USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > A history of Monmouth and Ocean counties : embracing a genealogical record of earliest settlers in Monmouth and Ocean Counties and their descendants, the Indians, their language, manners and customs, important historical events. > Part 10
USA > New Jersey > Ocean County > A history of Monmouth and Ocean counties : embracing a genealogical record of earliest settlers in Monmouth and Ocean Counties and their descendants, the Indians, their language, manners and customs, important historical events. > Part 10
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The first land taken up at Toms River appears to have been a small tract of 17 1-2 acres along the river near Messrs. Aumack's store Nov. 14th, 1741 : and same date a tract 75 acres back of Cowdrick's Hotel-by James Alexander, Surveyor General.
ORIGIN AND SIGNIFICATION OF SOME OF THE NAMES IN OCEAN COUNTY, HISTORICAL, TRADITIONAL AND CONJECTURAL.
Mannaharkin : This name is from the original In- dian designation of the place and signifies "good corn land."
Barnegat : From the Dutch and signifies "Breakers Inlet," or an inlet with breakers. It was first written " Bar-ende-gat," then " Barndegat " and finally the present orthography was adopted.
Waretown : So called from an early settler named Abraham WHeir who died in that village March 24th, 1768, aged 85 years.
Toms River: So called from a noted Indian living there previous to the Revolution. It is said he held some office under the British Government, but proving a de- faulter was deprived of it and disgraced.
New Egypt : One tradition says this place was formerly called " Kimmons Mills " a man named Kim- mons owning the mills there ; and from the amount of corn raised and sold in the vicinity, people at a distance used to speak jokingly of " going to Egypt to buy corn," and hence the name.
Goodluck : There is a tradition to the effect that a man on horseback being pursued by some enemies in- tent on taking his life, rode his horse into the bay and swam him across to the point of land near the mouth of Toms River now known as Goodluck Point by which means he escaped and to commemorate his deliverance he called it " Goodluck Point." In regard to the name of Goodluck applied to the village, another tradition says it
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH AND OCEAN COUNTIES.
was given by Rev. John Murray on account of the good luck which he seemed to meet with there. As Murray must have originally landed near Goodluck Point, it is not im- probable that fancying the name as applied to the Point he might under the circumstances have bestowed it upon the village.
Barende-Gat : The name Barende-gat in Dutch signifies Breakers inlet or an inlet with breakers ; it ap- pears to have been applied to the inlet, not as a perma- nent name, but only as one descriptive of the inlet, by the first discoverers along our coast ; the same name is found upon some ancient maps applied both to Absecon and Barnegat.
The name Barnegat in ancient times was not only applied to the inlet and bay but to much or most of the land bordering on the bay.
EMPLOYMENT OF OCEAN COUNTY VESSELS.
The establishment of saw mills rendered it necessary to have vessels to carry lumber to market ; these vessels were generally sloops. This was about the beginning of the coasting trade for which Ocean county has since been so noted. After a time these first vessels found addi- tional employment in carrying cedar rails to market ; after a time this trade began to fail but about the time it failed the invention of steambouts caused a demand for pine wood. Since then a large number of vessels owned and manned by citizens of this county have been steadily engaged in the wood trade; when the supply of pine wood failed in the county, larger vessels were built and proceeded to Maryland and Virginia to obtain it.
When the largest of the timber-such as was fit for marketable wood, was cut off, the charcoal trade next furnished employment for many of the smaller class coasting vessels. The charcoal trade was commenced abont forty years ago.
At the present time most of the coasting vessels (generally schooners-two or three masted) are too large to enter our bay loaded ; they are engaged in the coasting rade from New York to Southern and Eastern ports. A
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OLD TIMES IN OCEAN COUNTY.
large amount of capital is invested by our citizens in these vessels, much larger than Custom House records would show, as most of them take out papers at New York, Perth Amboy, Little Egg Harbor and other places out of the county or out of the Custom House district. It is difficult now to give the precise amount of capital invested, but it is probable that between half a million and a million dollars is now invested in vessel property by Ocean county citizens. Most of these vessels are built in the county, but some have been built on the North River, at Allowaystown, N. J., and other places.
(As there is no Custom House in Ocean county, my impression is that much of the vessel property owned here is credited to other places; for instance, if three- fourths of a vessel is owned here and one-fourth in New York, the vessel will be enrolled in New York, as it is convenient to renew papers there.)
CAPT. HENDRICKSON AND THE "ONREST."
The first Europeans who ever landed within the limits of our county, it is probable, were Capt. Hend- rickson and his companions in the celebrated yacht " Onrest " (Restless), although we have no positive infor- mation to settle the point. The evidence, though cir- cumstantial, is strong. It will be remembered that Mr. Brodhead, the Historian of N. Y., discovered a map in Holland supposed to have been published or made about October, 1614. This map gives so correct a representa- tion of Barnegat Bay and the various streams running into it that it bears upon its face evidence of having been made from actual exploration. In regard to the author- ship of this map of 1614, I am unaware of its being attributed to any one; but it will be remembered that the little "Onrest," after returning from her cruise in the Spring of that year under Adrien Block (from the East- ward), was taken in charge by Capt. Hendrickson who sailed out of Sindy Hook southerly for the express pur- pose of making discoveries and exploring the coast. Most maps made during the succeeding fifty or seventy- five years give so incorrect representations of Barnegat
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH AND OCEAN COUNTIES.
Bay and the streams emptying into it that they doubt- lessly were made by persons who never entered the bay at all, but only sailed along outside the beach. Navigar tors in vessels ont side could easily determine the length. and quite accurately the width, also, but could see no streams. It is true that in the noted " Figurative " map of 1616, of Capt. Hendrickson's, we find nothing to justify the supposition that he entered this bay, but that map does not appear to have been made to give exact particu- lars of discoveries, but only to give general outlines of the coast for an especial and different purpose, viz : to illustrate and explain his demands for certain special trading privileges. From the object he had in view in cruising along our coast in 1614: from the size of his little vessels so well adapted for coming in our inlet which the larger Dutch vessels could not do; from the improbability of any other navigator cruising along here that year; from the date of the map corresponding so nearly to the time of his trip : from the probabilities that he must have made a more minute map of the coast than his figurative one-from all these circumstances combined, it seems reasonable to suppose that the "Onrest," the first vessel ever built in America, was the first that ever entered Barnegat Bay.
FISHING AND WHALING.
The fishing privileges afforded in the vicinity of Barnegat Bay were frequently enlarged upon by the Pro- prietors and others, to induce persons to settle along the bay and even whaling was expected to prove quite profitable. The celebrated navigator De Vries tells us that on the 15th of April, 1633, he was off " Barendegat, where in two hours he took upwards of eighty codfish better than those of New Foundland. Samuel Groome in order to effect the establishment of this branch of commerce was very anxious for a speedy arrangement with the Indians whereby lan Is near Birnegat might be secured."
The work of Scott, 1685, before alluded to, says :
" Bornogate, or Burning Hole, is said to be a very
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OLD TIMES IN OCEAN COUNTY.
good place for fishing and there are some desiring to take up laul there who inform us that it is good land and abundance of meadow lying in it."
Though whaling turned out generally unprofitable, vet our first settlers found inducements enough to locate here in other fisheries, the abundance of oysters, wild fowl, etc .; these, together with the meadow and farm land adjacent to the bay, rendered the necessaries of life easily obtainable. These first settlers, locating them- selves along the bay or upon streams near the bay, do not appear to have taken up land; the presumption is, that the Proprietors persuaded them to come and locate upon their lands or were anxious to have them do so as a means of drawing other settlers here. A few families appear to have been in the county scattered at various points as early as about 1700, and slowly increased in numbers until from 1735 to 1740, about which time (as far as I have been able to ascertain) settlers first began to take up land. Then (1735-40) we find the next in- ducement to locate here was the valuable sites for mills afforded by the numerous streams and the facilities for the lumber trale; some of the first mills established in Ocean county it may be proper to mention.
SETTLERS FROM LONG ISLAND.
It is said* that the Dateh, after displacing the Swedes along the Delaware in 1655, and while under the Governorship of Peter Alrieks and others, acquired large tracts of country upon the eastern side of New Jersey. According to some traditionary accounts, persons, either Swedes or Dutch, from along the Delaware about this time visited Ocean county and endeavored to induce per- sons to settle along Toms River, but this point is not as yet conclusively settled.
Besides the reasons offered by the Proprietors to in- duce persons to settle here we have other causes which actuated many of the first settlers to locate here and in other parts of East Jersey, given in the following extract
* Hist. Coll. N. J.
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH AND OCEAN COUNTIES.
from a letter of Lord Cornbury's to the Board of Trade, dated July 1st, 1708.
" Two sorts of people remove out of this Govern- ment (New York) to neighboring provinces ; the first are trading men; of these but few have removed since I came hither. The other sort are husbandmen. Of this sort many are removed lately, especially from Kings county, Long Island. Many of our early settlers along shore came from Long Island about the time referred to by Lord Corubury-those on the lower part of our county chiefly by way of Egg Harbor. And the reasons they remove are of two kinds, namely : The first is be- cause Kings county is small and full of people, so as the young grow up they are forced to seek land farther off to settle on. The land in the Eastern Division of New Jersey is good and not very far from Kings county ; there is only a bay to cross. The other reason that in- duces them to move into New Jersey is because they pay no taxes ; no, nor no duties."
Lord Cornbury then proceeds to propose plans to check this emigration, but we find that Gov. Robt. Hun- ter, (April 30th, 1716,) still complains of " the great numbers of the younger sort who leave Long Island yearly to plant in New Jersey and Pennsylvania."
EARLY SETTLERS OF OCEAN.
As before stated, many of the early settlers of Ocean county came from Long Island, probably a majority of those in the lower part of the county. Many of these, perhaps most of them, came by the way of Little Egg Harbor.
From Long Island tax rates 1675, to 1683, are gath- ered the following among other familar Ocean county names :
Oyster Bay : Birdsalls, Willetts, Horners, Town- sends, Andrews.
Gracesind : Tiltons, Davis, Woolleys, Jolmsons, Stillwells, Wilkins.
Brookl rem : Salmons, Rogers, Platts, Jones, Coxos. Hulse .
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OLD TIMES IN OCEAN COUNTY.
Southampton : Roses, Mills, Cooks, Komptons.
Southold : Baileys, Salmons.
East Hampton : Osbornes.
Vertown : Lawrences, Pangborns, Moores, Smiths, Southards, Salmons, Whites, Williams, Formans, Bird- salls, Burchams.
In several Long Island towns are the Lawrences, Conklins, Williams, Rogers, etc.
From Burlington county came the Pharos, Ridg- ways, Imlays, Jennings, Mills, etc.
Among families supposed to have come from Middle- sex are the Parkers," Gulicks, Randolphs, Predmores, etc.
A large number of early settlers came from Mon- month: the Stouts, Holmes, Conovers, Lawrences, Rus- sells, Herberts, and others too numerous to mention.
Many families of the same name appear to have como, in different parts of the county, from different places, as Mills, Cooks, Johnsons, etc.
Among early settlers who are referred to in ancient deeds but of whom little is known as to their origin, we find Wm. Chamberlain whose house stood on the north side of Oyster Creek, 1739; Bobert Hewlett's dwelling, Goodluck, 1748, and Nicholas Brown, Mannahawkin.
Mem: The county was so sparsely populated a century ago that I doubt if it contained over twelve or fifteen hundred people, though so large in territory.
OLD SHREWSBURY TOWNSHIP-THE DUTCH IN NEW JERSEY.
Ocean it will be remembered was once a part of Monmouth, and Monmouth was formerly divided into Middletown and Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury then ex- tended to the most southerly point of the present county of Ocean ; it is therefore proper to make some reference to old Shrewsbury.
The celebrated Stout manuscript says that in 1648 there were only six white families in Middletown. It is doubtful if there were any then in Shrewsbury. Shrews-
* For Parker family see " Contributions to E. J Hist. by W. A. Whitehead "
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH AND OCEAN COUNTIES,
bury was first settled by emigrants from Connecticut in 1664.
The following items relating not only to Shrewsbury, but to other parts of East Jersey, may be new to some ; they are from the Dutch records during their brief sway in 1673.
After displacing the English, the Dutch sent officers into East Jersey to administer to the inhabitants :
THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE.
" Ang. 12th, 1673. The inhabitants of Middletown and Shrewsbury are required and charged to send their deputies unto us on Tuesday morning next to treat upon surrendering their said towns to the Dutch.
(Signed)
CORNELIUS EVERTIE, JACOB BENCKES.
" 14th 7ber 1673. Capt. Kuyff and Lient. Snell re- turned yesterday morning from Aghter Coll# and reported that pursuant to their commissions they had adminis- tered the oath of allegiance to the inhabitants of the undernamed towns, who are found to number as in the lists herewith delivered to Council :"
Elizabethtown, 80 men, 76 took oath-rest absent.
New Wark, 86 75 - 66
Woodbridge, 54 53 66 66
one absent.
Piscataway, 43 43 66 Middletown, 60 66 52
Shrewsbury, 68 38 66 18 Quakers
promised allegiance-rest absent."
By the foregoing census it appears that the men in East Jersey that year numbered 391. Allowing the pop- ulation to have been four times as many as the popula- tion of East Jersey that year (1673) would have been 1564, and of Shrewsbury 272.
Many original Monmouth settlers were Dutch from Holland. The Holland Dutch origin is still preserved by many familiar names as shown elsewhere.
The Holland Dutch (or Low Dutch,) are proverbially
*Aghter foll, or Achter Coll, meaning " beyond the hills"-beyond Bergen Hills- the name applied to East Jersey
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OLD TIMES IN OCEAN COUNTY.
a remarkably cleanly and neat people-so much so, that we hardly dare call in question the truth of the story of one of our very neat, tidy Monmouth Dutch Grandmoth- ers who serubbed her floor so thoroughly and so often, that one day she scrubbed through and fell into the cellar and broke her neck.
The following item also relates to Shrewsbury :
"Whereas the late chosen Magistrates of Shrews- bury are found to be persons whose religion will not suffer them to take an oath, it was ordered that a new nomination of four persons of true Protestant Christian religion out of which I shall elect two and continue one of the former Magistrates.
ANTHONY COLVE, Gov.
29th 7th ber 1673.
Magistrates of Shrewsbury, sworn Sept. 1st, 1673: John Hance, Eleakim Wardil, Hugh Dyckman.
Capt. Knyff and Lient. Snell reported also that they had sworn in certain officers of the militia in said towns. For Middletown and Shrewsbury were the following : Middletown - Jonathan Holmes, Captain; John Smith, Lieut .; Thomas Whitlock, Ensign.
Shrewsbury - William Newman, Captain; John Williamson, Lieut .; Nieles Brown, Ensign.
In 1682 the population of Shrewsbury was estimated at 400, and several thousand acres of land were under cultivation.
PROPRIETORS' DIVISION OF LANDS.
The first mention that I now remember to have met with of any part of the present county of Ocean in any offi- cial publi. English records is in the grant of the Duke of York to Berkely and Carteret July 29th, 1674. In giving the bounds of territory it is described as extending " as far southward as a certain creek called Barnegat, being about the middle point between Sandy Hook anl Cape May, and bounded on the west in a strait line from said creek called Barnegat to a certain creek in Delaware river next adjoining to and below a certain creek in Delaware river called Renkokus." (Leaming & Spicer, p. 46.)
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH AND OCEAN COUNTIES.
The above quotation is repeated in Carteret's in- structions to planters and settlers, (Leaming and Spicer, p. 50.)
In the Proprietors' Instructions to the Deputy Gov- ernor, July 3d, 1685, it is ordered :
" That whenever there is a convenient Plott of land lying together, containing twenty-four thousand acres as we are informed will more especially be the case at Bar- negatte, it be divided and marked into twenty-four parts, a thousand acres to each Proprietary and the parts being made as equal as can be for quality and situation, the first comers settling to have the choice of the Divisions and where several stand equal in that respect upon equal Terms and Time of settling it be determined by lot," etc.
(The sections proceed to give farther directions in regard to dividing the lands which are to be found in Leaming and Spicer, pages 210-211.)
TRAVELING IN ANCIENT TIMES.
Although the majority of persons who earliest visited Ocean county travelled along the shore, yet it is probable that the north-westerly and northerly portions of the county were occasionally traversed by travelers crossing our State long before there were any settlements of whites in the central portion of New Jersey. These trav- elers crossed the State for various reasons, some for curiosity, perhaps, or to explore it ; some on public or private business between the early settlements in New York and East Jersey, adjacent, and the settlements on the Delaware, as in the case of Capt. William Tom and Peter Alricks, 1671; others as missionaries or traveling preachers between settlements in this and other States.
I know of no account which gives the precise route usually travelled then, but it would be reasonable to sup- pose they followed the usual Indian trails or paths. Among these paths we find occasional mention in ancient Monmouth and Ocean records of "Burlington old path," among other places referred to in 1767 in the act creating the township of Dover now in Ocean.
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THE COMING OF THE WHITE MAN.
THE COMING OF THE WHITE MAN.
WHAT THE INDIANS THOUGHT OF THE WHITES AND THEIR SHIPS .- THE NATIVES ASTONISHED. THE MAN IN RED AND THE RED MAN .- FIRE WATER AND ITS FIRST INDIAN VIC- T TIM .- THE FIRST INDIANS DRUNK, &C.
After Sir Henry Hudson's departure from the shores of Monmouth he proceeded towards Manhattan Island and thence up the river now bearing his name. The fol- lowing traditionary account, the coming of the Whites according to Heckwelder, was handed down among both Delaware and Iroquois Indians. It is not often we meet in fact or fiction a more interesting story than this plain, simple Indian tradition. After explaining that the Indian chiefs of old Monmouth County notified the chiefs on York or Manhattan Island, and that the chiefs of the surrounding country finally gathered at the last named place to give a formal reception, the tradition says :
A long time ago before men with a white skin had ever been seen, some Indians fishing at a place where the sea widens, espied something at a distance moving upon the water. They hurried ashore, collected their neigh- bors, who together returned and viewed intently this astonishing phenomenon. What it could be, baffled con- jecture. Some supposed it to be a large fish or other animal, others that it was a large house floating upon the sea. Perceiving it moving towards the land, the spec- tators concluded that it would be proper to send runners in different directions to carry the news to their scattered chiefs, that they might send off for the immediate attend- ance of their warriors .- These arrived in numbers to behold the sight, and perceiving that it was actually moving towards them, that it was coming into the river or bay, they conjectured that it must be a remarkably large house in which the Manitto or Great Spirit was coming to visit them. They were much afraid and yet under no apprehension that the Great Spirit would injure them. They worshipped him. The chiefs now assembled at New York Island and consulted in what manner they
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH AND OCEAN COUNTIES.
should receive their Manitto; meat was prepared for a sacrifice. The women were directed to prepare their best victuals. Idols or images were examined and put in order. A grand dance they thought would be pleasing, and in addition to the sacrifice might appease him if hungry. The conjurers were also set to work to deter- mine what this phenomenon portended and what the re- sult would be. To the conjure's, men, women and chil- dren looked for protection. Utterly at a loss what to do, and distracted alternately between hope and fear, in the confusion a grand dance commenced. Meantime fresh runners arrived, declaring it to be a great house of vari- ous colors and full of living creatures. It now appeared that it was their Manitto, probably bringing some new kind of game. Others arriving declared it positively full of people of different color and dress from theirs, and that one appeared altogether in red. (This was sup- posed to be Sir Henry Hudson.) This then must be the Manitto. They were lost in admiration, could not imagine what the vessel was, whence it came, or what all this portended. They are now hailed from the vessel in a language they could not understand. They answered by a shout or vell in their way. The house or large canoe as some call it, stops. A smaller canoe comes on shore with the red man in it; some stay by the canoe to guard it. The chief and wise men form a circle into which the red man and two attendants enter. He salutes them with friendly countenance, and they return the salute after their manner. They are amazed at their color and dress, particularly with him, who glittering in red, wore something, perhaps lace and buttons, they could not comprehend. He must be the great Manitto, they thought, but why should he have a white skin ?
A large elegant Houckhack (gourd, i. o. bottle, decan- ter, de.,) is brought by one of the supposed Manitto's servants, from which a substance is placed into smaller cups or glasses and handed to the Manitto. He drinks, has the glasses refilled and handed to the chief near him. He takes it, smells it, and passes it to the next,
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THE COMING OF THE WHITE MAN.
who does the same. The glass in this manner is passed around the circle and is about to be returned to the red clothes man, when one of the Indians, a great warrior, harangues them on the impropriety of returning the cup unemptied. It was handed to them, he said, by the Manitto, to drink out of as he had. To follow his ex- ample would please him-to reject, might provoke his wrath ; and if no one else would, he would drink it him- self, let what would follow, for it were better for one man to die, than a whole nation to be destroyed. He then took the glass, smelled it, again addressed them, bidding adieu, and drank its contents. All eyes are now fixed upon the first Indian in New York, who had tasted the poison, which has since effected so signal a revolution in the condition of the native Americans. He soon began to stagger. The women cried, supposing him in fits. He rolled on the ground ; they bemoan his fate ; they thought him dying; he fell asleep ; they at first thought he had expired, but soon perceived he still breathed ; he awoke, jumped up, and declared he never felt more happy. He asked for more, and the whole assembly imitating him became intoxicated. While this intoxica- tion lasted, the whites confined themselves to their ves- sels; after it ceased, the man with the red clothes re- turned and distributed beads, axes, hoes and stockings. They soon became familiar, and conversed by signs. The whites made them understand that they would now re- turn home, but the next year they would visit them again with presents, and stay with them awhile; but as that they could not live without eating, they should then want a little land to sow seeds, in order to raise herbs to put in their broth.
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