Early History of the Second Calvary Baptist Church and Cemetery

By Richard L. Porter
Completed for The Hopewell Museum
Copyright © 2023 by Richard L. Porter and The Hopewell Museum. All rights reserved.

On August 28, 1897 a number of men representing “the First Colored Calvary Baptist Church of Hopewell,” led by “Thomas E. Johnson as Pastor,” purchased an undeveloped lot in the southern end of Hopewell Borough for $85. The other individuals joining Johnson as representatives of the new church organization were directors John Jones and Silas Terry and trustees Wilson Waller, Thomas Payne, and George Cruse. The lot was located on the west side of the “Old Road leading from Hopewell to Mt. Rose” (the now abandoned southern extension of the present Maple Street), with the present First Street laid out shortly thereafter to run along the south side of the lot and connect the Hopewell-Mount Rose Road with the present Princeton Avenue (Mercer County Deed 214 599; Laning 1897; Sanborn Map Company 1902). The new congregation was formally organized on September 28, 1897 (Hopewell Herald October 26, 1898), and in the summer of 1898 it was reported that they had “completed the walls of the first story of their church” (Trenton Evening Times July 29, 1898). The first service was held on October 19, 1898, despite the fact that the congregation was “yet striving to get our church completed” (Hopewell Herald October 26, 1898). In November it was reported that the church was “now known as the 2d Baptist church” (Hopewell Herald November 9,1898). The first known burial within the cemetery that was established to the rear of the church was that of Willie S. Young, who was three months old when he died on December 10, 1899 (www.findagrave.com/memorial/11613025) (see list of known burials below). The congregation’s current name was in use by 1901 as “Rev. Thos. E. Johnson, pastor” posted a notice in the Hopewell Herald stating that all were welcome to services at the “Second Calvary Baptist” Church (Hopewell Herald April 10, 1901).

In 1900 Thomas E. Johnson (1850–1914; www.findagrave.com/memorial/11612130) was recorded in the federal census as a Virginia-born clergyman residing in Hopewell Borough. He was sharing a rented house with Director John Jones (likely a relative of his wife Amanda Jones Johnson), with Trustee Thomas Payne living in a rented house that appears to have been next door. Trustee Wilson Waller was renting a house in the eastern section of Hopewell Township, while trustee George Cruse was a lodger in the house of a white family in the same section of the township. Director Silas Terry, who later would be the owner/occupant of 82 Columbia Avenue, was sharing a rented house with a white family in Montgomery Township (United States Census of New Jersey 1900). Reverend Johnson took a lead role in the development of what would become an enclave of Black settlement with the construction of the present 75 Columbia Avenue as his place of residence circa 1903. This house and the present 88 Columbia Avenue were the first two houses to be built within this easternmost block of Columbia Avenue, which would eventually be the location of fifteen dwellings owned and occupied by Black families. Johnson lived at 75 Columbia until the time of his death in 1914, at which point he joined his wife Amanda Jones Johnson, who had died several years earlier, in the cemetery behind his former church (www.findagrave.com/memorial/11612131). Daniel Wooding, the owner/occupant of 77 Columbia Avenue, was ordained as the church’s second pastor in 1916 (Hopewell Herald November 29, 1916). The church was depicted as a single-story frame building standing at the corner of First Street and Maple Avenue on the fire insurance map published in 1927 (Sanborn Map Company 1927).

The last burial within the Second Calvary Baptist Church Cemetery is said to have been that of William Waldron in 1969 (see below). The lot at the southeast corner of Columbia and Maple Avenues on which the present Second Calvary Baptist Church is sited was acquired by the church trustees in 1945 (Mercer County Deed 889 470). The original church remained in use for more than a decade, however, continuing to serve as the central unifying feature of Hopewell’s Black community. The new church building was completed in 1959, replacing the original structure after sixty-one years of service to the congregation (www.secondcalvarybaptistchurch.com). The Hopewell Fire Department oversaw the destruction by fire of the now abandoned original building in 1963 (Trenton Evening Times December 29, 1963; www.historicaerials.com).

Chronological list of known burials within
the Second Calvary Baptist Church Cemetery

• Willie S. Young (August 24, 1899–December 10, 1899) (www.findagrave.com/memorial/11613025)

• Martha Jane Terry (1825–1906) (www.findagrave.com/memorial/11613326)

• Amanda B. Jones Johnson (1866–1910) (www.findagrave.com/memorial/11612131)

• Sarah Panniel Waller (April 1872–1910) (www.findagrave.com/memorial/11612127)

• Rev. Thomas E. Johnson (1850–1914) (www.findagrave.com/memorial/11612130)

• Donald Brooks (1912–1917) (apparently unmarked; see Hopewell Herald May 9, 1917) (http://www.findagrave.com/memorial/261889817)

• Abram Waldron (1835–1920) (www.findagrave.com/memorial/11612672)

• Luella Hodnett Young (1885–1920) (www.findagrave.com/memorial/259386536)

• Nellie Wooding (?) (1876–1920) (apparently unmarked; see Hopewell Herald May 5, 1920) (http://www.findagrave.com/memorial/261889825)

• Robert J. Fitzgerald (1860–1922) (www.findagrave.com/memorial/11612713)

• Drucilla Terry (1870–1922) (apparently unmarked; see Hopewell Herald April 19, 1922) (http://www.findagrave.com/memorial/261889835)

• Dora Garrett (1868–1923) (apparently unmarked; see Hopewell Herald November 7, 1923) (http://www.findagrave.com/memorial/261889845)

• Gilbert Terry (1879–1937) (www.findagrave.com/memorial/11612605)

• Elizabeth “Lizzie” Waldron (1858–1942) (www.findagrave.com/memorial/11612693)

• Silas Terry (1869–1944) (apparently unmarked; see Hopewell Herald June 28, 1944) (http://www.findagrave.com/memorial/261889851)

• Mahala Terry Fitzgerald (1866–1944) (apparently unmarked; see Hopewell Herald August 23, 1944) (http://www.findagrave.com/memorial/261889862)

• Cornelia Womock (1868–1948) (www.findagrave.com/memorial/11613033)

• Kalib Womock (1875-1954) (www.findagrave.com/memorial/11613027)

• George Hightower (c. 1895–1964) (apparently unmarked Trenton Evening Times December 10, 1964) (http://www.findagrave.com/memorial/261889876)

• William Waldron (c. 1883–1969) (apparently unmarked Trenton Evening Times December 14, 1969) (http://www.findagrave.com/memorial/261889889)

• Willie S. Jones (unknown; possible misreading of Willie S. Young’s grave marker) (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11612128)

  Note: The Find a Grave links attached to the “apparently unmarked” burials were added by the Hopewell Museum (Joseph R. Klett, President)

References

www.findagrave.com.

Gray, Nomar. 1897. Healthful Historic Hopewell. Hopewell: C.E. Voorhees.

www.historicaerials.com.

Hopewell Herald. Multiple editions. Hopewell, New Jersey. Accessed at www.ancestry.com and www.newspapers.com.

Laning, Henry. 1897. Map of Lots of the Hopewell Land Association. Copy in Gray 1897.

Mercer County Deeds. Accessed at www.familysearch.com; original books at Mercer County Clerk’s Office, Trenton, New Jersey.

Sanborn Map Company. 1902 and 1927. Hopewell. New York: Sanborn Map Company.

www.secondcalvarybaptistchurch.com.

Trenton Evening Times. Multiple editions. Trenton, New Jersey. Accessed at www.genealogybank.com.

United States Census of New Jersey. Accessed at www.ancestry.com.

Copyright © 2023 by Richard L. Porter and The Hopewell Museum. All rights reserved.