The burial location indicated in the Delaware Death
records is usually clearly listed as 'Mount Olive'. In the earliest
records - some locations are indicated as rough street addresses.
Mother A. U. M. P. Church is located
at 819 French St. Peter Spencer originally was a member of Asbury Church. The
church was built in 1813, rebuilt in 1827 and enlarged in 1842. There is a
small graveyard to the rear of the church. Union American M. E. Church,
colored, is located at 1206 French St. There is a graveyard to the rear of the
church. St. Peter's U. M. P. Church, colored. The first services of this church
were held in the colored cemetery on Union St., near Front St. They purchased a
lot at 2nd and Union Sts.
There was a caretakers house on the property from 1914 until after 1939.
Undoubtedly both burial records and plot maps were kept at that time. If anyone
knows of the existence of these records and would like to help reconstruct the
cemetery records, please contact me.
Undertakers who served families at St. Peters and Mount Olive include:
L. W. Palmer
Joseph Bass
S.V.B. Carty
Wm. E Grinnage
Annie Brierly
Ed R Bell
Wm. E Grey
Wm Gumby
Extracts
of the earliest state-wide Delaware death records which mention
African-Americans (including enslaved persons) has been included to assist in
family history research. These earliest records do not reference cemeteries by
name. Several persons mentioned in this file do have relatives buried in St.
Peters. The burials marked 'unrecorded' in these pages may refer to the 'Affr
Cem' found on the 1868 county map - the marked site would be close to the Front
and Union St location of the later St. Peters and Union cemeteries. The
unrecorded burials may also be on King Street. By 1861, further burials at the
site of Peter Spencer's grave were banned by city ordinance.
The
earliest recorded burials in Wilmington (1847ff) are found on film 005190436
(accessible through www.familysearch.org). Although no place of burial is
recorded, these entries are included with the note 'early burial'. Active known
burial grounds at that time were the churches downtown, including Peter Spencer
plaza (African Union); a small cemetery at 2nd and Tatnall and the African
cemetery indicated at the edge of Wilmington in the 1868 Beers New Castle
County map.
http://nc-chap.org/chap/beers.php
1853
The earliest
mention of a cemetery name in a death record (most early death records do not
mention a cemetery)
17 Jul
1853 – Catherine
Anderson, aged 36yr – Union Cemetery
1861
- Several African-American cemeteries, close to churches, are active in
Wilmington prior to 1861, when this ordinance was enacted. Despite the
ordinance, burials continued at several sites, most notably at 12th
and French. An ‘Affr Cem’ is indicated outside the Wilmington city
limits. Mt. Zion and St. Peters were both outside the city limits at the time
of their establishment.
1868
- A map of Christiana - Centerville shows three dots, apparently labeled as
Aff. Cem - one west of Front and Union and two east of Front and Union; south
of Pyle's property. If the dots
represent early cemeteries where St. Peters and Ezion grew; was there a
cemetery west of Front and Union?
View and Enlarge this map to
see the church locations (12th and French, 10th and King)
1870 - St. Peters - an historic
moment
St. Peter's
African Union Methodist Protestant Church, was founded by Rev.E. H. Chippey who
preached on a platform in a graveyard on Union street and built their first
church in 1870. (History of the State of Delaware, vol 2, pg 35e, pg 793. Henry
Clay Conrad - available at www.ebooksread.com)
1870 Wilmington City Directory
- No
specific African-American cemeteries are mentioned. Churches include: African
Union, French above 8th; Union American, French above 12th; E. Zion, 9th and
French; Wesleyan Union, Poplar above 5th
Cemeteries which appear in the maps and city directories include
"old" Cathedral (also called St. Peter's RC), Wilmington and
Brandywine, Cathedral, Old Swedes and Riverview.
By 1870, the Secretary of War recorded 3 veterans' burials at St. Peters.
1872 - 1885,
burials appear at the cemetery identified as '12th
and French', 'Old Union' and 'Old AUMP'. The Lockman family, for example, has members
buried in Union Cemetery, St. Peters Cemetery and Mount Olive. Other early
cemeteries of interest for African-American genealogy include the Baptist
cemetery at 10th and King St; Delaware City, Pigeon Run, Old Cathedral,
Wilmington and Brandywine, Mt. Zion, Silverbrook and the public burials grounds
(these include New Castle County Cemetery, Poor House, Alms House and Potters
Field).
1879/80 Wilmington City
Directory
Union American, 12th above French. The burial ground
identified as 'Old Union' is located at 12th and French.
No specific mention of
African-American cemeteries appears.
Union American, French above 12th
Mount Olive Chapel, Poplar above 5th
St. Peters Chapel, Second above Union
Ezion M.E. Church, Ninth and French
African Union, French above 8th - this is the original cemetery where Peter
Spencer was buried. Referred to as AU Churchyard in burial records.
819 French St
1879 Wilmington City Directory
St. Peter's Chapel.
2nd above Union. St.
The location of St. Peter's cemetery is refered to as '2nd and Union' or 'Front
and Union', but is not mentioned in the city directory
Between 1885 and
1895, the most active cemeteries in the Wilmington area include St. Peters,
Union, Ezion, old Baptist and Mount Zion. After 1895, Mount Zion becomes the
most active cemetery; followed by St. Peters. No further mention in the records
appears for Union, old Union or Ezion. Although other cemeteries (Old Swedes,
Wilmington and Brandywine, old Cathedral, Cathedral) are shown in
Wilmington-area maps (city directories or local play maps) - none of the
African-American cemeteries are shown on any historic map located so far. The
1868 map of Christiana district shows 3 small dots labeled as 'Aff Cem' on the
city line.
Cemeteries named in
the Wilmington area death records include:
St. Peters (Front and Union, 2nd and Union)
Mt. Zion
Union or Old Union (12th and French)
Baptist (10th and King)
Ezion
1884 Wilmington City Directory
St. Peter's
Cemetery - located between Front and Second; and Union and Pyle
Most African-American cemeteries do not appear in the city directory.
Ezion Cemetery - burial ground of the Ezion M.E. Church. Located between 2nd
and 3rd and Union and Pyle's Lane
1887 - Memorial Day events
Delaware Gazette and State Journal 2 Jun 1887 pg 2
Sumner Post sent details to decorate the graves in Ezion and the Old
Union cemeteries and this afternoon they proceeded in a parade to the Union
cemetery on West Front street. They were accompanied by Harding's Band, and
were followed by several wagons loaded with flowers.
The request for flowers with which to decorate the graves of the
country's dead brought a hearty response from old and young, men and women. The
flower display was larger and more varied than in previous years, and the deft
fingers of the ladies soon wove the pretty blossoms into wreaths, bouquets and
various other beautiful designs. Women and children were busily engaged
yesterday in plucking daisies which were contributed in large quantities as
were also roses.
Ezion Cemetery -
Burial ground of Ezion M.E. Church, located between 2nd and 3rd and Union and
Pyle's Lane
No mention of St. Peters or Union Cemetery
1895 Wilmington City Directory
Ezion Cemetery -
Burial ground of Ezion M.E. Church, located between 2nd and 3rd and Union and
Pyle's Lane
No mention of St. Peters or Union Cemetery
- although several
African-American cemeteries were active, they are not noted on this historic
map. Approximate locations are shown:
Front, Union, 2nd, 3rd
French above 12th,
King above 10th
UNION (colored) - West
of Union on Pyles lane from Lancaster to Second St. (no reference to St.
Peters)
'Union Cemetery'
may refer to either the cemetery located on French above 12th or St. Peters
(and some stones
have been located in Mt. Olive from burials listed as 'Union' cemetery.
EZION cemetery -
Burial Ground of Ezion M.E. Church; located between Second and Third; and Union
and Pyle's Lane.
1899 - 1914
Early burials
Hamilton, Daniel
– May 1900 - both Mt. Olive and St. Peters are listed as burial in
different newspapers and death records.
Watson, James T. (a
soldier killed in the Philippines)
d 12 Sep 1900;
buried 20 Apr 1901
Bayard, Frederick M
d 1 Jul 1901 aged 5m
Loper, Rita
(Everetta) d 8 Nov
1901 aged 17y
Services
at St. Peters Chapel, 2nd and Union St.
Internment
at Mt. Olive
Loper, Elmer d 22
Jul 1902 aged 9m
Both Mount Olive
and St. Peters are active, although is appears St. Peters was used for infants.
In burial records between 1899 and 1914, both St. Peters and Mount Olive are
named as active cemeteries. References to 'old Union' cemetery (12th and
French) are not found.
Ezion Cemetery - located
between 2nd and 3rd and Union and Pyles' Lane.
Union (colored) - West of Union on Grant, from Lancaster Ave to 2nd St
Wilmington Star, 26 Apr 1906 ‘Conditions at Saint
Peters Cemetery’
The report was to
the effect that for years the cemetery has been full and that no more permits
for internments should be given to any undertaker. The report declared that the
law has been grossly violated as the graves in some instances have been dug only
two feet deep. “The colored people have a new cemetery beyond Silverbrook
and no more internments ought to be tolerated in St. Peters cemetery”
1909 –
Unidentified Cemetery discovered on W. Second St.
News-Journal, Wilmington DE 08 Jan 1909 pg 5
- Had struck a colored Cemetery, the existence of which many had forgotten.
1910 Wilmington City Directory
Ezion Cemetery -
located between 2nd and 3rd and Union and Pyles' Lane.
Union (colored) - West of Union on Grant, from Lancaster Ave to 2nd St
The Morning News (Wilmington, Delaware) 20 Sep 1910, Pg 12
City Council
members, accompanied by members of the local Board of Health, will make an
inspection of the cemeteries next Saturday afternoon at 2 o’clock.
The cemetery which
is bounded by Lancaster Avenue, Second Street, Grant Avenue and which lays
against the rear of eleven hourses in Anderson’s Row, is owned by the
A.U. Church in French Street between Eighth and Ninth streets; know as St.
Peters. This cemetery is used for burying infants but the company owning it
also owns Mt. Olive Cemetery, which is about two miles from the city on
Lancaster turnpike.
Mt. Zion cemetery,
which is owned by Ezion Methodist church, is on the west side of Second Street,
between Union Street and Grant Avenue; between Union Street and Grant
Avenue. The avenue runs along the
extreme western end of the land to old Cedar Grove lane, which is about 100
feet east of third street. Besides those who complained of the odor, other
complained against the disorder of the occupants of Anderson’s Row, which
according to the neighbors, is most disagreeable. This appears to be at its
zenith every Saturday night.
The Morning News (Wilmington, Delaware)
The lines of the
two blocks show, according to records at the City Registry Bureau, an area of
158,259 square feet, divided as follows: 93,833 square feet in the block
bounded by Second Street, Third Street, Union Street and Grant Avenue. Of this
tract, 48,729 square feet is owned by the Zion cemetery, whose lands run north
of Second street in the land of William Boyd, which contains 50,105 sq feet.
The deed of the land owned by the Zion cemetery calls for a strip along Union
Street, which is owned by the Old Company Road. This strip, which is very
small, lays but a few feet back from thebuilding line. The Mon Company also
owns part of the bed of Grant Avenue and some land on the west side of Grant
Avenue which totals to about 15,300 square feet. The St. Peters cemetery owns,
according to the records, about 63,000 square feet in the block running along
Lancaster Avenue, Grant Avenue, Second Street and in the rear of
Anderson’s Row. This row, which is owned by Helen Anderson, contains
22,800 square feet and on it are erected the eleven buildings known as
Anderson’s Row in Union Street, north of Lancaster Avenue; along with a
blacksmith shop on the corner, a small one-story store on Lancaster Avenue
besides the adjoining house. 1911 – City Council
The Morning News (Wilmington, Delaware) 27 Jan 1911, Fri,
Pages 1& 2
From a demand for
$20,000 to a sum hardly more than nominal is the drop taken by the trustees of
the cemetery of the African Union church at Front and Union Street in the
negotiations that have been going on for some time … of the city
acquiring the cemetery land to be converted into park purposes or to be sold in
order to abate an alleged nuisance. The following proposal was submitted to the
trustees of the Mount Ezion and St. Peter;s cemeteries for their consideration.
That the trustees make a proposaition of the sum for which they can secure a
tract, say five acres, for a new cemetery, including the question of removal of
bodies; the city to take the old cemetery and agree to turn over to the
cemetery trustees any equity aquired by the city by sale of same within a given
period, say five years from the date of the agreement. Wilmington Del Jan 10,
1911. As counsel for Mount Zion Cemetery Association I submit their offer to
sell the city their land at Second and Union Street, now used as a cemetery.
The city to pay my clietns $25,000, furnish them with five acres of land on the
Lancaster Turnpike outside of Wilmington adjoining a cemetery alongside of the
Peoples farm, and thereupon my clients will remove all bodies and convery their
land at Second and Union Streets, to the city.
George Lodge Wilmington Del Jan 12 1911
Referring to the
cemetery of the African Union Church, situate on Lancaster Avenue, north of
Union street in this city, I beg to advise you that my clients have found it
difficult to procure satisfactory bis for the removal of the bodies buried in
the said cemetery, and have found that such removal will be much more expensive
than anticipated. However they authorize me to offer their entire cemetery to
the city for the sum of $20,000, for which price they will purchase a new
cemetery outside the city and will bear the cost of removing and reinterring
the bodies now buried in the present cemetery. On Jan 18, 1911 the committee
held a meeting with A.G.B. Anderson, who owns several properties at Lancaster
Avenue and Union Street ; who made the following proposition – to dispose
of his entire holds for the amount of $22,000. 1914 - Cemetery Move
The Evening Journal (Wilmington, Delaware) · Thu, May
21, 1914 · Page 9
St. Peter’s
colored cemetery at Second and Union Streets, is to be abandoned and the bodies
removed to another cemetery….The cemetery is controlled by the trustees
of the African Union Church of this city, and they intend to remove the bodies
in the cemetery to the Mt. Olive cemetery, west of Silverbrook Cemetery and
outside the city limits. Zion cemetery, which is in the same vicinity, will not
be removed. Johnathan Chippy is chairman of the board of trustees. The cemetery
is about 60 years old. General Contractor
Gilpin Ave
May 26 1914
Union Church of African Members
I will move all the bodies of the graves of St Peters Cemerty at Front and
Union Sts and bury them in Mt. Olive Cemetery, for the sum of two thousand four
hundred and fifty dollars.
William Campbell
Contracts dated Jun 1914 - work to be completed within four months. Plain pine
boxes were to be provided if original coffins not intact; all headstones,
footstones, markers and ornaments to be moved and re-interred
St. Peters and Ezion were adjacent cemeteries.
It is possible that some burials from Ezion were re-interred in Mount Olive at
that time. 1919 Wilmington City Directory Ezion Cemetery - located between 2nd
and 3rd and Union and Pyles' Lane.
Union (colored) - West of Union on Grant, from Lancaster Ave to 2nd St
The city directory still lists both cemeteries at these locations. 1919 - Removal of Ezion Cemetery The
cemetery at 2nd and Union (called Ezion, Union, and sometimes Zion in the early
death records) was sold and the burials transferred to the new Mount Zion
cemetery. The Morning News (Wilmington, DE) 26 Oct 1918 page 8. Bids have been
advertized for by William E Grinnage for the removal of several hundred bodies
from the Negro Burying ground at Second and Union St. The cemetery was
established about 75 years ago. Some of the stones in the cemetery bear dates
as early as 1843.
New Mt Zion cemetery on the Lancaster Pike adjoining the P & R Railway at
Silverbrook, a burial ground exclusively for Negroes is now finished.
The Evening Journal (Wilmington, Delaware) 20 Sep 1919 Sat
pg 8
Bids have been
advertised for by William E Grinnage the undertakes for the removal of several
hundred bodies from the Negro buying ground at Second and Union Streets. This
cemetery contains over an acre, and is so filled with bodies that no more can
be accommodated. The cemetery was established about 75 years ago. Some of the
stones bear dates as early as 1843. There is no possible way of learning how
many bodies have been buried at the cemetery as no definite records have been
kept and what records have been preserved through the years are not available.
The bodies are to be removed from their present location to the Negro cemetery,
on the west side of the Philadelphia and Reading railroad tracks along the
Lancaster turnpike.
1921 –
Completion of Mt. Zion
The Evening Journal (Wilmington, Delaware) 12 Sep 1921, Mon,
Page 6
New Mt Zion
Cemetery, on the Lancaster Pike adjoining the the P&R Railway at
Silverbrook, a burial ground exclusively for Negroes is now finished and is a
source of pride to those who projected it and to colored residents in general.
They found a place in 1914, bought it, secured the deed and all necessary
papers that year. They went to work to build the cemetery. They cleared off the
rubbish, pulled down some of the hills, filled up gullies and low places, built
fences, laid out driveways and walks; planted trees and dug out a ditch. The
next thing was to remove the dead from the old to the new cemetery, which was
attended with much difficulty. The old graves were nearly filled with water and
made it very tedious.
1938
The Motorists Green
Book Several residents of Mount Olive ran Tourist Homes in their houses, and
were mentioned in the Green Book. (NYPL) 1939 - WPA (Works Progess
Administration) Surveys are made of Mount Olive Cemetery (459 stones and plots
identified) and old Union Cemetery (5 stones identified)
BAPTIST - An
African-American burial ground was located on King St. above 10th. It appears
in records 1881 - 1890. It is referred to as 'Baptist Burying Ground' (col).
Mount Olive appears in death records
from about 1899 to 1984. Some burial records are unclear - two places of burial
appear on this death record
NOTES: According to local neighbors,
many coffins were found during the construction of Bancroft Parkway. In 1972, a
supermarket was renovated at 2nd and Union, and additional burials were
discovered during the renovation. In 1988-89, the old Union Cemetery at 12th
and French was moved during construction of the MBNA complex downtown.
Memories from Old Wilmington
The Mother UAME
Church Cemetery:
A Late Nineteenth
Century Black Urban Burial Population During the Summer of 1996, MAAR
Associates, Inc. (MAl), was asked to undertake the excavation and removal of
burials at a documented cemetery located on French street in the downtown area
of Wilmington, Delaware. The cemetery property, associated with the AD. 1853
Mother UAME Church, was scheduled to become the site of an eight to twelve
story MBNA America office tower, and the owners, working with the Church and
the Delaware Historic Preservation Office, contracted with MAl to determine the
limits of, removal, and analysis of the contents of the original cemetery
tract. To assist in the management of the project, representatives of the
client (both MBNA and the Mother UAME Church) and an Osteological Advisory
Committee were established. An MAl research team conducted excavations on a six
day-a-week basis in order to complete the burial removals within the allotted
two months. During this period MAl completed the identification, definition,
recording, and removal of more than 260 graves, including coffins, crypts,
items of clothing, and grave furniture. The next six months were spent in the
osteological IS study of the burial population, in artifact analysis, and in
the interpretation of funeral practices and the cemetery as a whole.
Comprehensive project reports have since been published.
Never scrub. scour,
scrape or use any brushes or other harsh tools on a lichen-darkened stone.
These can be very damaging to a stone’s surface. Enoch
Jefferson, USCT. He enlisted in the US Navy in NY Nov 1863 - 5'2", scar on
chin. waterman. He had originally enlisted under an alias, Samuel Jefferson
(6th Regiment, Delaware Infantry Co F), but then joined the Navy. He received a
pension for his service; as did his wife. The family appears on the 1880 census
on DuPont St in Wilmington (Florence is 9 in 1880, Enoch works in a brickyard).
6
month time lapse. I sprayed them with D/2. Walked away. (I flinch when I see
videos of well-meaning and poorly-informed people scrubbing tombstones... they
are destroying them). Before / after Information on D/2 – it’s expensive, but proper care
is critical.