3 Responses to “Palmer Park Bench”

1. RJ Smith Says:
   May 22nd, 2011 at 1:10 pm

   Sir,
   I enjoyed your video on the history of Palmer Park in Philadelphia. My interest in Palmer Park derives from research that I have done concerning my family history. I have discovered that my maternal 4’th great grandfather owned or operated the “White Horse Inn”. His name was Silas Wilson, born about 1812 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania and died Feb. 28, 1871, buried in the Hood Cemetery (formerly The Lower Burial Ground) in Germantown. His Return of Death shows that he resided at 1703 Frankford Road and his occupation was an inn keeper. I think the Inn’s address was 1725 Frankford according to tax records. In the 1860 Federal Census it shows Silas Wilson as “land lord” of the Rail Road Hotel. Would this be the same hotel/inn or location as the White Horse Inn? Also, would you have any photos of the White Horse inn? Any photos of Silas or information about him?
   Respectfully,
   RJ Smith
   Edgewater, Md.

2. Ken Milano Says:
   July 14th, 2011 at 3:44 am

   Dear RJ:

   The Philadelphia City Directory of 1860 shows the Rail Road Hotel as being at 223 Frankford Road. I’m guessing that the Rail Road Hotel and the White Horse Tavern are two different places. I do not have any photographs of the White Horse Tavern, but I believe there is a Hexamer Survey of the place.

   Ken Milano

3. David B. Crawford Says:
   January 11th, 2018 at 9:14 am

   I would certainly like to contact RJ Smith from May 22nd, 2011 at 1:10 pm., because we share the same ancestor, Silas Wilson. Silas is my 3rd great grandfather:
   Silas Wilson (1812 – 1871)
   3rd great-grandfather
   John Anthony Wilson (1838 – 1918)
   son of Silas Wilson
   Amanda Malvina Wilson (1869 – 1956)
   daughter of John Anthony Wilson
   Miriam Naomi Brooks (1897 – 1986)
   daughter of Amanda Malvina Wilson
   Miriam Naomi Sickler (1925 – 1998)
   daughter of Miriam Naomi Brooks
   David Benn Crawford
   I am the son of Miriam Naomi Sickler

   RJ Smith is at liberty to contact me at my email address: dbcrawfd@gmail.com.

   Silas Wilson’s work as an innkeeper was well known in my family long before I found it listed in any written records. My family remembered Dollie, their black servant:

   Dollie Davis (20 years old in 1870) – black servant, born in Virginia. This may be the Dollie that my grandmother, Miriam Naomi Brooks, told me, David Benn Crawford, about. As the story went, Dollie had been a slave in the South, but came to Philadelphia seeking to live with the Wilson family. She allegedly had been a slave in a Southern branch of the family. Whether it was WILSON, ABLE, or SMITH branch is not known.

   The Railroad Hotel served the rail traveling public back when this station on Frankfort was the main RR terminal in Philadelphia.

   I read that the White Horse Tavern and Blackhorse Tavern served competing political factions. Does anyone know what those factions were?

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