Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Basking Ridge, NJ (1825-1883)

BASKING RIDGE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH CEMETERY

The only tombstone in this Morris County church cemetery is that of Caesar Hand, 1825-1883.  Hand, owned by the Hand family, died on May 26, 1883.  His inscription, no longer visible because the stone has sunk into the earth, reads: Faithful and Beloved.

The fifth pastor of this church, Reverend Dr. Robert Finley (1795-1817), was a prime organizer of the American Colonization Society, which sought to establish colonies of freed American Blacks in Africa.  Dr. Finleys belief was that as “our fathers brought them here, we are bound if possible to repair the injuries inflicted by our fathers.  Other Society members included Francis Scott Key, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and Judge Bushrod Washington, a favorite nephew of George Washington.  This colonization of African Americans was the beginning of the country known today as Liberia, with its capital, Monrovia, named for President James Monroe.

Dr. William Brownlee (1818-1825), Finleys successor, helped develop the first town census, which, over a three-month period recorded 260 families, 1,700 individuals, and 117 enslaved African Americans, many of them church members.

BERNARDS RECORDS OF SLAVES (1800’s) ANTHONY AND PHILLIS ROBERT FINLEYS FAMILY FORTUNE  1800

PHILLIS d. 1813 FRANCIS bap.

SARAH, ANTHONY, FRANCIS SAMUEL

Buffie Black child of R. Finley Family

Caeser 1804 Cuffie Hand Tombstone

Cato  d. 1811 Cuffie R. Finley child“ 1805, nickname

Cyrus, 1811

Dianna, 1808 bapt. adult

Dianna, 1810 bapt. H. Southards

Dianna, 1807 Coriell

Edward, d. 3/1808

Jane, d. 1808, Daytons

Joseph Squires