NEWS: New Jersey Reparations Council Report RELEASED!

On Juneteenth, 2025 the New Jersey Reparations Council released its comprehensive report on the need for reparations in New Jersey: "For Such a Time as This: The Nowness of Reparations for Black People in New Jersey." The report covers a variety of relevant topics including the history of slavery and racism in the state, the current racial wealth gap, and the role faith organizations have played in slavery and racism. The entire report bears careful study, and should be read by all citizens of the state, but the recommendations for faith organizations are particularly relevant for the work of the Diocese of New Jersey Racial Justice Review: 

"Faith institutions have played a significant role in the history of slavery and its aftermath in New Jersey, both through complicity and resistance. The Council recommends that religious institutions across the state, including religiously founded schools and theological schools that benefited from slavery, engage in a statewide reckoning on reparations and pay restitution. These organizations have a profound moral responsibility to address the historical injustices from which they profited. Some denominations have already begun reparations initiatives to meet this moral responsibility; more should follow. Religious institutions that benefited from slavery should engage in conversations with Black faith institutions and Black congregations to facilitate a theological reckoning, reconciliation and restorative work towards reparations. Religious institutions should invest funds, including grants and endowments for buildings, in New Jersey’s Black religious institutions." 

We couldn't agree more. Thank you to the members of the New Jersey Reparations Council for your hard work and for the robust reporting.

The Freedman's Commission and the Diocese of New Jersey after the Civil War

One of the institutions founded through the work of the Freedman's Commission:
St. Augustine's Normal School, Raleigh, NC
(1886-87 catalogue cover, detail, courtesy St. Augustine's University)

At the general convention of 1865, in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, the delegates of Episcopal Church voted to found a “Freedman’s Commission.” Though the needs of recently enslaved Black people in the south were indeed both various and very serious, the Commission’s mandate was, in comparison to the need, rather limited. At the time of its creation the Commission’ purpose was circumscribed narrowly to include only the “religious and other instruction of the freedmen.”[1] Even more limited was the success the Commission managed to achieve during its period of operation.[2] Generally speaking, the Commission did not successfully convince White Episcopalians to take up the concerns of the Commission as their own. And though there may have been the potential for New Jersey Episcopalians to respond differently from the rest of the Church, in fact the Diocese of New Jersey supported the work of the Commission only haltingly. 

            There were multiple reasons why New Jersey Episcopalians might have responded more favorably to the work of the Freedman’s Commission than others within the larger denomination. Among these were the fact that New Jersey had remained a slave state, literally in all but name,[3] through the end of the Civil War. Residents of New Jersey were some of the northerners most familiar with the tragedies of slavery and might have been well positioned to recognize the great need to support recently freed Black people. 

Perhaps even more significantly, the priest appointed as director of the Commission work[4] was the Rev. J. Brinton Smith, who hailed from the Diocese of New Jersey.[5] He had resigned from the rectorship of St. Matthew’s Church, Jersey City in order to take the position and brought many relationships with New Jersey clergy and congregations to his work with the Commission. However, these factors seemed to have played little role in convincing many white Episcopalians from the Diocese of New Jersey to support the work.

New Jersey Episcopalians had for years been among those in the state most linked to slavery and most sympathetic to the southern cause.[6] And rather than immediately recognizing the need to support the Freedmen as they carved out a new life of freedom, there was a clear comparative preference in the Diocese in the years following the war for supporting southern churches and clergy who had become poorer as a result of the war. 

The immediate response in the diocese to the creation of the Freedman’s Commission was very limited. The diocesan convention journal of 1866 reports diocesan giving to the work of the Commission of $19.92,[7] augmented only by a gift from “the ladies” of Christ Church, Allentown of “two barrels of clothing.”[8] In comparison, diocesan giving “for the Southern Clergy” and “for Southern Churches” in the same year was reported at $142.22,[9] a difference of an order of magnitude. The Rev. A. Toomer Porter of South Carolina, gave a presentation at the convention on “the relations of the Freedmen and the Church, in South Carolina,”[10] for which the convention resolved to “hail[ him] with pleasure… for the good work in which he is engaged.”[11] Partly in response to his presentation, giving increased the following year, but it was largely not directed at the work of the Freedman’s Commission. The following year nine churches in the diocese[12] reported giving specifically for the work of the Commission but forty-seven to general “Southern Relief” efforts. Bishop Odenheimer’s pastoral letter of March 13, 1867, exhorting the churches of the diocese to take up collection for and send relief to the “sufferers… in the South,”[13] certainly had some effect, but this relative prioritization was certainly also the result of the closer connection white Episcopalians in New Jersey felt to white people in the South. Parochial giving[14] to the Commission in that year amounted to $221.12, while the amount raised to ameliorate “Southern suffering” generally was $3437.31.[15]

Clearly, when compellingly called and meaningfully convinced, the white Episcopalians of the diocese had the capacity to address dramatic perceived needs, it’s just that for a quite a long time they were neither compellingly called to, nor deeply convinced of the need for, significant financial support for the formerly enslaved. Diocesan reporting for 1868 shows that the number of congregations supporting the Freedman’s Commission had increased to thirteen,[16] but the raw total of giving was still entirely eclipsed by giving to “southern clergy” and “destitute southern churches.” In his Episcopal Address of 1868 Bishop Odenheimer called for greater giving, saying “let the claims of… the Freedmen… be promptly and generously responded to,”[17] but it was only a single sentence buried in a list of many other requests. After this half-hearted plea, giving for the Commission did not immediately, or broadly increase, involving only twelve churches in the 1869 diocesan reporting,[18] while giving for general “southern” relief continued to outpace Freedman’s Commission giving dramatically.[19]

After 1868 the Freedman’s Commission was renamed the Commission of Home Missions to Colored People, but support remained limited.[20] In New Jersey it appears that responsibility for overseeing fundraising for the effort during this time was given to the Woman’s Auxiliary of the Board of Missions. However, oversight for Commission giving was lumped in together with (unrelated) Mormon missions, and it appears that the same racial predilections observed in parochial giving prevailed in oversight: In her 1877 convention address, the president of the Woman’s Auxiliary, Mrs. Tiffany, while noting the report on the Freedman’s mission, chose to emphasize how the preparation of boxes for the “clergymen in the South, [had] been a particular pleasure” and how 

in these days of party strife in our country, what may so effectually tend to break its power as the manifestation of the Spirit of our Divine Master, who in His boundless love, ignored all differences of race and condition, and to whom all were ‘one in Christ Jesus.’[21]

It seems that white Episcopalians in New Jersey were very concerned to avoid the appearance of giving preferential treatment to recently freed Black Americans, in part, by making sure to generously support the white Southerners who had participated in their enslavement. By the time the work of the Commission was fully folded into the Board of Missions in 1878, parochial support in the diocese, which had never been consistent, had actually atrophied.[22]

            In the immediate aftermath of the war, Black migration to the north exploded, and between 1870 and 1910 the Black population of New Jersey tripled.[23] However, the single Black Church in the diocese until 1874, St. Philips, Newark, received only mild financial support, and after the diocese split into the Diocese of Newark and the Diocese of (southern) New Jersey, there were no Black churches in the diocese for decades.[24] There was a mission at the Black settlement of Macedonia (in Shrewsbury, NJ) starting in the 1850’s,[25] but it was never supported financially by the diocese, and only haltingly by at most a single white parish at a time. 

By the time the Freedman’s Commission was founded after the war, there was already a well-established pattern of neglect of the needs of Black people in the diocese. And even as a program of diocesan support for freed Black people in the South was slowly developing following the Civil War,[26] the pattern of local neglect in the Diocese of New Jersey did not meaningfully begin to change until Bishop Scarborough’s clear change of heart in 1890.[27] The unfortunate reality is that the diocese did little to welcome Black people after the war, and giving to the Freedman’s Commission operated, essentially, as a way to externalize the issue from the diocese.[28]

            The Freedman’s Commission ultimately ceased to be an independent entity in 1878, folding its operations into the Board of Missions. It had met with significant opposition from White Episcopalians during its existence, including outright hostility in the South, and disinterest and “aversion” in the North.[29] It did manage to create a few enduring educational institutions,[30] but the goal of more significantly and robustly supporting Black Episcopal life in the church in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War was only marginally accomplished at the time.

 

Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, Ph.D.

Reparations Commission Research Historian

Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey

---

[1] E. A. White, and J.A. Dykman, eds., Annotated Constitution and Canons of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States (Greenwich, CT: Seabury, 1954), 1:188.

[2] See H. Peers Brewer, “The Protestant Episcopal Freedman’s Commission, 1865-1878,” HMPEC 26.4 (1957): 361-381. Unfortunately, the article by Brewer is exceedingly racist, including even favorable mention of the Ku Klux Klan. Even though Brewer seems to have an agenda of delegitimizing northern interventions in the south, the article does nevertheless manage to articulate many of the actual failings of the Commission.

[3] In 1846 New Jersey ostensibly ended slavery, but only renamed the enslaved “apprentices for life” to their enslavers, who still legally owned their labor. Slavery was not outlawed in all instances except as a punishment for a crime until the Thirteenth Amendment to the (Federal) Constitution had been passed by a majority of states (New Jersey’s state legislature voted against this in 1865 and did not ratify the amendment until it was already the law of the land and a newly elected legislature was seated in 1866).

[4] Technically the position was named “Secretary and General Agent.” See Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Third Annual Convention Held in Grace Church, Newark, on Wednesday, May 30^th, M,DCCC,LXVI (Philadelphia: J.B. Chandler, 1866), 72.

[5] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Third Annual Convention, 72.

[6] Such prolific enslavers as Senator Richard Stockton, and John Potter, enslaved hundreds of Black people on their plantations in the South, while maintaining residency in New Jersey and regularly holding important positions of lay authority in the Diocese of New Jersey. See Kyra Pruszinski and Jolyon Pruszinski, ed., “Trinity Church, Princeton and Slavery,” DNJRJR (April 10, 2023): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2023/04/trinity-church-princeton-and-slavery.html. 

[7] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Third Annual Convention, 32

[8] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Third Annual Convention, 36

[9] That is, $16.64 and $125.58 respectively. Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Third Annual Convention, 32.

[10] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Third Annual Convention, 31.

[11] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Third Annual Convention, 36.

[12] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Fourth Annual Convention Held in St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, on Wednesday and Thursday, May 29^th and 30^th, MDCCCLXVII (New York: John W. Amerman, 1867), 63-109: St. Mary’s, Burlington ($62.96); Christ Church, Bloomfield ($14.50); St. John’s, Boonton ($20); Grace, Haddonfield ($10); Trinity, Moorestown ($13.78); St. Peter’s, Morristown ($42); Church of the Redeemer, Morristown ($16.91); Christ Church, Newton ($37.17); Christ Church, Waterford ($3.80). Of these nine only five gave more to the Freedman’s work than to general “Southern Relief.”

[13] This letter is reprinted in Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Fourth Annual Convention (page 161), in the appendix to the Episcopal address: “MARCH 13^TH, 1867. ON THE FAMINE IN THE SOUTH. To the Clergy and Laity of the Diocese of New-Jersey: BELOVED BRETHREN: Authentic statements assure us that a famine exists in large sections of the South, and that men, women and children are dying for want of food. Let us, for JESUS’ sake, help our suffering brethren, and let us do it promptly, cheerfully, generously. I recommend that a collection, for the relief of the sufferers by famine in the South, be made in each Church, Chapel and Mission of the Diocese of New-Jersey, at the earliest day possible; and that the proceeds be immediately forwarded to James M. Brown, Esq., No. 61 Wall-street, New-York, Treasurer of the Southern Relief Commission. Affectionately, your Bishop, WILLIAM HENRY ODENHEIMER. LENT, A.D. 1867.”

[14] From churches in the Diocese of New Jersey

[15] This latter figure includes giving for “Southern clergy.” See Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Fourth Annual Convention, 64-111.

[16] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Fifth Annual Convention, Held in Grace Church, Newark, on Wednesday and Thursday, May 27^th and 28^th, MDCCCLXVIII (New York: John W. Amerman, 1868), 64-107: Christ Church, Belleville ($7); Christ Church, Bloomfield ($20.85); Christ Church, Elizabeth ($37.30); St. Paul’s, Englewood ($35); Trinity, Moorestown ($10.06); St. Peter’s, Morristown ($50.75); Redeemer, Morristown ($18.50); St. Andrew’s, Mounty Holly ($15.35); Trinity, Mount Holly ($20.38); St. John’s, Passaic ($13.37); Holy Communion, S. Orange ($13.50); Trinity, Swedesboro ($39.50); St. Michael’s, Trenton ($106.50); these totaled to $388.06.

[17] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Fifth Annual Convention, 175.

[18] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Sixth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New Jersey, Held in St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 25^th and 26^th, MDCCCLXIX (New York: John W. Amerman, 1869), 47-84: St. Mary’s, Burlington ($41.50); Trinity, Bayonne ($40); St. Paul’s, Englewood ($30.85); Trinity, Moorestown ($8.04); St. Peter’s, Morristown ($37); Grace, Newark ($26.04); Trinity, Newark ($237.85); St. John the Evangelist, New Brunswick ($12.61); Grace, Orange ($159.18); St. Paul’s, Paterson ($40); St. John’s, Salem ($51.77); Trinity, Swedesboro ($24.19); for a total of only $709.03.

[19] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Sixth Annual Convention, 47-92.

[20] It did grow slowly over time, though.

[21] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninety-fourth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, In the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in St. John’s Church, Elizabeth, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 29^th and 30^th, MDCCCLXXVII (Trenton, NJ: John L. Murphy, 1877), 35.

[22] The 1879 diocesan convention journal only reports eight congregations supporting the work, and the support is comparatively modest. Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninety-Sixth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in Christ Church, New Brunswick, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 27^th and 28^th, MDCCCLXXIX (Princeton: C.S. Robinson, 1879), 104-136. For the next few years support was very modest.

[23] Giles R. Wright, Afro-Americans in New Jersey: A Short History (Trenton: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1988), 45.

[24] Though, of course, St. Philip’s joined the Diocese of Newark.

[25] Jolyon Pruszinski, “The Episcopal Mission at the Free Black Settlement of Macedonia, NJ,” DNJRJR (May 26, 2025): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-episcopal-mission-at-free-black.html. 

[26] This took the form of giving for domestic “colored” missions in the South. However during this period it was never more than a small minority of churches in the diocese that were involved, and even the raw totals of giving to support the Commission at the parishes did give, rarely eclipsed 1% of their total giving. See Jolyon Pruszinski, “All Parochial Giving (1866-1878) to the Freedman’s Commission in the Diocese of New Jersey,” DNJRJR (May 8, 2025): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2025/05/all-parochial-giving-1866-1878-to.html.

[27] Jolyon Pruszinski, “Bishop Scarborough’s Convention Address of 1890,” DNJRJR (January 1, 2024): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2024/01/bishop-scarboroughs-convention-address.html. 

[28] As intimated by Bishop Scarborough in The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the One Hundred and Eighteenth Convention, Being the One Hundred and Fifth Year of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Jersey; Held in St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, Tuesday, May 6^th, and Wednesday, May 7^th, 1890. Together with Appendices and the Episcopal Address (Princeton: The Princeton Press, 1890), 168-169.

[29] The Episcopal Church, “Mission to the Freedman”, originally posted at https://episcopalarchives.org/church-awakens/exhibits/show/legacy/mission-to-the-freedman, but since deleted. Archival access is still available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20240915072631/https://episcopalarchives.org/church-awakens/exhibits/show/legacy/mission-to-the-freedman

[30] Such as St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh, NC (originally founded as a “Normal School”).

EVENT: "The Nowness of Reparations for Black People in New Jersey" at 7pm on Juneteenth at NJPAC - Newark

The New Jersey Reparations Council is releasing its critical findings and recommendations report from its recently concluded two-year study at "The Nowness of Reparations for Black People in New Jersey," a multi-speaker event and panel discussion being held at 7pm on Juneteenth (June 19, 2025) at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. Mayor Ras Baraka is the keynote speaker. REGISTER HERE! 

EVENT: Journey Toward Reparations Webinar: Church of England Reparatory Accountability with Georgia Boon, June 24, 2025 at 7pm

The Reparations Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey invites you to join us for our next webinar in our Journey Toward Reparations on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 from 7:00-8:00pm over Zoom. Our guest speaker is Georgia Boon, the Director of Planning and Engagement for the Church Commissioners for England. She will be discussing Church of England Reparatory Accountability. CLICK HERE to register for the event.

All Parochial Giving (1879-1890) for "Home Missions to Colored People" in the Diocese of New Jersey

All Parochial Giving (1879-1890) for the “Home Missions to Colored People” in the Diocese of New Jersey.

 

The “Freedman’s Commission,” founded by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 1865 to aid in the education of newly emancipated Black people in the South, was renamed the “Home Mission to Colored People” in 1868, and then folded into the Board of Missions in 1878, ceasing to be its own separately operating commission. Below is listed the raw data, pertaining to the latter period, for the churches in the Diocese of New Jersey that gave to these domestic “Missions” reported between 1879 and 1890. This data is culled from the annual parochial reports published in diocesan convention journals during that time. You will find it far easier to search through this culled material than to search through the publicly available digital scans of diocesan journals directly. Perusing this data will allow you to follow leads from the diocesan journal reporting data more efficiently. Though the racial nomenclature employed in the original documentation is no longer acceptable in modern usage, the original wording of the text is preserved here for the sake of historical accuracy.

Nota bene: During this period the Woman’s Auxiliary to the Board of Missions did fundraising for various initiatives and reports those donations separately, however it is unclear to what degree individual parishes included donations to the Woman’s Auxiliary earmarked for “Home Missions to Colored People” in their parochial reports, and when they did, how. As such, some of the fund data included here may be included in the Woman’s Auxiliary numbers as well, which are not noted here. 

(Example parochial report from the 1882 Diocesan Convention Journal, p. 122.)

1879 Convention Journal[1]

St. Stephen’s, Beverly for “Christmas box for the Freedmen, $29.00”

Grace Church, Elizabeth for “Home Missions to Colored people and Indians, $6.64”

St. John’s, Elizabeth for “Home Missions to Colored People, $54.35” 

St. Andrew’s, Mount Holly for “Home missions to colored people, $17.98”

Trinity, Mount Holly for “Home Missions to colored people, $60.80”

Christ Church, Shrewsbury for “Home Missions to Colored People, $6.50”

Christ Church, South Amboy for “Home Missions to colored people, $30.52”

Trinity, Woodbridge for “Home Missions to Colored People, $5.00”

 

1880 convention Journal[2]

St. Andrew’s, Church, Bridgeton “for Mrs. Buford’s work among the Blacks, Va., $65”

St. Paul’s, Camden for “Home Missions to colored people, $27”

Grace Church, Elizabeth for “Home Missions to Colored People and Indians, $3”

St. Stephen’s Church, Florence “for Freedmen, $20”

St. Peter’s, Freehold for “Home Missions to Colored People, $21.85”

St. Peter’s, Freehold “for box of clothing for Freedmen, $56.88;” 

St. Peter’s, Freehold “for Rev. Mr. Thackara’s school in Florida, $5”

St. Andrew’s, Mt. Holly for “Home Missions to Colored People, $21.55”

Trinity, Mount Holly for “Home Missions to Colored People, $5”

St. John the Evangelist, New Brunswick for “Home missions to colored people, $12”

Grace Church, Plainfield for “Home Missions to Colored people, $14.87”

Christ Church, Riverton for “colored Sunday School in Mississippi, $10”

Christ Church, Shrewsbury for “Home Missions to colored people, $20.04”

St. Michael’s, Trenton for “Home Missions to colored people, $6.60”

Trinity Church, Trenton “to Rev. O. P. Thackara, for work among Freedmen, $8.31”

Trinity Church, Woodbridge for “Home Missions to Colored people, $4”

 

1881 Convention Journal[3]

St. Andrew’s, Bridgeton offerings of “barrel of clothing to colored people, $60”

St. Paul’s, Camden for “Home Missions to colored people, $25”

St. John’s, Elizabeth for “Home Missions to colored people, $58.43”

St. Peter’s, Freehold “for Freedmen’s school at Ogeechee, Georgia, box of clothing, $47.31”

Trinity, Moorestown for “Home missions to colored people, $3”

St. Andrew’s, Mt. Holly for “Home Missions to colored people, $10.91”

Christ Church, Riverton for “Colored Institute, Prince George, Md., $5”

Christ Church, Shrewsbury for “home missions to colored people, $7.67”

Christ Church, South Amboy for “Home Missions to colored people, $16.86”

Trinity, Trenton “for work among Freedmen, through Rev. O. P. Thackara, Florida, $15.16”

Trinity, Woodbridge for “Home Missions to colored people, and Indians, $122”

Summary total of parochial offerings for “Home Missions to Colored People… $202.03” [4]

 

1882 Convention Journal[5]

St. Stephen’s, Beverly for “Home Missions to Colored People, $5”

St. Stephen’s, Beverly “for one missionary box to Freedmen, $40.43”

St. Andrew’s, Bridgeton for “home missions to colored people, $8”

Chapel of the Holy Child Jesus, Burlington College for “Colored Mission of St. Mary the Virgin, Baltimore, $2.79”

St. Paul’s, Camden for “Home Missions to Colored People, $30”

Grace Church, Crosswicks “for Home for Poor Colored Children, Charleston, S. C., $5”

St. Peter’s, Freehold for “Home Missions to Colored People, box and money to Freedmen’s School at Ogeechee, Georgia, $45”

Trinity, Moorestown for “home missions to Colored People, $2.50”

St. Andrew’s, Mt. Holly for “Home Missions to Colored People, $20”

Holy Cross, Perth Amboy for “Home Missions to Colored People (one box of clothing), $35”

Christ Church, Shrewsbury for “Home Missions to Colored People, $21.79”

Christ Church, South Amboy for “home missions to Colored People, $26”

Grace Church, Westfield for “Home Missions to Colored People, $1”

Christ Church, Woodbury for “Home Mission to Colored People, $36”

Summary total of parochial offerings for “Home Missions to Colored People… 285.29”

 

1883 Convention Journal[6]

St. Mary’s, Burlington for “Home Missions to Colored People, $50”

St. Paul’s, Camden for “Home Missions to Colored people, $25”

Trinity, Moorestown for “Home Missions to Colored people, $12”

St. Andrew’s, Mount Holly for “Home Missions to colored people, $16.90”

Holy Cross, Perth Amboy for “Home Missions to Colored People… one box, value, $12”

Christ Church, Riverton “for Colored Asylum, Prince George County, Maryland, $5”

St. George’s, Rumson Neck for “Home Missions to Colored People, $6”

Trinity Church, Trenton for “Home Missions to Colored people, $7”

Christ Church, Woodbury for “Home Missions to Colored People, $44.45”

Summary total of parochial offerings for “Home Missions to Colored People… $173.35”

 

1884 Convention Journal[7]

Christ Church, Bordentown for “Home Missions to Colored people, $20”

St. Mary’s, Burlington for “Home Missions to colored people, $34.42”

St. Paul’s, Camden for “Home Missions to Colored people, $30”

St. John’s, Elizabeth for “home missions to colored people, $124.49”

St. Stephen’s, Florence “for Freedmen, $56.25”

St. Peter’s, Freehold for “barrel of Clothing for Freedmen’s school at Ogeechee, Georgia, $34”

Trinity, Moorestown for “Home Missions to Colored people, including box to Mrs. Buford, $25”

St. Andrew’s, Mount Holly for “Home Missions to Colored People, $23”

Trinity, Mount Holly for “Home Missions to Colored people, Mrs. Buford, $15”

Trinity, Mount Holly for “Bishop Lyman’s colored school, $25”

Holy Cross, Perth Amboy for “Home Missions to Colored People, box sent… to Rev. Mr. Berry, Asheville, N. C., $19”

Christ Church, Shrewsbury “for Missions in Virginia to colored people, $17.90”

Christ Church, South Amboy for “Home Missions to colored people, $5”

Christ Church, Woodbury for “Home Missions to Colored People, $30”

Summary total of parochial offerings for “Home Missions to Colored People… $376.37” 

 

1885 Convention Journal[8]

Church of the Ascension, Atlantic City for “Box for Mrs. Buford’s Hospital, (unestimated)” 

St. Stephen’s, Beverly for “Box for Mrs. Buford’s School and Hospital, $40”

St. Mary’s, Burlington for “Home Missions to Colored People, $25”

St. Paul’s, Camden for “Home Missions to Colored People, $81” 

St. Paul’s, Camden for “Box for Missions to Colored People… $53”

Christ Church, Elizabeth for “Missions to Colored People in Missouri, $4.07”

Christ Church, Elizabeth “to Colored People in East Carolina (by the Sunday School), $37”

Trinity Church, Elizabeth for “Home Missions to Colored People, $15”

St. Stephen’s, Florence for “Home Missions to Colored People, $7”

Trinity, Moorestown for “Home Missions to Colored People, $5”

St. Andrew’s, Mount Holly for “Home Missions to Colored People, $15”

St. John the Evangelist, New Brunswick for “Home Missions to Colored People, $13.50”

St. John the Evangelist, New Brunswick “for Colored Mission, in Virginia, $32”

St. Peter’s, Perth Amboy for “Home Missions to Colored People, $14.30”

Trinity, Princeton for “Home Missions to Colored People, $10”

St. George’s, Rumson Neck for “Home Missions to Colored People, $6.40”

St. John’s, Salem for “Home Missions to Colored People, $32.66”

Christ Church, South Amboy for “Home Missions to Colored People, $5”

Trinity, Swedesboro for “Home Missions to Colored People, $4.48”

Trinity, Vineland for “Home Missions to Colored People, $21”

Christ Church, Woodbury for “Home Missions to Colored People, $73.60”

Christ Church, Woodbury for “Box for Freedmen, $35”

Summary total of parochial offerings for “Home Missions to Colored People… $461.67”

 

1886 Convention Journal[9]

St. Stephen’s, Beverly for “Box for Mrs. Burgwin’s School, Virginia, $67.00”

St. Mary’s, Burlington for “Home Missions to Colored People, $109.50”

St. Paul’s, Camden for “Home Missions to Colored People, $68.34”

Christ Church, Elizabeth for “Home Missions to Colored People, Lent offerings… $28.61”

St. John’s, Elizabeth for “Home Missions to Colored People, $63.52”

St. Stephen’s, Florence for “Home Missions to Colored People, (boxes St. Anne’s Guild), $51”

Christ Church, Millville for “Home Missions to Colored People, $1”

St. Andrew’s, Mount Holly for “Home Missions to colored people, $17”

Trinity, Mount Holly for “Home Missions to Colored People, to Mrs. Burgwin’s School, $32.70”

Christ Church, New Brunswick for “Home Missions to Colored People… $75”

St. John’s, Salem for “Home Missions to Colored People, $20.14”

Christ Church, South Amboy for “Home Missions to Colored People, $5”

Trinity, Swedesboro for “Home Missions to Colored People, $75”

Christ Church, Woodbury for “Home Missions to Colored People, $50”

Summary total of parochial offerings for “Home Missions to Colored People,… $995.14”

 

1887 Convention Journal[10]

Church of the Ascension, Atlantic City for “Missions to Colored People, $3.27”

St. Stephen’s, Beverly for “missions to colored people, $79.25”

St. Mary’s, Burlington for “Missions to colored people, $14”

St. John’s, Camden for “Missions to colored people, $3.00”

St. Paul’s, Camden for “Missions to colored people, $82.81”

Christ Church, Elizabeth for “Missions to colored people, $30.86”

St. John’s, Elizabeth for “Missions to colored people, $392.21”

Trinity, Elizabeth for “Missions to colored people, $12”

St. Stephen’s, Florence for “missions to colored people, $9.00”

St. Peter’s, Freehold for “missions to colored people, $5.00”

Grace, Merchantville for “missions to colored people, $3.00”

Trinity, Moorestown for “missions to colored people (including clothing), $37.00”

St. Andrew’s, Mount Holly for “missions to colored people, $65.00”

St. John the Evangelist, New Brunswick for “missions to colored people, $16.14”

St. George’s, Rumson Neck for “missions to colored people, $51.13”

St. John’s, Salem for “missions to colored people, $14.19”

Christ Church, Shrewsbury for “missions to colored people, $8.97”

Christ Church, South Amboy for “missions to colored people, $6.25”

Trinity, Vincentown for “missions to colored people, $1.76”

Summary total of parochial offerings for “Missions to colored people,… $1484.59”

 

1888 Convention Journal[11]

Christ Church, Allentown for “missions to colored people, $2.73”

St. Stephen’s, Beverly for “missions to colored people, $40.52”

St. Andrew’s, Bridgeton for “missions to colored people… garments made and other contributions… $46.12.” 

St. Mary’s, Burlington for “missions to colored people, $10”

St. John’s, Camden for “missions to colored people, $3.00”

St. Luke’s, Columbus for “missions to colored people, $1.00”

Grace Church, Crosswicks for “missions to colored people, $1.28”

Christ Church, Elizabeth for “missions to colored people, $15.89”

St. John’s, Elizabeth for “missions to colored people, $228.21”

Trinity, Fairview for “missions to colored people, $15.40”

St. Stephen’s, Florence for “missions to colored people, $43.06”

St. Peter’s, Freehold for “missions to colored people, $11.50”

Grace Church, Haddonfield for “missions to colored people (2 boxes), $54.60”

Grace Church, Merchantville for “missions to colored people, $3.50”

Trinity, Moorestown for “missions to colored people, $3.00”

St. Andrew’s, Mount Holly for “missions to colored people, $17.00”

Christ Church, New Brunswick for “missions to colored people… $45.50”

Grace church, Plainfield for “missions to colored people, $24.60”

St. Peter’s, Rancocas for “missions to colored people, $2.75”

St. Stephen’s, Riverside for “missions to colored people, $18.75”

Christ Church, Riverton for “missions to colored people, $26.00”

St. George’s, Rumson Neck for “missions to colored people, $48.11”

St. John’s, Salem for “missions to colored people, $36.84”

Christ Church, Shrewsbury for “missions to colored people, $7.11”

Doane Memorial Chapel, South Amboy for “missions to colored people, $2.23”

Trinity, Swedesboro for “missions to colored people, $31.50”

St. Michael’s, Trenton for “missions to colored people, $17.63”

Summary total of parochial offerings for “Missions to colored people,… $859.61” 

 

1889 Convention Journal[12]

St. Stephen’s, Beverly for “missions to Colored People, $5.00”

St. Mary’s, Burlington for “missions to colored people, $68.00”

St. Paul’s, Camden for “missions to Colored People, $90.00”

St. John’s, Elizabeth for “missions to colored people, $148.30”

Christ Church, Elizabeth for “missions to colored people, $20”

Trinity, Fairview for “missions to colored people (box of clothing), $20.00”

St. Stephen’s, Florence for “missions to colored people, $32.00”

Saint Peter’s, Freehold for “Missions to Colored People, $30.75”

All Saints, Lakewood for “Missions to Colored People, $15.00”

Grace Church, Merchantville for “Missions to Colored People, $5.00”

Trinity, Moorestown for “Missions to Colored People, $33.79”

St. Andrew’s, Mount Holly for “missions to Colored People, $15.00”

Trinity, Mount Holly for “missions to Colored People, $75.00” 

Church of St. John the Evangelist, New Brunswick for “missions to Colored People, $22.33”

Grace Church, Plainfield for “missions to Colored People, $5”

St. Peter’s, Rancocas for “Missions to Colored People, $2.25”

St. Stephen’s, Riverside for “missions to Colored People, (box of clothing), $12.00”

Christ Church, Riverton for “missions to Colored People, $10.00”

St. George’s, Rumson Neck for “missions to Colored People, $42”

St. John’s, Salem for “missions to Colored People, $24.96”

Christ Church, Shrewsbury for “missions to Colored People, $5.00”

Doane Memorial Chapel, South Amboy for “missions to Colored People, $2.40”

Trinity, Swedesboro for “missions to Colored People, $5.00”

Summary total of parochial offerings for “Missions to colored people,… $703.78” 

 

1890 Convention Journal[13]

St. Stephen’s, Willingboro/Beverly for “missions to colored people, $55.38”

St. Mary’s, Burlington for “missions to colored people, $55.25”

Chapel of the Holy Innocents, St. Mary’s, Burlington for “missions to colored people, $88.00”

St. Barnabas,’ Burlington for “missions to colored people, $2.00”

St. Paul’s, Camden for “missions to colored people, $110.00”

St. Peter’s, Clarksboro for “missions to colored people, $5.00”

Grace Church, Elizabeth for “missions to colored people, $2.50”

Trinity, Elizabeth for “missions to colored people, $48.00”

St. Stephen’s, Florence for “missions to colored people, $33.00”

Saint Peter’s, Freehold for “missions to colored people, $8.34”

Grace Church, Merchantville for “missions to colored people, $5.00”

Trinity, Moorestown for “Missions to Colored People, $67.00”

St. Andrews,’ Mount Holly for “missions to colored people, $17.19”

Trinity, Mount Holly for “missions to Colored People, $25.00”

Grace Church, Plainfield for “Missions to Colored People, $58.16”

Church of the Heavenly Rest, Plainfield [Evona] for “Missions to colored people, $25.00”

Christ Church, Riverton for “missions to colored people, $11.50”

St. George’s, Rumson Neck for “missions to colored people, $83.50”

St. John’s, Salem for “missions to colored people, $24.01”

Christ Church, South Amboy for “Missions to Colored People, $5.08”

Trinity, Swedesboro for “missions to colored people, $14.00”

Summary total of parochial offerings for “Missions to colored people,… $727.94”

Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, Ph.D.

Reparations Commission Research Historian

Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey

---

[1] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninety-Sixth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in Christ Church, New Brunswick, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 27^th and 28^th, MDCCCLXXIX (Princeton: C.S. Robinson, 1879), 104-136.

[2] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninety-Seventh Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, In the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 25^th and 26^th. MDCCCLXXX (Princeton: C.S.Robinson & Co., 1880), 104-140.

[3] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninety-Eighth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, In the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in St. Michael’s Church, Trenton, Tuesday, May 31^st, and Wednesday, June 1^st. MDCCCLXXXI (Princeton: C.S. Robinson & Co., 1881), 118-164.

[4] It is clear that the numbers do not match well here. Diocesan summary totals seem to exclude the St. Peter’s, Freehold giving and the Trinity, Woodbridge giving.

[5] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the One Hundred and Tenth Convention, Being the Ninety-Seventh Year of the Protestant Episcopal Church, In the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in Christ Church, Elizabeth, Tuesday, May 30^th, and Wednesday, May 31^st, MDCCCLXXXII(Princeton: C.S. Robinson & co., 1882), 122-174.

[6] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the One Hundred and Eleventh Convention, Being the Ninety-Eighth Year of the Protestant Episcopal Church, In the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in St. Paul’s Church, Camden, Tuesday, May 8^th, and Wednesday, May 9^th, MDCCCLXXXIII (Princeton: C.S. Robinson & Co., 1883), 124-178.

[7] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the One Hundred and Twelfth Convention, Being the Ninety-Ninth Year of the Protestant Episcopal Church, In the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in Christ Church, New Brunswick, Tuesday, May 6^th, and Wednesday, May 7^th, MDCCCLXXXIV (Princeton: Princeton Press, 1884), 138-198.

[8] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the One Hundred and Thirteenth Convention, Being the One Hundredth Year of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in Christ Church, New Brunswick, Tuesday, May 5^th, and Wednesday, May 6^th, MDCCCLXXXV (Princeton: Princeton Press, 1885), 63-115.

[9] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the One Hundred and Fourteenth Convention, Being the One Hundred and First Year of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in St. John’s Church, Camden, Tuesday, May 4^th, and Wednesday, May 5^th, MDCCCLXXXVI (Princeton: Princeton Press, 1886), 62-119.

[10] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the One Hundred and Fifteenth Convention, Being the One Hundred and Second Year of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in Grace Church, Plainfield, Tuesday May 3^rd, and Wednesday, May 4^th, MDCCCLXXXVII (Princeton: Princeton Press, 1887), 57-107.

[11] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the One Hundred and Sixteenth Convention, Being the One Hundred and Third Year of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Jersey; Held in Trinity Church, Trenton, Tuesday, May 8^th, and Wednesday, May 9^th, MDCCCLXXXVIII (Princeton: Princeton Press, 1888), 65-125.

[12] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the One Hundred and Seventeenth Convention, Being the One Hundred and Fourth Year of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Jersey; Held in St. John’s Church, Elizabeth, Tuesday, May 7^th, and Wednesday, May 8^th, MDCCCLXXXIX (Princeton: Princeton Press, 1889), 66-133.

[13] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the One Hundred and Eighteenth Convention, Being the One Hundred and Fifth Year of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Jersey; Held in St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, Tuesday, May 6^th, and Wednesday, May 7^th, 1890. Together with Appendices and the Episcopal Address (Princeton: The Princeton Press, 1890), 71-137. 

The Episcopal Mission at the Free Black Settlement of Macedonia, NJ: 1853-1887

Sandy Hook Quadrangle - USGS 1918
(Macedonia detail)

Long Branch West, NJ Quadrangle - USGS 2023
(Macedonia detail)

The second Black ministry[1] founded the Diocese of New Jersey that went beyond a simple parish school was the so-called “colored” mission at the village of Macedonia in what was then Shrewsbury. “Macedonia… [had been] founded ca. 1820 as one of the initial free black settlements in Monmouth County, following the emancipation of slaves in New Jersey.”[2] By the time of the 1854 diocesan convention[3] Bishop Doane was reporting on a new mission there with great excitement:

 

On Wednesday, [April] 19… in the evening, in the Methodist Meeting House, at Macedonia, the Rev. Mr. Finch, the Rector of the Parish, read prayers, and I preached, and confirmed eight persons. This was a service of peculiar interest. Macedonia is a settlement of African descendants, within the extensive boundaries of the Parish of Shrewsbury. Mr. Finch, in the midst of his abundant labours, has paid much attention to these people. His pains are well rewarded, by these seals of his ministry. One of them was formerly a minister of the Protestant Methodist connection. He is, now, a lay reader, under Mr. Finch’s direction; and may become a candidate for orders. It was a very dark night. The building stands on the edge of a forest. The approach to it, as the lights glimmered through the pines, was as picturesque, as the scene was impressive. Some of the good people of Shrewsbury, bad as the roads were, had “come over, to Macedonia, to help us” on.[4]

 

Doane’s excitement was certainly merited at this earliest episcopal visit. The eight confirmations at Macedonia were more than those at the sponsoring parish of Christ Church, Shrewsbury,[5] and in fact were more than the number of confirmations at all but 11 of the parishes and missions in the diocese in that year. In 1855, Doane made another episcopal visit to the mission, preaching “to a congregation of coloured people”[6] and baptizing. 

The mission at Macedonia seems to have grown out of the “parish school for coloured children,”[7] also known as the “African School in the Pines,” funded by Christ Church, Shrewsbury.[8] By 1856 the school was serving eighty students,[9] by 1857 it boasted 108,[10] and in 1858 it had swelled to 120.[11] The abolitionist John N. Still,[12] brother of the famous Dr. James Still[13] and William Still,[14] was the first teacher of the school named in diocesan documentation.[15] Still is almost certainly the Macedonian lay reader mentioned by Doane who he expected would become a candidate for Holy Orders. Though the practice of publishing a list of formally licensed readers in the Diocese had not yet begun, it is likely that Still was the first African American to hold this office in the diocese.[16] On May 7, 1856 Still indeed did become the first Black candidate for Holy Orders in the Diocese of New Jersey.[17]

For years the parish school and mission thrived under Still’s leadership. The school reported attendance of between 100 and 123 students every year from 1857 to 1862.[18] The mission at Macedonia received a service every Sunday[19] and, after Doane’s death, episcopal visits continued under Bishop Odenheimer, who continued to perform confirmations there every year between 1861 and 1865, including seven confirmations in 1862 and eight in 1864.[20] All this occurred without any diocesan financial support for the mission. Macedonia and the associated free “colored” parish school were funded exclusively by donations from Christ Church, Shrewsbury and through the labor of Still and other Macedonians, with support from the Christ Church rector, Rev. Harry Finch. The success of the mission was certainly the direct product of Still’s labors, but Still’s ordination candidacy was never moved forward. Diocesan authorities allowed him to linger on the diocesan “Candidates for Holy Orders” list, neither outright rejecting him, nor ordaining him a deacon for at least nine years. 

Finally Still stepped down as the parish school teacher, and his position was taken over briefly by Charles Rodgers,[21] and then Daniel Landin.[22] This change coincided with the retirement of the long-serving Finch in 1862.[23] Finch was succeeded at Christ Church by the Rev. Thomas J. Taylor who did not take over significant responsibility for the Macedonia mission. The last time Still is listed as a candidate for Holy orders is in 1864,[24] and it is unclear why his candidacy ended. However, it does seem clear that he was repeatedly passed over for ordination in spite of his successful ministry. White candidates regularly were quickly ordained during the period,[25] while he waited patiently to no effect.

Daniel Landin led the mission as lay reader starting in 1864 with ostensible oversight from Rev. Taylor, but it appears that Taylor did not really want to be involved.[26] Taylor, in his 1865 parochial report offered the following paternalistic statement regarding the work in Macedonia:

 

At Macedonia, the interest in those who attend our services improves greatly, convincing us that the orderly service of our holy Church is best adapted to the wants of those humble people who delight to worship in that form of sound words, in which the Church directs that her children in every sphere of life shall offer their prayers and praises unto the Lord.[27]

 

Though he uses “we” here to suggest some involvement, his formal reporting suggests that he assisted at all the neighboring (White) missions except Macedonia.[28] Taylor’s tenure was brief and his leaving disruptive.[29] Upon his departure in 1865, Christ Church Shrewsbury was closed for six months,[30] the parish school closed,[31] and little support provided for the work at Macedonia.

            The Rev. William B. Otis and Daniel Landin labored to restart the work and episcopal visits resumed in 1867-68 but without any confirmations,[32] though Odenheimer was pleased with the catechesis performed there.[33] By 1869 confirmations resumed, with two reported then,[34] and two more in 1870.[35] Odenheimer continued to visit the mission[36] throughout the rest of his episcopate,[37] but even so, Macedonia did not have the regular services at this time, one of only three missions in the New Brunswick Convocation without such.[38] Once the quickly growing Diocese of New Jersey split in 1874, and St. Philip’s, Newark joined the newly formed Diocese of Newark, the Macedonia mission became the only Black church or mission in the reformed Diocese of [southern] New Jersey.

            Under the newly installed Bishop Scarborough (and the new rector of Christ Church, Shrewsbury, Rev. Benjamin Franklin), the mission continued to operate without diocesan financial support. The last time Landin was reported as lay reader for the mission is 1873,[39] and no lay reader appears to have been appointed (or re-appointed) at Macedonia under Scarborough. In his parochial report of 1876 Franklin wrote: 

 

Fortnightly services on Sunday afternoons have been held at the Macedonia Mission for Colored People; attendance [has been] regular and large. A missionary might be advantageously placed over this mission, if the means could be provided.[40]

 

Unfortunately the means were never provided, even though there was some significant giving for the Freedmen’s Commission and “Home Missions to Colored People” in the diocese during this time.[41] Bishop Scarborough, continuing a portion of the practice of his predecessor, visited Macedonia with some regularity for a while, reporting a single confirmation in 1876, and another in 1877.[42] However, for the rest of its life no baptisms, confirmations, communicants, marriages, burials, Sunday school, parish school, or offerings were reported in association with the mission in diocesan records.[43]

            In the early 1880’s the mission was removed from Christ Church, Shrewsbury’s oversight and purview and attached to St. James Memorial Church, Eatontown, but it appears that the support provided by Eatontown was limited. In his parochial report of 1883, the rector, Rev. Loop writes: 

 

The (col.) Macedonia Mission has four families consisting of 15 persons, besides the individuals above reported. One young man raised there is preparing at Raleigh, N. C., for the ministry. Inability to obtain conveyance has prevented my giving them any Service, though I visit them.[44]

By 1886 the mission and its overseeing parish had ceased filing reports with the diocese,[45] and at some point in the latter half of the decade it closed.

At no point in the 1880s does it appear that Bishop Scarborough had visited the mission. That “colored” missions had not yet fully captured Scarborough’s mind or heart can be seen from his Episcopal Address of 1888:

 

There are many and important questions before the church to-day, earnestly discussed in their various bearing, and clamoring for an answer; but as they do not pertain specially to the work of our own Diocese, I need not detain you with their consideration at any length here. The four millions of negroes who were in servitude little more than a quarter of a century ago, are now increased to seven or eight millions. What effect this ignorant mass will have on our civilization is a question that concerns the statesman as well as the Christian. The whole question on both its social and religious side is hemmed in with difficulties. As yet our own Church has done little toward its solution or settlement. A new agency has been created with the hope of rousing new interest. I bespeak for the cause a hearing and a favorable answer.[46]

 

At that time, Bishop Scarborough seemed to think that the question of “what effect this ignorant mass will have on our civilization” was one that did “not pertain specially to the work” of the Diocese of New Jersey. But within two years he had changed his mind. What had changed it was the dedicated work of Rev. Townsend to found a “colored” mission associated with St. John’s, Camden, a work which Scarborough could not afford to ignore in light of its 42 confirmations in that year.[47]

            In his address of 1890 Scarborough wrote: 

 

why should we send our money to the South to build churches and chapels when we have the same work at our own doors, and are leaving it undone? Clearly this work will soon outgrow the ability of a struggling parish to carry it on, and the question will force itself upon us: What are we going to do with that long list of communicants who have cast in their lot with us? We dare not leave them unshepherded, and we will not drive them into schism by cold neglect! We can solve the race problem very glibly for South Carolina and Georgia. Can we solve it for New Jersey? … It may be that God is opening up for us here a new field for our missionary energy, to quicken and excite our enthusiasm. I dare say other cities might follow the example of Camden and organize missions for this neglected class—neglected certainly in our ministrations.[48]

 

Regrettably, Scarborough’s chastisement of his fellow Episcopalians was one he himself deserved as well. He had certainly been guilty of “cold neglect” of the communicants of the Macedonia mission who had “cast in their lot” with the Episcopal Church. The Diocese had indeed sent its modest offerings for “colored missions” to the South rather than using them at home. Requests for direct diocesan support had gone unmet and in spite of years of faithful ministry, especially by John N. Still and Daniel Landin, and enthusiastic response in Macedonia, the diocese had only supported White missions and had neglected Macedonia. 

Scarborough was right to admit that “Hitherto there has been little effort made on the part of our Church in this Diocese to reach the colored population”[49]  but his mischaracterization of the Macedonia mission belied his own prejudice and failure. In that same 1890 convention address he wrote, “formerly there was a feeble mission at Macedonia, near Eatontown, but it gradually died out, and the chapel is now used as a school-house.”[50] The historical record shows that for most of its life the Macedonia mission was not feeble. Neither did it “die out,” as if of its own weakness. Rather, the diocese starved it of financial support through decades of neglect, even though there was an awareness in the diocese, even before the founding of the Macedonia mission, that Black missions required, and were owed reparatory financial support.[51]

            Scarborough’s address of 1890 was a turning point in the history of the diocese, and the rest of his tenure was marked by concerted attempts to plant, fund, and support Black churches. Unfortunately, for the people of the Macedonia mission, Scarborough’s change of heart came too late.

Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, Ph.D.

Reparations Commission Research Historian

Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey

---

[1] The first was St. Philip’s, Newark. See Calloway and Pruszinski, “A History of Trinity and St. Philip’s Cathedral,” DNJRJR (September 25, 2023): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2023/09/a-history-of-trinity-and-st-philips.html.

[2] The Cultural Resource Group, Louis Berger & Associates, Inc. “Archaeological Survey for Proposed Wayside Housing Site: Earle Naval Weapons Station, Monmouth County, New Jersey” (July 1987), 15. Local legend has it that Rev. Harry Finch of Christ Church, Shrewsbury is actually responsible for naming the settlement “Macedonia.” See James Steen, History of Christ Church, Shrewsbury, New Jersey: From 1703 to 1903 (Shrewsbury, NJ: Christ Church, Shrewsbury, 1972), 82.

[3] In 1852 it had either not yet been started or Doane did not know about it. See G. W. Doane, The Argument of the Bishop of New Jersey: In Reply to the Paper Read Before the Court of Bishops, in Session at Burlington, on Monday, 11 October, 1852, by the Bishops of Virginia, Ohio, and Maine; in Answer to the Representation from the Diocese of New Jersey, Read, Before the Court, by the Rev. Samuel L. Southard (Newark: Printed at the Daily Advertiser Office, 1852), 14.

[4] Diocese of New Jersey, The Episcopal Address, to the Seventy-First Annual Convention, in Grace Church, Newark, Wednesday, May 31, 1854; By The Rt. Rev. George Washington Doane, D.D., L.L.D., Bishop of the Diocese (Burlington: Printed at the Gazette Office, 1854), 13.

[5] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of Proceedings of the Seventy-First Annual Convention; Held in Grace Church, Newark, on Wednesday, 31^stof May, MDCCCLIV (Burlington: Printed at the Gazette Office, 1854), 22: In the parochial report of Christ Church, Shrewsbury only 4 are noted.

[6] Diocese of New Jersey, The Episcopal Address, The Twenty-Third, to the Seventy Second Annual Convention; Held in St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, on Wednesday, May 30, 1855: By The Rt. Rev. George Washington Doane, D.D., L.L.D., Bishop of the Diocese (Burlington: Printed at the Gazette Office, 1855), 22.

[7] Though the parish school is not actually mentioned in any diocesan journal parochial reports before 1854. The first mention is in the list of offerings in the parochial report of Christ Church Shrewsbury: Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of Proceedings of the Seventy-First Annual Convention, 23: “Parish School, (African,) Christ Church, Shrewsbury, $14.48.” See also Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of Proceedings of the Seventy Third Annual Convention; Held in Grace Church, and in Trinity Church, Newark, on Wednesday, 28 May, MDCCCLVI (Burlington: Samuel C. Atkinson, 1856), 19: from the parochial report for Christ Church Shrewsbury: “Parish School, for coloured children, has been established several years, and numbers about 80.”

[8] Finch and two other White members of Christ Church were appointed trustees of the school in 1852. Steen, History of Christ Church, Shrewsbury, 82.

[9] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of Proceedings of the Seventy Third Annual Convention, 19.

[10] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of Proceedings of the Seventy-Fourth Annual Convention; in St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, on Wednesday, 27 May, MDCCCLVII (Burlington: F. Ferguson, 1857), 58.

[11] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of Proceedings of the Seventy-Fifth Annual Convention, in Trinity Church, Newark, on Wednesday, 26 May, MDCCCLVIII (Burlington: Franklin Ferguson, 1858), 32.

[12] Michael F. Hembree and Donald Yacovone, eds., The Black Abolitionist Papers, Volume IV: The United States, 1847-1858 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1991), 111.

[13] Dr. James Still is often known as the “Doctor of the Pines” (See http://www.drjamesstillcenter.org).

[14] William Still was the author of the first definitive history of the underground railroad: William Still, Still’s Underground Rail Road Records, Revised Edition. With A Life of the Author. (Philadelphia: William Still, 1886).

[15] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of Proceedings of the Seventy-Fourth Annual Convention, 58.

[16] It is possible that a member of St. Philip’s, Newark preceeded him, but St. Philip’s records have been lost and no confirmation can be made. In extant records Still is the first mentioned African American lay reader in the diocese. Elias Kay of St. Philip’s and Daniel Landin, who succeeded him in this capacity at the Macedonia mission, are the first licensed lay readers listed in diocesan convention journal records.

[17] The date is listed in Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of Proceedings of the Seventy-Sixth Annual Convention, in St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, on Wednesday, May 25, MDCCCLIX (New York: Pudney & Russell, 1859), 41. He is first listed as a candidate in Diocese of New Jersey, The Episcopal Address, the Twenty-Fourth, to The Seventy Third Annual Convention, in Trinity Church, Newark, Wednesday, May 28, 1856: By The Rt. Rev. George Washington Doane, D.D., L.L.D., Bishop of the Diocese (Burlington: Samuel C. Atkinson, 1856), 36, mistakenly entered as “J. M. Still.”

[18] As reported in diocesan convention journals for those respective years.

[19] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of Proceedings of the Seventy-Ninth Annual Convention in Grace Church, Newark, on Wednesday and Thursday, May 28 & 29, MDCCCLXII (Philadelphia: J.B. Chandler, 1862), 74.

[20] Diocese of New Jersey, The Episcopal Address, the Third, to the Seventy-Ninth Annual Convention, in Grace Church, Newark, Wednesday, May 28, A.D. 1862; By The Rt. Rev. W.H. Odenheimer, D.D., Bishop of the Diocese (Philadelphia: Chandler, 1862), 9; Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-First Annual Convention Held in Grace Church, Newark, on Wednesday and Thursday, May 25^th and 26^th. MDCCCLXIV (Philadelphia: Chandler, 1864), 44.

[21] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eightieth Annual Convention Held in St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, on Wednesday and Thursday, May 27^th and 28^th. MDCCCLXIII. (Philadelphia: Chandler, 1863), 143.

[22] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-First Annual Convention, 133. Also sometimes spelled “Landen.”

[23] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eightieth Annual Convention, 143.

[24] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-First Annual Convention, 9.

[25] Usually in three years or less.

[26] He was formally the rector of Christ Church, Shrewsbury, but does not appear to have had any significant involvement with Macedonia during his tenure. 

[27] See the Christ Church, Shrewsbury parochial report in Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Second Annual Convention, 98.

[28] He was listed as the missionary for multiple White missions (including Howell Works, Tom’s River, and Eatontown), and an unofficially supporting clergyman at multiple other White missions (including at least Farmingdale and Bricksburgh). See Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-First Annual Convention, 6; and Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Second Annual Convention Held in St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, on Wednesday, May 31^st. MDCCCLXV. (Philadelphia: Chandler, 1865), 64, 76, 98. He resigned at Christ Church to become rector at the newly formed church in Eatontown, but left that church as well (and the diocese) shortly thereafter.

[29] Steen, History of Christ Church, Shrewsbury, 89. He is described by Steen as being of a “Democratic persuasion” (i.e. not Republican) and fractious. During the Civil War in New Jersey this certainly meant that he was sympathetic to the Confederacy and slavery and it is not hard to see why he was not deeply interested in the Macedonia mission.

[30] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Third Annual Convention Held in Grace Church, Newark, on Wednesday, May 30^th, MDCCCLXVI (Philadelphia: Chandler, 1866), 67. The parochial report for Christ Church, Shrewsbury made by the rector, Rev. Wm. B. Otis, states: “Christ Church, Shrewsbury, has been closed from October, 1865, until April 1^st, 1866. The present rector commenced services on Easter Sunday last. Having been in charge so short a time, he is unable to give a full and accurate report.”

[31] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Fourth Annual Convention Held in St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, on Wednesday and Thursday, May 29^th and 30^th, MDCCCLXVII (New York: John W. Amerman, 1867), 103-104. The Christ Church, Shrewsbury parochial report makes no mention of a church school for “colored” children or otherwise, nor is there any mention of the Macedonia mission. There is mention of the improved state of finances, but it appears that the school must have shut during the recent period of difficulty and likely little done at Macedonia.

[32] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Fifth Annual Convention, Held in Grace Church, Newark, on Wednesday and Thursday, May 27^th and 28^th, MDCCCLXVIII. (New York: John W. Amerman, 1868), 145.

[33] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Fifth Annual Convention, 156.

[34] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Sixth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New Jersey, Held in St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 25^th and 26^th, MDCCCLXIX. (New York: John W. Amerman, 1869), 108.

[35] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Eighty-Seventh Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New Jersey, Held in Grace Church, Newark, On Tuesday and Wednesday, May 31^st and June 1^st, MDCCCLXX. (New York: John W. Amerman, 1870), 123.

[36] Odenheimer lists Macedonia on his visitation list in 1873 (Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninetieth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the State of New Jersey, Held in St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, On Tuesday and Wednesday, May 27^th and 28^th, MDCCCLXXIII [Newark: The Daily Advertiser Office, 1873], 196) and 1874 (Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninety-First Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the State of New Jersey, Held in Grace Church, Newark, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, May 26^th, 27^th and 28^th, MDCCCLXXIV [Newark: The Daily Advertiser Office, 1874], 163).

[37] Which ended (as far as Macedonia was concerned) with the division of the diocese into northern (Newark) and southern (New Jersey) dioceses in 1874. Odenheimer continued on as Bishop of the Diocese of Newark, while Macedonia fell under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of [Southern] New Jersey.

[38] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninetieth Annual Convention, 213.

[39] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninetieth Annual Convention, 202.

[40] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninety-Third Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in St. Michael’s Church, Trenton, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 30^th and 31^st, MDCCCLXXVI. (Trenton: William S. Sharp, 1876), 160.

[41] The latter was giving to national not local initiatives.

[42] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninety-Fourth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in St. John’s Church, Elizabeth, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 29^th and 30^th, MDCCCLXXVII (Trenton: John L. Murphy, 1877), 130; and Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninety-Fifth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in St. Paul’s Church, Camden, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 28^th and 29^th, MDCCCLXXVIII(Trenton: John L. Murphy, 1878), 71.

[43] See the respective diocesan convention journals of 1876-1887 for details.

[44] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the Ninety-Eighth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in St. Paul’s Church, Camden, Tuesday, May 8^th, and Wednesday, May 9^th, MDCCCLXXXIII (Princeton: C.S. Robinson & Co., 1883), 130. It is possible that the man mentioned as studying for orders in North Carolina is Eugene L. Henderson, who was formally approved as a candidate for Holy Orders in North Carolina ten years later, was ordained a deacon there in 1895, and became the first Black priest ordained in the Diocese of New Jersey in 1897 at St. Paul’s Camden. See also: Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, “Rev. Eugene L. Henderson: First Black Priest Ordained in the Diocese of New Jersey,” DNJRJR (February 17, 2025): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2025/02/rev-eugene-l-henderson-first-black.html.

[45] Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the One Hundred and Fourteenth Convention, Being the One Hundred and First Year of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the Diocese of New Jersey, Held in St. John’s Church, Camden, Tuesday, May 4^th, and Wednesday, May 5^th, MDCCCLXXXVI (Princeton: C.S. Robinson & Co., 1886), 59.

[46] Emphasis added. Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the One Hundred and Sixteenth Convention, Being the One Hundred and Third Year of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the Diocese of New Jersey; Held in Trinity Church, Trenton, Tuesday, May 8^th, and Wednesday, May 9^th, MDCCCLXXXVIII (Princeton: C.S. Robinson & Co., 1888), 148.

[47] The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the One Hundred and Eighteenth Convention, Being the One Hundred and Fifth Year of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Jersey; Held in St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, Tuesday, May 6^th, and Wednesday, May 7^th, 1890. Together with Appendices and the Episcopal Address (Princeton: The Princeton Press, 1890), 176.

[48] The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the One Hundred and Eighteenth Convention, 169. See also Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, “Bishop Scarborough’s Convention Address of 1890: Staking out a Place for Black Churches in the Diocese of New Jersey,” DNJRJR (January 1, 2024): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2024/01/bishop-scarboroughs-convention-address.html.

[49] The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the One Hundred and Eighteenth Convention, 168.

[50] The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Jersey, Journal of the Proceedings of the One Hundred and Eighteenth Convention, 168.

[51] See George W. Doane, Diocese of New Jersey: The Episcopal Address, to the Seventy-First Annual Convention, in Grace Church, Newark, Wednesday, May 31, 1854 (Burlington: Printed at the Gazette Office, 1854), 14. See also Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, “Bishop Doane’s 1854 Reparations Mandate,” DNJRJR (October 2, 2023): https://dionj-racialjusticereview.blogspot.com/2023/10/bishop-doanes-1854-reparations-mandate.html.