February 2026 Program
Mt. Pisgah Cemetery – An African American Cemetery in Wrightsville
Speakers Becky Anstine and Tina Charles
When and why was it formed? What member of the 6888 Division of WW II is buried there? Ambrose Shief was a ranking lawyer in Washington, DC—what is his connection to Mt. Pisgah? The Bares and the Bartons—Civil War vets and workers on
the Tidewater Canal? Dr. Jamison’s family came from Lancaster County—why are his daughter and a son buried in the Indian Mission cemetery in Delaware? Why are there so many connections to Lancaster County? Who is the oldest person buried in the cemetery? Who was the woman who helped runaway slaves, fought Indians, knew General Custer, and was in Wrightsville when the Confederates attacked? Learn the answers at our February meeting!
Watch the recorded presentation here.
Becky Anstine is a York County native and librarian. She has been actively involved with genealogy and local African American history. Becky has served on the SCPGS board for many years. She is also a Henry James Young Award recipient.
Tina Charles is a lifelong York County resident and passionate genealogist who loves uncovering forgotten stories. She is the creator of Carving Out History, a storytelling blog dedicated to bringing the past to life through research, writing, and community connection. Tina has authored a couple local books and continues to explore the people, places, and moments that time almost forgot.Start the New Year with entertaining or enlightening our SCPGS audience by sharing an intriguing family find or story which has special meaning for you. Maybe it’s a memorable photo of an ancestor, or a trinket, or garment. Maybe it’s a request for assistance or a recent discovery that created a hole in your Brick Wall. On any account this relaxed, informal event has in the past led to some serendipity and mutual discoveries.
the Tidewater Canal? Dr. Jamison’s family came from Lancaster County—why are his daughter and a son buried in the Indian Mission cemetery in Delaware? Why are there so many connections to Lancaster County? Who is the oldest person buried in the cemetery? Who was the woman who helped runaway slaves, fought Indians, knew General Custer, and was in Wrightsville when the Confederates attacked? Learn the answers at our February meeting!
Watch the recorded presentation here.
Becky Anstine is a York County native and librarian. She has been actively involved with genealogy and local African American history. Becky has served on the SCPGS board for many years. She is also a Henry James Young Award recipient.
Tina Charles is a lifelong York County resident and passionate genealogist who loves uncovering forgotten stories. She is the creator of Carving Out History, a storytelling blog dedicated to bringing the past to life through research, writing, and community connection. Tina has authored a couple local books and continues to explore the people, places, and moments that time almost forgot.Start the New Year with entertaining or enlightening our SCPGS audience by sharing an intriguing family find or story which has special meaning for you. Maybe it’s a memorable photo of an ancestor, or a trinket, or garment. Maybe it’s a request for assistance or a recent discovery that created a hole in your Brick Wall. On any account this relaxed, informal event has in the past led to some serendipity and mutual discoveries.
Reviewed by Erica Runkles:
The program on Wrightsville’s Mt. Pisgah Cemetery that Becky Anstine and Tina Charles presented in February was meticulously researched, covering over two hundred years of African-American history in Wrightsville, focusing on the early community of Westphalia and Wrightsville families and the establishment of the Zion Cemetery or as it came to be
called Mt. Pisgah Cemetery.
On the Mulberry street side of the cemetery a memorial marker stands “In memory of the black militia man who died June 28,1863 defending Wrightsville against confederates during a Civil War siege Aiming to take control of the Susquehanna River Bridge and all black veterans that honorably served in the armed forces.”\
Samuel Melon was the first African American from Wrightville to die in the Civil War; however he was not buried in his hometown, but rather in a mass gravesite near Petersburg, Virginia.
Mt. Pisgah Cemetery holds 51 black veterans identified as having been in the armed forces: Civil War - 12; Buffalo Soldiers - 2; Spanish American War - 2; World War 1 - 14; World War 11 - 15; Korea - 2; Vietnam - 1; Peacetime Veterans - 3.
A Partial Timeline
Some noted Wrightsville Families: Bear, Bodie, Jamison, McPeak, Reed, and Simpson.
James Lewis Jamison (1856-1930) was the son of William and Catherine Strawbridge Jamison and a descendent from the Conestoga Indians. At age 14 he moved to Philadelphia to train with Dr. Frank H. Getchell, an obstetrician. He attended Lincoln University and Jefferson College and married friend Celia Baldwin in 1884. He was the largest individual property owner of his race in York County in 1910. He practiced medicine for 49 years, was an organizer of A.M.E. Zion Church in Wrightsville and served as Wrightsville School Director. Jamison also participated in the formation of the York County Indian Association which became Indians Steps Museum. Of his four children, two sons went into the medical profession and one son and daughter are buried at Indian Mission Cemetery in Sussex County, Delaware.
Henry McPeak, said to be part Indian or mulatto, was born c.1826 in Pennsylvania. DNA connects him to the McPeaks of Franklin County, PA. In 1859, he bought his first property in Wrightsville. In 1874, he was a trustee of Mount Pisgah cemetery. He was married to Mary A. Jamison, a sister of Dr. Jamison. Henry died on 25 March 1883. His son Levi
married Henry Bare’s daughter Sarah and moved to Olean, New York, but his family came back to Mount Pisgah to be buried. Henry’s great grandson, Henry Leroy McPeak, enlisted as a Tuskegee Airman, but he had to transfer to another unit. “The thing is I volunteered to lay down my life for a country that didn’t want me, but you learn to live with that but
you never really get over it.” After the war he enrolled in college and received his engineering degree which led to working for General Electric. He spent 25 years at Cornell University running a laboratory.
William Reed, (14 April 1848 – 27 Oct 1929) was the son of Robert Reed and Charlotte Shorter Reed. The 5’3’’, eighteen-year-old laborer Reed enlisted on 23 March 1864 in Philadelphia with Co. D. 43rd Regiment and was wounded in the knee by a shell at Petersburg, Virginia on 30 July 1864. After his hospital stay in Philadelphia, he returned to his company and was appointed musician on 21 Sept 1864. He was discharged in Brownsville, Texas on 20 Oct. 1865. In 1903, Dr. James L. Jamison gave him a physical and recorded that Reed had a bad knee, a head injury, epilepsy, and was deaf in his right ear.
Reuben Simpson lived in Philadelphia during the 1850 census. In 1857, he was advertising in the Wrightsville Star. In 1860, Reuben bought lot #53 for $250. The 1860 and 1870 census showed C. Bodie (80) and Charles M. Bodie (15) living in the household. In 1876, Reuben was added to Republican County ticket as Jury Commissioner. He also became Trustee of Bethel A.M.E with James Bodie. He had a barbershop on Turnpike Street and later on Front Street opposite the RR depot. In 1880, he was Vice President of the Wrightsville Republican Party. He died on 29 June 1884. His Will was entered into probate and Frank McGee was appointed guardian of his minor children. J. L. Bodie and J. L. Jamison appraised his estate. His inventory included two barber chairs, a half dozen towels, and two old barber chairs and stools.
The program on Wrightsville’s Mt. Pisgah Cemetery that Becky Anstine and Tina Charles presented in February was meticulously researched, covering over two hundred years of African-American history in Wrightsville, focusing on the early community of Westphalia and Wrightsville families and the establishment of the Zion Cemetery or as it came to be
called Mt. Pisgah Cemetery.
On the Mulberry street side of the cemetery a memorial marker stands “In memory of the black militia man who died June 28,1863 defending Wrightsville against confederates during a Civil War siege Aiming to take control of the Susquehanna River Bridge and all black veterans that honorably served in the armed forces.”\
Samuel Melon was the first African American from Wrightville to die in the Civil War; however he was not buried in his hometown, but rather in a mass gravesite near Petersburg, Virginia.
Mt. Pisgah Cemetery holds 51 black veterans identified as having been in the armed forces: Civil War - 12; Buffalo Soldiers - 2; Spanish American War - 2; World War 1 - 14; World War 11 - 15; Korea - 2; Vietnam - 1; Peacetime Veterans - 3.
A Partial Timeline
- Around 1811, Susanna Wright Houston, daughter of John Wright, Jr. and Eleanor Barber, took her inheritance and divided her property into 99 lots. The area was called Westphalia. These lots were sold for $99.00 a piece and assigned by a lottery. Buyers of the general community pulled a number out of a hat and sometimes swapped plots with each other. One of the people to settle in this area was Charles Boddy who bought the first of several lots. The Union Church, also know as the “Old Brick Meeting House,” was built in Westphalia around 1817 and served Presbyterian, Methodist, and Lutheran religious services and was used as a school for the “colored” children until it was razed in 1858.
- In 1830, a church believed to have been formed and named Bethel A.M.E., was served by tra eling ministers. The first minutes of Bethel A.M.E. were recorded in 1852. In 1853 Robert and Martha Smith sold lots #79 and #80 on the corner of Second St. and Middle Alley for $100 to the trustees of the Colored Wesley Zion Church (Daniel Rice, Elias Veney, Pharoah Fairfax, Edward Williams, and James Pelton). A stone church was erected. In 1854, the Bethel A.M.E. purchased a lot on 212-214 Orange St. on which a brick church was erected. • In 1874, Robert W. and Frances Smith sold the Trustees of the Mt. Pisgah Cemetery (Elias Veney, Henry McPeak, and Samuel T. G. Grace) a parcel of ground west of Second Street between Maple and Mulberry Streets in part of Wrightville once known as Westphalia. The parcel was comprised of the northern part of lots #80 - #84 and was bought for $250.00. An Association of members of Bethel A.M.E. and Wesleyan A.M.E. were involved in a joint project by both churches to provide permanent burial ground for the black community.
- In 1933, Alice Starner and a group of volunteers surveyed all existing tombstones in Mt. Pisgah cemetery. They recorded all the information that was on the tombstones, including name, age, birth, death, type of marker, and military information. At that time around 88 names were counted. Since then over 400 burials have taken place in the cemetery. Deaths have been verified by death announcements, obituaries, funeral notices, death certificates, pension records, and deeds.
- Becky Anstine and Tina Charles’ program had a wealth of information which this newsletter could not cover. The following url will take you directly to their program. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zn2WBhC5Obs
Some noted Wrightsville Families: Bear, Bodie, Jamison, McPeak, Reed, and Simpson.
James Lewis Jamison (1856-1930) was the son of William and Catherine Strawbridge Jamison and a descendent from the Conestoga Indians. At age 14 he moved to Philadelphia to train with Dr. Frank H. Getchell, an obstetrician. He attended Lincoln University and Jefferson College and married friend Celia Baldwin in 1884. He was the largest individual property owner of his race in York County in 1910. He practiced medicine for 49 years, was an organizer of A.M.E. Zion Church in Wrightsville and served as Wrightsville School Director. Jamison also participated in the formation of the York County Indian Association which became Indians Steps Museum. Of his four children, two sons went into the medical profession and one son and daughter are buried at Indian Mission Cemetery in Sussex County, Delaware.
Henry McPeak, said to be part Indian or mulatto, was born c.1826 in Pennsylvania. DNA connects him to the McPeaks of Franklin County, PA. In 1859, he bought his first property in Wrightsville. In 1874, he was a trustee of Mount Pisgah cemetery. He was married to Mary A. Jamison, a sister of Dr. Jamison. Henry died on 25 March 1883. His son Levi
married Henry Bare’s daughter Sarah and moved to Olean, New York, but his family came back to Mount Pisgah to be buried. Henry’s great grandson, Henry Leroy McPeak, enlisted as a Tuskegee Airman, but he had to transfer to another unit. “The thing is I volunteered to lay down my life for a country that didn’t want me, but you learn to live with that but
you never really get over it.” After the war he enrolled in college and received his engineering degree which led to working for General Electric. He spent 25 years at Cornell University running a laboratory.
William Reed, (14 April 1848 – 27 Oct 1929) was the son of Robert Reed and Charlotte Shorter Reed. The 5’3’’, eighteen-year-old laborer Reed enlisted on 23 March 1864 in Philadelphia with Co. D. 43rd Regiment and was wounded in the knee by a shell at Petersburg, Virginia on 30 July 1864. After his hospital stay in Philadelphia, he returned to his company and was appointed musician on 21 Sept 1864. He was discharged in Brownsville, Texas on 20 Oct. 1865. In 1903, Dr. James L. Jamison gave him a physical and recorded that Reed had a bad knee, a head injury, epilepsy, and was deaf in his right ear.
Reuben Simpson lived in Philadelphia during the 1850 census. In 1857, he was advertising in the Wrightsville Star. In 1860, Reuben bought lot #53 for $250. The 1860 and 1870 census showed C. Bodie (80) and Charles M. Bodie (15) living in the household. In 1876, Reuben was added to Republican County ticket as Jury Commissioner. He also became Trustee of Bethel A.M.E with James Bodie. He had a barbershop on Turnpike Street and later on Front Street opposite the RR depot. In 1880, he was Vice President of the Wrightsville Republican Party. He died on 29 June 1884. His Will was entered into probate and Frank McGee was appointed guardian of his minor children. J. L. Bodie and J. L. Jamison appraised his estate. His inventory included two barber chairs, a half dozen towels, and two old barber chairs and stools.