Timbuctoo is an unincorporated community in Westampton Township, Burlington County, New Jersey. Located along the Rancocas Creek, Timbuctoo was settled by formerly enslaved and free Black people, beginning in 1826. 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.
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. Timbuctoo appeared on Burlington County maps as early 1849, and continues to appear on maps today.
The leader of the community, nicknamed "King," was David Parker. Parker's 1877 obituary in the New Jersey Mirror says "King David, as he had been known in other years, was possessed of more than ordinary intelligence and a determined will, which made him a natural leader among his people so long as it physical strength lasted, and he was generally at the head of any movement among them"
In 1860, the Battle of Pine Swamp took place near Timbuctoo, when armed fought off an infamous "slave catcher," named George Alberti who sought to capture Simmons and return him to enslavement in Maryland. David Parker led "the Timbuctoo Warriors in their defense of Simmons, according to the New Jersey Mirror.
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.
Today, the key remaining evidence of Timbuctoo's historical significance is a cemetery, known for gravestones of United States Colored Troops who fought in the Civil War. 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 as many as 161 unmarked graves.
Current residents and landowners include descendants of early settlers.
There is an active Timbuctoo Historical Society.
See also
History of slavery in New Jersey
Timbuctoo, New York
References
Further reading (most recent first)
Reprinted from the Pennsylvania Freeman.