Timbuctoo is an unincorporated community in Westampton Township, Burlington County, New Jersey.[2] Located along the Rancocas Creek, Timbuctoo was settled by formerly enslaved and free Black people, beginning in 1826.[3] It includes Church St., Blue Jay Hill Road, and adjacent areas. At its peak in the mid-nineteenth century, Timbuctoo had more than 125 residents, a school, an AME Zion Church, and a cemetery. The key remaining evidence of this community is the cemetery on Church Street, which was formerly the site of Zion Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal African Church. Some current residents are descendants of early settlers.[4][5][6]
Timbuctoo, New Jersey | |
|---|---|
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  Timbuctoo, New Jersey | |
| Coordinates: 40°00′11″N 74°48′51″W / 40.00306°N 74.81417°W | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  New Jersey |
| County | Burlington |
| Township | Westampton |
| Elevation | 10 m (33 ft) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern (EST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| GNIS feature ID | 881192[1] |
History
editTimbuctoo was founded by free Blacks and former slaves in 1826, in a region of New Jersey where the influence of Quakers was strong.[7][8] Timbuctoo appeared on Burlington County maps as early 1849,[9] and continues to appear on maps today.[10]
Peter Quire was an early settler in Timbuctoo in the 1830s after being gifted land, and he donated that land for the creation of the first Black school in the area.[11]
The leader of the community, nicknamed "King," was David Parker. Parker's 1877 obituary in the New Jersey Mirror says "King David, as he had been known in other years, was possessed of more than ordinary intelligence and a determined will, which made him a natural leader among his people so long as it physical strength lasted, and he was generally at the head of any movement among them"
In 1860, the Battle of Pine Swamp took place near Timbuctoo, when armed residents fought off an infamous "slave catcher," named George Alberti who sought to capture Simmons and return him to enslavement in Maryland.[12][13][14] David Parker led "the Timbuctoo Warriors in their defense of Simmons, according to the New Jersey Mirror.
The US Census identified the "Village of Timbuctoo" as a separate entity within Westampton Township for the first time in 1880, enumerating 108 residents and 29 households.[15]
Today, the key remaining evidence of Timbuctoo's historical significance is a cemetery, known for gravestones of United States Colored Troops who fought in the Civil War.[16] However, there are also civilian gravestones, the oldest of which dates to 1847, thirteen years before the Civil War. A geophysical survey conducted in 2009 identified as many as 161 unmarked graves.[17]
Current residents and landowners include descendants of early settlers.[18]
There is an active Timbuctoo Historical Society.[19]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Timbuctoo
- ^ Locality Search, State of New Jersey. Accessed June 9, 2016.
- ^ Weston, Guy (2017). "New Jersey: A State Divided on Freedom". Journal of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society. 34: 8–12.
- ^ A Brief History of Timbuctoo, Rancocas Village, 2021
- ^ Lyght, Ernest (1978). Path of Freedom: The Black Presence in New Jersey's Burlington County, 1659-1900. Cherry Hill, NJ: E and E Publishing. pp. 38, 39, 40, 68.
- ^ Massand, Rikki (June 14, 2021). "Approaching 200 Years of History, Timbuctoo's Evolution Continues". Preservation New Jersey.
- ^ Lyght, Ernest (1978). Path of Freedom: The Black Presence in New Jersey's Burlington, County 1659-1900. Cherry Hill, New Jersey: E and E Publishing House. pp. 22–23.
- ^ Weston, Guy (2022). "Timbuctoo and The First Emancipation of the Nineteenth Century". New Jersey Studies. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
- ^ Burlington County Historical Society. 1849 Map of Timbuctoo and Mount Holly. [dead link]
- ^ Official Map of Burlington County Archived 2010-12-07 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed August 1, 2010.
- ^ Boussayoud, Imen. "Peter Quire and St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church of Newport". Rhode Island Slave History Medallions. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
- ^ "Excitement at Timbuctoo: The Battle of Pine Swamp; Invaders Forced to Retreat" (PDF). New Jersey Mirror. December 6, 1860. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
- ^ "African American Historical Sites". Burlington County, New Jersey. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved August 2, 2010.
Located along the Rancocas Creek about one mile from Mount Holly, "Buckto" or "Bucktown," as it is commonly called, was a community of freed slaves and a haven for fugitive slaves. In connection with the latter, there occurred in 1860 an incident called the "Battle of Pine Swamp" that was reported in the New Jersey Mirror, a local newspaper. This incident involved armed residents of Timbuctoo preventing the capture of Perry Simmons, a fugitive slave living in Timbuctoo, by a Southern slave catcher aided by sympathetic local whites.
- ^ Barton, Christopher (December 4, 2009). "Antebellum African American Settlements in New Jersey". African Diaspora Archeology Newsletter. 12: 9.
- ^ US Census Bureau. 1880 Census of Population and Housing. Accessed July 27, 2010 on http://www.Ancestry.com.
- ^ Astle, Gail (2008), Memorial Day Eulogy. May 25th, 2008, at Timbuctoo Cemetery in Westampton Township, New Jersey, Rancocas, New Jersey
- ^ John Milner and Associates (2009). "Geophysical Survey of Timbuctoo, Westampton Township, New Jersey".
- ^ Hefler, Jan (February 15, 2015). "Descendant Says Burlington County Village of Ex-Slaves Included Free Blacks". Philadelphia Inquirer.
- ^ "My 3rd great-grandfather and the land that he traversed". Timbuctoo Historical Society. 2022.
Further reading (most recent first)
edit- Barton, Christopher P. (2022). The Archaeology of Race and Class at Timbuctoo: A Black Community in New Jersey. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0813069272.
- Weston, Guy (Winter 2022). "Timbuctoo and the First Emancipation of the Early-Nineteenth [sic] Century". New Jersey Studies. 8 (1). doi:10.14713/njs.v8i1.268. S2CID 246406350.
- Weston, Guy (February 9, 2022). "Timbuctoo and the First Emancipation of the Early 19th Century [PowerPoint]" (PDF). Timbuctoo Historical Society, Rutgers University, and the William Trent House Museum.
- Massand, Rikki (June 14, 2021). "Approaching 200 Years of History, Timbuctoo's Evolution Continues". Preservation New Jersey.
- Gall, Michael J.; Veit, Richard F., eds. (2021). Archaeologies of African American Life in the Upper Mid-Atlantic. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 978-0817360160.
- "Timbuctoo" (PDF). New Jersey Mirror. June 21, 1855.
- "Kidnapping" (PDF). New Jersey Mirror. March 5, 1856. p. 3.
- "Slave Case in Mount Holly". National Anti-Slavery Standard. November 25, 1847. p. 1 – via accessible-archives.com. Reprinted from the Pennsylvania Freeman.