USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 2 > Part 22
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The Presbyterian Church building was erected at Shrewsbury soon after the purchase of the land, and stood until after the death of the Rev. Charles McKnight, when it was in such a ruinous condition that it was unfit for use, and it was accordingly sold. The church from this time was in a weak condition until about 1840, when, under the Rev. Rufus Taylor, it took on a new growth. -
In the year 1805 application was made to the Legislature of the State for permission to open a lottery for the purpose of raising money with which to build a house of worship. For some reason this did not succeed, and nothing further was done until 1821, when the present edifice was begun, and was completed in 1823. It was enlarged in 1845, and is still in use.
From the retirement of the Rev. Joseph Morgan from the Scots' Meeting, about 1728, the churches in this section were supplied from that church, the Rev. John Tennent succeeding to his charge. In 1734 the Rev. Samnel Blair began his labors in this place, having as preach- ing-places Middletown Point, Shark River and Middletown. He remained as pastor until Sep- tember 5, 1739. The church seems to have been without a regular pastor from that time to May, 1761, when the Rev. Elihu Spencer was set- tled and remained in charge until May, 1764. The church was then without a pastor for three years. On the 21st of May, 1767, the Rev. Charles Mcknight, formerly pastor of the church in Allentown, began his labors as pastor. At this time there were four Presbyterian con- gregations under his charge, each of which had a church edifice, viz. : Shrewsbury, Middletown, Middletown Point and Shark River (now Ham- ilton or Coburg). He remained in the service of these churches until his death, January 1, 1778. He resided at Middletown village. A more full account of him will be found in the history of the extinct Presbyterian Church of that place.
From that time, for a period of fifty years, the church was without a pastor, and had stated supplies but two years during that time. The sacrament was administered occasionally by Rev. Dr. John Woodhull and others. After a church edifice was built, in 1821-23, the Rev. Horace Pratt was sent here by a Female Missionary So- ciety of Princeton, and remained four years. The church was attended for several years by ministers who acted as stated supplies. Efforts were made to settle a pastor, but without suc- eess until November 11, 1840, when the Rev. Rufus Taylor was induced to become the pastor. Under his ministry the church sprang into new life and activity. He remained until 1852, when
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he resigned. In October of the same year the Rev. Thaddeus Wilson, the present pastor, be- gan his ministry at this church. The church at present lias a membership of one hundred and thirty, embracing Eatontown, at which place a church edifice has been erected.
The Shrewsbury Library Association was organized in 1861 and was incorporated in June, 1873. A library was procured and kept in private houses until 1880, when the asso- ciation purchased of Joseph Stillwell the old Orthodox Friends' Church, and moved it across the street upon a lot donated to the association for that purpose and no other. The building was fitted up for the purpose, and is called Li- brary Hall. The library contains about two thousand eight hundred volumes, and is under the care of a board of trustees, viz. : J. Preston Lafetra, (president) James Steen, L. W. Sleeper, George D. Tallman, Jr., Jolin Trafford.
TINTON FALLS was known prior to 1673 as the " Falls of Shrewsbury." The land in its vicinity was first located by James Grover, one of the original Monmouth patentees. He had settled at Gravesend, Long Island, in 1646. On account of liis opposition to the Dutch government and proclaiming in favor of Crom- well in 1655, he left Long Island, disposing of his plantation to Thomas Delavall in 1666. The following year he appears at Middletown, in this State, as one of the original patentees of the Monmouth patent, and is chosen the first town clerk and surveyor of the township. The position afforded him excellent opportunity for inspecting all the territory included in the pat- ent, and enabled him to locate such lands for himself as he might selcet. Within a few years after taking up his portion of the land . grant it was decided that the wet, boggy mead- ows contained valuable deposits of iron-ore, and he, with others, took means to secure a large tract of land at that place with a view to its de- velopment. He sent to New England for James and Henry Leonard, who were millwrights, and well skilled in the erection of iron-mills, furna- ces and forges, and who had assisted in the construction of most of the iron-works in the Plymouth colony.
At this place began the first mining of iron ore in New Jersey. Soon after the building of the furnace by James Grover and others, they, under date of October 25, 1675, conveyed to Lewis Morris, of the island of Barbadocs, a triangular piece of land containing three thou- sand five hundred and forty acres, being part of the original patent obtained in 1667. This grant gave the purchaser and his associates " full liberty to dig, delve and carry away all such mines for iron as they shall find or see fit to dig and carry away to the iron-works, that shall be found in that tract of land that lies enclosed between the southeast branch of the Raritan river and the Whale pond on the sea side, and is bounded from thence by the sea and branch of the sea to the eastward to the Raritan river, he or they paying all such just damages to the owners of land where they shall dig, as shall be judged is done by trespass of cattle, or otherwise sustained by the carting and carrying of the said mine to the works."
From the earliest town records and other public documents it is ascertained that the smelt- ing furnace and extensive iron-works in opera- tion on this "ore traet" employed during 1680 seventy negroes and many white servants. The ore used was found in wet meadows and swamps, known as " bog ore," being a hydrous peroxide of iron, containing forty per cent. of inetallie iron. These and other similar ores dug from undrained marshes of the eastern coast of the State furnished much of the ma- terial for the early iron-works of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania during the colonial times.
The iron made here was said by the resident proprietors to be of very good quality, and the trade was of great benefit to the province of East Jersey. The usual price obtained for a ton of the iron-ore was six dollars and a half, and a ton of bar-iron at that time brought in London eighteen pounds sterling. Of so much importance were these works thoughit to be for the development of the territory that, in response to a petition of the owner to the pro- vincial authorities for publie protection and encouragement, special legislation was adopted in his favor. By a vote of the General As- sembly, April 6, 1676, it was enacted "as
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touching Colonel Morris' request, the Deputies are willing the landIs and works belonging prop- erly to the Iron-Works shall or may be rate . free for seven years, excepting in extraordinary cases, as war or the like."
It appears, from letters of early settlers in the towns of Shrewsbury and Middletown to their friends and relatives in England and Scotland, that during the whole length of time these iron-works were exempt from taxation (1676-1683) Colonel Morris was successfully " pursuing this industry, encouraging skilled workmen and affording employment to a large number of laborers.
Colonel Lewis Morris was originally from Monmouthshire, England, and there inherited the paternal estate of Tintern. He raised a troop of horse for Parliament, for which Charles the First confiscated his estate. In re- turn for his losses Cromwell subsequently indem- nitied him. He early embraced Cromwell's cause, and having signalized himself on sev- eral occasions so as to win Cromwell's regard, he was selected, in 1654, to proceed to the West Indies with an expedition intended to secure the mastery of these seas. While there he received a colonel's commission, and was second in com- mand upon the attack on Jamaica. Having a nephew settled at Barbadoes, he was indneed to purchase an estate on that island, and not deeming it advisable to return to England after the restoration, he subsequently became part owner of the Island of St. Lucia, and took up his abode permanently in the West Indies, re- maining there until the death of his brother Richard in New York, when he came to that city in 1673. On his arrival he assumed the guardianship of his infant nephew, Lewis Mor- ris, who was previously under the care of the Dutch government.
To the plantation which Colonel Morris bought of James Grover and others he gave the name of Tintern Manor (later corrupted to Tinton), after the family estate in Monmouth- shire, Wales. He was appointed a justice of the court, and hield the position several years. He was active in the organization of the county, and gave to it the name " Monmouth," from his native county in Wales. He was a member of
the Council until August 16, 1683. In Feb- ruary of the following year the minutes state that Colonel Lewis Morris " being mostly ab- sent and living in New York," and Captain Palmer and Laurens Andriessen not able to at- tend, others were selected in their places. Upon his settlement in New York he was appointed a member of Governor Dongan's Council, and was such until 1686. He died in May, 1691, at "his plantation over against Harlem " (meaning Morrisania, N. Y).
The iron-works were described in 1680 by Secretary Nichols, when speaking of Colonel Morris' plantation, as "his iron-mills, his man- ours and divers other buildings for his servants and dependants, together with sixty or seventy Negros about the mill and husbandry." The description of East Jersey by the proprietors in 1682 says : " What sort of mines or minerals are in the bowels of the earth after-time must produce, the inhabitants not having yet em- ployed themselves in search thereof; but there is already a smelting furnace and forge set up in the colony where is made good iron, which is of great benefit to the country," this having reference to Colonel Morris' iron-works at Tinton. Oldmixon, writing in 1708, says : " Between this town [Shrewsbury] and Middle- town is an Iron-Works, but we do not under- stand it has been any great benefit to the Pro- prietors."
It is evident that the works were not of much profit at this time. In 1714, Lewis Morris (af- terward the Governor), to whom the property came from his uncle, asked " the Lords of Trade to encourage the Iron Interests in this Province." This is the latest mention found of the Morris iron-works, and it is probable that they were allowed to go down soon afterwards.
The property of Colonel Lewis Morris, who settled at Tinton Manor (now Tinton Falls) in 1673, was left by will to his nephew, Lewis Morris, the son of Richard. He had given or sold to " Lewis Morris, of Passage Point " (an- other nephew, and the son of Thomas Morris), a traet of land on Navarumsnnk Neck, which was then known as Passage Point (now Black Point). This last-named Lewis Morris was appointed high sheriff of Monmouth County
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March 14, 1682-83, but did not serve. He was appointed commissioner of highways soon afterwards. He was a justice of the courts from 1691 to his death, in 1696. He is mentioned both as " Lewis Morris, of Passage Point," and as "Lewis Morris, Jr."
Lewis Morris, to whom Tinton Manor was left by Colonel Lewis Morris, was born at Morrisania, N. Y., in 1671. Bereft of his father and mother when very young, he was taken in charge of the Dutch government. Soon after the arrival of Colonel Lewis Morris from the Island of Barbadoes, in 1673, he assumed charge of the estate of his brother, Richard Morris, and of his nephew, the infant Lewis Morris. As he grew up, his strong pas- sions and erratic disposition brought him into trouble with his uncle, and he ran away to Vir- ginia and from thence went to the Island of Jamaica, but after a year or two returned and became reconciled with his uncle. His name first occurs in the records under date of June 25, 1689, when, at a Court of Sessions held at Middletown, information was presented by Benjamin Hick against John Jennings, John West, Edward Williams, Lewis Morris, Caleb Allen, Clement Masters, John Lippincott, Jr., William Hulett, Peter Parker and Thomas Wainwright " for running of races and playing at nyne-pins on the Sabbath Day."
On the 3d of November, 1691, he was mar- ried to Isabella, daughter of James Graham, Attorney-General of the province, and settled at Tinton Manor. In 1692, at the age of twenty-one years, he was appointed judge of the Court of Common Right of East Jersey and became at the same time a member of Gov- ernor Andrew Hamilton's Council. He soon developed those qualities which in after-life gave him great influence in public affairs. On the arrival of Jeremiah Basse, in 1698, elaim- ing the Governorship of the province by the appointment of only ten proprietors, instead of the requisite number of sixteen, Mr. Morris ranged himself with those who would not ac- knowledge his authority, and refused obedience to the legal tribunals and to those officials who upheld his elaims as the chief functionary of · the province. Basse's proclamation of his com-
mission was made on the 8th of April, 1698, and a month thereafter Mr. Morris was fined fifty pounds for contemning the authority of the Court of Common Right, in session at Am- boy. On the return of Andrew Hamilton as Governor, in 1700, Mr. Morris was appointed president of the Council. Soon afterwards lie addressed a letter to the bishop of London con- cerning the state of religion in the two prov- inces, and censuring the people of Middletown in particular for their immorality and evil practices.
This account of Lewis Morris (says Hon. George C. Beekman), should be received with considerable allowance, not alone because of his animosity to the people of this region, who had so frequently presented him1 and ignored his authority, but at the same time he wrote this letter he was anxious to secure the appointment of Governor from the British erown. He sought the influence of the Church of England, which would likely have some power. Andrew Bowne, whom he styles an Anabaptist, resided in Mid- dletown township, as did also Richard Harts- horne, whom he styles a Quaker. Both of these muen were prominently mentioned for the appointment of Governor. In this letter he adroitly poisons the minds of the great digni- taries of the Church of England against them, and parades his own zealous efforts in behalf of the church. He also gratifies his hatred of the people by abusing them. Lewis Morris was an ambitious and crafty man, and would have put the yoke of priestly tithes on the people of Monmouth without any seruples if it would have advanced his own interests. But the people of the county had as poor an opinion of him as he had of them, and when they broke up his court and arrested him they treated him like a common malefactor, holding both him and his court iu the greatest contempt.
Mention of Lewis Morris is found in a com- munication by the Rev. Jacob Henderson, a missionary from London, dated June 12, 1712, and giving a representation of the state of the
1 Several times (and while he was one of the justices on the bench) the grand jury of Monmouth had presented him for fencing up the road from Middletown to Freehold, and for other misdemeanors.
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Church of England in New York and New Jersey, viz. :
"In New Jersey . . . the plurality of the Queen's Council are good churchmen, and have always op- posed any attempts made to her prejudiee by ye Qua- kers or other Dissenters, who have at their head one Coll. Lewis Morris, a professcd churchman, but a man of noe manner of principles or credit; a man who calls the service of the church of England, Pagcantry ; who has joyned in endeavours to scttle a conventicle in the city of New York, and whose practiec it is to intercept letters, and let such as please him pass, and those y' doe not he destroys, as can be fully proved. This Coll. Lewis Morris, with the present Governour, Coll. Hunter, have written to the Lords Commission- ers of Trade, to turn out of the Council six church of England men, and put in six others in their room, some of them Dissenters, and those that are of are such as will run into all the measures of the Assembly, and therefore of the worst consequences to the church in that Province." 1
In 1703, Morris was appointed a member of the Council of Lord Cornbury. He soon became prominent in opposition to the Governor, and in 1704 was suspended from the Council. He at once assumed the leadership of an oppo- sition, being ably seconded by Thomas Gordon and Samuel Jennings. A remonstrance was made to the Queen setting forth the grievances under which they labored, and also a remon- stranee to the Governor. This ealled forth from the Governor, in reply, a bitter denunci- ation of the men to whose agency he right- fully attributed the adopting of those views which so decidedly militated against the su- premaey of his individual will. The member from Perth Amboy was referred to in disparag- ing terms as "one Thomas Gordon " and Morris and Jennings were stigmatized as men " known to have neither good principles nor good morals," notorious as " disturbers of the quiet and peace of the Province, possessed with passionate heats and the transports of most vindictive tempers." Lieutenant-Governor In- goldsby and eight of the members of the Council presented a counter-memorial to Lord Lovelace, in which they said: "As to Mr. Morris, the whole County where he lived, namely the County of Monmonth, are witness to his troublesome temper, whereby he is a
perfect torment to his neighbours ; those who know him best have most reason of complaint, And since he came to write man, hath been Eminently concerned, if not Principall in all the Rebellious and disorders that have been in this Province, as may appear by his own hand writing . . . there is hardly a county in the Eastern Division wherein he did not succeed to stirr them to dangerous and notorious Riotts and Rebellions, but only the county of Bergen, where he did not faile for doing mischiefe for want of good will, But that the Dutch People therein were wiser, and treated him with that Contempt his Evill Designs Required. It was a werke they had no liking to, and so they closed their Resolutions among them- selves, that they would not have to do with the Spiker-maker; that was the very term of Con- tempt (being Dutchmen) they used towards Morris, grounded upon the Iron-Works his Unkle left him." Elsewhere Morris and Sam- uel Jennings are characterized as " men known to be uneasy under all government, never con- sistent with themselves, and to whom all the factions and eonfusions in the governments of New Jersey and Pennsylvania for many years are wholly owing."
Mr. Morris was appointed chief justice of New Jersey in 1712, and of New York in 1720. In 1733 he was removed from the position of chief justice by Governor William Cosby, who, in giving his reasons for the removal, said,-
" But at another time, Mr. Morris having opened the Court, he adjourned it, according to his custome, to the next morning, but sitting up all that night and drinking hard, he lay abed all the next day till near sunsett, when the people growing more uneasy at his delays, some of his friends, or his servants, awakened him, he got up, and Company being admitted into his Chamber, he asked what hour it was, they answered almost night : how ean that be, said the Chief Justice, the sun has but just risen ; and saying so he took up his Fiddle and played tlic Company a tune. These partieulars, I assure you, I had from some of the Law- yers who were there at the times, and from several other persons of good Credit; the County was very uneasy, but not knowing how. to get redress, were obliged to bear it."
Towards the close of 1734, the proceedings of Governor Cosby so exasperated his opponents that they determined to lay their grievances be-
1 Col. Doc., i. 4, 156.
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fore the King, and they made Mr. Morris their messenger. He soon after visited England upon that mission, and remained until the death of Cosby in March, when he returned home and reached Morrisania October 7, 1736. The prov- ince was disturbed in its gubernational relations from that time to February 1738, when Lewis Morris was appointed Governor of New Jersey, he being the first Governor of the province separate from New York.
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From about 1710, Lewis Morris was a resi- dent of Morrisania, N. Y., though during his Governorship of New Jersey he resided at Kingsbury, near Trenton, where he died May 21, 1746. He was buried in the family vault at Morrisania. His property in Monmouth County was left to his son, Robert Hunter Mor- ris, from whom it passed a few years later. In 1765 the mill property was owned by Daniel Hendrickson ; later by Reuben Shive, and by William Remsen, who, in 1838, sold the mills to Pierson Hendrickson, who still owns them. After the property had passed from the Morris family there was a small foundry in operation upon it, at the Falls, for many years.
The first tavern at Tinton Falls was on the site of Nimrod Baulsir's residence. It was kept by Nicholas Van Brunt, who was sheriff of the county during the Revolution. In 1808 it was kept by Jacob Van Arsdale, and later by For- man . Throckmorton, Gilbert Clayton, John Mount, Holmes Messler, and last by Nimrod Baulsir, from 1872 to 1883. The present hotel was changed to that use from a store about 1870, and kept by Edward Wilson, and at present by William Hendrickson.
The Tinton Falls post-office was established about 1840 with Pierson Hendrickson as post- master. He was succeeded by Daniel Holmes, William Smith, Nicholas Wilson, Samuel Ben- net, David Haner and Benjamin Scott.
Tinton Falls was the home of Dr. Jacobus Hubbard, who is mentioned in a road record as residing there in 1713. His son, Jacobus Hub- bard, also became a physician and also lived at Tinton Falls. Dr. William H. Hubbard, now of Red Bank, was a nephew of Dr. Jacobus Hub- bard and settled at Tinton Falls in his early practice.
The mineral spring at the Falls is said to have been reserved by the Indians in their >ale to the white settlers. It is strongly impregnated with iron, and is equal in flow and temperature in all seasons and weather. In 1838, Robert Morris opened a boarding-house within three hundred yards of the Spa Spring. In 1867 a company was organized to develop the property, and was later incorporated; nothing was done, and the company expired by limitation. The spring is now owned by men in New York.
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH at Tinton Falls stood originally about half a mile sonth from the Falls, on land now owned by John Dean. A lot was given for the purpose in 1815 by James Withers. Trustees were ap- pointed, but it does not appear that it was built until several years later. It was then used at that place until 1868, when it was moved to Tinton Falls, and used until 1872, when it was rebuilt, and was rededicated February 5, 1873. The pastors from that time have been James Moore, J. Lavelle, A. M. North, N. J. Wright, A. J. Gregory, W. H. Allen, and S. T. Grimes.
THE MACEDONIAN ZION AFRICAN METH- ODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH was organized in 1854, and erected a building on Pine Brook, south of Tinton Falls, and on the line between Shrewsbury and Atlantie townships. The society was incorporated April 16, 1855. The chureli was placed under charge of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of Eatontown and is still in that connection. The house was used until 1884, when a new house was built, and dedicated December 14th in that year. The pastor in charge is the Rev. E. Hammett.
CENTREVILLE is a settlement on the line of Shrewsbury and Ocean townships, south of Eatontown village. A hotel was built at the place in 1846 by John Brown, and kept by him for many years. In 1865, James H. Dangler became the landlord and kept it till 1884, when it was discontinued as a hotel. Mr. Dangler, in 1873, built a store, which he occu- pied and still keeps. \ carriage-shop was built by E. L. Havens in 1874.
RUMSON NECK comprises all that part of Shrewsbury township lying between the Nave-
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sink and Shrewsbury (or otherwise Shrewsbury and South Shrewsbury) Rivers, and is the " Navarumunk Necke" sold by the Indians to the white settlers in 1664. Otherwise the name was spelled Narumsunk and Narumson, which last is found in an Indian deed of the year mentioned.
One of the first settlers on the neck was John Hance, who is mentioned as deputy and over- seer at a court held at Portland Point December 28, 1669. He settled on Rumson Neck and owned a tract of land reaching from river to river. During the Dutch rule he was appointed " schepen," or magistrate, in 1673, having been a justice before that time. He lived and died on his estate, and is probably buried in the old cemetery which is at the Rumson nurseries. The oldest slab in this yard bears this inscrip- tion : " Here lyes ye body of Joyce Hance, wife of John Hance, who died February ye 4th, 1722-3, aged 39 years." She was proba- bly the wife of the son of the original settler. From this John Hance sprang all of the family, many of whom, by intermarriage with Friends, are now of that denomination.
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