Arnold Brown says he has some answers.
The Englewood historian came forward this week in response to a NorthJersey.com story about the long-forgotten burial site and the freed slave who owned the land.
According to a plaque at the grassy field on Cedar Street, Francis Jackson purchased 7¾ acres of woodland here in 1868 that later included a church and a cemetery where former slaves are believed to be buried.
Who was Francis Jackson?
Brown, who is writing a book about the early history of African Americans in Bergen County, said he found out about Jackson while researching the Gethsemane Cemetery in Little Ferry. That cemetery is one of the oldest African American burial sites in New Jersey.