Timbuctoo is an unincorporated community in Westampton Township, Burlington County, New Jersey, according to the US Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System.[2] Located along the Rancocas Creek, Timbuctoo was settled by formerly enslaved and free Black people, beginning in 1826.[3] It includes Church St., Blue Jay Hill Road, and adjacent areas. At its peak in the mid-nineteenth century, Timbuctoo had more than 125 residents, a school, an AME Zion Church, and a cemetery. The key remaining evidence of this community is the cemetery on Church Street, which was formerly the site of Zion Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal African Church. Some current residents are descendants of early settlers.[4][5][6]

Timbuctoo, New Jersey
Unincorporated community
Timbuctoo, New Jersey
Coordinates: 40°00′11″N 74°48′51″W
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Burlington
Township	Westampton
Elevation [1]	10 m (33 ft)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
GNIS feature ID	881192[1]

History

Timbuctoo was founded by free Blacks and former slaves in 1826, in a region of New Jersey where the influence of Quakers was strong.[7][8]^{[page needed]}[9] Timbuctoo appeared on Burlington County maps as early 1849,[10] and continues to appear on maps today.[11]

At that time the leader of the community, nicknamed "King of Timbuctoo", was David Parker. Parkers had helped found the community.[4]

In 1860, the Battle of Pine Swamp took place in Timbuctoo. It involved armed residents preventing the capture of Perry Simmons, an escaped slave living in Timbuctoo, by an infamous slave catcher named George Alberti.[12][13][14]

The US Census identified the "Village of Timbuctoo" as a separate entity within Westampton Township for the first time in 1880, enumerating 108 residents and 29 households.[15]

Today, the key remaining evidence of Timbuctoo's historical significance is a cemetery, well known for gravestones of United States Colored Troops who fought in the Civil War.[16] However, there are also civilian gravestones, the oldest of which dates to 1847, thirteen years before the Civil War. A geophysical survey conducted in 2009 identified at least 59 unmarked graves.[17]

Current residents and landowners include descendants of early settlers.[18]

There is an active Timbuctoo Historical Society.[19]

See also

• History of slavery in New Jersey
• Timbuctoo, New York

References

Further reading (most recent first)

• Barton, Christopher P. (2022). The Archaeology of Race and Class at Timbuctoo: A Black Community in New Jersey. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0813069272.
• Weston, Guy (Winter 2022). "Timbuctoo and the First Emancipation of the Early-Nineteenth [sic] Century". New Jersey Studies. 8 (1). doi:10.14713/njs.v8i1.268. S2CID 246406350.
• Weston, Guy (February 9, 2022). "Timbuctoo and the First Emancipation of the Early 19th Century [PowerPoint]" (PDF). Timbuctoo Historical Society, Rutgers University, and the William Trent House Museum.
• Massand, Rikki (June 14, 2021). "Approaching 200 Years of History, Timbuctoo's Evolution Continues". Preservation New Jersey.
• Gall, Michael J.; Veit, Richard F., eds. (2021). Archaeologies of African American Life in the Upper Mid-Atlantic. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 978-0817360160.
• "Timbuctoo" (PDF). New Jersey Mirror. June 21, 1855.
• "Kidnapping" (PDF). New Jersey Mirror. March 5, 1856. p. 3.
• "Slave Case in Mount Holly". National Anti-Slavery Standard. November 25, 1847. p. 1 – via accessible-archives.com. Reprinted from the Pennsylvania Freeman.

External links

• The Timbuctoo, NJ, Historical Society
• In Search of John Brown's Timbucto, Part I
• In Search of John Brown's Timbucto, Part II