The grounds of Grace Episcopal Church in Jamaica, Queens include a burial ground that dates its earliest grave to 1704. The church community was established when the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts sent a Reverend to Jamaica in 1702 at the request of the community. While the church community existed in 1702, and the earliest recorded grave dates from 1704, it was not until 1734 that a church building was constructed and completed on the site. In the picture below, you can see what the church looked like at this time, with several headstones already present. (Picture was found at nycago.org, which has a great history of the church, along with other renderings of what the church looked like at different times between 1734 and today.)
I was recently able to visit Grace Episcopal Church, which unsurprisingly has changed drastically throughout its history. Where the 1734 rendering of the church building shows the structure surrounded by forest, today the church sits in the middle of the bustling and developed community of Jamaica, on a busy city street.
Unfortunately, Grace Episcopal's graveyard has fallen victim to vandalism in the past. The church's grounds and the adjacent cemetery are fenced off, and the main gate is often locked to protect the grounds from further destruction. Despite this, I was able to call the church office, and they kindly sent someone to allow me onto the cemetery grounds. Everyone I encountered was very helpful, and they allowed me to take photos. The church administrator also told me that the church was hoping to pursue funding and grants in order to preserve the historic cemetery.
One of the most interesting elements of the Grace Episcopal churchyard is the presence of two headstones carved and signed by Uzal Ward of Newark. The older of the two headstones belongs to Mary Betts, 1759.
Thankfully, the signature cut into the stone by Uzal Ward is still legible despite the damage present, and I was able to create a 3D model. The other signed Uzal Ward stone belongs to Sarah Banks, who passed away in 1763.
Also represented in the graveyard is the work of John Zuricher, the Common Jersey Carver, and John Stevens II of the Stevens shop, whose work would have been imported from Newport, Rhode Island. Joseph Oldfield's stone, dated 1765, is the colonial stone that appears to have traveled the longest distance to arrive in Jamaica and the only stone in the graveyard that originated in the Stevens shop at Newport. I always find these seemingly anomalous stones to be all the more interesting, especially when a singular stone is imported from further away than the rest of the stones in the colonial section of a burying ground. Oldfield's stone is pictured below:
In the video below, you can see one of John Zuricher's stones found at Grace Episcopal: the headstone of Cathrin Clowes, who passed away in 1740 at the age of 57. Cathrin, her son Joseph (1755), and John Comes (1770), all have stones carved by Zuricher.
Overall, I found that Grace Episcopal Church has many well-preserved examples of work by some of the most well-known stone carvers of the colonial era, with stones originating in at least three different colonies. I'm particularly appreciative of both the efforts of the church to protect this historic site, and their willingness to accommodate my desire to see the graveyard. Graveyards like the one found at Grace Episcopal are under threat of deterioration and are in need of continued preservation efforts. To see the full gallery, check out the cemetery page either through this link or through the link on the map page.
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This church cemetery is quite a find. It was also interesting to see how stonecarvers actually signed their work. Each stone is a gallery-worthy piece of sculpture art. I was not aware that this was done. Thank you for your persistent historical research.