USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > History of Monmouth County, New Jersey, 1664-1920, Volume II > Part 9
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southerly along said railroad to the Mt. Pleasant (now Freneau) sta- tion, thence westerly along center of the road leading to the Old Bridge turnpike and along the center of said turnpike to Matawan creek, thence northerly following the course of the current of said creek to the place of beginning.
Cliffwood, in the northern part of Matawan township, about a mile and half from the borough of Matawan, has a population of about 125 souls. About 1860, Henry L. Clark purchased a tract of land on which he laid out a village plot, erected a large hotel, built a dock, and char- tered a steamboat to make trips to and from the place, but his efforts failed to create a village or establish a trading point. There are at the present day a few industries. Cliffwood Methodist Episcopal Church building was erected in 1854; the services from the first have been under the charge of the church of that denomination at Matawan.
CHAPTER XLV.
HOLMDEL
Holmdel is an interior township, with the following boundaries: Ou the north by Raritan township, east by Middletown township, south and southwest by Atlantic township, and west by Marlboro and Matawan townships. Hop river is its chief stream, and marks part of its western boundary from Marlboro, and all of the southwestern boundary from Atlantic township. Wakake creek flows northwardly through Raritan township into Raritan bay. The only railroad is the New York & Long Branch line, which crosses its northeastern part. The territory was taken from Raritan township, and erected in 1857, the Act reading as follows:
All that of Raritan township, beginning in the centre of the public road leading from Arrowsmith's Mills to Tanner's Landing, and in the line between Raritan and Middletown townships, at the northeast corner of lands of John P. Smith; and from thence runnning in a southwesterly direction in a straight line to the bridge near Murphy's Tanyard, in the public road leading from Middletown to Middletown Point; thence west- erly along the middle of said road to the intersection of said road with the road leaving from Holmdel to Brown's Point; thence southerly along the middle of the last named road to intersection of said road with the road leaving from Beers' Corner to Mount Pleasant, near the residence of Ann Van Brackle; thence running in a straight line on a southerly course to the northeast corner of Marlboro township, near the dwelling house of Samuel Beers; thence along the division line between Raritan, Marlboro and Atlantic townships to the Middletown township line; and thence northerly along the division line between Raritan and Middletown towns to the beginning.
The township is so named for the Holmes family, a number having been large land-owners and influential citizens in this region. For two centuries they have intermarried with the old families of the county, and perhaps one-fourth of the inhabitants who are descendants of the English Baptists, the Quakers, the Dutch, French Huguenots and Scottish settlers, are connected by ties of blood with the Holmes ancestor, Rev. Obadiah Holmes, who emigrated from England in 1638 and became pastor of the old Baptist church at Newport, Rhode Island. He was one of the Mon- mouth patentees to whom Governor Nicolls granted the territory of near- ly the whole of Monmouth county. Like several other patentees, he never actually settled here, but made occasional visits, and helped to organize the old Baptist church at Middletown, the first of that denomi- nation in New Jersey, and either the third or fourth in the colonies. Two of his sons, Obadiah and Jonathan, settled on the Patent, the first named
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only remaining here a few years and returning to Rhode Island. Jon- athan located here permanently, and was one of the first officers elected at a meeting of the inhabitants of "Middletown, on Newasunk Neck," and "Shrewsbury, or Navarumsunk Neck," on December 19, 1667.
Another Monmouth patentee, Captain John Bowne, was ore of the first settlers in the township. For many years preceding and until the time of his death in 1684, he lived on a farm near what was known as Crawford's Corners, being the property owned by William H. Crawford, and having come into the possession of the family by marriage. Captain Bowne's widow Lydia is often mentioned in the ancient road records from 1689 to 1693, and is the same person to whom several Indian sachems deeded lands on August 10, 1690; (Deed Book A, B, C, Monmouth county records).
The only village in the township is Holmdel, situated in the south- western corner. In "Gordon's Gazetteer" of 1834 it is mentioned as "Holmdel, or Baptisttown," with the following note: "It contains a Baptist church, an academy, two stores and eight dwellings." Few peo- ple probably are aware of the fact that the little hamlet which afterward became Baptisttown and is now Holmdel, was the original village of Freehold, and bore that name probably three-fourths of a century before the shire town now known as Freehold was so called. This is shown by reference to an old map made in 1769 by Lieut. Bernard Ratzer, of the 60th Regiment of the British army, then stationed at Perth Amboy. The map is entitled "The province of New Jersey, divided into east and west, and commonly called The Jerseys, engraved and published by William Faden, Charing Cross, London, England, December 1, 1777." The map shows Freehold village, with a considerable cluster of houses, standing exactly where Holmdel now is, at the intersection of the road running (as then delineated) from Shrewsbury to Cranbury, with the road from Mid- dletown to Monmouth Court House, which latter village is represented by a much smaller number of houses than is given to Freehold, now Holmdel.
Daniel Holmes had a store in the Academy building prior to 1820, and Aaron Longstreet, John Hance, Thomas Swords and William H. Smock were merchants at a later date. The postoffice was established in 1836, the postmaster being Dr. Robert W. Cooke. He was a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, and a pupil of the celebrated Dr. Valentine Mott. Dr. Cooke commenced to practice in the county in 1820, and continued to do so during the remainder of his life. A half-mile from the village is the Van Mater mill site, said to have been used for mill purposes since 1788, the first mill having been erected by one of the Holmes family. Ely's Mills, on Hop river, were in the southwest corner of the township, and at the intersection of the township lines of Holmdel, Atlantic and Marlboro. About two hundred yards be- low, in 1710, Jacob Van Doren built a grist mill on a tract of 776 acres.
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It remained in the family till 1829, when it passed into the possession of the Elys.
The Baptist church has a history dating back more than two cen- turies, but no clue to its ancient origin is found either in its name or the date of its recognition. The Middletown church had in its beginning two centres at each of which the Baptist settlers predominated and where they built meeting-houses, worshiping and transacting church busi- ness alternately in them. One of these was Middletown village, and the other Baptisttown, designated as the Upper and Lower congregations. The names of Bowne, Holmes, Stout, Crawford, Mott, Ashton, Bray and others appear on the record. On September 1, 1836, the two congre- gations divided, the Middletown church retaining the name and organiza- tion of the original body, and the Holmdel church taking the title of the Second Middletown church; in 1849 the name was changed to Holmdel. Among the pastors have been Revs. W. D. Hires, William J. Nice, C. E. Wilson, T. S. Griffith and W. W. Case. In 1882 the parsonage, in use for about seventy years, was torn down and a new building erected upon the site.
The Reformed Church was originally a part of the old Dutch Re- formed of the Navesink (now the "Brick Church" of Marlboro), the his- tory of which is given in the chapter on Marlboro township, as referring to the history of this church until 1825, when the Classis of Monmouth gave it a separate organization. In 1719 a church had been built about a mile from Holmdel, on the road to Middletown. Each pew contained eight sittings, which were numbered, so that each person had his or her number. This building was removed, and the second church was erected in 1764, and used until 1838, when the present edifice was built.
When the corporate existence that had existed with the church of Freehold for nearly one hundred and twenty-five years was dissolved, and the organization of this branch took place November 25, 1825, the Rev. Jacob Ten Broeck Beekman was installed as the first pastor, July 23, 1826. This was his first charge, and he brought to it all the vim and ardor of youth. This soon became apparent by the increased member- ship, forty-two persons being added in the year 1832. A man of progres- sive views, he desired a new church edifice, as the old one was in a dilapi- dated condition and unfit for use. This resulted in a difference of opinion and eventually led to the erection of two new meeting-houses, one at Middletown, the other at Holmdel. Mr. Beekman dissolved his rela- tions with the church in 1836, and then followed three years of discord and rebellion. The old church was vacant and remained so for three years, and the agitation for a new church being helped by a bequest, it was decided to build at the then growing village of Baptisttown, now Holmdel. The building erected cost $5,500, and was sixty-two feet long and forty-two feet wide. Overtures had been made to Dr. Reiley two years before, but owing to discord and strife then existing, he declined to
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accept the charge, but on a renewal of the requests he accepted and was installed as pastor May 26, 1839; the congregation at this time numbered forty families and fifty communicants. In the year 1846 the congrega- tion had so increased there was a demand for more pews. Four years later a chapel was built, and the church was again repaired in 1861 by the addition of a new ceiling and extra supports to the steeple. Then came the corporate title of the church; it now being within the township of Holmdel, the title assumed was the Reformed Protestant Church of Holmdel, it being previously known as the United Reformed Congrega- tion of Middletown. Dr. Reiley continued in the active pastorate of the church until 1887, when on account of growing infirmities his resignation was imperative; the Classis released him and declared him pastor emeri- tus, in which he continued until his death, July 14, 1894, a period of fifty- five years, his active pastorate being forty-eight years. Dr. Reiley was a man with a spirit of benevolence largely characteristic of the church of which he was a member. During the first forty years of his pastorate, 278 persons were added on confession of their faith, and 61 by letter, and he solemnized 237 marriages. A fine monument, erected by the congre- gation upon the brow of the hill overlooking the village, serves as an abiding testimony of their appreciation. The Rev. Andrew Hageman be- came pastor in 1887; during his ministry the chapel was enlarged and beautified, the church property improved, and nearly every communion service witnessed additions to the church. His hold on the people was magnetic, his preaching powerful. The Rev. Garrett Wyckoff was in- stalled as pastor February 7, 1894; the church was remodeled at an ex- pense of $10,000 in 1897. The building was enlarged by the addition of twelve feet in the rear, a steel ceiling replaced the old plaster one, hand- some memorial stained glass windows were substituted for the plain glass ones; new pews of quartered oak took the place of the old ones, the pul- pit was moved from the front to the rear of the church, and a rich carpet of Brussels covered the floor. The heating apparatus was changed from stoves to a furnace, while the steeple and roof were slated and the church painted in an artistic manner.
On the road between Holmdel and Morrisville, a small hamlet on the township line between Holmdel and Middletown, the Roman Catholics in 1879 built a church building twenty-five by seventy feet in size. It was dedicated November 25, 1879, by Archbishop Corrigan. At the time of its organization it was under the care of Father M. L. Glennon, who re- mained until June 1, 1883, when he was succeeded by Father J. J. O'Con- nor, afterwards Bishop of Newark. Later it began a mission and is now in charge of Rev. John O'Grady of the parish of St. Gabriel at Bradevelt.
CHAPTER XLVI.
EATONTOWN
The township of Eatontown was formed from portions of Shrews- bury and Ocean townships in 1873, with the following boundaries:
Beginning at Cranbury brook, where it crosses the line of Ocean and Shrewsbury townships, and running easterly down said brook to the Long Branch corporation line; the saw mill now on said stream to be considered in Ocean township, and the Ocean Mills to be considered in Eatontown township; thence running along the westerly line of said Corporation to the railroad leading from Eatontown to Long Branch; thence north- easterly to the southeasterly corner of John E. Pye's land; thence north- erly to the South Shrewsbury river, being the boundary line between Ocean and Shrewsbury townships; thence westerly to the point of land known as Horse Neck, at the end of a new road; thence westerly along said road to the turnpike leading from Red Bank to Eatontown; thence southerly along said turnpike to the junction of the road leading from Eatontown to Tinton Falls; thence westerly along said road towards Tinton Falls to the corner of the road leading from the northwest corner of John G. Vanderveer's farm to the Half Way House, and thence south- erly along said road to the place of beginning. The bounds are: on the north and northwest Shrewsbury township and river; on the east Pleas- ure Bay, Ocean township and Long Branch; on the south Ocean town- ship; and on the west Shrewsbury township. The northern portion of the township is crossed by the New York and Long Branch railroad, and also by the Eatontown branch, which connects with the main line of the New Jersey Central road at Eatontown Junction, in the northwest corner of the township.
The population at the time of the erection of the township was in the neighborhood of twenty-five hundred, and there has been but a small in- crease at the present time.
Eatontown is the principal village, and situated in the northwest corner of the township, four miles west of Long Branch and on the line of the New Jersey Central railroad. The town takes its name from Thomas Eaton, an Englishman from Goodhurst, County Kent, who set- tled about 1670 on the creek that passes through the town, upon which he soon after built a grist mill. He died in 1688 and was succeeded in the ownership of the property by his son John, who was a member of the legislature from 1723 until his death in 1750. The mill property passed from John Eaton in 1716 to Gabriel Stelle, and thence through many hands to Lydia, daughter of David Potter, who married Peter Wolcott. At that time there was no grist mill, and only the remains of a fulling mill, northeast of the old mill site. Peter Wolcott built the present mill, which stands on the creek, in the outskirts of the village and is in a fair
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state of preservation. In later years the mill was owned by White and Richmond, and was operated for many years by J. H. and C. A. Rich- mond, and known as Richmonds' Mill.
Benjamin and Joseph Parker, Daniel McAlfee, George White, Joseph Allen, Gabriel and James West, and W. R. Stevens were pioneer store- keepers. Eatontown in 1834 consisted of about thirty dwellings, five or six stores, two taverns, a grist mill, and an academy. The latter was a private school known as the Eatontown Seminary, and was situated a mile eastward from the village on the road to Long Branch. In 1844, through the efforts of several prominent citizens, principally among whom was Dr. John P. Lewis, a high school was established and Profes- sor Cyrenius Jones, a popular teacher of Binghamton, New York, was induced to accept the principalship. Mr. Jones had original plans of his own, particularly in reference to erecting a building for school purposes. The main building was sixty by forty feet, four stories high, surmounted by a large observatory, which was to be devoted to classes in astronomy. The interior of the house was a hollow square with rooms for students on all sides, so that from the desk of the principal all the seventy-five rooms could be seen, the hollow square being lighted by a skylight. One of the rules of the school was, but one scholar should occupy a room, and he was to be known by its number. There was also a wing sixty by thirty feet for the female department, a laboratory, dining room, parlor, etc. The cellar under the main building, eleven feet in height with plenty of windows, was utilized for a play room; the total cost of the house was $9,000.
Though the school was opened with eighty boarders and a number of day scholars, under the tuition of Mr. Jones and three assistant teach- ers, the prosperity of the institution only lasted two years, when ad- versity set in. Though Mr. Jones was a thorough teacher, he was a poor financier, consequently debts accumulated and the result was that the creditors took the property and the school was closed in disaster. The property was purchased by B. C. White, and he disposed of it to H. F. Spaulding, who changed the name to the Ocean Institute, and opened a day school that was well patronized. The building was also used for public entertainments, but in the fall of 1852 C. and N. Cothran, gradu- ates of Bowdoin College, bought the property for the purpose of opening a first class school to prepare boys for college and business. They made extensive alterations in the interior of the building and the school was well patronized both by scholars at home and from abroad. The Cothran Brothers finally decided to dispose of the property and sold it to a com- pany consisting of Isaac Walton, James B. Wright and Howard Wright, who improved the premises and changed the name to Dunbarton House, and rented it for a summer hotel. After a few years the property was sold to Mrs. Margaret Downs for $15,000, who spent five thousand in erecting an extension to the main building and still continued it as a
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hotel. The property in 1875 came into the hands of John Dunbar Wright, a benevolent and leading member of the Friends' Meeting in New York City, and president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Chil- dren, who made the property a free gift to the American Female Guar- dian Society of New York as a summer home for the society for friendless and cruelly treated children. The property, which embraced four acres and a large commodious building, was used summer and winter for the purpose it was thus designated for. A chapel was erected in 1882 on the grounds, and was named the Bennett Memorial in honor of Mrs. S. R. I. Bennett, a member and an active worker during her life in prosecuting the benevolent work of the society. The old tavern which was erected before the Revolutionary War was purchased in 1861 by John J. Wheeler, and on the destruction of the property by fire, December 10, 1873, the following summer he erected a three-story brick hotel which after pass- ing through different ownerships since the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment has been abandoned as a hotel and is used for other purposes.
The early history of Masonry in Monmouth county is very meagre. In the year 1769 a warrant was granted by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania to William Bostwick and others for a lodge at Middle- town, but this is all that is known of it in history. A dispensation was granted in 1787 to open a lodge in Freehold to be known as Trinity Lodge No. 3, but the warrant was surrendered in 1793. The Grand Lodge in 1807 granted another warrant for a lodge at Middle Point to be known as Trinity Lodge No. 20, but it passed into oblivion before 1813. There was no lodge in existence in 1815 in the vicinity of Eaton- town, when Dr. John P. Lewis and others obtained a warrant for the organization of Washington Lodge No. 34, to be located in the township of Shrewsbury. The first meeting was held at the private residence of Stoffel Longstreet, and the first persons initiated were Joseph Brindley and Elisha Laird. Eatontown was at this time the most important town iying within the scope of the territory designated by the charter, there- tore naturally it became the location of the lodge. The formation of the lodge and its material prosperity was largely due to Dr. John P. Lewis. His punctual attendance at every meeting, the great amount of Masonic labor he performed, his assiduous attention, and his zeal, which never abated, was continued until the hour of his death. His efforts were faith- fully aided by Jonathan Morris, Alexander McGregor, Samuel Harvey, Thomas Little, Tucker Cook, Stoffel Longstreet, Joseph Mcknight, Joseph Brindley and others.
The membership of the lodge had increased in 1821 to such an extent that means were taken to erect a Masonic Hall, meetings prior to this having been held in the homes of the members. The building was erected by voluntary contributions, the work being completed in 1822, and on September 28th that year twenty-five members and visitors assembled and marched in procession to their new hall to perform the ceremonies
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of a formal dedication of the edifice to Masonic use and purpose. The land on which the hall stands was donated by Dr. John P. Lewis, and the building remained in its original form and structure until 1866, when it was renovated and remodeled. At the time of the anti-Masonic move- ment in this community the excitement ran high and the controversy be- came bitter; the lodge began to experience difficulties, its resources crip- pled by non-payment of dues, and arrears of dues to the Grand Lodge increasing every year. Soon Washington Lodge, with debts accumulat- ing, was in straitened financial condition, meetings were irregular. From 1837 until February 11, 1843, the sound of the gavel calling the lodge to order was not heard; at the latter date an attempt was made to resume business. The lodges in the State had been renumbered by the Grand Lodge, Washington receiving number nine. Though there were several attempts to revive the lodge, it was not until June 1, 1846, that Washing- ton Lodge No. 9 opened in due form. At that meeting Dunbar Salis- bury made application for membership, was elected, and in due time ad- mitted. From this time on, the lodge held regular communications, grew in numbers and influence, and a new charter was granted by the Grand Lodge. Since its reorganization, Washington Lodge No. 9 has grown in numbers and has become the mother of Masonic bodies in other parts of the county, her members leaving the parental roof and estab- lishing a home and posterity of their own.
The borough of Eatontown was erected April 6, 1920, the Act setting forth the following boundaries:
Beginning in the middle of Monmouth road, where the same is in- tersected by the middle of Turtle Mill brook, said beginning point being in the northerly line of the Borough of West Long Branch; thence run- ning along the middle of said Monmouth road and in a northerly direc- tion to the middle of the Long Branch and Eatontown boulevard; thence along said boulevard, and in a northwesterly direction to the middle of Main street leading to Oceanport; thence along the middle thereof, and in a northeasterly direction a distance of about six hundred feet more or less, to a point where the middle of Monmouth road, if extended in a northerly direction would intersect the same; thence in a northerly direc- tion, following the prolongation of the middle of Monmouth road, and in a northerly direction to the middle of Lafetra's brook, and to the north- erly line of Eatontown township; thence in a westerly direction along the middle of Lafetra's brook and the present Eatontown township northerly line to the middle of Hop road, and to the present westerly line of Eaton- town township; thence along the middle of Cape road and in a southerly direction to the middle of Tinton avenue; thence along the middle there- of and in an easterly direction of a continuation of Hope road; thence along the middle thereof, and in a southerly direction, following the present Eatontown township westerly line to the middle of Cranbury brook and to the southerly line of Eatontown township; thence along the middle of Cranbury brook and the southerly line of said township to the middle of Whale Pond road and the westerly line of West Long Branch; thence along the middle of Whale Pond road and in a northerly direction,
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