Farnhurst, Delaware
  • HOME
  • Remembering Farnhurst -- Table of Contents
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
    • Friends of the Potter's Field Committee Members
  • Delaware State Hospital
    • History of the Delaware State Hospital
    • Spiral Cemetery at Farnhurst >
      • Final Report for Dr. Kevin Huckshorn
    • The Ledger Project & Database
  • New Castle County Almshouse/Hospital (1884--1933)
    • History of the New Castle County Hospital/Almshouse
    • History of the NCCH Cemetery in the Woods at Farnhurst
    • Who is buried in the NCCH Cemetery?
    • PROFILES IN OBSCURITY >
      • Manuel and Baby Bivins
      • Albert Smith
    • Moses Brooks, black, single, old
    • Harriet A. Chadwick, "cripple", daughter of William H.
    • Elijah Hoy
  • Felix Bell
    • Louis H. Gross
  • Kazimez Wooblewski
    • Abe Riggs
    • Sarah E. Elbert >
      • Joseph Bailey
  • Samuel Waters
  • Wm. Patterson & Jos. Jackson
  • Annie Caulk
  • (James) Alfred Frisby Sr. & Jr. & Isaiah Frisby
  • Ruth Westbrook
  • Elizabeth Engram
  • Joseph Manders
  • Evelyn Kelsic & newborn
  • Amanda Row Hammond
  • William Jenkin Harris, Jr.
    • Jerry Ivory >
      • Antonio Piacentini
    • Karl Oiderman
  • Landren Blannen
  • Evelyn Matthews and Delaware Hearn
  • William Johnson
  • Ferdinand Hunt
  • Bessie Roberts
  • Timeline of Potter's Fields
  • Moore's Lane Potter's Field (1934-1962)
  • Boulden Boulevard Potter's Field (1962-1978)
  • Maps and photos of the Farnhurst area
  • Interview with Georgie Ross 1999
Bessie A. Roberts
              Bessie A. Roberts died when she was only 5 years of age, of scrofula.  Scrofula is a term used for lymphadenopathy, or infection of the lymph system, by the same mycobacterium that causes tuberculosis of the lungs, bones, intestines, etc., or a variant.  It usually presents on the neck and face from infection in the cervical lymph nodes.  It has also been known as “The King’s Evil” and Europeans once thought that the touch of the king could cure it.  It is found most often in immunocompromised adults, where it is usually caused by M. tuberculosis.  In immunocompetent children – which Bessie presumably was – scrofula is often caused by the atypical mycobacteria M. scrofulaceum or other nontuberculous mycobacteria (source: Wikipedia).
                Little is known of Bessie A. Roberts other than that she was African American and was born about 1889 in Pennsylvania.  She lived with her parents George and Mary Roberts in Wilmington, at 9th and Union Streets. 
              There were several men named George Roberts who lived in Wilmington in the 1880s and 1890s, with various middle initials, but it was not possible to tell if any of the many newspaper articles about them referred to Bessie’s father.  There are no records of any children being born to George and Mary Roberts in Delaware.  There was a household of African Americans in the 1900  census named George and Louise Roberts who lived at the right time in Wilmington, and who had a number of children, including a daughter named Bessie who was born in 1896, but this is almost certainly not the same family unless George had remarried before Bessie A.’s death ; see: George Roberts (1868-1953) - Find a Grave Memorial.
 
To see Bessie's Certificate of Death, click here.
 
 

 

Proudly powered by Weebly