David Toner interview by the Orton Family Foundation on the Mount Tabor AME Zion Church and cemetery. Toner discusses how he came to attend the Mount Tabor Church as a child and how it was different than other churches. He also mentions how he returned to Mount Holly Springs after living in California and his reaction upon seeing the church in disrepair and the joy he has in seeing it serve as a renewed focal point for the community.
According to the “U.S. Find a Grave Index, 1600s to Current for James H. Tyson,” Tyson was born in 1821 in Carroll County, Maryland[1]. While Tyson does not appear in any official capacity until 1864, he made his way to Carlisle, Cumberland County, PA sometime before 1864. In Carlisle, Tyson enlisted as a private in the 32nd USCT, Company F on February 25, 1864[2]. Upon his enlistment, Tyson was listed as a forty-three-year-old laborer who stood at five feet two inches[3].
Henry Ward was born in Clarke County Virginia on October 11, 1842. Not much is known about his early life, but his obituary states that he was enslaved. On January 20th, 1864, Ward enlisted into Company E of the 25th regiment of the USCT in Carlisle, PA
Michelle Ward and Danielle Ward-Smith interview by the Orton Family Foundation on the Mount Tabor AME Zion Church and cemetery. Both Ward and Ward-Smith discuss connecting with their past as well as community.
Miss Minerva White and her mother, Matilda Vickers, came to Mt. Holly from Virginia in 1859. Minerva worked for several years in the paper mills in Mt. Holly, but about 1870 she and her mother took charge of the toll gate and ran a small store.1 After her mother’s death in 1885, Minerva continued to operate the Mt. Holly toll gate for another 19 years.