African American Baptist Church Cemetery

Date: 1868 [unknown]
Location: Bergenfield, Bergen, New Jersey, United States
Surnames/tags: Black_Heritage African-American US Black Heritage Project

Francis Jackson, a freed slave, purchased 7 ¾ acres of woodland here in 1868. Later it would include the black cemetery and a plain neat little church built about 1873. The Pastor, Rev. Nicholas Fr. Jackson, lived nearby. The cemetery had 72 burial plots which may have included former slaves. Tombstones no longer exist but some families who rest here are Jackson, Pomplin, Bell, Sisco, Brown, Chase, Blenus, Napson and James.

Bergen County Historical Society erected marker in 1996 what was once the African American Baptist Church Cemetery on Cedar Street, the final resting place for those who are been long forgotten. The society gleaned the information from sources such as an 1872 map of the area that indicated the burial plots.

"Looking at the 1867 map, which is the year prior, there's nothing there ... that whole section, a whole lot of nothing." "When you jump to the 1876 atlas of Bergen County, that's when the church shows up and it's shown as the Baptist Chapel."

Memorial

• Nicolas Jackson (1825-unkn)
• Adrienne Hoffman (1919-2005) MEMORIAL ID 72348101
• Albert Beti Lula (1980-2000) MEMORIAL ID 76321872

Source

https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1648978/african-american-baptist-church-cemetery - African-American Baptist Church Cemetery

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/bergen/bergenfield/2021/03/28/bergenfield-nj-cemetery-former-slaves-no-tombstones/4554183001/ Northern Jersey dot COM - All-but-forgotten Bergenfield cemetery is resting place of former slaves by: Ricardo Kaulessar