Text Box: WHO’S WHO IN THE GRAVE YARD THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN MORRISTOWN With 1,640 Interments Of Record Dating From 1731 Including 71 Who Served In The American Revolution Whose Final Resting Place Is Known Only To God “Let this be recorded for generations to come...” Psalms 102:18 Compiled By Scott Shepherd Morristown, New Jersey Updated Spring 2002 Go To The Grave Site Locator Go To The Bibliography Index To Interments—Click on the first letter of the surname you are searching. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z Introduction Perhaps the best documentation of early efforts to keep records of those buried in the grave yard of the Presbyterian Church is set forth on Page 3 of Volume II of The Combined Registers of the Church, which were edited and published in 1885 with an Addendum of updates published in 1891. The documentation is reproduced in its entirety as follows: The Registers of Deaths. The earliest record of burials in the graveyard of the Church is contained in the "Bill of Mortality" begun in July, 1768 by Dr. Johnes and continued to 1812, by William Cherry; an edition of this was published in 1806, and a supplement later. No Pastor after Dr. Johnes has left a Register of Funerals, except Mr. Green; but the several Sextons have kept books recording the burials in the graveyard, and all of these books are preserved, except one of Moses Cherry's. In addition to these, Mr. Green, with the assistance of Mr. Frank Whitehead, made a careful transcription of the records on the head-stones in the graveyard, which enabled him to correct many errors in the Bill of Mortality, and to record a number of burials that occurred previous to 1768. He also made a large and valuable collection of records of deaths from old newspapers and diaries. The present compilation does not contain all the material thus at hand; but aims to record the death, when on record, only (1st.,) of those who were buried in the graveyard of the Church, and (2d,) of those whose names are found upon other Registers of the Church. An 1885 account of the grave yard written by Lu Light states "the oldest date I could discover upon a tombstone was 1722, but a friend informed me that he found a stone dated 1713." The earliest date visible on a marker today is that of Martha Parson with a date of death of 1731. Early interments were somewhat haphazard. In some cases they were in whatever place the friends pointed out. Relatives often were buried far remote from each other. One grave was encroached upon to make room for another, which in its turn was disturbed to make room for a third. The bodies of strangers often were placed between members of the same family. Those wishing to visit the graves of friends often did not know where to look. No provision was made to protect markers from being effaced or destroyed. Accordingly, the Trustees adopted a plan to correct these practices in 1833. Early Compilations And Reinterments In the Spring of 1851, i.e., April 29-May 12, Alfred Vail recorded information contained on the inscriptions on the grave markers in Copies of the Epitaphs on the Tombstones in the Burial Ground of the First Presbyterian Church in Morristown, N. J. Again in 1931, Mary Johnson Parker undertook the task of recording information from the markers in the grave yard. Upon completing her survey, she compared her findings with those of Vail and prepared an Addendum showing inscriptions found by Vail which no longer were observable. Some of the markers observed by Vail no doubt deteriorated. Others appear on Vail's list but not Parker's list because Trustees of the church began restricting interments to those owning private plots in January of 1855. As a result, some families opted to relocate their loved ones to the more expansive Evergreen Cemetery which had opened about that time, thus allowing generations to come to be buried with their ancestors. Thanks to the research of Kemper Chambers, Evergreen Cemetery Historian, 135 cases of reinterment have been confirmed 85 of which do not appear in either Vail or Parker's compilation. Among those reinterred were William Tuttle, his wife Tempe Wick, and Reverend Dr. Timothy Johnes, the first Pastor of the Morristown Church. In cases where the confirmation was obtained from the compilation of Kemper Chambers entitled, Inscriptions On Tombstones In Evergreen Cemetery 1748-1974, citations, including page numbers, have been included in Editorial Notes. In other cases reference is made to Chambers, without a page number citation. In these cases confirmation was through an unpublished listing he prepared in 2000. Wherever possible the date of reinterment and the new location in Evergreen Cemetery are indicated, e.g., “Reinterred at Evergreen 3 May 1866 Location K-20.” Four of the individuals reinterred at Evergreen have markers remaining in the Burying Ground, i.e., Emma Amelia King, Gertrude & Jeanne Mills, and Frank Murray Olyphant. More Recent Documentation Of Interments Since 1940, a series of Black Book Registers for each decade have been kept. These have aided in the process of bringing previous surveys up to date. These were supplemented by a Visual Inspection of markers completed during the preparation of the current compilation. In a letter to the Pastor of the Church dated 16 February 2001, James Elliott Lindsley of Millbrook, New York, provided a list of eight people interred in the Lindsley Vault, i.e., information that had not been available previously. The current compilation includes names from Parker's two lists, i.e., her observations and her Addendum based on Vail's observations, together with names from the listing of reinterments at Evergreen Cemetery, names from Church records kept since 1931, the Lindsley additions, and the current Visual Inspection. This enables identification of 1,572 individuals who at one time were known to have been buried in the grave yard of The Presbyterian Church in Morristown. Using a separate list compiled by Parker in 1931of those buried in the Grave Yard who fought in the American Revolution, and other available sources, a new listing was compiled of Those Who Fought In The American Revolution Whose Final Resting Place In The Grave Yard Is Known Only To God. That list contains seventy-one names of which only three, i.e., Jacob Garrigus, Sr., David Pierson, and Onesimus Whitehead already were listed in the Who’s Who. To protect the integrity of each survey, differences, e.g., spelling of names, dates, age at the time of death etc., are noted. When Church Records allow correcting what appear to be obvious errors in transcription, the corrections have been made with appropriate citations noted, e.g., "CR22" indicating Combined Registers Part II at Page 22 or "BOM33" indicating the Bill of Mortality at Page 33. Where the original record is very limited and could be augmented from information contained in The Combined Registers, the Bill Of Mortality, or the Sexton's Books, such information has been included in Editorial Notes with an appropriate citation. In merging the lists, the names have been presented in alphabetical order. In some cases, e.g., large families like the Condicts, the Lindsleys, and the Piersons, this results in members of a family group being scattered throughout the long list of all those with the same surname. This is not a problem when the original records, such as Vail or Parker's list of inscriptions or The Combined Registers, included a reference to whose spouse or child a person is. However when such relationships were not included in the original records, the only clue of such a relationship might have been the fact that the names appeared together in the original record, thus inviting the assumption that they were part of the same family group. In order that alphabetizing not destroy this evidence of a possible family relationships, when it appears appropriate, a notation has been made of the possible relationship in the Editorial Notes. This is only done to preserve a potential clue. In such cases, a primary source should be consulted before assigning family group status to a group of individuals. Mapping Of The Grave Yard Parker's 1931 Survey included a map to facilitate location of specific markers. In many cases the locations were approximate and in some cases the numbering appears to have been subject to errors in transcription. Accordingly, a complete remapping of the burying ground was undertaken during the preparation of this compilation. In the remapping process, the burying ground was divided into thirty-one segments containing over 1,000 marker or fragment sites plus the Memorial Garden. A map was prepared for each or the thirty-one segments, showing each marker and fragment site. Each site was assigned a number within its segment. The new numbering plan has been incorporated in this Who's Who, e.g., Timothy Mills is shown as 11/10. The number on the left is the segment, and the number on the right is the site within that segment. Interments in the Memorial Garden are indicated by the letters "MG." To assist those journeying to the grave yard to visit specific grave sites a Grave Site Locator has been added. Find the grave site number in the Who’s Who. Then go to the Grave Site Locator and click the desired Segment on the map. A map of that Segment will appear together with the names and numbers of all the graves in that Segment. Markers No Longer Identifiable In preparing this compilation every effort was made to positively identify each grave marker. More than three-quarters of the markers were sufficiently legible to be readily identified. Reference to Mary Johnson Parker’s 1931 compilation and mapping of the grave yard allowed identification of some of the remaining grave markers. For example, in the absence of legible names, the legibility of the name of a spouses, the date of death, or the age of the individual known to be interred within a given area made positive identification possible. In a number of the remaining cases there was nothing but a stub, an exfoliated redstone, or an illegible marble tablet eroded over the years by acid rain, i.e., subjected to sugar decay. In some of these cases the marker’s juxtaposition with respect to other markers previously mapped and identified by Parker allowed tentative identification with a reasonable degree of accuracy. When identification was by this method an appropriate note of clarification has been included in the Editorial Notes. Nevertheless, many markers documented in earlier compilations could not located in the current compilation. Interments documented by Vail which were not identified in the current compilation number ninety-three and are noted with a "V." Interments documented by Parker which were not identified in the current compilation number forty-seven and are noted "NL" followed by the segment number, which in the judgment of the current compiler is closest to the original location indicated on Parker's map. No doubt some of the markers that are missing were the victim of accidental encroachments on the outer boundary of the grave yard as Morristown and the church itself grew. But, some reports of encroachment have proven to be unfounded. For many years it was thought, by some, that the construction of buildings along Morris Street had resulted in disturbing grave sites along that boundary. Supporting evidence was the existence, at one time or another, of cemetery markers used as capstones atop a wall and as stepping stones leading to the rear of the properties. Reference to both 1868 and 1887 maps of Morristown, show the properties once were the place of business of H. H. Davis Marble Works. This suggests what was thought to be evidence of encroachment could have been the proprietor's attempt to put his stone cutters' mistakes to a useful purpose. Confirming this assumption was the recent discovery of a portion of a marker along the Morris Street boundary of the cemetery. On one side of the marker was the name of the deceased and on the reverse two rows of "abcd." Clearly someone had been practicing the stone cutter's art. Finally, one individual Margaret Mitchell deserves special mention. Her interment is assumed based on remarks in The Combined Register, but there is no record of a location. Margaret is of particular interest, as she appears to have had the longest life of any of those interred in the grave yard. She died at age 103. Key To Abbreviations Used b. = born m. = married d. = died BOM = Bill of Mortality (Page Citation) CR = Combined Registers Part II (Page Citation) BBR = Black Book Register Material considered "Conjecture" by the Compilers of The Combined Registers is shown in Italics. Go To The Grave Site Locator Index To Interments—Click on the first letter of the surname you are searching. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z Prepared By Scott Shepherd Associates Comments, queries, or suggestions may be addressed to S.Shepherd@att.net