The Reparations Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey invites you to an Evening Prayer Healing Service at at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Plainfield, NJ at 3pm on October 4, 2025. The Rev. Canon Lindsey Ardrey, Canon Missioner for Diocesan Restitution and Reparations Ministry in the Diocese of North Carolina, will preach. Don't miss!
New book coming soon! Thanks to Mike Surber for the cover design!
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.
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| 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 30th, 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 29th and 30th, 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 13TH, 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 27th and 28th, 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 25th and 26th, 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 29th and 30th, 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 27th and 28th, 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 6th, and Wednesday, May 7th, 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”).
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.
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| (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 27th and 28th, 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 25th and 26th. 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 31st, and Wednesday, June 1st. 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 30th, and Wednesday, May 31st, 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 8th, and Wednesday, May 9th, 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 6th, and Wednesday, May 7th, 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 5th, and Wednesday, May 6th, 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 4th, and Wednesday, May 5th, 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 3rd, and Wednesday, May 4th, 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 8th, and Wednesday, May 9th, 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 7th, and Wednesday, May 8th, 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 6th, and Wednesday, May 7th, 1890. Together with Appendices and the Episcopal Address (Princeton: The Princeton Press, 1890), 71-137.