St. Peter's Episcopal Church is a historic church at Rector and Gordon Streets in Perth Amboy, New Jersey

Perth Amboy, New Jersey

Perth Amboy is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The City of Perth Amboy is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 50,814. Perth Amboy is known as the "City by the Bay", referring to Raritan Bay.-Name:The Lenape...

. It is the oldest Episcopal

Episcopal Church (United States)

The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...

 parish in New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 and contains the oldest extant gravestone in New Jersey.

History

The congregation was organized in 1698 when twelve Church of England communicants designated themselves the Congregation of St. Peter's Episcopal Church. They erected a church using the foundation of an abandoned courthouse. That site is not far from the current church. In 1706, Anne, Queen of Great Britain presented the parish with a set of communion silver that is still extant.

They received a royal charter

Royal Charter

A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...

 in 1718 from George I of Great Britain

George I of Great Britain

George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698....

.

The second building on the site was built in 1722 and was destroyed by a fire.

In 1770 Governor William Franklin was a vestryman

Vestryman

A vestryman is a member of his local church's vestry, or leading body. He is not a member of the clergy.In England especially, but also in other parts of The United Kingdom, Parish Councils have long been a level of local government rather than being solely ecclesiastical in nature...

 in the congregation.

The current building was built in 1852.

The first black man to vote in America, Thomas Mundy Peterson

Thomas Mundy Peterson

Thomas Mundy Peterson of Perth Amboy, New Jersey was the first African-American to vote in an election under the just-enacted provisions of the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution...

, was a member of the church and was buried in the church graveyard. He voted in the Perth Amboy, New Jersey

Perth Amboy, New Jersey

Perth Amboy is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The City of Perth Amboy is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 50,814. Perth Amboy is known as the "City by the Bay", referring to Raritan Bay.-Name:The Lenape...

 mayoral election on March 31, 1870. That was one day after adoption of the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

It was added to the National Register in 1977.

Graveyard

Helen Gordon (1660-1687) was the wife of Thomas Gordon of Scotland, she died December 12, 1687, aged 27 years. Her tombstone is the oldest still erected in New Jersey. Her tombstone reads: "Calm was her death, well ordered her life, a pious mother and a loving wife, her offspring six, of which 4 here do lie, their souls in heaven, wher's do rest on high". In 1875 her tombstone and remains were moved from a cemetery on State Street to Saint Peter's Episcopal Church Cemetery.

External links

• Saint Peters Churchyard at Findagrave