CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

— SHREWSBURY —

THEHISTORIC

GRAVEYARD

Christ Episcopal ChurchShrewsbury, NJ732.741.2220

christchurchshrewsbury.orgchristchurchshrewsbury@verizon.net

Costumed Graveyard Tours The church enacts a periodic portrayal of some ofthese individuals by costumed actors who tell their stories. The Dead Actors’ Guild is the troupe that performs these portrayals.

VeteransThe graveyard is the final resting place for over 50 veterans of the Armed Forces. These dedicated individuals have served throughout our history from theFrench and Indian War through the Vietnam War. EachMemorial Day weekend we gather in the churchyardafter the Sunday Service and recognize them throughprayers, music and the reading of all their names.

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Meaningful Worship

Creative Learning

Passionate Service

In an Historic Setting

The souls interred here are common folk in amodest but historic town and graveyard.

In thinking of how to best reflect this sentiment,the following famous poem comes to mind

“Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;

Along the cool sequester'd vale of lifeThey kept the noiseless tenor of their way.”

Elegy Written in a Country ChurchyardBY THOMAS GRAY (1750)

(Excerpt)

Graveyard OverviewThe Christ Church Graveyard occupies the preponderanceof the 1.6 acre churchyard. This property was acquired bythe church in 1706, four years after the parish’s founding.Before a church was erected, the land was used as a grave-yard with the earliest surviving gravestone dated 1719.

The graveyard has several sections. The largest segment ofthe graveyard is for traditional fullburial plots.

The Memorial Garden is for asheswith individual burials but with memorial plaques on a commongravemarker.

The Sycamore Garden is also forashes but with dedicated grave-markers for individual plots.

The Heritage Rose Meditation Garden (HMRG) is the newest sec-tion of the graveyard for meditationand memorials including individual interment of ashes.

The graveyard has about 1300souls interred with about 800gravemarkers. Due to the grave-yard’s longevity gravemarkers area wide variety of materials andstyles. The stones are of made of slate, brown and whitesandstone, marble and granite. The styles range from simple3-4 foot high slabs, larger thicker slabs, short stones angledfrom the ground, flat stones on the ground and larger Victorian era edifices. Inscriptions range from simplenames and dates to art carvings of cherubs and deathheads and scriptural and non-scriptural texts.

Special Graveyard Characteristics and FeaturesThe graveyard has a number of distinctive features. Thereare three gravemarkers in the floor of the church. They markthe presence of the remains under the church that resultedfrom gravestones being moved due to the erection of the

larger 1769 (and current) church.

The Heritage RoseMeditation Garden(HRMG) has two spe-cial features. One is the gravemarker of an infant, Edith GeorgiannaMoore, and the second is a garden bench memorializing Charles AdamsThrockmorton.

1769 Graveyard Information and RecordsA record of all individuals interred inthe graveyard is maintained in theparish register which dates from1733. A database of all burials hasbeen created to allow for graveyardanalysis. There is also a surveyor’smap of the graveyard indicating thelocation of each gravemarker linkedto the database. In addition the burials with gravemarkers are listed inalphabetical order on a web site, distantcousin.com. Furthermore exten-sive genealogical information has been developed about many individu-als buried in the graveyard providing extensive insight into the churchand the community.

Individuals, Church, Local, and National HistoryBy virtue of its existence and continuous use for over 300 years, thegraveyard serves as an historical portrait of the community as it evolvedand grew over many years. The graveyard is a thread of our history. Itreflects the history of our church, our local community,our State, and our Nation. These are some of the indi-viduals who make this history come alive. Benjamin Lippincott - Benjamin Lippincott left New Jer-sey traveling on an overland route to California in orderto seek his fortune. He became a successful entrepre-neur, fought the Mexicans with Fremont, was a memberof the California Constitutional Convention, and servedin the inaugural California legislature. He returned homeand was buried here in 1870. William Leeds - Leeds was a co-founder of the churchand critical to the continued existence of the churchthrough the bequest of 439 acres of land to serve as aglebe, an income producing property, for the church.He passed in 1739.

Graham Kearney and Reverend Samuel Cooke - Graham isburied here in an unmarked grave. Her husband Samuel, towas rector here though he is not interred in the graveyard. Hewas the rector behind the erection of the currentchurch completed in 1774. His departure in 1775marks both the Revolutionary War and the transi-tion of the parish from Anglican to Episcopal.Reverend Harry and Theodosia Finch - Harrywas the longest serving rector of Christ Churchand was instrumental in preserving its history, especially our documents. Both he and his wiferan schools for children.E. C Hazard - Edward Clarke Hazard was a late19th century entrepreneur and was emblematicof the Gilded Age in the shore area. He marketedcanned goods and owned a ketchup factory inShrewsbury, He and his family were prominent inthe social life of the Borough.Dorothy Blair Manson - Dorothy was the firstwoman vestryperson at Christ Church andfirst woman Mayor of Shrewsbury. Shewas active in many community mattersespecially the Girl Scouts.John Grimke - Judge John FaucheraudGrimke was a Revolutionary war hero inSouth Carolina and was Mayor of Charleston,a member of the State legislature, andChief Justice of the Supreme Court in thatstate. Yet he is buried here when he diedlocally as he was seeking treatment for anillness. His gravestone does not survivebut the likely site is depicted. He died in 1809.Eddie Condon - Eddie Condon was aprominent jazz musician from the 1930sthrough the 1950s. He was a jazz impre-sario organizing bands and performingwith some of the most famous names ofthe era including Bix Beiderbecke, PeeWee Russell, Wild Bill Davison, and LouisArmstrong. Condon played guitar but alsoowned his own jazz club in Greenwich Village. His family spent much time in Monmouth Beach.

Heritage Rose Meditation Garden

Lippincott

Leeds

Finch

Hazard

Manson

Grimke

Condon

Memorial Garden

Sycamore Garden

Excerpt from FirstParish Register

Oldest SurvivingGravestone