Timbuctoo, New Jersey
Timbuctoo, New Jersey | |
---|---|
UTC-4 (EDT) | |
GNIS feature ID | 881192[1] |
Timbuctoo is an unincorporated community in
History
Timbuctoo was founded by
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 fought off an infamous "slave catcher," named George Alberti who sought to capture Simmons and return him to enslavement in Maryland.[11][12][13] 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.[14]
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.[15] 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.[16]
Current residents and landowners include descendants of early settlers.[17]
There is an active Timbuctoo Historical Society.[18]
See also
References
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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".
- Philadelphia Inquirer.
- ^ "My 3rd great-grandfather and the land that he traversed". Timbuctoo Historical Society. 2022.
Further reading (most recent first)
- Barton, Christopher P. (2022). The Archaeology of Race and Class at Timbuctoo: A Black Community in New Jersey. ISBN 978-0813069272.
- Weston, Guy (Winter 2022). "Timbuctoo and the First Emancipation of the Early-Nineteenth [sic] Century". 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. 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". Pennsylvania Freeman.