History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 1, Part 68

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 974

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THE SQUANKUM RAILROAD AND MARL COMPANY was incorporated by an act of the Legislature approved March 22, 1866, the following being the names of the incorporators : John D. Buckalew, Charles Butcher, Francis H. Holmes, Peter Cortelyou, Samuel T. Wil- liams, Joel Parker and Robert F. Stockton, Jr. The capital stock was one hundred thousand dollars, with power to increase to two hundred thousand dollars. The company was invested with the right and power "to survey, lay out, locate and construct, maintain and operate a railroad from some point in the county of Mon- mouth, at or near Freehold, to some point at or near Farmingdale, in said county, with the privilege of connecting with the Freehold and Jamesburg Agricultural Railroad, or the Rari- tan and Delaware Bay Railroad, or both." In 1868 an act was passed, approved February 18th, incorporating the Squankum and Freehold Marl Company, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, with power to increase to five hundred thousand dollars. The corporators were John D. Buckalew, John P. Stockton, Robert F. Stockton, John G. Stevens, Richard . F. Stevens and Isaac S. Buckalew. This com-

pany was authorized " to purchase, take, have, hold, occupy and convey such and so many marl-beds as they may deem proper, situate in the county of Monmouth, and to open and work the same," and also " to lay out and con- struct a railroad in the county of Monmouth to run from some convenient point on the line of the Freehold and Jamesburg Agricultural Rail- road, at or near the village of Freehold, to their said marl-beds at or near the village of Farm- ingdale, with such branches as may be deemed proper, not exceeding three miles in length.

. . ." The road from Freehold to the marl- beds at Farmingdale was completed and opened in 1861, and on the 1st of April in that year an act was passed declaring "That it shall and may be lawful for the Freehold and Jamesburg Agricultural Railroad Company to run their engines and cars over the railroad of the Squan- kum and Freehold Marl Company for the con- veyance of passengers and merchandise, and to charge reasonable fares and freights therefor," the assent of the last-mentioned company being first obtained.

THE FARMINGDALE AND SQUAN VILLAGE RAILROAD COMPANY was incorporated by an act approved April 3, 1867, with power "to survey, lay out, locate and construct, maintain and operate a railroad from some point in the township of Howell, in the county of Mon- mouth, at or near the village of Farmingdale, to some point in the township of Wall, in said county, at or near Squan village, with the privilege of connecting the said road with any road or roads of the Squankum Railroad and Marl Company, or with the Raritan and Dela- ware Bay Railroad Company, or both." The corporators named in the act were Osborn Curtis, Pitney Curtis, James M. Allen, James L. Allgor, John Remson, Grandin G. Vannote, Thomas J. Branin, Benjamin D. Pearce, John E. Tilton, J. B. Gifford, Samuel Williams and Brittain Hurley. By the construction and com- pletion of this road a continuous railway line was furnished from the sea-coast at Squan village, by way of Farmingdale and Freehold, to the old Camden and Amboy road at James- burg.

On the 24th of April, 1879, the three cor-

382

HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

porations composing the above-mentioned line from Jamesburg to the sea,-viz., the Freehold and Jamesburg Agricultural Railroad Com- pany, the Squankum and Freehold Marl Company and the Farmingdale and Squan Village Railroad Company-were, in accordance with the provisions of acts of the Legislature, approved March 10, 1874, and March 7, 1878, merged and consolidated into one, as the Free- hold and Jamesburg Agricultural Railroad Company. The directors of the three corpora- tions signing this consolidation agreement were, -Of the Freehold and Jamesburg Agricultural Railroad Company : Benjamin Fish, Lewis Perrine, G. B. Roberts, Strickland Kneass, J. N. Du Barry, Joel Parker, Charles A. Bennett, I. S. Buckalew, R. S. Conover. Of the Squan- kum and Freehold Marl Company : John G. Stevens, Richard F. Stevens, F. W. Stevens, John D. Buckalew, J. L. Buckalew, I. S. Buckalew. Of the Farmingdale and Squan Village Railroad Company : Strickland Kneass, J. N. Du Barry, A. J. Cassatt, I. S. Buckalew, S. B. Oviatt, A. A. Higgins, Hal Allaire, Albert Hewson, Edmund Smith.

The road from Jamesburg to Squan village has since been leased to the Pennsylvania Rail- road Company, and now forms a link in the lines operated by that company.

THE FREEHOLD AND NEW YORK RAILWAY, now in successful operation, is the successor of the old Freehold and Keyport Railroad project, which, from a time commencing about forty years ago, was a favorite project of the citizens of Monmouth. Year after year the farmers resid- ing in the interior of the county had carted their produce to boats at Middletown Point and Key- port, in order that it might be transported di- rectly to New York. The wearisome journey, the wear and tear on wagon and team, the loss of much valuable time was a convincing argu- ment, showing that a railroad directly to Key- port would prove an important factor in devel- oping the resources of the county. At last, in 1841 the Freehold and Keyport Railroad was chartered ; but the determined and persistent op- position and hostility of people living along the proposed line, and the consequent difficulty of · obtaining funds to carry through the enterprise,

caused it to be finally abandoned by its project- ors. The charter was owned principally, or en- tirely, by Judge Peter Vredenburgh, who, after the definite abandonment of the project, was of- fered one thousand dollars for it, but refused the offer, because he doubted the good faith and honesty of purpose of the parties who made it.

All hope of building the road at that time be- ing relinquished, the old routine of carting ten, fifteen, twenty, or even more miles still went on year after year, until some enterprising citizens began again to agitate the matter of building a railroad. Leading business men and farmers now took a more practical, pronounced interest in the enterprise. Meetings were held in the interest of the proposed road, and finally the Legislature of the State was petitioned to charter a railroad to run "from some point in or near the village of Freehold, in the county of Mon- mouth, and thence through the said county of Monmouth, by way of the village of Matawan, to some suitable point at the village of Key- port." On the 5th of April, 1867, the Legisla- ture passed an act to incorporate the " Monmouth County Agricultural Railroad," the names of the incorporators being Joseph D. Hoff, David M. Rue, Samuel Conover, Thomas V. Arrowsmith. Henry S. Little, T. V. Du Bois, Richard S. Hartshorne, William Spader, Charles Haight, John McLelland, John W. Herbert, Christian D. Emson, Alfred Walling, Lafayette Conover, Joseph T. Laird, Amzi C. McLean, Hendrick S. Conover, Jacob Herbert and Joseph H. Ro- sell. The announcement of this fact was hailed with delight by the farmers and business men of Monmouth County, for they believed it to be the harbinger of better times. The route was laid out, two-thirds of the grading was done, most of the cross-ties were procured, and the road bridges were constructed (D. C. Jackson, of Middletown, N. Y., being the contractor), when, in 1875, the company became bankrupt, and by order of the Court of Chancery the road was placed in the hands of S. M. Dickinson, Esq., as receiver. Mr. Dickinson, in March, 1876, sold the road to James P. Lowrey, Esq., of the law firm of Clarkson N. Potter and James P. Lowrey, New York City. The languishing enterprise was resuscitated under Mr. Lowrey's

383

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

energetic management, and the name of the road was changed for the one which it now bears. The contract for the completion of the road as far as Freehold Junction was given to M. S. Coleman & Brother, of Madison, N. J. On the 25th of May, 1877, work was recommenced, and was pushed forward with such despatch that on the 2nd of July following (only a little over a month), the road was finished as far as the Junction, and the first train was run from Free- hold. Work on the remainder of the route was suspended until 1879, when it was resumed, and was completed in August, 1880. It now forms a part of the lines leased and operated by the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company.

THE NEW YORK AND LONG BRANCH RAILROAD COMPANY was incorporated by an act of the Legislature passed April 8, 1868, with power and authority "to survey, lay out and construct a railroad from any point at or near the village of South Amboy, in the county of Middlesex, to any point on the line of the Raritan and Delaware Bay Railroad north of Eatontown, with the privilege of extending the same to Long Branch, in the county of Mon- mouth ; said road to run by the way of the villages of Matawan and Red Bank." The corporators were Samuel Barrows, Charles Gould, Jacob Herbert, E. Boudinot Colt, John Travers, Robert Rennie, Anthony Reckless, James .H. Peters, William H. Hendrickson, Henry S. Little, Henry W. Johnson, Aaron Longstreet, Richard S. Conover, Robert Allen, Jr. and William L. Terhune. Capital stock, three hundred thousand dollars, "with liberty to increase the same to six hundred thousand dollars." In 1869 an act was passed author- izing the extension of this road northward, to cross the Raritan River from South Amboy, by ferry or bridge, with a draw of not less than one hundred feet in width, and to connect with Woodbridge and Perth Amboy Railroad, or any other road which might be built to intersect its route. Under an act of incorporation ap- proved March 30, 1869, the road was extended northward from Perth Amboy to Elizabethport, there joining the main line of the New Jersey Central Railroad Company, which became the lessee of the whole line from Elizabethport to

Long Branch. The road is now operated by the Philadelphia and Reading and the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company, both of which corporations run their trains over its tracks to Long Branch.

The first section of the line of railway which now extends along the entire sea coast of Mon- mouth County is that which was built under an act passed in 1856, incorporating the Long Branch and Sandy Hook Railroad Company. Its northern terminus was-as at present-at the " Horse Shoe," on the inside of the Sandy Hook peninsula, from which point the "Plym- outh Rock" and other steamers made the connection with New York, carrying nearly all the passengers between the city and Long Branch, until the route was in a great measure superseded by the opening of the all-rail lines.

THE LONG BRANCH AND SEA-SHORE RAIL- ROAD COMPANY was incorporated under an act of the Legislature, approved March 20, 1863, with a capital stock of $300,000, and authority to increase the same to $800,000; the road to run from " a point on Sandy Hook, in the county of Monmouth, at or near the Horse Shoe, running through Long Branch ; thence, through or near Squan village, to a point on Tom's River, at or near Tom's River village, in the county of Ocean ; thence to Tuckerton, in the county of Burlington ;" the construction of the road to be commenced within three years, and to be completed within seven years from the 4th of July next ensuing. By a supple- mentary act, dated February 16, 1870, this company and the New Jersey Southern Railroad Company were authorized, by and with the consent of two-thirds of the stockholders of said companies, to consolidate, and the roads to be united by a branch or branches of either road, at or near the village of Long Branch. This road was completed and opened to the Mana- squan River in 1876, and thence, soon after- wards, to Pemberton. In 1878 the mortgage was foreclosed, and Isaac S. Buckalew, Esq., was appointed receiver. In May, 1879, it was sold by him, and afterwards reorganized and became a part of the system of the United Railroads of New Jersey. The southern part of the line is now operated exclusively by the Pennsylvania

384

HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

Railroad Company, but in Monmouth County it is also used by the trains of the Philadelphia and Reading Company.

THE PEMBERTON AND HIGHTSTOWN RAIL- ROAD COMPANY was incorporated by an act of the Legislature, passed March 24, 1864. The capital stock was $500,000, with authority to increase it to $,1,000,000 ;. the road to run from the town of Pemberton, Burlington County, to Hightstown, in Mercer County, con- necting at Pemberton with the Burlington County Railroad, and at Hightstown with the old Camden and Amboy line, passing by the villages of Wrightstown, New Egypt, Horners- town, Fillmore and Imlaystown ; the construc- tion of the road to be commenced within three years, and to be completed within six years from the 4th day of July next ensuing. By the com- pletion of this road and its opening, in 1867, the people of the southwestern part of Mon- mouth County for the first time enjoyed the ad- vantages of railroad communication. The road passed under the control of the United Railroads of New Jersey, and was finally included in the lease of the united lines to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, by which it is now operated.

POPULATION.

The earliest statement which has been found relative to the number of inhabitants in Mon- mouth County was made in the year 1726, in a letter written by Governor William Burnet to the Lords of Trade, in London. In that com- munication the Governor gave the population of the several counties of New Jersey, of which Monmouth was then the most populous. The figures given were: Monmouth, 4879; Essex, 4,200; Burlington, 4129; Middlesex, 4000; Salem, 3967; Hunterdon, 3377; Gloucester, 3229; Bergen, 2673; Somerset, 2271; Cape May, 668.

In 1737 the population of Monmouth County was 6086; in 1745, 8627. By the first United States census, taken in 1790, the population of the county was 16,918. In 1800 (second cen- sus) it was 19,872; in 1810, 22,150; in 1820, 25,038; in 1830, 29,233; in 1840, 32,909; in 1850 (the territory of Ocean County having .been taken from Monmouth), 30,313; in 1860,

39,346. In 1865 (State census) it was 42,- 868; in 1870, 46,195. The census of 1875 gave a population of 48,500, and that of 1880 (the last enumeration by the United States), 55,538. The population of the several town- ships and some of the principal villages of the county, in 1870, 1875 and 1880 is here given, viz .:

TOWNSHIP OR VILLAGE.

1870.

1875.

1880.

Atlantic township

1,713

1,653

1,743

Allentown village ..

1,010

Asbury Park village.

1,640

Eatontown township.

2,573

2,642

Eatontown village.

525

Farmingdale village.

882

Freehold township .

4,231

3,571

4,3021

Freehold town ..

2,432

Holmdel township.

1.415

1,338

1,575

Howell township

3,371

3,300

3,374

Long Branch district.

3,833

Manalapan township.

2,286

2,094

2,175

Marlborough township.

2,231

2,274

2,193

Matawan township.

2,839

2,875

2,699

Matawan village.

1,437

Middletown township

4,639

4,517

5,059

Millstone township

2,087

2,091

2,080

Neptune township ..

6,189

6,109

6,027

Raritan township.

3,443

3,564

3,891

Red Bank town.

2,684

Shrewsbury township.

5,440

6,330

6,526

Upper Freehold township,

3,640

3,598

3,236

Wall township.

2,671

2,613

3,829

CHAPTER XVI.

THE TOWN AND TOWNSHIP OF FREEHOLD.

THE town or village of Freehold dates its history back to the year 1715, when, by the location and erection of the first court-house of the county, it became, as it has since continued for a period of nearly a century and three- quarters, the county-seat of Monmouth.

For almost fifty years prior to the time men- tioned, the courts of the county had been held at Portland Point (the Highlands) and in the "meeting houses" of Middletown and Shrews- bury; but the population had in that time in- creased, and had become spread out and ex- tended so much towards the south and south-

1 Including village.

4,187

Ocean township.

Ocean Grove village.

620

385

THE TOWN OF FREEHOLD.

west, that when in 1713, it was decided that a court-house should be erected, they demanded that it should be located "in Freehold [town- ship], somewhere near John Okeson's, the nearest of all to the middle of the good land and whole inhabitants of the county." An act of Assembly was passed at the session of 1713, fixing the location in accordance with this demand, and on the site established, (the land having been conveyed to the county for the purpose by John Reid, August 26, 1714), the court-house was built, as will be more fully mentioned elsewhere in this history.

The act referred to, shows that John Okeson was an inhabitant of the immediate vicinity of the court-house site; and it is also certain, from the description given in the deed by which John Reid conveyed the lot, that his dwelling stood within three or four rods (westerly) of the present court-house. In that deed (a copy of which is given in full elsewhere) he recites that the land had been conveyed to him, with other tracts, in March of the same year, by Thomas Combs; and by reference to the Combs deed it is found that the tract mentioned as having been conveyed by him to Reid (in- cluding the court-house site) is described there as beginning at the head of Spottswood Middle Brook, near the Burlington Path, and running along the path south westerly twenty-one chains; thence. running back from the path northerly and westerly by various courses to the starting- point. The Burlington Path at this point was along what is now the main street of Freehold, and it is therefore clear that in 1714, John Reid was the owner of that part of the site of the present village which lies on the north- westerly side of the main street, from about where the railroad track now crosses it north- easterly to the ravine (then much deeper and more clearly marked than now), from the northern end of which, at the gas-works, flows the tiny stream which is one of the head-waters of Spottswood Middle Brook.

Nothing has been found in the ancient records or elsewhere to show that any other dwellings than those of John Reid and John Okeson were standing, in 1714, on the lands now embraced in the corporate limits of Free-

hold, though it is by no means improbable that there may have been other inhabitants then living there, and among them the Thomas Combs from whom Reid purchased his land on the Burlington Path.

The references to " the house of John Okeson of Freehold" (township), found in the act re- ferred to, and in the records of the county, induce the belief that his was a public-house or tavern, such as in early days were frequently found, remote from villages, on the principal routes of travel. Such a route was the 'Bur- lington Path, which is found mentioned in the road records of the county before the year 1700 as a "King's Highway," running from Cross- wicks, " by way of ye Leonards," to Tinton Falls. Whether Okeson's was a tavern or not, it must have been located on the southeast side of what is now the main street of Freehold, as the lands on the other side, as far each way from the court-house as the business part of the town extends to-day, were owned by Reid.

This John Reid, the grantor, who is styled in his deed of conveyance as "yeoman," and " son of James Reid, deceased," was doubtless a nephew or other relative of the John Reid, Esq., to whom and others named he conveyed the court-house lot, as trustees, for the county of Monmouth ; the last-named John Reid be- ing the same one who came over from Scotland, about 1683, as an employe of the Scotch pro- prietors, and who, after residing a few years at Perth Amboy, removed to a large tract of land called " Hortensia," located on Hop Brook, in Monmouth County, where he lived during the remainder of his life, and became a prominent and influential man, holding various important offices, among which was that of surveyor-gen- eral of the province. The John Reid, "yeo- man," who conveyed the court-house site, and whose dwelling adjoined it, was evidently quite an enterprising man, as is shown by the fact that within a few weeks after the passage of the act determining the place where the court-house should be located he bought from Thomas Combs (in March, 1714) the large tract of land lying on the Burlington Path, a part of which, only five months later, he, in fact, donated to the county (the nominal consideration being only

386

HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

thirty shillings) as the court-house lot, for the purpose of increasing the value of his lands by reason of the location of the county-seat and the growth of a prospective village around it. Thus, it seems proper to mention John Reid, the son of James, as the founder of the village of Freehold.

What additional settlers, if any, came to locate around Monmouth Court-House within the first few years after its erection, cannot be told ; and there is very little now known con- cerning the few inhabitants of the place during the first sixty years of its existence as the county-seat. The first name found as that of a resident (other than those already mentioned) anywhere in the vicinity is that of Cornelius Thomson, who, as early as 1702, built the stone house now occupied by Mrs. Achsah Hen- drickson, about four miles southwest of Free- hold village, on the Mount Holly road, at which house a " private term " of court was held in January, 1722-23. At that time William Nichols, Esq., (otherwise named in the records as " Doct" Nichols, Esq."), was high sheriff of the county, and afterwards (if not at that time) had his residence in or near the little hamlet, as it is found that in January, 1728, a few weeks after the destruction of the court-house by fire, the court met on the spot where the building had stood, and immediately adjourned to the house of William Nichols, where the business of the term was transacted.

In 1733 one of the residents in the vicinity of the court-house was Jacob Scudder, whose son, Dr. Nathaniel Scudder,1 was born here in that year.

1 Dr. Nathaniel Scudder, born in Freehold township on the 10th of May, 1733, graduated at Princeton College in 1751, and was afterwards one of the board of trustees of that college. He became a physician and settled at Mon- mouth Court-house. He was an ardent patriot, and wrote many articles, which were published in the public prints of that day, against the tyranny of the mother-country, and which served to arouse his countrymen to engage in the conflict of the Revolution. When the war began he gave up & lucrative professional business and went to the field. The Legislature at once appointed him lieutenant-colonel of the First Regiment of Monmouth, and he soon became the colonel of that regiment. He was also a member of the Committee of Safety. He was a member of the Legis- . lature for several years, and in 1776 was Speaker of the

Soon after the middle of the eighteenth cen- tury the place that is now the town of Free- hold, had gained some little importance, as is indicated by the removal to it of St. Peter's Episcopal Church, which had previously been located at Topanemus. The date of its erection

House. In 1777 he was chosen a member of Congress and served for two years. He signed the Articles of Confeder- ation. In June, 1778, Congress had a short recess, during which Colonel Scudder came home and was present at the battle of Monmouth. In a letter to John Hart, then Speaker of the House, in July, 1778, he alludes to the battle and the destruction of property by the British army, as follows : " I congratulate you upon the signal success of our arms in this neighbourhood on the 28th of June. Great plunder and devastation have been committed among my friends in this quarter, but, through the distinguishing goodness of Providence, my family and property escaped, and that in almost a miraculous manner."

After his term in Congress expired, Colonel Scudder, with General David Forman, was engaged in repelling fre- quent incursions of the enemy. On the 16th of October, 1781, at Black Point, near Shrewsbury, while operating against a large force of the British, Colonel Scudder was in- stantly killed by a shot from the enemy.

Colonel Scudder was much more than an ordinary man. He stood very high in his profession, and was a fine classical scholar. He was a devoted Christian, elder for a long time in Tennent Church, and a man of great influence, both in church and state. He was buried with the honors of war in the Tennent Churchyard. His funeral sermon was preached by Rev. John Woodhull, D.D.

The wife of Colonel Scudder was Isabella Anderson, daughter of Colonel Kenneth Anderson, who was a son of John Anderson, who was Acting Governor of the province of New Jersey for a short time, and who died in 1736, and was buried in the old Topanemus burying-ground, near Marlborough.

One of Colonel Scudder's sons was Dr. John Anderson Scudder, who removed to Kentucky ; another was Joseph Scudder, who became a lawyer at Freehold. He was the father of Daniel B. Ryall's second wife, and grandfather of Mrs. Louisa Vought, who recently died at Freehold : and also of Thomas W. Ryall, of Colt's Neck. Ex-Gover- nor Joel Parker is connected with the Scudder family on his mother's side. Mrs. Sarah Scudder Coward, the mother of Governor Parker, was a daughter of Captain Joseph Coward, of Upper Freehold, who was a soldier in the Continental army in the Revolutionary war. Captain Coward was the son of Lucretia Scudder, the sister of Colonel Scudder.

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History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 1, Part 68

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co. Number of Pages: 974

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 974