Newspaper Articles:
May 28, 1882 - St. John's Old Burying Ground
June 21, 1885 - Death of Mrs. McCluskey
June
11, 1916 - St.
John's R. C. Cemetery Erects an Entrance Arch
Internment Information:
Rev. Msgr. William B. Naedele
Director of Catholic Cemeteries
171 Clifton Ave.
Newark, NJ 07104-0500
Tel. 973-497-7978
(Information supplied by Father
Curley)
The original Catholic Cemetery in Newark surrounded the first St.
John's Church building on Mulberry Street. Sometime prior to 1920,
a cemetery was laid out in the area behind the present Saint Michael's
Church and the interments (probably around 50) removed to there
from the original cemetery. In the 1950's of so, the internment's
(probably around 150) were removed from that cemetery and placed
in a common grave under a large beautiful bronze Celtic Cross with
no name inscriptions in Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington (201-997-1900).
Only a few of these names are known and available (30).
From "Hand book and guide for the city of Newark,
New Jersey: carefully edited and compiled from authentic sources"
Newark Daily Advertiser Print, 1872:
St. John's Cemetery is a small burying ground occupying a square
plot off Belleville Avenue, between Crittenden Street and Fourth
Avenue. It is connected with St. John's Church, and is entirely
an Irish Catholic burying place. In the centre, is the tomb of the
Very Rev. Patrick Moran, first Vicar General of the Diocese of Newark,
and pastor of the St. John's church, who died in 1866. The records
on the tombstones show that most of the dead were emigrants. Almost
every county in Ireland has its representative, and many towns and
cities of the Green Isle are registered as the place of birth of
those below. Quite a number of the monuments are handsome, but most
of them are simply marble slabs, with the traditional inscription,
and sometimes a tasteful monuments. Not a few graves have a simple
wooden cross. The cross with the I. H. S. 'Iesus Hominem Salvator,'
representative of the Catholic above all other churches is almost
universal. The size of the grounds prevent anything like extensive
walks, but the grave yard is well shaded and neatly kept.
From "A History of the City of Newark New Jersey 1666-1913"
1913:
The first Roman Catholic Cemetery in Newark (if one except the
few interments made in the very early days at St. John's Church)
was a little plot on the hillside, looking towards the then beautiful
Passaic. Today it is the well-nigh forgotten burying place in the
rear of St. Michael's Church, near the southwest corner of Belleville
& Fourth Avenues, and was there long, long before St. Michael's
parish was dreamed of. Thither, for many a year, the exiles from
Erin when called to their last sleep, were borne from old St. John's
Church on Mulberry Street. There many a sturdy soul who had left
the homeland disheartened and discouraged by oppression was finally
laid to rest. The plot has not been used as a cemetery for a generation
and longer (1913).
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