USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 2 > Part 2
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" Let us throw no obstacle in the way of the gov- ernment in carrying out its policy. . . . We should remember, whenever the flag of our country is un- furled and the stars and stripes are flung to the breeze, that it is our flag, and that the country over which it waves is our country."
In the next succeeding issue of the paper it said,-
" Allegiance to the government is as imperative as fidelity to one's family. To oppose the government when war is in progress is a crime."
As an earnest of his faith in the cause, the publisher immediately tendered his services to Governor Olden, was accepted, went to the seat of war as Major of the Third Regiment N. J. Militia, with the first New Jersey troops that left the State, and served his tour of duty with credit. Until the close of the war the Democrat was foremost in encouraging the raising of troops and in sustaining measures for the sup- pression of the Rebellion. It also vigorously opposed all peaee measures that were not based upon a complete restoration of the Union and an unqualified surrender to the constitution, and throughout the struggle counselled obedi- ence to law and the constituted authorities. During this period an attempt, which was
seconded by some local leaders of the party, was made to disband the Democratic party, npon the plea that in the existing emergency there should be but one political party. This attempt was promptly and energetically opposed by the Democrat, and the effort was shortly abandoned.
In 1855 the Democrat attacked and was in- strumental in breaking np the practice of horse- racing on the public roads, then to the demorali- zation of the community largely indulged in. It attacked and broke up the unlicensed liquor saloons in Freehold, several of which then ex- isted in open violation of law and without re- monstrance from the publie. It has been ac- tive in encouraging the construction of our local railroads and other enterprises designed to de- velop the industries of the county. It early ealled publie attention to the advantages of our sea-coast, and lent efficient aid in the effort to build up that section of the county. It from the beginning supported our publie-school sys- tem, and has lent aid and enconragement to its progress and development. It has been the friend of progress, but at the same time has steadily opposed sudden and radical changes in old-established laws and customs, and changes merely to answer present emergencies or partisan ends. It has always held that a newspaper is a publie trust, to be used in the interest of the general publie, and not as an instrument to re- dress private grievances or to further personal aims and ambitions, and while it has been fear- less and uncompromising in opposing that which it believed to be wrong, and sustaining that which it deemed to be right, whether in either case in- volving the reputation of publie officials or per- sons in private life, it has never been called into court to justify any publication in its col- nmns, and this immunity from proseention it no doubt largely owes to its close adherence to the principle above stated.
The establishment was removed to the build- ing it now occupies in the fall of 1860. Since then considerable additions have been made to the building to accommodate its increasing busi- ness. Recently its mechanical departments have been remodeled by the introduction of new machinery and the latest modern appliances
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
and in this respect it now ranks with the best weekly newspaper and job printing offiees in the State.
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MAJOR JAMES STERLING YARD, son of the late Captain Joseph A. Yard, whose sketch may be found in the military history of this volume, was born in the city of Trenton, April 20, 1826. He received his preliminary education from books at Trenton Academy, and left sehool at the age of fourteen to act as book-keeper for his father
the Kings County Democrat, and in 1850 he printed for Benjamin F. Yard, owner and editor, the first thirteen numbers of the Occan Signal (now Occan County Courier), at Tom's River. Subsequently he started the Village Record (now Gazette) at Hightstown. While at that place, he was postmaster for a period just before 1854, which position he resigned upon removing to Freehold. He was also postmaster of Freehold from October 1, 1855 to July 1, 1860, when he
James Sifaro
in the auction business. He afterwards entered the Truc American office to learn the art of printing, and spent several years in learning the mechanical branch of the trade. He was a skillful compositor and pressman, and at one time worked the entire weekly edition of the True American on a hand-press. In 1846 he started the Weekly Visitor in the city of Tren- ton, and after eondueting it for three months, sold it. In 1848 he published for an association in Williamsburgh, L. I., a campaign newspaper,
resigned. In 1854 he purchased the Monmouth Democrat (see sketch), and has condueted it to the present time (1885). In 1866 he also established the Long Branch News, which he condueted for several years. He was elected a member of the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Frecholders in the spring of 1863, and re-elected for two succeeding years, when he declined to serve longer.
He was major of the Third Regiment of militia during the three months' service at the
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THE TOWN OF FREEHOLD.
outbreak of the late war, and afterwards was connected with all the military operations in the county for raising troops until the close of the war. He was appointed by Governor Olden to draft the militia for Monmouth County, and was commander of Camp Vredenburgli and as- sisted in raising the Twenty-eighth and Twenty- ninth Regiments of volunteers. He wasalso com- missioned as commander of Camp Bayard, at "Trenton, which he declined. He held several commissions under Governor Parker during the war, in connection with New Jersey troops iu the field.
Major Yard was appointed commissioner of railroad taxation by Governor Parker iu 1873, which position he filled until 1883. In 1878 he received the appointment of deputy quarter- master-general from Governor Mcclellan, which position he still holds.
While Major Yard has been earnestly en- gaged in business matters, and filling responsible military and civil places and assuming respon- sible trusts in the interests of his fellow-citizeus, he has uot been unmindful of other obligations, to himself and to the community in which he has resided.
While at Hightstown, in 1852, he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has remained in that communion since. He efficiently served there as superintendent of the Sabbath-school, aud upon his removal to Free- hold was appointed to the same position here which he held for many years. In this, and also in church-work, he has zealously guarded the interests of both morality and religion. For several years Major Yard has held a license as local preacher in the church at Freehold.
On September 25, 1856, he married Adaline Clark, daughter of Daniel D. Swift, of Lan- caster County, Pa. (see sketch of H. W. Murphy), by which nnion he has had seven children, - Emma, wife of Wm. M. Ivins, of him : " A native of New Jersey, a physician New York City ; Mary Sterling, wife of A. Harvey Tyson, of Reading, Pa. ; Daniel Swift, who graduated at Prinectou in the class of 1882, died November 21, 1883 ; Joseph Ashton ; Adaline Swift ; James Sterling, died April 7, 1877, and Thomas Swift, who died June 14, 1880.
. Mrs. Yard, in addition to the usual cares of a
large family, which she has managed discreetly, has been an active and useful member of the church and of society, taking a leading part in the affairs of both; and not only with her hands, but by her counsel and with her pen, has she labored efficiently and contributed her share in the world's work.
The earliest physician in Freehold of whom any mention is found was one referred to in the old records as "Doct" Nichols, Esq." (meaning ex-Sheriff William Nichols), who is there men- tioned in connection with the fact that in Janu- ary, 1728, soon after the destruction of the first court-house by fire, his house was designated as the place for the holding of the courts of Mon- mouth, and his name is also found iu the records of the freeholders, whose place of meeting was at his house in 1730.
Mention has already been made of Dr. Na- thaniel Scudder and Dr. Thomas Henderson, both of whom were physicians of Freehold in the time of the Revolution, and both of whom were colonels in the patriot forces. Dr. Na- thaniel Scudder was a son of Jacob Scudder, born May 10, 1733, graduated at Princeton in 1751, became a physician of note at Monmouth Court-House, was a delegate in the Continental Congress, 1777-79, and was killed by Refugees October 16, 1781, at Black Point, Monmouth County, where he went, as colonel of the First Battalion of Monmonth County militia, to ope- rate with General David Forman against the enemy.
Dr. John Anderson Scudder, son of Dr. Nathaniel Seudder, was born March 22, 1759, graduated at Princeton in 1775, and, like his father, he became a well known physician of Freehold. During the Revolutionary War be served two or three years as surgeon's mate. Lanman's "Dictionary of Congress" says of
by profession ; he served a number of years in the Assembly of his native State, and was a Representative in Congress from New Jersey for the unexpired terin of James Cox, who died in 1810." Not long afterwards Dr. John A. Sendder removed from Monmouth County, | N. J., to Kentucky, where he died.
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
Dr. Samuel Forman, who was one of the most noted physicians who ever practiced in Freehold, was a son of " Sheriff David " For- man, born on the old Forman homestead on the 3d of August, 1764. As a boy he was present in Freehold through all the period of the Rev- olution, and was an eye-witness of most of the stirring scenes which were enacted at the county- seat during that bloody period, the story of which he often narrated in his later years. His home was just outside the village, below the toll-gate on the Colt's Neck road, where he died in 1845. He was one of the originators of the Monmouth County Medical Society, and a more extended mention of him, as also of his son, Dr. David Forman, a prominent physician of Free- hold, who died in 1826, will be found in the account (elsewhere given in this volume) of that society. He was a grandfather of Dr. D. Me- Lean Forman, now one of the leading practi- tioners of Frechold.
Among other prominent physicians of Free- hold during the past half-century, of whom mention is made in the history of the Medical Society, are Dr. Charles G. Patterson (born 1796, died 1835), Dr. Grandin Lloyd (born 1807, died 1852), Dr. John B. Throckmorton (born 1796, died 1856), Dr. James H. Baldwin (born 1807, died 1868), Dr. John T. Woodhull (born 1786, died 1869), Dr. John R. Conover (born 1813, died 1871) and Dr. John Vought, who died in 1882.
The present (January, 1885) physicians of the town are Dr. O. R. Freeman, Dr. D. Mc- Lean Forman, Dr. I. S. Long, Dr. J. S. Cono- ver, Dr. W. M. Hepburn ; and of the homco- pathic school, Dr. William W. Burnet.
Of hotels or taverns in the village that is now Freehold, the earliest suggestion is found in the records of January, 1728, when the court, having met at the ruins of the court-house, which had been destroyed by fire a month be- fore, adjourned to the house of William Nichols, where the business of the terin was transacted.
In 1729, and afterwards, Nichols' house was the place designated for the meetings of the Board of Frecholders. These facts do not prove that Nichols kept a public-house, but they lead
to that presumption, as it is almost certain that there must have been a tavern in the court- house village, and it appears probable that the tavern would be the place selected (rather than a private house) for the purposes mentioned. The William Nichols referred to had been high sheriff of Monmouth County, and it appears that he was also a physician, as the records of 1730 mention him as " Doct" Nichols, Esq."
From that time no reference has been found to taverns or tavern-keepers at Monmouth Court-House, until 1778, when James Wall's name is found in that connection. It is not known that then, or at any time during the Revolution, there was more than one tavern in the village. A second one, however, must have been opened soon after the close of the war, as in 1788 the taverns of John Anderson and Samuel P. Forman are mentioned, and in 1789, Lewis MeKnight was an inn-keeper at Mon- mouth village. There is nothing in the men- tion of these to indicate the locations of their houses, but there can be little doubt that they kept the two ancient tavern-stands of Frec- hold,-the Washington and the Union.
The Washington Tavern, (or Hotel, as named in later years,) is said by tradition to be the pioneer inn of the village. Its earliest land- lord, who can be mentioned as such with cer- tainty, was Major James Craig, who kept it from 1797 to 1810, and, perhaps, before and after that period. He was succeeded by Wil- liam Craig, who was, in turn, succeeded by John Casler, who was its landlord in 1818 and in 1825. It was kept by Aaron Brewer in 1827 to 1830. In 1832-33 it was kept by General James Ten Eyck, who afterwards removed to Colt's Neck, and was succeeded in the Wash- ington by C. C. Higgins, who was a silversmith by trade, but who, having taken up the business of tavern-keeping, became successively the landlord of all hotels in Freehold except the American, and was also interested in several stage-lines. He kept the Washington from 1834 to 1837, inclusive. . His successors down to the year 1850 were Elisha Thompson, John I. Thompson, William D. Oliphant and _Ab- ner H. Reed. In 1851 the house was rented by David Patterson, who, about a year after-
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THE TOWN OF FREEHOLD.
wards, purchased the property, and kept the house until 1873. During this period, in 1869, he demolished the old house, which had been added to and repaired at various times from the year 1800, and ereeted the present Washington Hotel, of which he is still the owner. Sinee his retirenient from the manage- agement of the house it has been kept by George W. Patterson, - MeNulty, Richard Fleming, John J. Wheeler and Samuel Thomp- son, who occupied it until April 1, 1885.
The Union, now Taylor's Hotel, was known eighty years ago as "Coward's Tavern," being then kept by Samuel Coward, who was the first of the landlords now definitely known to have kept it as an inn, though the house had then been in existenee many years.1 After him (about 1809) came William Egbert, who kept it a number of years, and was sneceeded about 1823 by Jacob Dennis. Charles Burk was its landlord in 1825, and eontinned until after 1830. After Burk, the house was kept by C. C. Higgins, who afterwards took the Washington, and still later the United States. He was sue- ceeded in the Union, in the early part of 1834, by Barzillai Hendriekson, who kept the house about six years, after which Higgins again became the proprietor. It was kept by Nathaniel S. Rue from 1844 to 1853, inelusive. In Mareh, 1854, it was taken by Welch &
1 On the 11th of June, 1779, the land now embraced in the Union Hotel property was sold under the confiscation laws by Samuel Forman, Joseph Lawrence and Kenneth Han- kinson, commissioners. The property was then deseribed as adjoining David Rhea's lot, and consisted of " a house, out-houses and lot of ground," previously owned by John Longstreet, Jr., who was a Tory Refugee. The purchaser from the commissioners was Elisha Walton. On the 21st of December, 1808, Walton conveyed it to Lewis Gordon, who, on the 23d of May. 1809, conveyed it to William Eg- bert, who mortgaged it to the Rev. Jolin Woodbull, and was sold out by the sheriff, July 6, 1823. It then be- came the property of the estate of Tunis Vanderveer, and so remained until April 15, 1825, when it was sold to Charles and James Burk. In 1827. James Burk sold his interest to Charles, and in October, 1832, Charles Burk was sold out at sheriff's sale. The purehaser was James Burk, who sold the property to Barzillai Hendrickson, February 7, 1834. Hendrickson sold it, January 2, 1840, to C. C. Iliggins, who sold it to N. S. Rue, May 7, 1844: Rue sold it, in 1854, to Welsh & Carson, and in 1858 the property was sold by the sheriff to Thomas P. Barkalow. Subsequent changes of proprietorship are noticed above.
Carson, who repaired and refitted the house. In 1856-57 it was kept by Carson & Conover. In February, 1858, the property was purchased by Thomas P. Barkalow, who then kept the house eight years, and was succeeded by John- son & Patterson, who kept it from 1866 to 1869, and whose successors have been Johnson & Bailey, Danser & Sutphin, Richard Fleming, David C. Danser, E. C. Richardson and John Taylor, the present proprietor, who purchased the property in the spring of 1882, and by whom the house has been enlarged, thoroughly repaired and refitted in every detail.
The United States Hotel, previously the Monmouth Hotel, was opened under the lat- ter name by Benjamin Laird, in the year 1830, the house being the same which had been the residenee of John Craig, adjoining the court- house lot on the main street. Mr. Laird kept the house until 1837 or 1838, after which it was kept a short time by Mrs. Ware. In the spring of 1840 it was taken by C. C. Higgins, who rebuilt the house (raised it to three stories), named it the United States, and kept it till the spring of 1845, when it was again taken by Benjamin Laird, who kept it several years. After Mr. Laird the house was kept by John L. Doty, but the exact date of the latter's pro- prietorship has not been ascertained. It was kept in 1854-55 by John C. Cox, whose sue- eessor was D. C. Conover. Stokes & Rogers took it in 1857. After them eame as land- lords, George H. Snowhill, J. S. Crater and Danser & Hamill. In 1864 the property was purchased by David Patterson, Snowhill being then the landlord. Afterwards (while Danser & Hamill were in possession) it was sold to Rowland A. Ellis, who remodeled the building into stores and offiees, as it still remains.
The American Hotel is the youngest of the hotel-stands on the main street of Freehold. Gordon's "Gazetteer" for the year 1834 says that at that time there were three hotels in the town. These three were, of course, the old Washing- ton and Union taverns, and the Monmouth Hotel, which Benjamin Laird had opened four years before. There was then no tavern on the site now oceupied by the American Hotel, but there was one built and opened there very soon
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
afterwards, and it was kept in 1837 by Jolin I. Thompson, who was then familiarly known as "Boss" Thompson, and who kept the house for three or four years. Reference to newspaper files of that time show that while Thompson was landlord (and for a time afterwards) the house was called Monmouth Hall. When he left the house he removed to Shrewsbury, but sub- sequently returned to Freehold, took the Wash- ington Hotel, and died there. After he left Monmouth Hall it was kept by Isaac Amer- man. In April, 1843, it was bought by David C. Conover, who afterwards became landlord of the United States.
. The name American Hotel was given by Joseph G. Stillwell, who, with his partner, McNulty, purchased the property, and after continuing business for a few years in the old house (which was a small, low-studded strue- ture), tore it away and erected a new and com- modious house, which they opened under the present name. One of the landlords of the house was J. L. Huntsinger, but neither the precise date nor the duration of his occupancy has been ascertained. Another landlord (for a short time) was John C. Cox, who afterwards kept the United States. In 1854 the American Hotel was kept by Abner H. Reed, who re- mained in it about fifteen years and was suc- ceeded by Moses M. Laird, who kept the house until January, 1873, when he was succeeded by the present proprietor, Mr. William Davis.
The Railroad Hotel, on Throck morton Street, near the Pennsylvania Railroad Station, was opened in 1861 by Charles T. Fleming. In other laws and ordinances as they may think 1864 he sold it to William Thompson, who was succeeded in the proprietorship by Thomas Mulholland, the present owner.
The post-office at the village which is now Freehold was established January 1, 1795, and named "Monmouth," which name was officially changed to "Frechold" on the 1st of January, 1801. Following is a list of the postmasters, with dates of their appointment, viz .:
Samuel Mckinstry January 1, 1795.
Samuel MeConkey April 1, 1795.
John Laird April 1, 1798.
David Craig . July 12, 1798.
Richard Throckmorton. October 1, 1805.
William J. Bowne . . . July 1, 1817.
Peter C. Vanderhoof . . June 26, 1825.
Cyrus Bruen December 15, 1827. William Lloyd, Jr. . . March 3, 1835.
Orrin Pharo. November 15, 1849.
William V. Ward . . June 7, 1853.
James S. Yard September 25, 1855.
Jacob C. Lawrence . . July 23, 1860.
J. H. Rosell . . March 26, 1861.
Charles T. Fleming . . July 23, 1870.
Edwin F. Applegate . . June 18, 1874.
Martin L. Farrington . March 3, 1883.
Freehold became an incorporated town in 1869, under " An Aet for the Improvement of the Town of Freehold, in the County of Mon- mouth," approved March 25th in that year. By this aet the legal voters of the town were authorized and empowered to elect annually one commissioner, four assistant commissioners, a town clerk and two inspectors of election, the commissioner and assistants, when duly sworn into office, to constitute "The Board of Com- missioners of the Town of Freehold," having corporate powers and privileges and authority "to pass and enact such by-laws and ordinances, not repugnant to the constitution or laws of the State, as they may consider proper, for altering, regulating and fixing the grade of the roads, streets and side-walks and lighting the same within the limits of the town; for keeping the same in repair and for preventing or removing obstructions therein ; for preventing and sup- pressing riots and disturbances of the peace; for suppressing vice and immorality ; and all such adapted to promote the welfare, good order, health and prosperity of the said town and the inhabitants thereof; to revoke, alter and amend the same in their discretion, and to enforce obe- dience to the same by fines and imprisonments," to an extent not execeding twenty dollars' fine and a term of thirty days' impris- onment ; the board to appoint a town treasurer, two police justices, a town marshal and one or more assistants, and also a street superintendent, having duties "the same as the overseer of tlie roads under the laws of the State." The niem- bers of the Board of Commissioners to receive no compensation for their services. The cor-
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THE TOWN OF FREEHOLD.
poration limits and boundaries were established by the act, as follows :
"Beginning at the southwesterly edge of the new Street, recently opened by Henry Brinkerhoff, where it intersects with Main Street, and running thence along the southwesterly edge of said new Street to the middle of South Street, and including the land three hundred feet deep on the southwesterly side of said new Street from Main to South Street; thence northerly along the middle of South Street to the northerly edge of the road leading from South Street, by Benjamin Letferson's house, to Jerseyville ; thenee along the northerly edge of said Jerseyville road to the middle of Parker Avenue, opened between lands of Joel Parker and the late Thomas C. Throckmorton ; thence along the middle of Parker Avenue to the middle of Institute Street; thence in a northerly direction in a straight line to a point where the most easterly line of Hudson Street interseets with Elm Street, as marked on the map of Freehold, made by Ezra A. Osborn and Thomas A. Hurley, in 1855; thence along the most easterly edge of Hudson Street in the northeasterly direction to Bennett Street, as marked on the aforesaid map; thenee in a straight line, the same course as the most easterly line of Hudson Street to the Freehold and Colt's Neck turn- pike, and ineluding the lands two hundred feet deep, on the most easterly side of said line from Elm Street to said turnpike; thence in a northerly direction in a straight line to the southeasterly corner of the land of William H. Conover, Jr., on the Freehold and Keyport turnpike; thenee northerly along said Conover's easterly line, six hundred feet ; thence in a straight line to the middle of Henry Street, where it is intersected by the middle of Brown Street ; thence in a westerly direction along the middle of Henry Street to the middle of Court Street ; thence north- westerly along the middle of Court Street to where the southeasterly edge of Haley Street intersects with Court Street; thence along the southeasterly edge of Haley Street in a westerly direction to Throckmorton Avenue ; thence in a straight line in a southwesterly direction to the most easterly corner of Elisha Sehanck's line; tlience along Elisha Sehanek's line in a southwesterly direction to Manalapan Avenue, as marked on the aforesaid map of Frechold; thence in a straight line in a southerly direction to a point on the southerly edge of Main Street. three hundred feet from the place of beginning; thence along the southerly edge of Main Street to the place of begin- ning."
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