by Lori Monk | Nov 4, 2023
J. Francis (Frank) Watson is the Pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, Whiting, NJ, Archivist of the New Jersey Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and President of the Lutheran Archives Center at Philadelphia. He is a founding member of the Duffy’s Cut Project, and has been involved in the primary archival and archaeological research into the project along with William E. Watson and Earl S. Schandelmeier (and the late John Ahtes), since its inception in 2002-2003. Frank coauthored the book The Ghosts of Duffy’s Cut and his research was featured in the two documentaries (“The Ghosts of Duffy’s Cut,” Smithsonian/RTE, 2006, and “Death on the Railroad,” PBS/RTE, 2013). In addition to numerous articles in journals, books, and magazines, Frank has recently published a new book entitled The Nazi Spy Pastor. He holds a Ph.D. in historical theology from Drew University.
by Lori Monk | Nov 3, 2023
About Bill
Bill is a Professor of History at Immaculata University in Malvern, Pennsylvania. He received his PhD. in Medieval History from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the founding member and director of the Duffy’s Cut Project. He was a Commonwealth Speaker for the Pennsylvania Humanities Council 2006-2007, and was also the recipient of the Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award at Immaculata University for the year 2006-2007. Bill has coauthored four monographs, including Irish-America: A History of Its People and Culture. He coedited and individually coauthored 30% of Irish-Americans: The History of Culture of a People. Bill has also authored numerous peer-reviewed articles related to Duffy’s Cut, the railroad and industrial history, and the history of cholera. He has spent the last 10 years directing the archeological dig at Duffy’s Cut.
by Lori Monk | Nov 2, 2023
About Lori
Lori is the Web Manager for the Duffy’s Cut Website. She is also a Malvern native and grew up hearing the ghost stories of Chester County and surrounding areas, never thinking that one day she would have a personal accounting of what happened to the 57 Irishmen at Duffy’s Cut, but that is what happened in 2004 while working on her Bachelor of Science degree from Immaculata. A multi-media class project led to a request to interview Bill Watson and his colleague John Ahtes for the development of a video entitled “The Legend of Duffy’s Cut” that video started the fascination with Duffy’s Cut and her development of the Duffy’s Cut Website followed shortly thereafter.
by Lori Monk | Oct 21, 2023
About Janet
Janet is a retired Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert in anthropology from her prior work as Curator-in-Charge of the Physical Anthropology Section in the Penn Museum. Janet joined Duffy’s Cut in the spring of 2009, when some bones of the 57 Irishmen were discovered. Janet and her team worked tirelessly on identifying the remains and piecing together the mystery that lay buried for so many years. Though the victims were originally thought to have all died from cholera in 1832, Janet and her team found evidence that they were actually executed out of the fear that they would spread the disease.
by Lori Monk | Oct 21, 2023
About Sam
Samantha recently received her Ph.D. in Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Cambridge and is a Duffy’s Cut Team member. She became enamored with anthropology and archaeology when she was nine years old. She spent fourth grade in England and says the entire school year focused on Ancient Egypt. “That’s when I decided I wanted to do archaeology,” she says. Samantha has been supervising the field excavation of the skeletons found at Duffy’s Cut.
