The same Pine baron I tromped manumuskin with? Now all we need is a Muskee and we will have the Three Muskeeteers!
North, South or Central?
- Thread starter 46er
- Start date
Are there any racially integrated towns in NJ that last?
Writer/director and East/West Jersey guy Steve Chernoski now recognized this Pinelands municipality in historical terms has been one of the most consistently integrated communities in the State of New Jersey.
In that spirit:
Emma Trusty, author of The Underground Railroad – Ties that Bound Unveiled, A History of the Underground Railroad in Southern New Jersey from 1770 to 1861, will present at the Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society on Saturday, April 25, 2015, beginning at 1:00 PM.
You know, McPhee got it right about 99% of the time. Here is one of his rare
mistakes:
S-M
Writer/director and East/West Jersey guy Steve Chernoski now recognized this Pinelands municipality in historical terms has been one of the most consistently integrated communities in the State of New Jersey.
In that spirit:
Emma Trusty, author of The Underground Railroad – Ties that Bound Unveiled, A History of the Underground Railroad in Southern New Jersey from 1770 to 1861, will present at the Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society on Saturday, April 25, 2015, beginning at 1:00 PM.
You know, McPhee got it right about 99% of the time. Here is one of his rare
mistakes:
Some Negroes fled from slavery into the Pines, but the...population has always been close to nil.” McPhee 1968: 24
S-M
Sorry Boyd,
The point needs better explanation. The North, South or Central thread is based on work by writer/director Steve Chernoski, who made New Jersey: The Movie about the East/West North/South Jersey divide. He is now looking into settlement patterns associated with that cultural divide, and was surprised that a Pinelands town like Buena was well integrated. Many, like McPhee, were under the impression that there is little Black history in the Pines. That is not the case. It appears that many iron furnace colliers were Black (especially in West Jersey), but accounts of their extant is poorly documented. The Trusty family lore opens a window into that little-known world, including accounts of the 1858 Mt. Union AME Church, a log cabin associated with the Buena Powder Charcoal Works. It was a sister church to the one in Springtown. I've found their camps and graveyards while researching Pinelands ice age landforms and the ancient trails that connected them.
S-M
The point needs better explanation. The North, South or Central thread is based on work by writer/director Steve Chernoski, who made New Jersey: The Movie about the East/West North/South Jersey divide. He is now looking into settlement patterns associated with that cultural divide, and was surprised that a Pinelands town like Buena was well integrated. Many, like McPhee, were under the impression that there is little Black history in the Pines. That is not the case. It appears that many iron furnace colliers were Black (especially in West Jersey), but accounts of their extant is poorly documented. The Trusty family lore opens a window into that little-known world, including accounts of the 1858 Mt. Union AME Church, a log cabin associated with the Buena Powder Charcoal Works. It was a sister church to the one in Springtown. I've found their camps and graveyards while researching Pinelands ice age landforms and the ancient trails that connected them.
S-M
Central Jersey is a mythical place.
I said that to a bar full of people in Red Bank once and almost got beat up. Sometimes, you need to suffer for your principles.
Opposite of the Cape May folks, I had a conversation with some folks in Montclair where they kept trying to talk to me about the time they visited South Jersey. They meant New Brunswick.
I said that to a bar full of people in Red Bank once and almost got beat up. Sometimes, you need to suffer for your principles.
Opposite of the Cape May folks, I had a conversation with some folks in Montclair where they kept trying to talk to me about the time they visited South Jersey. They meant New Brunswick.
Physiographically I"d say the outer and inner coastal plains would be south and the Piedmont and Ridge and valley would be north. I think that mirrors my earlier post from Bordentown to Raritan mouth.
Spungman:
I hope your program with Emma Marie Trusty went well.
The 1858 church you refer to as “Mt. Union” is actually the Mount Pisgah Union American Methodist Episcopal Church. The UAME is a separate denomination founded by the Rev. Peter Spencer in Wilmington, Delaware. The earliest known edifice of this denomination in West New Jersey was built in Greenwich/Springtown during 1850, which congregation nurtured the fledgling log cabin UAME church in Buena beginning in 1858. A second congregation reportedly used the same log cabin church. The New Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a direct outgrowth of the Bethel AME in Springtown (founded in 1817), appear to have also worshiped there. So, both congregations can trace their origins to Springtown in Cumberland County. New Bethel moved into Vineland during the mid-1870s and Mount Pisgah church relocated to Vineland in 1880.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
Jerseyman,
Thank you for looking into the matter. Good stuff. Maybe you can help clear up mysteries. There has been much confusion about the church’s name, as its documentation is scant as noted by Petway (1961, History of Negroes in Vineland). She believes the Buena church started in 1858 by Collins and Murray later split into two congregations, the Mt. Pisgah U.A.M.E and the Bethal A.M.E. Both claim the log church as their progenitor today, although the land is owned by Mt. Pisgah. I know where the cabins of trustees More [Moore] and Collins are, but they and other church members fail to appear on Census records. The church and cemetery are established on grounds owned by the Campbells who once ran the local tavern and the Buena Powder Charcoal Mill. It is not until Civil War’s end that a deed appears for the church (1869). Within the church is called “the coloured Union American Church.” An 1866 deed for the adjoining More’s cabin property makes no mention of the church or cemetery, referring to the church property just as Campbell’s land. Beers (1872) listed the church as "Union M.E. Church."
Are there records that predate the 1869 church property deed? In local use, the plot has been long-known as the Mt. Union Church site.
Best,
S-M
Thank you for looking into the matter. Good stuff. Maybe you can help clear up mysteries. There has been much confusion about the church’s name, as its documentation is scant as noted by Petway (1961, History of Negroes in Vineland). She believes the Buena church started in 1858 by Collins and Murray later split into two congregations, the Mt. Pisgah U.A.M.E and the Bethal A.M.E. Both claim the log church as their progenitor today, although the land is owned by Mt. Pisgah. I know where the cabins of trustees More [Moore] and Collins are, but they and other church members fail to appear on Census records. The church and cemetery are established on grounds owned by the Campbells who once ran the local tavern and the Buena Powder Charcoal Mill. It is not until Civil War’s end that a deed appears for the church (1869). Within the church is called “the coloured Union American Church.” An 1866 deed for the adjoining More’s cabin property makes no mention of the church or cemetery, referring to the church property just as Campbell’s land. Beers (1872) listed the church as "Union M.E. Church."
Are there records that predate the 1869 church property deed? In local use, the plot has been long-known as the Mt. Union Church site.
Best,
S-M
Ms. Trusty spoke to a full house! She is a good speaker. As a trustee of the Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society, I am grateful that Emma shared her story with us. She was able to collect together scattered threads and family narratives to help document this little-known story of our Pinelands heritage. Secretive by the nature of slavery dynamics, the commemoration of Black history is a daunting task. As I child I remember hearing bits and pieces about the presence of runaways in western Atlantic County, and how local residents vehemently opposed slavery.
S-M
Spungman:
While Archibald Campbell Sr. may not have prepared a formal deed for the 0.5-acre church lot until 1869, he had clearly issued an unrecorded deed of sale at an earlier date. In Atlantic County Deed Book 40, page 689, a deed dated 4 May 1863 memorializes Archibald selling a 1.2-acre lot to Alexander Moore (More) for $9.67. The metes and bounds for this lot, adjacent to the church property, begins as follows:
“Beginning at a stake for corner, lot of land of ½ acre which said Campbell sold for Church purposes.…”
So, Campbell completed the transaction for conveying the church property at some earlier unknown date. The 1869 deed merely formalizes the earlier transaction.
I do find church members listed in the 1860 federal decennial census population schedules, but the enumerator failed to record their race.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
Now I am really confused! I have a copy of a May 1, 1863 deed between Archibald Campbell and Alexander Moore that states, “Beginning at a stone set in the middle of the public road beginning from George B Cakes Tavern to Maul’s Bridge..." Within is no mention of church property. That May 1, 1863 deed is from Page 391, and unfortunately my deed copy lacks a book number.
Your referenced May 4, 1863 deed was not received and officially recorded until May 17, 1872, so it is possible that the church property boundary might have been amended on the 1872 filing to concur with the 1869 deed.Why there are two 1863 deeds to Moore mystifies me.
S-M
Spungman:
Your confusion stems from the existence of two deeds for two different parcels. The copy you have in your possession of page 391 is actually the second page of a deed found in Atlantic County Deed Book T, page 390, which is the conveyance of 5.6 acres from Archibald Campbell to Alexander Moore. This deed is dated 29 August 1856, and recorded on 1 May 1863. The metes and bounds contained in this deed do not appear to intersect with the parcel sold in the second deed that I discussed in my previous post.
Regarding that deed I cite above for 1.2 acres with the first corner sharing the corner of the church lot, the county clerk who recorded this deed on 17 May 1872 would not have permitted any changes to the language from its original drafting on 4 May 1863. Hence, the mention of Campbell selling the church lot would be original to the 1863 indenture.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
Many thanks for the help. This brings me back to my original question, when does the property get the name "Mount Pisgah" Union American Methodist Episcopal Church? When is "Mount Pisgah" first noted? The earliest name I have found in reference to this parcel is in the 1869 deed, where it is named the “Union American Church” in several deed references. It is odd that the 1869 deed makes no earlier citation of a church. I would like to get the name right.
S-M