The Staats Cemetery, Neshanic, NJ

THE STAATS CEMETERY, NESHANIC, NEW JERSEY

The Staats Cemetery in Neshanic, New Jersey, is within 300 yards of the Peter W. Young Cemetery, which contains the graves of landowners dating back to the settling of this area.  It is believed that this site may contain graves of slaves. A man admitted to removing a broken marble stone he had found with the engraving G. H. W. on it. He had wanted to preserve some record of the cemeterys existence.

Gazing around the area, it becomes obvious that there were a number of markers (mostly of local red shale set on end into the earth) scattered about this overgrown area.  Closer inspection of one of these markers reveals a hand-scribed engraving: March 1828 R+N with a decorative pattern bordering it.

Under an overgrown multi-flora rose was another hand-engraved stone, this with the initials J.S. (This was written backwards) and the date 1850.  Finding this stone inspired and intensified the search for other markers amongst the scrub.  Half-buried in dried leaves, a stained marble gravestone with a full inscription lay in two pieces under a mature maple tree.  After puzzling the two pieces together and brushing off the caked dirt, the full inscription became readable. Dinah Ann Staats died June 30, 1871, aged 53 years, 2 mos. and 3 days.

The Neshanic Church has written records dating back to its inception in 1759.  There were two worn leather bound volumes of parishioners, baptismal, marriage and construction records. Dinah Ann Staats is found in the beginning of the section after baptismal records, on some pages entitled Black Baptismal Records and halfway down the third page:

Dinah Ann Staats born:  May 28, 1818  Father:  Charles, Servant to Rynear Staats Bap. July 12, 1818  Mother:  Jane, Servant to Jacob Young. and on the previous page was found an entry which only had a first name:

Jane born:  Jan. 04, 1820  Father:  Charles, Servant to Rynear Staats  Bap:  Apr. 01, 1821 Mother:  Jane, Servant to Jacob Young

Jane was a younger sister to Dinah.  However, the date of 1850 on the marker would more likely indicate that the grave was that of Dinah and Janes mother, Jane (Young) Staats.

Looking back at the 1850 map of the area, the uniting of a servant of Rynear Staats and Jacob Young made logical sense because Jacob Young owned the blacksmith shop at the corner of Wertsville and Montgomery roads.  Proof of Rynear Staats landholding could not be confirmed with a map.  Researching the Peter W. Young Cemetery records and visiting the cemetery itself  shows that a branch of the Staats family (of which there are many in Hillsborough) did reside in this area and that Rynear himself was buried there in 1821 at the age of 71.

The H.W. stone may  belong to a Harry Williamson.  An Italianate villa built by William Willianson between 1850 and 1870 stands on the corner of Wertsville across from the blacksmith shop.  There is evidence of a Harry Williamson in the Young Cemetery.  If there were a slave also named Harry or one beginning with a H is impossible to confirm.

The R+S stone may identify the grave of a married couple, or it may not.  The letters may be the initials of first names now untraceable, they may not be.  It will remain a mystery. But the stone is an interesting historical artifact.

SOURCE: TIMOTHY K. JOHNSON, RENAISSANCE RENOVATION, 2002

STAATS BLACK CEMETERY (LATE 1700’s) NESHABUC, NEW JERSEY (c. LAWRENCE E. WALKER FOUNDATION)