Lamington Black Cemetery, Lamington, NJ

Cowperthwaite Road, Bedminster, NJ

Tombstone Transcriptions, Slavery Documentation & Other Possible Burials

By: Allan P. Duncan, 2002

Tombstones Still Present On May 24, 2000

LAMINGTON BLACK (HISTORICAL CEMETERY) 1740’s SSAYICCA ANN BRAY (BORN 1812-DIED NOV. 26, 1869 AGE 57) LAMINGTON, NEW JERSEY (c. Lawrence E. Walker Foundation)

1. Martin King, died March 25, 1867, aged 72 years (Former slave of Henry Blackwell of Bedminster, Manumitted on June 17, 1830. Born in 1795. Became a member of the Lamington Presbyterian Church in 1842).

2. Harriet wife of Samuel Henry, daughter of Martin and Catherine King, died May 25, 1861 (Harriet was born in 1835. Harriet and Samuel had four children in 1860)

3. Susan daughter of Martin and Catherine King, died February 19, 1867

4. George Henry, died June 1, 1863, aged 80 years old. (Former slave of James Henry of Bedminster, Manumitted on April 16, 1825. Born in Virginia, lived with Pompey Henry in 1850 and Abram Henry in 1860).

5. Agnes S., daughter of Rheuben and Hannah Craig who died March 16, 1889.

6. Samuel Lane, died June 4, 1848, age 55 years (Former slave of Tunis Lane of Bridgewater, Manumitted April 18, 1829).

7. George W. Lane, died from disease contracted while in the service of his country, June 16, 1861, aged 21 years, 1 month, 5 days.

8. Oliver C., son of PC and Lydia Lane, died December 9, 1880, age 15 years

9. Savilla Ann Bray, died November 26, 1868, age 57 years (lived in the home of Rev. Blauvelt and willed her belongings to him).

10. Abraham Bray, died May 9, 1866, age 38 years (Possible son of Savilla Ann Bray, Married to Mary P. Bray)

11. Nancy Kennedy, died July 26, 1868, age 38 years (Records state she was born in 1779 and became a member of the Lamington Presbyterian Chirch in 1818. It may be possible that she was 88 when she died.)

12. Nancy wife of Jacob Vandervoort, born 1806, died 1869.

13. William H. Van Horn, d. August 30, 1887 age 58, Private, Company H, 43rd Regiment, US Colored Troops.

14.  Samuel Field 1834-1906 (Lived in the home of his brother John).

15. William Dodd 1828-1908, Private Company B, 8th Regiment, US Colored Troops

16. Betsey Traphagen, Colored, died March 18, 1874, age 72 (Member of the home of David Stiger

17.  Jacob Pierson, born June 8, 1779, died February 27, 1864. Wife Mary Pierson, born July 8, 1782, died June 29, 1856.

18. Children of John II and Nancy Pierson, Jacob H., died December 13, 1865, age 2 years, 9 months, 18 days, Ann Elizabeth, died October 19, 1867, age 9 months, 17 days 18.  Harriet Neual Layton and her children (Harriet may have been married to Charles Layton) William Timbrook Layton, born August 31, 1846 Peter Clark Layton, born September 4, 1848 George Vesoner Layton, born February 18, 1852 Anna Augusta Layton, born September 1, 1856 Mariah Louisa Layton, born May 18, 1866 (There are no death dates for any of these people on the stone).

20. Agnes S. daughter of Rheuben and Hannah Craig who died March 16, 1889

21. Richard Hurling, born January 5, 1813, died April 14, 1881, his wife Leah, died June 17, 1890 (Richards parents were Thomas and Margaret Hurling, most likely the Thomas Herling below. Richard became a member of the Lamington Presbyterian Church in 1885).

22. Thomas Herling, died November 27, 1856 (Born 1786 according to Rutgers study).

23. Dian wife of Benjamin Somerset, died March 18, 1865 age 66 years (Benjamin Somerset and wife Caty were former slaves of Aaron Longstreet of Bedminster, Manumitted on December 16, 1837) Tombstones Recorded By Rutgers University in 1985 But That Are Now Missing

24. Jacob Vandervoort, born September 8, 1812 (attached to the bottom of wife Nancys broken stone)

25. Cuff Cline, born 1808, died March 16, 1906 (Born a slave and his mater lived in Bedminster)

26. Anabela Henry, born 1883, died April 2, 1884, (Daughter of George Henry).

27. John W. McIntyre, born 1847, died June 8, 1882 (Mother Cathy Scheunk. Married to Susan McIntyre).

28. Nathan Branch Sutphin, born 1880, died December 4, 1882 (Son of George Sutphin and Susan Breune).

29. William Tennet Todd, born October 18, 1854, died 1929 (Son of Richard Todd and Lettie Henry. Widower at time of death with three children).

30. Mary Isabela Vanderveer, born 1820, died June 4, 1884 (Daughter of Richard and Hannah Vanderveer).

History Church and land records indicate that the Lamington Black Cemetery was established in 1857. We know that burials took place earlier than that though because Samuel Lane died in 1848, and Thomas Herling and Mary Pierson both died in 1856. We also know that Cuffy Barnet presided over slave burials at the cemetery and he died in 1844 which indicates that these burials had to have taken place before that date.

Other Possible Burials

Cuffy Barnet:

It is believed that Cuffy Barnet, The Lamington Black Saint is buried in this cemetery, however no records exist of his burial. Cuffy presided over many of the burials at the cemetery before his death in 1844.

Samuel Sutphin:

It is also possible that Samuel Sutphin, a slave from Somerset County who fought in the Revolutionary War may be buried here. We know that blacks from Liberty Corner and North Branch are buried at the cemetery and research I’ve conducted indicates that Samuel Sutphin was a parishioner at the Liberty Corner Presbyterian Church at the time of his death. There are no records of his burial at the church. Land records indicate that Sutphin owned a piece of land in Lamington and farmed it for awhile. We now believe that the Lamington Black Cemetery was a regional cemetery for blacks in the area and it is very well possible that Sutphin is buried here.

Oliver Lane:

In 2002 I received a call from Mr. Wilbur Magbie who grew up in Lamington and now lives in Hempstead, New York. He had been sent an article about the cemetery and wanted to share some information about it.

Mr. Magbie told me that he was raised by Mattie Perry whose father Oliver Lane was buried in the Lamington Black Cemetery. Oliver Lane had been a Civil War soldier who fought at Bull Run and when Wilbur was a young boy remembers seeing Olivers uniform and musket that had been handed down to Mattie. Oliver was also given eight acres of land for fighting in the Civil War.

Oliver Lane was the son of Samuel Lane who is also buried in the cemetery and whose tombstone still exists. According to Mr. Magbie, Oliver had been a slave in Oldwick and was married to a Chinnecock Indian and had four girls and a boy. Mattie was one of the girls.

Mr. Magbie also told me that Mattie Perry had two sons named Russell and Samuel. Russell shot and killed Samuel one day and Wilbur witnessed the killing when he was a small boy.

He also told me that George Layton used to be the undertaker in Lamington.

Rutgers Survey:

Rutgers University conducted a survey of the Lamington Black Cemetery in the Fall of 1985 and found that were at least 96 graves at the burial ground. There are a number of plain fieldstone markers with no inscriptions marking graves and rows of sunken unmarked graves still in existence. The cemetery was cleaned and preserved by a group of concerned citizens and re-dedicated on October 7, 2001.

 (Edited By: Allen Duncan, 2001, Lawrence E. Walker, 2003)