my wife and A&M University Press, College Station. Archaeology of Prostitution, ed. by Donna J. at death for adults over 20 years old was 43 fellow professor Molly Crist and Dean of Arts Seifert. Historical Archaeology 39(1): 19–46. years and in the 1830s it was 39 years (Wynne and Sciences John Johnsen. I appreciate the Blakey, Michael L., and Leslie M. Rankin-Hill, eds. 1857: 192). Although the historical data are feedback from the two anonymous reviewers 2004a The New York African Burial Ground, Skeletal Crist, Thomas A., and Molly H. Crist almost certainly imprecise and the skeletal ages whose thoughtful comments greatly strength- Biology Final Report, Vol. I. Prepared for the 2011 Skeletal Evidence for the Dissection of estimated, it appears that the individuals ened this paper. Although it represents the United States General Services Children at the Philadelphia Almshouse, whose remains were recovered from the vaults, work of many people, I am responsible for any Administration, Northeastern and 1732–1834. Presented at the 80th Annual on average, died younger than their fellow errors in fact or interpretation that may be Caribbean Region. Howard University, Meeting of the American Association of New York residents. Consistent with the high included in this article. Washington, DC. Physical Anthropologists, Minneapolis. rates of infant mortality reported during this 2004b The New York African Burial Ground, Skeletal Biology Final Report, Vol. II. period, almost half of the 34 infants and chil- Prepared for Crist, Thomas A., James C. Garman, Gary S. the United States General Services dren died before reaching 18 months of age. McGowan, and Douglas B. Mooney Administration, Northeastern and Despite Reverend Ludlow’s comments to 2000 Bioarchaeological Monitoring of Water Caribbean Region. Howard University, his sister about the low financial position of his Main Repairs and Identification of References Washington, DC. congregants, overall this group of people Associated Human Skeletal Remains, appears to be a broadly representative sample Adams, John Brace, C. Loring Chambers Street between Broadway and of the residents of Manhattan during the 1820s 1853 A Case of Scirrhus of the Prostate Gland, Centre Street, Lower Manhattan, New York With a Corresponding Affection of the 1995 Region Does Not Mean ‘Race’—Reality and 1830s. Neither particularly wealthy nor City. Report prepared by Kise Straw & Lymphatic Glands in the Lumbar Region Versus Convention in Forensic poor, they chose to associate with a church and in the Pelvis. The Lancet, April 23, 393–394. Anthropology. Journal of Forensic Sciences Kolodner, Inc. for the New York City active in the abolitionist movement and 40: 171–175. Department of Environmental Protection. included people of African descent in their ser- African Burial Ground Report on file at the New York City vices and perhaps in their burial vaults. From 2012 Reports. Accessed May 11, 2012. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, children, the skeletal remains of these people NJ. Crist, Thomas A., Shannon A. Novak, and Molly H. highlight the unique and under-appreciated Anderson, Marilyn Crist 2012 Under City Hall Park. Accessed May 11, roles that they and their church hold in the his- Buikstra, Jane E., and Douglas H. Ubelaker, eds. 2008 Appendix D: Analysis of Human Remains. 2012. 1994 and the development of New York City. Skeletal Remains. Research Series No. 44. Spring Street Presbyterian Church Anglade, Ronald E., and Richard K. Babayan Arkansas Archeological Survey, Cemetery, 244-246 Spring Street, New York Acknowledgements 2003 Race, Ethnicity, Religion, Marital Status Fayetteville. City, New York. Report prepared by URS and Prostate Cancer in the USA. In Prostate Corporation for Bayrock/Sapir I appreciate the opportunity provided by Cancer: Science and Clinical Practice. ed. by Byers, Steven N. Organization, LLC. Report on file at the URS Corporation to participate in this unique Jack H. Mydlo and Ciril J. Godec, pp. 121– 2005 Introduction to Forensic Anthropology: A New York City Landmarks Preservation project. I am especially grateful to Douglas 127. Academic Press, London Textbook. 3rd ed. Allyn and Bacon, Boston. Commission, New York. 94 Crist/Human Remains from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Burial Vaults Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 39, 2010 95

Crowder, Christian, M., Megan Ingvoldstad, and 2004 Archeological Monitoring, Con Edison London, Marilyn R. National Cancer Institute Jeannette Fridie Utility Trenches, Chambers Street, 2004 New York City Hall Park: Analysis of 2012 Surveillance Epidemiology and End 2008 Appendix A: New York City Office of Chief Manhattan, City of New York, New York Partial, Scattered, and Incomplete Human Results Stat Fact Sheets: Prostate. Accessed Medical Examiner (Report No. M-06-6910, County. Report prepared by Hartgen Skeletal Remains Recovered during the May 11, 2012. http://seer.cancer.gov/stat- Issued February 14, 2007). In Archaeological Associates, Inc. for 1999 Renovation of the Park. Report pre- facts/html/prost.html. Archaeological Investigations of the Spring Consolidated Edison. Report on file at the pared by Marilyn R. London for Parsons, Street Presbyterian Church Cemetery, 244- New York City Landmarks Preservation Brinckerhoff, Quade & Douglas, Inc. and New York City Landmarks Preservation 246 Spring Street, New York City, New Commission, New York, NY. the New York City Department of Parks Commission York. Report prepared by URS Corporation and Recreation. Report on file at the New 2002 Landmarks Preservation Commission for Bayrock/Sapir Organization, LLC. Heilen, Michael, Maria Molina, and Brian Fagan York City Landmarks Preservation Guidelines for Archaeological Work in Report on file at the New York City 2009 The New York African Burial Ground: Commission, New York, NY. New York City. Accessed May 11, 2012. Landmarks Preservation Commission, Unearthing the African Presence in Colonial http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/down- New York. New York. Howard University Press, Ludlow, Fitz Hugh loads/pdf/pubs/ayguide.pdf. Washington, DC. 1865 If Massa Put Guns into Our Han’s. Atlantic 2012 Forms and Publications—Archaeology DeGidio, Wanda Ware Monthly 15(90): 504–512. Reports. Accessed May 11, 2012. http:// 2012 Ware Family History of County Kent, Herschaft, Edward E., Marden E. Alder, David K. www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/html/forms/ England. Accessed May 11, 2012. Smith 2005 Photographic Regional Atlas of Bone Disease: 2007 Manual of Forensic Odontology. 4th ed. CRC A Guide To Pathologic and Normal Variation Niles’ Weekly Register Dwyer, Jim Press, Boca Raton. in The Human Skeleton. 2nd ed. Charles C. 1834 Mobs in New York. Niles’ Weekly Register 2009 From Bones of Immigrants, Stories of Pain. Thomas, Springfield, IL. [New York]. July 19. Series 4, Volume 10, Accessed May 11, 2012. Baratz, Vered Eshed, Olivier Dutour, and 1996 The Rental Price of Housing in New York Ortner Donald J. Bruce M. Rothschild City, 1830–1860. The Journal of Economic 2003 Identification of Pathological Conditions in Gill, George W., and Stanley Rhine, eds. 2002 Serpens Endocranial Symmetrica (SES): A History 56(3): 605–625. Human Skeletal Remains. 2nd ed. Academic 1990 Skeletal Attribution of Race: Methods for Forensic New Term and a Possible Clue for Press, San Diego. Anthropology. Anthropological Papers No. 4. Identifying Intrathoracic Disease in Meade, Elizabeth D. Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, Skeletal Populations. American Journal of 2008 Appendix B: Topic-Intensive Documentary Ortner, Donald J., and Arthur C. Aufderheide, eds. University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Physical Anthropology 118(3): 201–216. Study. In Archaeological Investigations of 1991 Human Paleopathology: Current Syntheses the Spring Street Presbyterian Church and Future Options. Smithsonian Institution Gorn, Elliott J. Cemetery, 244-246 Spring Street, New York Hosek, Lauren R., and Shannon A. Novak Press, Washington, D.C. 1987 “Good-Bye Boys, I Die a True American”: 2011 A Case of Metastasized Prostate Cancer City, New York. Report prepared by URS Homicide, Nativism, and Working-Class Corporation for Bayrock/Sapir from the Historic Spring Street Ousley, Stephen, Richard Jantz, and Donna Freid Culture in Antebellum New York City. The Organization, LLC. Report on file at the Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. 2009 Understanding Race and Human Journal of American History 74(2): 388–410. New York City Landmarks Preservation Presented at the 80th Annual Meeting of Variation: Why Forensic Anthropologists Commission, New York, NY. the American Association of Physical are Good at Identifying Race. American Griscom, John Hoskins Anthropologists, Minneapolis. Journal of Physical Anthropology 139(1): 1845 The Sanitary Condition of the Laboring Population Micozzi, Marc S. 68–76. of New York, With Suggestions for its 1991 Disease in Antiquity. The Case of Cancer. Hunter Research, Inc. Improvement. Harper and Brothers, New York. Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 1994 Analysis of Cultural Materials including Paleopathology Association 115: 838–844. Human Skeletal Remains Retrieved from 1991 Skeletal Database Committee Harlem African Burial Ground Task Force Soils Originating from Chambers Street 2012 Harlem African Burial Ground. Accessed Mooney, Douglas B., Edward M. Morin, Robert G. Recommendations. Paleopathology North of Tweed Courthouse at City Hall May 11, 2012. Park, Borough of Manhattan, New York 2008 Archaeological Investigations of the Spring City. Report prepared by Hunter Research, Street Presbyterian Church Cemetery, 244- Reese, David Meredith Harris, Leslie M. Inc. for Mesick Cohen Waite Architects. 246 Spring Street, New York City, New 1857 Report on Infant Mortality in Large Cities, 2003 In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans Report on file at the New York City York. Report prepared by URS Corporation The Sources of Its Increases, and Means for Its in New York City, 1626–1863. University of Landmarks Preservation Commission, for Bayrock/Sapir Organization, LLC. Diminution. Collins, Philadelphia, PA. Chicago Press, Chicago. New York. Report on file at the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, Relethford, John H. Hartgen Archaeological Associates, Inc. La Roche, Cheryl, and Michael L. Blakey New York. 2009 Race and Global Patterns of Phenotypic 2003 Tweed Courthouse Archeological Survey 1997 Seizing Intellectual Power: The Dialogue Variation. American Journal of Physical and Data Retrieval Investigations. Report at the New York African Burial Ground. Moore-Jansen, Peer H., Stephen D. Ousley, and Anthropology 139(1): 16–22. prepared by Hartgen Archaeological Historical Archaeology 31(3): 84–106. Richard L. Jantz Associates, Inc. for NYC Economic 1994 Data Collection Procedures for Forensic Riker, James Development Corporation. Report on file Leavitt, Judith Walzer Skeletal Material. Report of Investigations 1904 Revised History of Harlem (City of New York): at the New York City Landmarks 1986 Brought to Bed: Childbearing in America, 1750– No. 48. 3rd ed. Department of Anthropology, Origin and Early Annals. New Harlem Preservation Commission, New York, NY. 1950. Oxford University Press, New York. University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Publishing Company, New York. 96 Crist/Human Remains from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Burial Vaults

Roberts, Charlotte A., and Jane E. Buikstra Willis, Cheryl 2008 The Bioarchaeology of Tuberculosis: A Global 2010 Group Seeks Landmark Status for Harlem View on a Reemerging Disease. University Burial Ground. Accessed on May 11, 2012. Press of Florida, Gainesville. 1995 Hives of Sickness: Public Health and Epidemics in New York City. Museum of the City of Wynne, James New York, New York. 1857 Report on the Vital Statistics of the United States, Made to the Mutual Life Insurance Company of Sauer, Norman J. New York. H. Bailliere, New York. 1992 Forensic Anthropology and the Concept of Race: If Races Don’t Exist, Why are Zimmerman, Michael R., and Marc A. Kelley Forensic Anthropologists So Good at 1982 Atlas of Human Paleopathology. Praeger, Identifying Them? Social Science & Medicine New York. 34(2): 107–111.

Sawczuk, Ihor C., and Ahmad Shabsigh 2003 Cancer of the Prostate: Incidence in the USA. In Prostate Cancer: Science and Clinical Practice. ed. by Jack H. Mydlo and Ciril J. Godec, pp. 115–120. Academic Press, London.

Scheuer, Louise, and Sue Black Thomas Crist earned his BA in Archaeology 2000 Developmental Juvenile Osteology. Academic Press, San Diego. and Classics at Rutgers College, an MA in 2004 The Juvenile Skeleton. Elsevier Academic Anthropology/Public Service Archaeology at Press, London. the University of South Carolina, and his PhD in biological anthropology from Temple Schoen, Delores C. University. He is currently Professor of 2000 Adult Orthopedic Nursing. Lippincott, Anatomy and Anthropology at Utica College Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia. and consultant in physical anthropology at Steinbock, R. Ted URS Corporation. A Fellow of the American 1976 Paleopathological Diagnosis and Interpretation: Academy of Forensic Sciences, he was one of Bone Diseases in Ancient Human Populations. three co-founders of the Academy’s Young Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, IL. Forensic Scientists Forum and served as the group’s first secretary. He has directed two Stone, Linda dozen historical cemetery excavations 1997 Monitoring, Testing, and Mitigation of throughout the United States, teaches an Impacts to Archaeological Resources within the 31–52 Chambers Street Utility annual forensic anthropology field school in Trench Project, Manhattan, New York City. Albania and Romania, and is the author of Prepared by Linda Stone MA, SOPA, New more than 100 professional publications and York, NY for Primer Construction. Report cultural resources management reports. He on file at the New York City Landmarks also is a member of the U.S. Disaster Mortuary Preservation Commission, New York, NY. Operational Response Team (DMORT) and served two deployments assisting in the Taylor, James Anderson recovery and identification of victims from the 1922 History of Dentistry. Lea and Febiger, Philadelphia, PA. World Trade Center attacks in 2001.

Thompson, Henry 1868 The Diseases of the Prostate: Their Pathology Thomas A. Crist and Treatment. 3rd ed. John Churchill and Sons, London. Utica College 1600 Burrstone Road White, Tim D., and Pieter Arend Folkens Utica, New York 13502-4892 2005 The Human Bone Manual. Academic Press, 315.792.3390 (office) Orlando. [email protected]