How Churches Have Buried a Devastating Legacy of Clergy Sexual Abuse and the Movement Pushing to End the Cycle

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS (NY)
Christian Post

February 2, 2018

By Leonardo Blair

At the Historic Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights, New York, the legacy of Henry Ward Beecher, the church’s first pastor who died more than 120 years ago, is prominently displayed in monuments celebrating his life.

On a cold Saturday morning this winter, a guide could be heard telling tourists at the church about his great work as an abolitionist.

Buried in lot 18495, section 123 at the nearby Greenwood Cemetery about a mile away from where Beecher is interred with his wife, Eunice, is a less prominently displayed part of his legacy.

There are no signs announcing her presence, but cemetery records show that along with three other family members surnamed Tilton, one surnamed Pelton and another surnamed Morse, Elizabeth Tilton, a former parishioner of Beecher’s, is also buried here.

Cemetery staff could not confirm if Elizabeth’s remains were below a white gravestone marked “GRANDMOTHER” in section 123 but confirmed she was “definitely there,” according to their records. She died blind and alone on April 14, 1897.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.