Trenton, NJ, February 28, 2025 – 120 East State, the non-profit redeveloping historic First Presbyterian Church into a community-based arts and economic development hub, is asking the Trenton community to help solve the mystery of 13 early Black Trentonians buried in the church’s cemetery.
“We know their names and we know their dates of death, but we don’t know anything else about these early Black residents of Trenton,” said 120 East State President Cherry Oakley. “The graves date to the mid 1800s when Trenton was a much smaller city and the Black population was about 10% of the city’s residents, some of whom lived in the city shortly after New Jersey abolished slavery in 1804, and may have been born into slavery and lived into freedom.
“There’s no better way to celebrate Black History Month than to rediscover this chapter of Black history and bring these stories to life – it would open a fascinating window into our city’s history,” Oakley said. “ Attention must be paid to those untold stories so we have a complete history of city available.”
The First Presbyterian 13 are: Mary Price (d. Oct. 1841), William Ryerson (d. June 1843), Mary Bristol (1800/1801 – January 1864), Sally Hulicks (d. November 1865), Jane Fisher (c. January 1866), Leah Vandyke (d. January 1867), Ann Johnson (1799/1800 – September 1867), Jane Williams (d. April 1870), Tamar Smith (d. January 1871), Nancy Brown (d. January 1872), Theresa Jones (d. March 1872), Sarah Smith (d. April 1876), Myra Miller (1819/1820 – March 1880).
120 East State would like to enlist an army of sleuths to solve the mysteries of these 13 individuals. When we learn who they were, 120 East State will post the stories of these early Trentonians on our website, and talk about the community historians who solved the mysteries,” Molly Dykstra, 120 East State Project Leader said.
“We are coming up on the 250th anniversary of the country and of the State of New Jersey,” Dykstra said. “There is no better time than now to go back to our roots and learn about who we were and preserve that knowledge. Ideally, we’d love to find out not only who these people were, but track down their descendants–and wouldn’t it be wonderful if some of them still lived here?”
Help us honor their legacy by bringing their stories to light. Together, we can preserve Trenton’s history for future generations. If you’d like to help, please contact us at hello@120Eaststate.org.
