[Episcopal News Service – Shrewsbury, New Jersey] History always hovers around Christ Church, standing on the Historic Four Corners intersection here. But, the past is especially present on the Sunday of every Memorial Day weekend.

Parishioners and visitors gather that day at 11 a.m. in the churchyard that surrounds the church to hear the names of 75 veterans, all male except for First Lt. Eleanore M. Judd who served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps and died in 2013, read aloud, to pray for the continued repose of their souls and to give thanks for their service.

The first name read every year is Col. John Redford, who fought in the French and Indian War. The names continue through Lt. Com. Bruce A. Brand who served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. One American Revolution loyalist, Anthony Dennis, is buried in the graveyard and is also remembered during the Memorial Day service. Redford died in 1764, just as construction of the parish’s current church building was being considered.

The veterans whose names were read this year on May 25 are:

French and Indian War of 1746
Colonel John Redford

Revolutionary War 1775-1783

• Private Edward Bennett, First Regiment of Monmouth Militia
• Private Joseph Dennis, First Regiment of Monmouth Militia
• General James Greene, served as captain, Company of Light Horse, Monmouth Militia
• Private John Haggerty, First Regiment of Monmouth Militia
• Private William Lippincott, First Regiment of Monmouth Militia
• Corporal Thomas Lloyd, First Regiment of Monmouth Militia
• Private Lewis McKnight, First Regiment of Monmouth Militia
• Private Thomas Morford, First Regiment of Monmouth Militia
• Private John Slocum, First Regiment of Monmouth Militia
• Private Holmes Throckmorton, Continental Army and served with General John Sullivan’s Division against the Six Nations in Western, Pa. and New York
• Private James Throckmorton, Monmouth Grenadiers, also a minuteman, troop of light horse.
• Private Job Throckmorton, First Regiment of Monmouth Militia
• Private John West, First Regiment of Monmouth Militia

War of 1812

• Lieutenant Col. William Carpender, New York Volunteers
• Private Henry Clay, Second Regiment of New Jersey Detailed Militia
• Private Joseph Dennis, New Jersey Detailed Militia
• Private Asher Haggerty, Third Regiment of New Jersey Detailed Militia
• James Schureman
• Joseph Voorhees
• Edmund West
• Private Elisha White, Third Regiment Monmouth Brigade
• Lyttleton White
• Private David Williamson, 32nd and 15th Regiments.

Mexican-American War 1846-1848

• Lieutenant Benjamin S. Lippincott, Company H, California Battalion

Civil War 1861-1865

• Private Samuel T. Denise, Co. F, 29th Regiment, NJ Vol. Inf.
• Private Joseph H. Dennis, Co. F, 29th Regiment, NJ Vol. Inf.
• Private Franklin Goodwin, Co. F, 1st Regiment, NJ Calvary
• Private Thomas Hawkins, Co. A, Second New Jersey Militia
• 1st Lieutenant John Hopper, Co. B, Second New Jersey Militia
• Private William F. Marshall, Co. D., 13th Regiment, NJ Vol. Inf.
• William McDonald, Confederate States Army
• William Lawes, Union Army druggist
• Private John Buckingham, Co. H, 34th Regiment, NJ Vol. Inf.
• Private Rufus West, Co. G, Second New Jersey Militia
• Private John L. Wheeler, served as private, 8th New York Calvary
• Captain John White,
• Private John Worthley, served as private in Co. A, 1st Regiment, NJ Vol. Inf.
• 1st Lieutenant Thomas K. Durham, Co. M, 1st New York Vol. Engineers
• Ernst Schroeder
• Commodore Edward W. Carpender, appointed Midshipman 1813, served War of 1812; served as Lt. in Command of the Brig. Truxtan, Mexican War of 1846; served as
• Commodore on the Navy’s Reserve list during the Civil War and also stationed at Key West, Florida, in charge of captured prize vessels.
• Captain Samuel Sleeper, husband of Abigail Sleeper who is interred in the graveyard was killed at Fredericksburg during the Civil War. Abigail tried to have his remains returned for burial in the Christ Church graveyard but to no avail.

Spanish-American War 1898

• 1st Lieutenant Frederick Waller Hope, Calvary Troop

World War I 1914-1918

• Captain Franklin G. Allen, US Army
• Walter S. Bowker
• William E. Donald
• 1st Lieutenant Morgan R. Eilert
• Corporal Robert R. Graham, served as band corporal, HQ Company, 107 Inf., US Army
• Lieutenant Colonel Louis H. Hanson, Medical Corps.
• 1st Lieutenant Arnold Watson Hazard, Motor Transportation Corp.
• Private Howard G. Montgomery, Head Quarters Company, 165th Inf., NY, US Army
• 1st Lieutenant Howard Stokes, US Army
• Private Joseph L. Thompson, US Army Air Force
• Major Dr. Harry Ticehurst, US Army, 9th Division Cavalry veterinarian

World War II 1939-1944

• Lieutenant Hermann Alexander Allen, US Navy 1942 – 1946
• Private Michael Jonathan Badal, US Army Air Force, Private 1st Class, 5th Adrom Squadron
• Tech. Sergeant Reuel K. Hartshorne, US Army, 1942 – 1945, Bronze Star Medal
• Colonel Arthur E. James, Army Air Corp flight instructor in US and in the Pacific Theater   1941-1947, USAF Reserves 1950 – 1979
• 1st. Lieutenant Alvin Bradford Judd, Doctor, US Army Air Corp.
• 1st Lieutenant Eleanore M. Judd, US Army, served in the Medical Corp. of the 351st General Hospital
• Richard A. Kirby
• Colonel John Kline, served in Ordnance Corps in Pacific theater
• Petty Officer Frank W. Lovekin, US Navy
• Sergeant William F. Marshall, US Army Air Forces 1943-1946
• Staff Sergeant George D. Maxfield, 1306 Engineer Ground Support Regiment, US Army
• Ortrude V. Maxfield, US Navy
• Harold G. Paynton, Jr. US Army South Pacific and Japan
• 1st Lieutenant Stewart Van Vliet, Jr., 182nd Inf., American Division, US Army.

Korea 1950

• Corporal Edward C. Hazard, served as corporal, US Army
• Corporal Webster J. McClellan, US Army

Vietnam 1955-1975

• Lieutenant Commander Bruce A. Brand – served as Lt. US Navy 1962

New Jersey National Guard (1895)

• 1st Lieutenant Frederick W. Hope, Second Troop Calvary, National Guard of New Jersey
• George D. Tillman, served in Head Quarters, Second Troop Calvary, National Guard of New Jersey

Monmouth County Loyalists during the American Revolution

• Anthony Dennis

More about Christ Church
The parish was founded in 1702 when the Rev. George Keith, an Anglican missionary dispatched by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (currently known as Us) in London, held services in 1702 in the home of Lewis Morris, later royal governor of New Jersey. The parish established more of a presence in 1706 through the acquisition of a small parcel of land at the present-day intersection of Broad Street and Sycamore Avenue in Shrewsbury.

Very near the current intersection were the Council Pine where the Indians met with the settlers; Anglican/Episcopal, Quaker and Presbyterian churches (all of which still stand and are in use); the West Great-House where the court met; the Allen House, a tavern that was the scene of a Revolutionary massacre and now a museum; and a toll house for taxing persons traveling in an east-west direction.

Queen Anne gave Christ Church a simple two-piece communion set that is still used on Easter and Christmas. King George chartered the parish in 1738. The document is on permanent display in the church.

During the Revolution, the church was used as barracks by patriot soldiers. Since the church was a symbol of the British Crown, these soldiers shot at the pulpit and at the orb and crown on the steeple atop the church building. The church retains the damaged orb and a wood-embedded musket ball.

— The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is an editor/reporter for the Episcopal News Service.