Here's a little holiday present for all of you who have ancestors buried in Union Brick Cemetery. Ever wonder why you can't find baptism records for individuals who you know were born in Warren County in the late 18th century and are buried in Union Brick? The answer is that they were probably BAPTISTS, and the Baptists do not practise infant baptism, only adult. Here's some information, with annotations by me in [ ], about Union Brick from: Thomas S. Griffiths "A History of the Baptists in New Jersey," published 1904, Barr Press Publishing Company, Highstown, New Jersey. Page 90: "Morgan Edward gives us what we have of the early life of Knowlton church stating that, 'about 1754, two Baptist families, each a husband and wife moved from Kingwood to the neighborhood.' Soon after their coming, another Baptist family from Kingwood moved to that vicinity. These invited Baptist ministers to visit them. Their pastor at Kingwood and Rev. H. Crossley of Mount Olive church [this is Schooley's Mountain] visited them. As a reult of their labors, eight persons went to Kingwood and were baptized, uniting with that church. The date of deed of the land, on which their meeting house stood was August 9th 1756. Their house of worship was built in 1763 and was distant five miles from Roxbury (Mount Olive) Baptist church edifice, on a knoll like a sugar loaf, the top of which was broken off. From this resemblance the church derived its name, 'Knowlton.' Knowlton became extinct in 1800. "Rev. T.F. Clancy, an intelligent and cultured man, sent by the Philadelphia Association to take charge of the Honeywell school [in Mt. Hermon in Hope Township], and pastor of the Delaware church [in Knowlton Township, a Baptist congregation], writes in 1853: 'About eight miles east of the Delaware church formed in 1834, is an old graveyard, killed (?) by a drunken minister, if tradition bears true testimony.' The Delaware church was in Knowlton township, probably formed of descendants of Knowlton church." [Morgan Edwards was a Baptist Minister in the late 18th century, evidently he wrote, among other things, a history of Baptist churches, including those in New Jersey. I have been searching for a copy of his book with no luck, as it is long out of print] Now the above description places the church in Knowlton Township, on a hill, with an old grave yard. Union Brick cemetery is on a hill top in Blairstown Township today, but it use to be part of Knowlton Township. With that established, on page 91 of Griffiths, there is more information which I believe firmly places Knowlton Baptist church inside the fence of Union Brick cemetery. Page 91: "Rev. H. Crossley was the first pastor of Knowlton, for three years. Elkanna Holmes was pastor in 1775, and after him, Rev. D. Jayne, an indefinite time. In 1785, DANIEL VAUGHN [my emphasis] was ordained for the pastorate. With his charge, Morgan Edwards account of Knowlton church closes January 2nd, 1790." REV. DANIEL VAUGHN is buried in Union Brick Cemetery. He owned a farm near the cemetery. I believe that this clinches the association of Knowlton Baptist church with Union Brick Cemetery. Vaughn was their pastor. What I find interesting is the fact that the church dissolved in 1800. Daniel lived another 10 years after the church closed. What I do know about Baptist history for this perod leads me to believe that the church was probably ripped apart by the same internal theological arguments that the Baptists were experiencing in all their churches in the United States. The Christian Church (now the Disciples of Christ, United Church of Christ, and Christian Churches) was formed during the late 1790s and first two decades of the 19th century. Many of the ministers of this church had originally been ordained as Baptist Ministers. The Christians main gripe was that the many Protestant denominations had wandered too far from the original precepts of the Christian Church. The Chr! istians sought to return to a "purer" Christianity and shed the hierarchical form of government and many of the other rules and regulations of several Protestant Denominations. The Christians, like the Baptists, practised adult baptism by immersion. By the 1820s there was a Christian Church in Johnsonburg, formed by the Elder Jonathan S. Thompson. Many of the members of this church in Johnsonburg appear to have originally been Baptists and may have belonged to Knowlton Baptist. Two of Thompson's wives are buried in Union Brick. By the time the Christian Church was formed in Johnsonburg, the Knowlton Baptist church meeting house would have been 60 years old. It hadn't been used by the congregation for over 20 years. If it was a frame building it was probably in disrepair, or falling over. There is no building in the cemetery today, nor are foundation lines visible in the grass. By the time Snell wrote his history of Warren County in 1881, there was no building in the cemetery! . Nor does Snell mention Knowlton Baptist church; it appears to have passed out of memory by 1881. The Rev. Clancy's 1853 comment that Knowlton church was killed "by a drunken minister, if tradition bears true testimony" (page 91), may have more to do with Daniel Vaughn being drunk on the new theology of the Christians than on alcohol. As for DANIEL VAUGHN's personal life...he was born 17 June 1746 in Wales, an area which produced many Baptists, and died 29 May 1810 in Knowlton Township, Sussex (now Warren) County, New Jersey. His first wife was Dinah Watkins, who was buried in Union Brick. Her stone is inscribed: Here Lies The Remains Of Dinah the Wife of the Revd Daniel Vaughn. Departed This Life October the 1f 1794. Aged 46 Years, 6 Months & 2 Days. The Mother of 11 Children Whose Names are Jacob Richard David & John Elizabeth Rachel Lydia Sarah Rhoda & Dinah & Daniel This stone made by J.S. Teezel Daniel's stone is not an original stone, it is a replacement. It notes that he was a 1st Lieut 1st REGT, Sussex County NJ Military Revolutionary War. It also names him as the Rev. Daniel Vaughn. Daniel's second wife was Hannah Read, the daughter of Joseph Read and Sarah Sutton. She was born 1765 and died 9 June 1839 in Tompkins County, New York. They had 7 children: Samuel, Benjamin O., Azubah (Teeter), Hannah (Owen/Brown), Phebe (Owen), William and Amanda (Thompson). Daniel was Hannah's second husband. Her first husband was Benjamin Ogden (10 February 1761 - 26 August 1794). In the work I have done with the Vaughns and Ogden descendants I have found no Baptists. Presbyterians and Methodists, but no Baptists. I bet Daniel left the Baptist Church and his children followed suit. For more about the Vaughns and Ogdens and about Elder Jonathan S. Thompson, visit me at Read Family Connections www.charm.net/~edrtjd/readgen/ I wish you all a joyous holiday season, whatever religious celebration you may observe. May you find lots of Genealogy material wrapped up for you (and maybe the answer to that impossible-to-nail-down ancestor!). In Peace, Esther Doyle Read