Leap day birthday

Being born on a leap day is so uncommon that I’ve only ever found one of my confirmed direct line ancestors to have been so.

Today would have been Araminta Rebecca “Mintie” Brown’s 140th birthday.

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Peter Reuter: The Dramatic Hall years

 

A sketch of the Dramatic Hall as it looked circa 1880. [detail from newspaper sketch, originally published in The North American, Philadelphia, May 1, 1904]

One of the more fascinating chapters in the life of my third great-grandfather, Peter Reuter, involves his time running the Dramatic Hall at Fifth and Gaskill Sts. (511 S. Fifth St.) in Philadelphia.

Wheatley Dramatic Hall (so named for actor William Wheatley whose troupe, the Wheatley Dramatic Association, took up residence at the theater in the 1860s) was a building with its own impressive and colorful history. Its name was shortened during the seven years Peter was in charge.