The ground north of Old St. Mary’s Church was purchased in July 1695 by John Tatham, Edward Hunloke, Nathanael Westland and others “for the conveniency of a burying place for themselves and also for all other Christian people” in July 1695. This land was supplemented by additional purchases and bequests in 1702 providing the site for a church, begun in 1703. The earliest known headstones date from 1706 and 1707; burials before that time are unknown or unmarked. The Churchyard is the final resting place for many people of historical note, including notable churchmen and bishops, politicians, and veterans of all of America’s wars.
A few distinguished parishioners and clergy, such as Colonel Daniel Coxe, and the first rector, John Talbot, were accorded the ancient honor of being buried within Old St. Mary’s Church. The burying ground was expanded several more times in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Lych Gate
St. Mary’s is fortunate to possess a lych gate, which helps to impart a very “English” look to the church and its grounds. Constructed and dedicated in 1883, the lych gate is a memorial to Stephen Germain Hewitt from his father, who was a parishioner and an architect in the Philadelphia office of Fraser, Furness and Hewitt. The lych gate traditionally marks the entrance to the Churchyard and is the place where the clergy receive the coffin for burial rites, the old English word lych meaning “corpse.”
John Talbot (1)
The first rector of St. Mary’s was buried beneath the church that he helped to found. He was born in 1669. Talbot joined the work of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) in 1702 and became rector of the parish in 1704. He advocated ardently for a bishop in North America and even procured John Tatham’s “Stately Palace’ for a bishop’s residence. On a trip to England in 1720-22 he was consecrated a bishop by non-jurors, bishops who remained loyal to the royal house of Stuart. Talbot`s enemies proclaimed his disloyalty to the Hanoverian monarch George I and Talbot was forced to resign his position as rector of St Mary’s. He died November 30, 1727 in Burlington.
Charles H. Wharton (2)
The seventh rector or St Mary’s was born on May 25, 1748 in St Mary’s County. Maryland. Orginially raised a Roman Catholic, Wharton was ordained a priest in the Roman Church in 1772. He converted to Anglicanism in 1784 and became rector of St. Mary’s in 1798. He was elected to membership in the American Philosophica Society in 1786 and served briefly as president of Columbia College in 1801. He died on July 23, 1833 having served the longest tenure as rector, 36 years.
Daniel Coxe (3)
Colonel Daniel Coxe was the son of Dr. Daniel Coxe, physician to Queen Anne and a propiertor ow West New Jersely. He was a strong support of the the Church of England contributing generously to St. Mary’s and the Trenton parish (St. Michael’s) and worked diligently to obtain a bishop for the colonies. An associate justice for New sey, Coxe was aslso the first Worshipful and Grand Master of the Free Masons in North America. He died in 1739.
Joseph H. Bloomfield (4)
Born in Woodbridge, Bloomfield served as a captain and major of the Third New Jersey Regiment during the American Revolution. Wounded at the Battle of Brandywine, Bloomfield resigned, married Mary McIlvaine and practiced law in Burlington. In 1783, he was appointed registrar of the Court of Admiralty. From 1795 to 1800 he was mayor of Burlington and was elected govenor of New Jersey in 1801, an office held until 1812. He served as a general during the War of 1812 commanding troops on the Canadian border. From 1817 to 1821, hw was a Congressman and on occasion served as a presidential elector. Bloomfield was the president of the first Society ofr the Abolition of Slavery and died October 3, 1825 at the age of 70. Bloomfield, New Jersy was named in his honor.
Edman and Mary Steward (5)
The earliest legible gravestones belong to Edman Steward and his daughter Mary Steward dated 1707 and 1706 respectively. The stones are excellent examples of early 18th century styling preferences. The arched stones depict two columns of pilasters and an hourglass reminding us of the shortness of life.
Joseph Perrow (6)
Perrow was a Civil War Union soldier and a butcher in Burlington. He was 29 years old when he left New Jersey and enlisted in Company A, 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry as a private on March 26, 1863. The 54th Massachusetts was one of the first official black units in the United States during the Civil Way and saw etensive service. The unit was depicted in the 1989 Academy Award winning film Glory.
Minor K. Knowlton (7)
Born in Connecticut in 1804, Knowlton graduated from West Point in 1829. He served with the French Army as aide to Marshal Beaugaud in Algeria in 1845 and with the U.S. Army in the Mexican War. He was an instructor of artillery and cavalry tactics, mathematics and French at West Point for 14 years, instructing many of the noted Civel War generals including U. S. Grant. He died in 1870.
Charles Ellis, M.D. (8)
Dr. Ellis was a physician, vestryman of St Mary’s and Burlington County Freeholder. He was born in 180I and died in 1885. His father, lumber merchant Charles Ellis was on the committee that oversaw construction of the Burlington County Prison in Mount Holly in 1810 and was responsible for bringing architect Robert Mills to work on alterations to old St. Mary`s.
Rowland Ellis (9)
A 19th-century stone marks the grave of this early schoolmaster of Burlington, who taught between 1711 and 1722.
Sir Andreas Engstrom (10)
Born in Arendal, Norway in 1794, Engstrom was a Knight of the Order of St, Olaf. He taught art at St. Mary’s Hall for 36 years and died in 1874.
Elias Boudinot (11)
The son of French Huguenots, Boudinot was born in Philadelphia on May 2, 1740. He studied law under Richard Stockton of Princeton and married Stockton’s sister, Hannah. During the American Revolution Boudinot sided with the rebels and was made commissary-general of prisoners. He was elected to the Continental Congress in 1777 and served as its president in 1782. During this time the Treay of Paris was signed ending the war. Under the new constitution Boudinot was elected to represent New Jersey. In 1796 Washington appointed him Director of the U.S. Mint to succeed David Rittenhouse, who had died. After ten years, BVoudinot reisgned and retired to Burlington where he build a house at 225-227 W. Broad Street and devoted his life to the the study of religous matters. He was a founding member of the American Bible Society and was a trustee of Princeton University. He died on October 24, 1821.
William Bradford (12)
Bradford was the Attorney General of the U.S. under President Washington. He was born in Philadelphia in 1755, graduated from Princeton in 1772 and read law with Edward Shlppen, a prominent attorney. He fought in the American Revolution reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He was both the Attorney General and Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He was married to Susan Boudinot, daughter of Elias Boudinot. He was named to succeed Edmund Randolph as U S Attorney General by Washington in in 1794 but his career was cut short when he died a year later on August 23.
William H. Odenheimer (13)
Third bishop of the Diocese of New Jersey and first bishop of the Diocese or Northern New Jersey (Newark). Odenheimer was born in Philadelphia in 1817, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and the General Theological Seiminary. He was rector of St. Peter’s, Philadelphia prio to his election to the episcopal in 1859. He died August 14, 1879.
New Jersey (Newark). Odenheimer was born in Philadelphia in 1817, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and the General Theological Seminary. He was the rector of St. Peter`s, Philadelphia prior to his election to the episcopate in 1859. He died August 14, 1879.
George Allen (14)
Founder of St. Mary’s Choral Society.
George Washington Doane (15)
Born in Trenton on May 25, 1799, Doane was the son of Jonathan Doane, a builder and architect of New Jersey’s first State House. He grew up in Geneva, New York and graduated from Union College in 1818. Prior to his election as second bishop of New Jersey, in 1832 he served as rector of Trinity Church, New York, taught at Washington College in Connecticut, and was rector of Trinity Church, Boston. He was offered the rectorship of St. Mary’s upon the death of Charles Wharton. While in Burlington, he established St. Mary’s Hall and Burlington College (137), started 54 new parishes, and wrote several hymns and numerous poems. One of his most significant contributions was to American architecture. Working with two noted ecclesiastical architects, Richard Upjohn and John Notman, Doane built one of the earliest English Gothic Revival structures in North America (New St. Mary’s 1847-54) and the earliest italiante villa (his residence, Riverside, 1846). His death, on April 17, 1859 was mourned by the entire city.
Wallace John Gardner (16)
Sixth Bishop of New Jersey. Born July 25, 1883 in Buffalo, New York. He was educated at SL Stephen’s College and the General Seminary. He served as rector of St. Paul’s Flatbush, Brooklyn. and Vicar of the Chapel of the Intercession, New York City. Elected diocesan in 1937, he died in 1954.
Franklin D’Olier (17)
(1877-1953) D’Olier was the first national commander of the American Legion and one of the early presidents of Prudential Insurance Company. He was also the great grandfather of actor Christopher Reeve.
George Edward Councell (18)
Eleventh Bishop of the Diocese of New Jersey. Ordained a priest in 1975, he served the church in California, Massachusetts and Illinois before his election as bishop. Bishop Councell was consecrated on October 18, 2003, and served as chief priest and pastor of the-Diocese of New Jersey until his retirement in 2013.
Isabel Adams Hampton Robb (19)
(1860-1910) Robb was one of the founders of modern American nursing theory and one of the most important leaders in the history of nursing. In her time as head of the nursing program at Cook County Hospital in Chicago she implemented an array of reforms that standards for nursing education still in use today.
Frederick Engle (20)
Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy
E. Burd Grubb (21)
Grubb had a distinguished military career rising through the ranks from a second lieutenant to general. Born of an old Burlington family in 1841, he served during the Civil War in the Fourth and 23rd New Jersey Regiments. He later became colonel of the 37th Regiment New Jersey Volunteers, which was nicknamed “Grubb`s Game Chickens.” Grubb’s brother, Parker, was adjutant and died at the siege of Petersburg. Colonel Grubb was breveted general for meritorious services in that battle. He later served as U.S. Ambassador to Spain (1890-92) and was captain of Philadelphia’s famed First City Troop from 1878 to 1896.
George Wattson Hewitt (22)
Hewitt (1841-1916) was an architectural partner with Frank Furness of Philadelphia. The first worked on the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Library of the University of Pennsylvania, banks, and several private residences. Hewitt was an ardent photographer and created a wonderful collection of scenes of St. Mary’s and Burlington in the late 19th century.
Alfred Lothian Banyard (23)
Seventh Bishop of New Jersey. Born July 31, 1908 in Merchantville, New. Jersey. Banyard graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and General Theological Seminary. He was diocesan bishop from 1955 until 1973 and died in 1992.