History of the Catholic Church in Paterson, N.J.: with an Account of the Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Establishment of St. John's Church — John Shaqi
History of the Catholic Church in Paterson, N.J.: with an Account of the Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Establishment of St. John's ChurchShriner, Charles A. (Charles Anthony)
History
History of the Catholic Church in Paterson, N.J.: with an Account of the Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Establishment of St. John's Church
Shriner, Charles A. (Charles Anthony)
Catholic Church -- New Jersey -- Paterson; Paterson (N.J.) -- Church history; St. John's Church (Paterson, N.J.)
"The Roman Catholic cemetery at Sandy Hill being filled, and all the
lots sold, the authorities of The Catholic Church of St. John the
Baptist bought, January 30, 1866 for $21,000, what was known as 'the
Lynch Farm,' sixty-nine acres, at the southeast corner of Market street
and Madison avenue, for a cemetery. One or two interments were made,
when, March 27, 1866, an act of the Legislature was approved prohibiting
the location or establishment of cemeteries or burial grounds 'within
the distance of six thousand feet from the street monument, as
established at the corner of Market and Willis streets,' in the city of
Paterson, and the proposed cemetery was abandoned, and the property
sold. In the Fall of the same year, on September 7, 1866, Mr. William G.
Watson bought at an auction sale of the estate of Cornelius P. Hopper,
deceased, 24.92 acres of land, on the east side of Haledon avenue, and
north of East Main street, and the next day conveyed it to the same
church, for $10,770, the object being to locate a cemetery there. A few
interments were made in the new grounds, but an act of the Legislature,
approved February 26, 1867, prohibited the location or establishment of
'any cemetery or burial ground within the limits and boundaries for the
city of Paterson,' and further prohibited the use 'for the purposes of
burial,' of 'any cemetery or burial grounds established within one year
within said city.' May 1st, 1867, the church bought of Bartlett Smith
and wife, of $15,500, three adjoining tracts of land, embracing 73.19
acres in all, at Totowa, just west of the city line, and near the
Lincoln bridge, extending from the river back to the Preakness mountain.
Here was located the 'Cemetery of the Holy Sepulchre,' tastefully laid
out, containing 3,208 lots (1,126 consecrated and 2,082 unconsecrated),
and ornamented and improved as well as the exceedingly sandy soil will
allow."
The interments in this cemetery in 1867 were 17; in 1870 they had
increased to 216, and at present they are about 300 per year.
The farmhouse situated on the property purchased from Mr. Smith was
changed into an orphan asylum; since that time a number of alterations
and additions have been made. There are about eighty children in the
institution which is under the charge of the Sisters of Charity. These
Sisters first came to Paterson in 1853 from Mt. St. Vincent, N. Y., and
an orphan asylum was established in Church street. After the removal of
the orphanage to its present location the building was changed into the
Catholic Institute.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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