There is an old cemetery located on the North side of Route 130 behind the Trinity Episcopal Church in Delran. This old cemetery is frequently called Old Trinity Episcopal Churchyard, but it is not affiliated with that denomination. The site has an interesting religious history.
Several neighbors established a Christian Meeting in 1833 and built a small church. They occupied this building for a number of years, but in 1842 the Fairview Christian Meeting House trustees purchased for one dollar a tract of land from Joseph Pearson, Sr., and built a new meeting house further east near what is now called Fairview Street. When the Episcopalians were organized in 1845 by the Rev. Samuel Hallowell, rector of St. Stephen’s in Beverly, they purchased the old Christian Meeting House for $500.00. The trustees of the Christian Brethren retained this property and for many, many years maintained the burial grounds.
The original owners and heirs have for the most part dispersed. A few old families bury in the grounds occasionally, but present township records list no person or group responsible for it. Permits for interments are issued on evidence of a deed, but no records are kept. The area immediately to the rear of the church contains no vestiges of graves. The first gravestone on entering the grounds stands well forward of the majority of the marked interments. It was erected for Civil War veteran, Samuel Butler, who died in 1924. The existing markers prior to the 1880’s are not legible. There were a few interments in the 1920 through 1940 period.
Three men that served as mayor of Delran Township are buried here. Robert W. Babington served two terms March 10, 1896-March 8, 1897 and March 8, 1898 – March 17, 1899. Edward H. Haines served January 1, 1910- March 9, 1910. Silas Hatcher served as mayor for four days March 8, 1897-March 12, 1897.
