Random History Bytes 154: David Mapps' Burial

The question was asked as to where David Mapps (1763-1838), a black Quaker member of the Little Egg Harbor Meeting, is buried, on a Tuckerton, New Jersey Facebook group where RHB150 was also posted. It is worth summarizing that discussion here to preserve it in the RHB series directly.

John Pearce in Heart of the Pines has this to say about where David Mapps may be buried:

"There may be an unfortunate coda to the story of this beloved African American sea captain from Lower Bank. No record exists of the location of Mapps' grave in the Friends' cemetery in Tuckerton. While investigating the grave of Lucy Evans, close by the site of the old Meeting House in Bridgeport/Wading River, a meeting house which David Mapps may have helped to construct, Steve Eichinger told this author a story about a nearby depression. He said that the story had come down to him that this was once the grave of an African American who was buried here. Local white folks didn't like the idea of an African American man being buried amongst the whites so they dug up the body during the night and moved it to another location."

"There is no provable connection between this unknown African American whose eternal rest was so tragically disturbed by such prejudice, but this depression in the ground may have been what was intended to be the final resting place for Captain David Mapps of Lower Bank. Lucy Evans, after all, died in 1834 and was the last Quaker in attendance at the Bridgeport Friends Meeting. In 1835, Mapps remarried and was living in Tuckerton, though he had certainly helped build the Bridgeport Friends Meeting. As there is no record of his burial at the Little Egg Harbor Meeting, perhaps he was laid to rest not fifteen feet from his fellow Friend, Lucy Evans, near the walls of the Bridgeport Friends Meeting. If so, those "local men" did the residents of the area a disservice when they allegedly dug up his body with the night's darkness hiding their perfidy." ¹

The questioner ² also pointed out on the Facebook group that the Washington family, a black family, were buried in the Little Egg Harbor Friends Cemetery remotely from the other graves and the Meeting House. The reason for the remoteness is not known, but it is a data point consistent with the Quaker treatment of blacks at the time. They were often denied full membership, and worshippers were relegated to certain pews, often a side or back bench, even referred to as the black bench. ³

To further document this, the location of the Washington graves was investigated, and is presented here with pictures and a map.

A quick family tree was developed for this Washington family using Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. Jesse L. Washington (1846-1921) and his wife Harriet "Hattie" (1848-1936) were born in Virginia, but recorded in the 1900 US Census as living in Tuckerton Village, with children living at home: Harvey (23), Winslow (22), and Jessie F. (10). Jesse's occupation is given as Day Laborer, none for Harriet, Harvey as Hostler, Winslow as Cook at L.S. Station, and Jessie F. (daughter) At School. From the gravestone death dates, the following children had passed away by 1900: Ida B. (1873-1873), Joseph H. (?-1874), George Edward (c.1881-1891), Alice V. (c.1875-1894), and Helen L. (c.1883-1898).

Their son, Winslow Washington, not buried in Tuckerton, is found in the 1940 US Census living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, married to Lucy [--?--], his occupation Chauffeur, her occupation Maid, for a Private Family. It appears that he may have married more than once, and he is buried there, see this FindAGrave link.

The history of Quakers and slavery is a long process toward abolition over about 100 years. It began with Quakers owning slaves, and an ethical minority lobbying against it. Eventually, ethics won out by small gains, from frowning on slavery among their members, to making rules about it, to prohibiting it among their members, to seeking general abolition. Thus the titles of the books Freedom By Degrees ⁴ and Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship. ⁵ Also, see references in the prior RHB series on the Quaker abolitionist John Woolman, e.g. Quakers and Slavery. ⁶

Blacks that became Quakers or just attended Quaker meetings often were required to be seated on a bench in the back. And Quakers were pro-education for blacks, but generally established separate schools for them.

As far as prohibitions on burials in LEH Friends Burial Ground, Leah Blackman does tell us that a suicide was prevented from being buried there:

"After Falkinburg shot himself [in 1787] his friends sent to Tuckerton to have him a grave made in the Friends' burying-ground. The sexton dug a grave for him, but some of the strenuous members of the Society objected to having a suicide interred in their graveyard. At that time it was the only burial place in Tuckerton. It was finally agreed to bury him in a lot where there was a school-house situated. He was buried there, and that lot is now the Methodist burying-ground at Tuckerton. At this late day there are but few who know that Jacob Falkinburg was the first person buried in the Methodist graveyard. He rests in utter forgetfulness of his life's troubles, and the place of his grave is unknown, but undoubtedly it will be revealed on the morning of the great awakening of the dead." [Found in: RHB092].