By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
One of Jane McNeil’s and Geneine Olive’s favorite haunts is the cemetery, and it doesn’t matter which cemetery or where it is located.
Saturday afternoon, the two women were overjoyed as they joined two dozen history-minded buffs on a tour of five cemeteries in Lawrence.
“We do like going to graveyards. We find it very peaceful to go into a graveyard and know there is history (there),” said Ms. McNeil, who lives in the Monmouth County town of Fair Haven.
Ms. McNeil and Ms. Olive clambered on and off a school bus that was rented for the tour, which was sponsored by the Lawrence Historical Society in conjunction with Lawrence History Month.
Tour guide Skip Conover set the stage for the first stop on the two-hour tour as he explained the origin of the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville cemetery, next to the church on Main Street.
The earliest settlers in Lawrence Township intended to buy 100 acres of land on Route 206, near the present-day Carter Road, Mr. Conover said. The goal was to build a church, a schoolhouse and a cemetery, but those plans fell through, he said.
Instead, landowner Ralph Hunt deeded land to the 28 settlers for the church and cemetery at its present site on Main Street, Mr. Conover said. The Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville was organized in 1698, and the original church was built in 1710. The cemetery was placed next to the church, and the headstones were arranged in a semi-circle around the building.
The last burial occurred in that cemetery in the mid-1800s, Mr. Conover said. Among the 212 graves are 38 members of the Phillips family, 15 Brearley family members, 12 Cook family members and nine of the Mershons — all among the earliest settlers in Lawrence.
Mr. Conover also pointed out the graves of Mary Brown, who was the wife of the Rev. Isaac V. Brown, and the couple’s four daughters — none of whom lived to be more than 2 years old. The Rev. Brown, who founded The Lawrenceville School, is buried in Trenton.
And he called the group’s attention to the graves of the two Biles sisters, who were buried four days apart in 1736. Their graves are marked by a fieldstone marker.
“When there was a lot of illness, a whole family could be wiped out,” Mr. Conover said. “That is probably what happened (to the Biles sisters).”
Moving up the road a piece, the group stopped at the Upper Cemetery, which is located on the west side of Route 206 on top of a small hill. That cemetery, too, had its origins in the Presbyterian church, Mr. Conover said.
There was a split among the Presbyterians, and one group sought land to build its own church there in the early 1700s, he said. The two factions later reconciled, and the land was dedicated as a cemetery. The oldest grave dates to 1738 and belongs to Henry Mershon.
Legend also has it a metal plate on one of the later headstones covered a void bootleggers used as a hiding place for liquor during Prohibition, Mr. Conover said. A bootlegger would unscrew the plate and place the bottles inside, then screw it back in place.
“I don’t know if it’s true, but it makes for one heck of a good story,” he said with a chuckle.
The tour bus turned around and headed south to the small cemetery known as the Holy Rosary Cemetery on the grounds of Morris Hall, which was founded in 1904 as the Catholic home for the aged poor. The Morris Hall property is located next to the St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center on Route 206.
There are about 90 graves in the cemetery, including two Civil War veterans, said tour guide Ruth Barringer. The cemetery was active between 1907 and 1937. The early burial records are on file with the Murphy Funeral Home in Trenton, she said.
Toward the front of the Morris Hall property is the grave of the Rev. James McFaul, who was the second bishop of Trenton. It is marked by a Celtic cross atop an obelisk, Ms. Barringer said.
At the southern end of the township, off Allen Lane, is the Paupers’ Cemetery, Ms. Barringer said. Very little is known about the cemetery, created in 1859. The only acknowledgement of the cemetery is a blue metal marker. The site is maintained by the township.
The last stop on the tour was the Princessville Cemetery. Land for the cemetery was donated by the owner of the adjacent Princessville Inn, said tour guide Anthony Cermele. The inn burned down many years ago.
The land was donated to the Methodist Episcopal Church for a chapel in 1843, Mr. Cermele said. The first burial took place in 1846, and the last one occurred in 1921. Four Civil War veterans — including three black soldiers — are buried in the cemetery, he said.
The chapel was moved in 1890, and the black families in the neighborhood built their own church, Mr. Cermele said. The church was destroyed by a hurricane in 1950 and never rebuilt.
“I never found the oldest grave (in the Princessville Cemetery),” Mr. Cermele said. “You see a lot of children’s graves. Children didn’t live long.”
[email protected]
