Valley Friends’ Burial Ground
Valley Friends’ Burial Ground has a rich and storied history. It contains the remains of early Quakers, Revolutionary War soldiers, many 19th century African Americans as well as veterans of the Civil War and later American conflicts. Its story begins with Lewis Walker, one of the first European settlers in Tredyffrin Township, who arrived in 1698. He purchased the land for his farm and built his home known as Rehobeth in 1702 on property located behind the Burial Ground. Walker, one of many Welsh Quakers who came to the Great Valley and its rich farmland, invited fellow Quakers who founded the meeting to worship in his house. Although the graveyard existed by 1719, it was officially bequeathed to the meeting upon Lewis Walker’s death in 1728.
In 1731, a meetinghouse, probably made of logs, was erected fairly close to the road in the northeast section of the present Burial Grounds. The small 1731 building served the Meeting until 1871 when Valley members directed that a new, larger meetinghouse be built across Old Eagle School Road.
Until 1775, the Welsh Quakers and their neighbors prospered and worshiped in peace. During the American Revolution, however, Quakers and other citizens of the Great Valley were greatly impacted by the war as contending armies moved through the area. The British Army encamped at Tredyfrrin in September 1777, and the Continental Army built its encampment at Valley Forge in December 1777, where they stayed until June of 1778. Army foraging stripped the area citizens of their crops and livestock as well as their peace of mind.
Since most Friends adhered to their Peace Testimony, they did not participate in war. In many cases this included not paying a fee to support the Pennsylvania state forces. Consequently, Pennsylvania’s Revolutionary War government persecuted many Friends who did not support the war.
During the first months of the Valley Forge Encampment, the Continental Army took over Valley’s meetinghouse and converted it into a hospital, and Rhode Island Quaker General Nathanael Greene kept his headquarters at Rehobeth. While the meeting served as a hospital, soldiers who died there as well as the ones who died in camp a short distance away were buried “outside the western wall” of the meetinghouse. The approximate location of the soldier’s mass grave site is located at the southwest corner of the burial ground, and marked by a monument. Accounts of the soldiers from Greene’s Virginia/Pennsylvania troops indicate that the causes of death for the men buried here were dysentery, typhus, typhoid and the flu. It is unknown how many of the local families contracted some of these deadly diseases; certainly there were some. It would be some time before the region would recover from the armies’ depredations.
The oldest sections of the cemetery contain many unmarked graves. In keeping with the Quaker principle of simplicity, this tradition continues with more modern gravestones kept small and unadorned. The Walker family was intimately involved in the burial ground from its beginning and likely responsible for burials from the start. The earliest records show only the names of the Quakers buried here. Starting in 1800, the Walker family kept somewhat more complete records.[1] The Walker records reveal that at least 70 African Americans were among those buried here in the 19th century. This represents the largest known and documented pre-Civil War African American burial ground in the Tredyffrin area.[2] Previous relationships between local black residents and the Valley Friends offer some clues as to why the Quakers were open to the idea of allowing the burials at a time when this was not a common local practice.
While Quakers became well known for their abolitionist efforts, they, like other prominent 18th century Pennsylvanians owned slaves. Eventually pushed by Quaker activists and changing attitudes in the North, they began to abandon slaveholding and by 1775 declared that no slaveholder could be a formal member of the Society of Friends. Pennsylvania officially abolished slavery in 1780, but the practice did not fully die out for some time. Former slaves and their children had very few prospects and the Valley Friends felt some obligation to employ, house and tend to their religious education. This care extended beyond their life, allowing them to be buried at the graveyard. The African Americans buried in the cemetery bearing the surname Ganges offer evidence of how slavery was contested in the beginning of the 19th century in a case challenging the institution 39 years before the more famous Amistad incident.[3]
In 1800 the U. S. Navy sloop Ganges intercepted two American slave schooners. Since this was a violation of the Slave Trade Act, the would-be slaves were brought to Philadelphia where their case would be decided by federal authority. The case was heard by Federal Judge Richard Peters. Peters ruled that they were to be free, gave them all the surname Ganges, and arranged through the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, to put them under the care of mostly Quaker Philadelphia area families. The Ganges Africans were indentured to these families so that their physical needs could be met while they were taught to read and write English and learn a trade that they could use when free. Thus through a strange twist of fate, individuals such as Curry Ganges ended up under the protection of members of Valley Friends Meeting. The location of the twelve members of Curry Ganges family buried at Valley Friends is unknown as they occurred before Valley Friends marked graves and the Walker records rarely indicate a grave location.
Another 19th century event that left an imprint on the graveyard was the American Civil War. As with earlier wars, Friends had to wrestle with the Peace Testimony in deciding whether to serve. In the case of the Civil War, the pull was stronger because the war became one not just to restore the Union, but end slavery in America for good. The numerous Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) flag markers represent both Valley members who served, and the growing category of non-Quakers such as the Walkers and Stephenses, who still had strong family ties to the Meeting.
A second large group of flag markers observed in the graveyard are those of the Second World War. Again, although we can’t say with certainty in all cases, the veterans of that era include Quakers who served as well as non-Quakers who served and chose to continue to use the “family” graveyard. It is known that some members of Valley chose non-combat service in WWII, but we do not have a comprehensive list. WW II and later graves do contain unit and rank indicators, and one indicates the grave of a medic. One woman whose grave shows a military flag marker served as a nurse. Further research might reveal why the graves of two other women have military flag markers.
Valley Friends Burial Ground continues to serve the members and descendants of the meeting as an active cemetery. The unmarked graves of the early families, Revolutionary War soldiers and African Americans, as well as veterans and the recently interred all speak of the 300-year-old history of this burial ground and of Quaker values that have been tested over time.
[1] Walker Family Burial Accounts, 1800-1887, Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore College
[2] Patricia Henry, “Early African American Burials in 19th century in Valley Friends Meeting Burial Grounds,” Tredyffrin Eastown Historical Society, Volume 51: 1
[3] https://www.ushistory.org/laz/history/ganges2.htm