BRIDGEPORT FRIENDS MEETING CEMETERY TOUR

The Bridgeport Friends Meeting Cemetery serves as a reminder that a Quaker Meeting House once stood on the wooded site adjacent to Leektown Road.

For information on the Bridgeport Friends Meeting Cemetery, go to the bottom of page 1 on the following link . . . BASS RIVER GAZETTE, ISSUE #5. Use your browser's BACK ARROW to return to this page.

Bridgeport Friends Meeting Cemetery Location

The Bridgeport Friends Meeting Cemetery is in the woods off Leektown Road, just outside the chain link fence surrounding the adjacent Adams-Leek-McKeen Cemetery. A casual observer may well think that the three visable standing tombstones are a part of the Adams-Leek-McKeen Cemetery, but they would be mistaken. The GPS coordinates of the Bridgeport Friends Meeting Cemetery are: 39.619072,-74.494944.

A word of caution- Before venturing into the woods, it is recommended that you spray your feet and lower legs with an anti-bug spray, as chiggers can be a problem. This warning comes from experience.

Park Your Car

Park your car on the shoulder by the Rt 673 sign and look across the road.

View Across The Road

Standing by the Rt. 673 sign on the road's shoulder, you may not notice the few tombstones standing off in the woods. Most passerbys would be unaware of the cemetery's existence.

Lucy Evans At Rest

As you walk into the woods, around the trees and up the hill, you will finally see four tombstones (one is very short and difficult to see) and one footstone rising up through the underbrush. The most noteworthy is that of Lucy Evans, one of the active ministers of the Bridgeport Meeting. You can easily identify Lucy's tombstone because of it's scalloped shaped top. Rather fancy for a Quaker! The inscription reads . . . IN memory of LUCY ANN EVANS wife of Jesse Evans who departed this life September the 18th 1934 in the 65 year of her age.

Lucy Evans is mentioned in the early Bridgeport Friends Meeting Minutes which can be read here . . . CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE BASS RIVER NECK AND BRIDGEPORT FRIENDS MEETING MINUTES. Use your Browser's BACK ARROW to return to this page.

Lucy is also discussed in Henry H. Bisbee's introduction to "Martha- The Complete Furnace Diary & Journal: 1808-1815". Lucy's husband, Jesse, was the Iron Master at Martha at the time the diary was written. There's an interesting twist as Jesse Evan's second wife was also named Lucy Ann. The "Martha Diary" is available for reference and check out at the Bass River Townhip Community Library. CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE MARTHA DIARY INTRODUCTION REFERENCING LUCY AND JESSE EVANS. Use your Browser's BACK ARROW to return to this page.

Visiting Lucy's Grave

Stephen Eichinger, a Trustee of the Old Bridgeport Memorial Society that owns and maintains the adjacent Adams-Leek-McKeen Cemetery, pays his respects to the memory of Lucy Evans and all that she meant to the history of the local area. Steve, informally, looks after the remaining tombstones in the Bridgeport Friends Meeting graveyard.

Further Up The Hill

Looking up the hill, to your left from Lucy Evans grave site, you see Mary Lippincott's headstone and footstone. At the top of the hill, encircled by a modern chain link fence, is the Adams-Leek-McKeen Cemetery .

Mary Lippincott's Tombstone

Mary Lippincott's grave is marked by a headstone and a footstone. The headstone's inscription reads . . . IN memory of MARY CATHERINE daughter of Elisha & Rebecca LIPPINCOTT who was born Oct 31st 1833 and died May 31 1834 aged 7 months.

Leah Blackman, "The History of Little Egg Harbor", page 398, states that Elisha Lippincott, the son of Samuel Lippincott, Jr and Hannah Snow, married Rebecca Adams, daughter of Charles Adams, Sr. The placement of their daughter's stone in the Bridgeport Friends Meeting Cemetery tells us that Elisha and Rebecca were Quakers.

The Godfrey Jerew Tombstone

The third standing tombstone belongs to Godfrey Jerew. It's inscription reads . . . IN memory of GODFREY SON OF Godfrey & Mary Louisa Jerew who died May 28, 1848 aged 9 years 9 months & 14 days.

The Godfrey and Mary L. Gerue family show up as Household #18 on page 3 of the 1860 Little Egg Harbor Census with 5 children - Charlotte (15), Sophia (8), Joseph (6), Emma (4), and William E. (8 months). It is likely that the nine year old Godfrey Jerew who lies in the Bridgeport Friends Meeting Cemetery is their son. CLICK HERE TO SEE THE GODFREY GERUE FAMILY IN THE 1860 CENSUS Use your Browser's BACK ARROW to return to this page.

Read more about the Godfrey Gerue family in John E. Allen's page 8 "Bass River Gazette, Issue #12 article, "My New Gretna Ancestors And The French Connection" by clicking here . . . GO TO the "Bass River Gazette", Issue #12. Use your Browser's BACK ARROW to return to this page.

Leah Blackman in "The History of Little Egg Harbor Township", page 199, states that Lucy Evans was the last member at the Bridgeport Friends Meeting House. The death dates engraved on Lucy's stone (1834) and Godfrey Jerew's stone (1848) would tend to contradict that. The continuation of the Bridgeport Friends Meeting after Lucy's death is further substantiated by a reading of the Bridgeport Friends Meeting minutes. So, it seems, even Leah Blackman, our best area historian, made some errors. CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE BASS RIVER NECK AND BRIDGEPORT FRIENDS MEETING MINUTES. Use your Browser's BACK ARROW to return to this page.

E. Kindl - 1825

A small, short tombstone is often hidden in the Spring and Summer by the underbrush and in the Fall and Winter by fallen leaves. It is simply marked "E Kindl 1825" which speaks to the Quaker practice of brevity and simplicity.

Lydia Hallock

Lydia Hallock's stone is flush with the ground and is, also, often hidden by the underbrush and fallen leaves. It's inscription reads . . . LYDIA wife of John Hallock who departed this life on the 20th of the 8th mo. 1830 aged 53 years.

That Lydia Hallock was prominent in the Bridgeport Friends Meeting is evident by the reference to her and her husband, John, in the early Bridgeport Friends Meeting Minutes which can be viewed here . . . CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE BASS RIVER NECK AND BRIDGEPORT FRIENDS MEETING MINUTES. Use your Browser's BACK ARROW to return to this page.

Lydia's husband, John, is mentioned by Leah Blackman on pages 199, 221, and 224 in her book, "The History of Little Egg Harbor Township". She discusses his coming to Little Egg Harbor from the State of New York, in 1816, and his starting a Castor Oil business in Tuckerton.

Mysterious Depressions

The four standing and one ground level tombstones in the Bridgeport Friends Meeting Cemetery are likely not the only graves on the site. As one slowly and carefully walks around the area, grave-sized depressions in the ground may be observed which indicate the likelihood of unmarked graves. This is not uncommon in old Friends burial grounds.

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