Juneteenth Honored At Cemeteries In Belleville, Bloomfield, Montclair

BELLEVILLE, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of the Belleville Historical Society. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.

Juneteenth commemorates the day, June 19, 1865, when Union Army General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas with 2,000 soldiers and announced the end of slavery in the rebellious southern states. Ironically, slavery would continue that year in New Jersey until the end of December.

The Belleville Historical Society observed Juneteenth in Belleville, Bloomfield and Montclair. In Bloomfield and Montclair, the gravestones of three individuals who were born into and had lived as slaves were cleaned and decorated. Luvenia and Joseph Lloyd were slaves on a plantation in Barbara County, Alabama when they were married. They eventually moved north and lived in East Orange and are buried at Bloomfield Cemetery on Belleville Avenue. Anthony Thompson was a slave in the household of Dr. Samuel Ward in Montclair. After being freed he moved to West Orange, and he is buried in Rosedale Cemetery in Montclair.

At St. Peter Cemetery in Belleville, a team of young church volunteers cleaned the gravestones of all of the Union Army veterans buried there. More than 350,000 Union Army soldiers died in the war, which brought an end to slavery.

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