History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 2, Part 36

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 994

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offering fifty guineas for the head of Captain John Schenck, dead or alive. She procured a pair of silver-mounted pistols, and sent them to him with the message, "John, don't you be taken alive." These pistols are carefully pre- served at his old homestead, and may be seen there at the present day. His life was sought after and insecure, and sometimes for safety he passed his nights in concealment, at one time in a hay-stack in the field. This was discov- ered; bnt made aware of the discovery by some friends, the next night he went elsewhere. The enemy came, surrounded the stack and set it on fire ; but he was out of their way. For a while, at least, he was in the main army, but was principally engaged in contests with the enemy about the vicinity of his home. At one time he drove off with his company a party of Refugees who had come over from Staten Island and landed on the East Point, and, hav- ing gone up in the country, collected a lot of cattle and driven them down to the shore, were engaged in trying to ship their plunder on their boats. They were attacked, the captain going on ahead and swinging his hat and calling to his men to come on. He himself shot one man down by the name of Lawrence, having struck him in the forehead with a bullet. At another time he was at the Highlands with his company, and a company of the enemy being there, he urged his superior officer, who was also there, to make the attack, but he was afraid and re- fused. The captain then assumed the responsi- bility, attacked the party, captured them and brought off most of them at least prisoners of - war. When, in the month of June, 1781, the party of fifteen hundred invaded the county, they came up as far as Pleasant Valley and some firing occurred, and they engaged in plun- dering. A detachment went over to the resi- dence of Captain John Kiming to burn his buildings. A skirmish took place and they were driven back. During the firing the mother, with her three-weeks old babe-her De Lafay- ette-retired to the cellar to get out of the way of the bullets. A grenadier was killed on the occasion and buried down in the orchard, where his grave was afterwards regarded as a ghost- like place by the boys. The captain himself was

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

struck by two bullets fired by a Hessian, whom he pursued and captured.

Captain John Schenck and Maria Denise had nine sous,-Garret, Tunis, William, John, De- nise, Daniel, De Lafayette, David and Hendrick, -all of whom lived to grow up, and all bnt one to marry; and four daughters,-one died an infant, the others grew up and married.

The seventh son was De Lafayette, born May 27, 1781, and died September 11, 1862. Mar- ried, December 17, 1805, Eleanor, daughter of Garret Conwenhoven and Anna Schenek. He was named in honor of that devoted friend of this country and of civil liberty, the Marquis De Lafayette, and is said to have been the first American ehild to bear that name. And when the general was in this country on his visit, and in New York, Captain John was introduced to him, and he then introduced his son as bearing his name, and received his grateful thanks.

De Lafayette Schenck resided first at Mata- wan, and carried on for many years quite exten- sively and successfully the business of tanning and currying, and at the same time cultivated and improved a farm of some sixty aeres. He was a man noted for liis sound good sense and correct views of things. He paid striet attention to his own business, was upright in all his deal- ings, and when needed to labor, was never ashamed to work with his own hands. While industrious and careful in promoting his own interest, he was possessed of public spirit, and ready to aid in any worthy cause; especially did he manifest a patriotie spirit in giving for the cause of his country in her hour of need. He was among the first in his native eounty to engage in laying out and straightening the public road from Freehold to Middletown Point; and when that road was extended to Keyport, and converted first to a plank-road and then to a graveled turnpike, he took an active and leading part. In instituting the Farmers' and Merchants' Bank at Middletown Point, he was largely instru- mental in obtaining the charter, freely investing in it of his means; was for a few years its first president, and up to the time of his death was an influential member of the board of directors. He entered heartily into the first enterprise of · taking a steamboat from the shores of Mon-

mouth to the city of New York, partaking of its reverses and snccesses, and, in connection with this, aiding in erecting and arranging the steamboat wharf at Keyport, and keeping his interest in these until within two or three years of his death. He was largely interested in sustaining the large hotel and boarding-house at Keyport, and when destroyed by fire, rebuilt it on his own responsibility. In 1830 he removed on the large farm near Holmdel, where he re- mained until 1855, conducting successfully his farming operations. The last seven years of his life he spent at Keyport, attending to his gen- eral business affairs. Although not a profess- ing church member, yet sueh were his views in regard to moral influences that he never would allow card-playing or even a pack of cards on his premises. For building the parsonage house at Keyport he gave one-third of the cost of it, and was always a helper in sus- taining the preaching of the gospel, and among the most regular in attendance on divine serviees. On his dying bed he expressed to his pastor his belief and trust in Christ as the source of merey to him.

De Lafayette Schenek and Eleanor Conover had fonr sons,-Garret C., Sidney, Alfred and Lafayette,-all of whom lived to grow up and marry; and fonr daughters, that lived to grow up and marry.

Garret Conover Schenck was born Septem- ber 14, 1806. Married, first, October, 1834, Sarah Ann, daughter of William Hendrickson and Eleanor Dubois, and eldest sister of Senator Hendrickson; married, second, April 14, 1846, Jane, daughter of Hugh McCormick and Jane Welsh, of Fairfield, N. J. The greater part of his time when a youth was spent in attending the common schools of the vicinity, while, owing to the frequent changes of teachers, the advan- tages for laying a good foundation for an educa- tion were bnt limited. Hence, when about fourteen years old, he was sent to the elassical school at Cranbury, then under the care of Mr. Hama. There he commeneed the study of Latin ; but after attending nine months the school was broken up, and he returned home to assist for a year or two in working in the yard and on the farm. In the spring of 1823 he was sent to

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the classical school at Lawrenceville, then under the care of the Rev. Dr. I. V. Brown. Thrce years were spent here in preparing for college, and in the spring of 1826 he was admitted to the sophomore class at its third term in Rut- gers College, New Brunswick. At the com- mencement, in 1827, he was chosen as one of the junior speakers, and in 1828 took part in the commencement exercises, and then gradu- ated. The principal part of the succeeding . year was spent in New Haven, in attendance on Professor Silliman's lectures on chemistry,

church was not then sought, and the principal part of the summer was spent in occasionally preaching in different places, and traveling and visiting friends in Central New York and out West as far as Ohio and Kentucky. In the winter of 1833 he was sent by the Board of Domestic Missions to preach as a missionary in the recently organized church of Marshall- ville ; here he continued for six months. In the autumn he was sent by the Classis to preach as a supply for a few weeks in the then vacant church of Walpack. A call to become their pastor was

Gasser-le Uchowrote

mineralogy and geology, and on the lectures of | soon after made out and accepted, and in Feb- Dr. Knight on anatomy, physiology and ob- stetrics. In the autumn of 1829 he was ad- mitted to the Theological Seminary at New Brunswick, and passed the regular course of study in theology, excepting three months spent in assisting the Rev. Dr. Currie in teaching in the grammar school.

ruary, 1834, he removed there and commenced his work. He was required to preach at four different places in the congregation, dis- tant from each other, and lying on both sides of the river Delaware. It was a laborious charge, attended with discouragements, and sometimes danger in crossing the river. He continued here but one year, when eireumstances con- strained him to resign this charge.

In April, 1832, he was licensed by the Classis of New Brunswick to preach the gospel. His healthı having been somewhat impaired by ap- In the autumn of 1834 he received and ac- plication to study, a situation as pastor of a 1 cepted a call to the church of Clover Hill. There

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

he labored among a divided and unsettled people for a year and a half, when it was thought best to make a change. He was then invited to preach as a candidate in the then vacant church of Pompton Plains, the old mother Reformed Church in that section of the country. A call from here was soon made out and accepted, and in July, 1837, he removed there, and in duc time was installed there as their pastor. Here for fifteen and a half years, in this large and substantial congregation, and among a plain, but refined and kind-hearted people, he labored with encouraging success. In the course of time, and from various eauses, a few became dis- affected with their pastor, and it was thought best quietly to leave them. He gave up his call, not knowing where to go or how his family might be situated. No opening in the church for him as a settled pastor has since presented itself, and in the Providence of God and in a singular way his lot has been cast on a farm for his livelihood, and to engage more or less in the business of the world, although, until old age has brought on its infirmities, he has for several years preached in a destitute neighborhood, and been every few weeks called to supply a vacant pulpit.

In 1866 he was chosen a member of the board of trustees of Rutgers College, and for several years was chairman of the board's committee on the college farm. After the death of his father, in 1842, and in his place, he was chosen a director of the bank at Matawan, and served for some twenty years. For some fourteen years he has held the office of president of the Frec- hold and Keyport Plank-Road Company. For about eighteen years he has held the office-an unprofitable one, it is true-of secretary and trea- surer of a mining company in Nevada, and was for a whilea trustee of one in the State of Colorado.

In the mean while, in 1869, with Mrs. Schenck he traveled as far as Monterey, on the Pacific coast, visiting on the way Salt Lake City, San Francisco, one of the big tree groves and the Yosemite Valley ; and two years after, with a cousin, traveled as far as Central Nevada. At another time he traveled as far as seventy-two miles west of Vicksburg, and on the way spent a day in the great cave of Kentucky. Much .time, traveling and expense for the past fifty

years has been given to preparing a history of the settlement and settlers of Pompton, and also to gathering the materials and arranging the facts for a genealogical history of the old Dutch families of Monmouth County.

ISAAC G. SMOCK .- Hendrick Malysen Smock emigrated to America in 1654, having married Gecrje Hermans, who died in 1708. He set- tled in New Utrecht, purchased land in 1665, took the oath of allegiance in 1687 and was a magistrate from 1669 to 1689. His children were, Matthias, Johannis, Marritje, Lecudert, Sarah, Martyntje and Rebecca. Johannis, who removed to Monmouth County, married Cath- arine Barents, about 1672, and had children,- Hendrick, Barnes, Matje, Anna and Femmeke. Hendrick Smock was born in 1698, and died on the 30th of May, 1747. He married, in 1721, Mary Schenck, and had eight children, among whom was John, born in 1727, who married, in 1747, Elizabeth Conover, and had twelve children, of whom George, born Novem- ber 24, 1754, married, in 1779, as his first wife, Sarah Conover, and on November 27, 1794, as his second wife, Margaret Van Deventer. By the first union were children,-John, Aaron, Hendrick, Peter, George, Mary and an infant. The children of the second marriage were Jacob, Garret, Sarah, Elizabeth, Jane, Letty Ann, Isaac G. and Eleanor. Isaac G., of this number, was born on the 7th of November, 1809, in Somerset County, N. J., where he re- mained until nine years of age. The family then removed to Marlboro' township, Monmouth County, but soon disposed of the property there owned, and made a second purchase of the land now in possession of the subject of this biog- raphy, and within one mile of the original Smock tract. Isaac G., after limited opportu- nities of education, devoted his energies to labor on the farm, which, on the death of his father, in 1836, came to him by inheritance and purchase. Here he has sinee been engaged in the congenial and healthful pursuits of the agri- culturist, though the burden and responsibility las, in later years, becu left to others. Mr. Smock was, on the 23d of December, 1841, married to Ellen, daughter of Jolin Conover

Eng !by A H. Ritchie

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James & JayCon

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and Ann, his wife. Their children are John C., assistant State geologist for New Jersey, and Margaretta V. D., deceased. Mr. Smock is a member of the Monmouthi County Agricul- tural Society, and identified as director with the Monmouth Plank-Road Company. A Demo- crat in his political associations, he has never accepted office other than that connected with the township. The cause of religion has ever found in him a zealous friend and the Holm- del Reformed Dutch Church a liberal supporter. In this church, of which both he and Mrs. Smock are members, lie has filled the offices of elder and deacon.

JAMES J. TAYLOR .- The Taylor family repesented by the subject of this biographical sketchi is of English extraction, the grandfather of the latter having been George Taylor, a farmer in Atlantic township, who married a lady of Scotch descent, whose children were John G., James G., George, Edward, Elizabeth, Hannah, Rachel and Eleanor. John G., a na- tive of Atlantic township, married Elizabetlı Conover, daughter of Tunis Conover, of Rari- tan township, to whom were born children,- James J., Mary (Mrs. Cornelius Hendrickson), William and two sons, John and Conover, who died in infancy. Mr. Taylor was twice mar- ried after the demise of his first wife, and had by these marriages twelve children. His son James J. was born on the 20th of January, 1810, at the home of his paternal grandfather, in Atlantic township. His father, who pursued for years his trade of cooper, also rented farms in various parts of Monmouthi County. His son received but meagre advantages of eduea- tion, and at the early age of nine years learned to follow the plow, continuing to assist his father in this healthful occupation until twenty- one years of age, and also rendering liis services useful in a grist-mill owned by him. On at- taining his majority he removed to a farm in Atlantic township owned by an uncle, of which he was for four years the tenant. He was, on the 18th of December, 1833, married to Lucy Ann, daughter of William and Lydia Morford, of Middletown township, whose birth occurred June 24, 1809. Their children are Mary, born

July 4, 1835, widow of Henry D. Ely, who has six children ; Conover T., a farmer, born July 5, 1837, married to Eleanor Morford, who has two children ; James M., whose birth oc- curred March 13, 1839, deceased ; Emma C., born July 2, 1841, wife of James H. Leonard, who has two children ; James M., born September 15, 1843, professor of mathematics in Madison University, Hamilton, N. Y., married to Mary Paddock, who has three chil- dren ; John G., a farmer, born February 11, 1846, married to Hattie Frost, who has one eliild ; Joseph W., a miller near Englishtown, born December 4, 1848, married to Annie Eng- lish, who has three children. The grand- children are Rebecca, Howard, Thomas, Emma, Achsah and Henry, children of Mrs. Mary Ely ; Ada and Lilalı, children of Conover T. Tay- lor ; Mary and Albert, children of Mrs. Emma C. Leonard ; Jamie, Florence and William H., children of James M. Taylor ; Harry, Amy and Bertha, children of Joseph W .; and Flora, daughter of John G. Taylor. Mr. Taylor, in connection with his brother, inherited the farm he at present owns, which he made his home in 1835 and has to the present time continued to reside upon. He is a member and has mani- fested much interest in the operations of the Monmouth County Agricultural Society. A Republican in politics, he has neither sought nor held office, and finds the excitements of publie life not in accord with his tastes. His charac- ter as a citizen has caused his services to be often sought as executor and administrator, and these responsibilities have ever been filled with the most scrupulous integrity. He is a member of the Baptist Church of Holmdel, in which he has been for forty-eiglit years a deacon. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor celebrated in 1883 the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage, on which oeca- sion their bridesmaid and groomsman were present to offer their congratulations with other friends. The sentiment of the following poem, written by a member of the family, was re- echoed by all present :

Just fifty years ago to-day

Since this true marriage was declared, And looking back o'er all the way,

How great the bounties you have shared !

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

Blest in your basket and your store, In children's filial love and care; And Heavenly guidance, even more Than all the others, is your share.

Sickness and pain you cach have borne, Afflictions, too, in wisdom given, Dear kindred from your hearts been torn, Exchanging earth for brighter heaven.

One little boy beneath the sod, In early life was called away ; You gave it back in faith to God To meet it in a brighter day.

One other child by marriage tie Has gone to wear a Heavenly crown- Thus, two are singing songs on high And six still cluster round your home.

Your children to three trades belong- One teacher, one miller and farmers four ; Sixteen grandchildren range along, In years from five up to a score.

You still are hale and hearty, too, And blest content illumes your eye ; "Tis hopeful that to each of you The years may pass as peacefully.

That creeping age may distant be, Rheumatic pains be vanished far, And in your grandchildren's glee May you enjoy a copious share.

Your numerous kindred here to-night All add best wishes, kind and true : A happy home, a hearth-stone briglit And blessings copious as the dew.

And when the ycars their course have run, And each and all been gathered home, May each a crown bright as the sun Wear joyfully around the throne.

CHAPTER XXIII. MANALAPAN TOWNSHIP.

MANALAPAN1 is one of the border townships

" Gordon says Manalapan means good bread, a place producing things to make good bread, a good country. Judge McLean says, according to tradition, it means good land. Both doubtless convey substantially the Indian meaning. The name is probably derived from Indian words signifying a place where there was water to drink and where bread could be raised, from manel or menel, drink or drinking, and pan from panne or pone, a well- known Indian word for bread. Such a place the Indians considered a good country, good land to locate upon.

of Monmouth County, adjoining the county of Middlesex, which forms its entire northwestern boundary. On the northeast it is bounded by the township of Marlboroughi, on the east and southeast by Marlborough and Frechold town- ships and on the southwest by the township of Millstone. The Manalapan and Matchaponix Creeks, Wemrock Brook and several other small tributarics flow northwestwardly through the township into Middlesex County, where they mingle their waters with those of South River, the southern branch of the Raritan. The only railway line of the township is that of the Jamesburg and Freehold Agricultural Rail- road, wliiel passes through it in a north westerly and southcasterly direction. The population of the township by the United States census ot 1880 was two thousand one hundred and seventy-five.

Manalapan was taken from Freehold town- ship in 1848, its boundaries, as described by the aet ereeting it, being as follows :

" Beginning at Asher Smithi's tavern, at the south- east corner of the township of Millstone, in the road leading from Mount Holly to Freehold, and from thenee running along the middle of said road north- wardly to the mouth of the road leading to Black's Mills; thence in a northwardly course to a stone planted in the middle of thic road leading from Eng- lishtown to Freehold, said stone being the corner of the farms now owned by William T. Sutphin and that of John E. Gordon ; thence north, forty degrees and thirty seconds east, till it strikes the line of the town- ship of Marlborough; thence along the southerly line of Marlborough until it strikes the boundary line between the counties of Monmouth and Middlesex ; thence following said boundary line southwardly to the northeast corner of the township of Millstone; thence along the southern boundary line of said town- ship to the place of beginning."

Following is a list of the cliosen freeholders of Manalapan township from its erection to the present time, viz. :

1848-50. Joseph Ely.

-1850-55. Jolın M. Perrine.

1856-59. Samuel Vaughn.

1860-64. James A. Perrine.

1865-72. Samuel C. Bowne.

1873-81. Josephi Ely.

1882-84. Elias Van Derveer.

The first settlements in this township were

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made by Scotch people, who, coming into Mon- mouth County as early as 1685, located at first along the Middlesex County border, in the pres- ent townships of Matawan and Marlborough, spread rapidly thence towards the southwest, through what was then Freehold township, embracing the present territory of Manalapan.

The oldest house in this township is the an- cient mansion now oceupied by Mrs. Achsah Hendrickson, and standing about four miles southwest of Freehold town. It was built in the year 1702 by Cornelius Thomson, and re- mained for more than a century in possession of the Thomson family. It is a stone structure, with walls two feet thick; still in good condi- tion, and apparently as solid as when erected. The eeilings are of clear yellow pine. In the old kitchen (which has been torn away) was a door, the wrought-iron latch of which bore the rudely-cut figures and letters, "1702, C. E. T.," the initials being said to mean "Cornelius and Elizabeth Thomson." In 1710, on the first Monday in March, an election of free- holders was held in this house, and mention is found in the records of public meetings being held at the same house, from that time, at least as late as 1723. The Thomson farm em- braeed five hundred acres of land, which was sold in 1844, three hundred acres being pur- chased by Enoch Hendrickson, and the remain- der being sold in smaller tracts. A part of it, now in possession of Clark Clayton, embraced a half-aere of land on which was the Thomson burial-place. On this half-acre was a grove of chestnut-trees, and it was provided that the nuts from these trees should be sold, and the proceeds applied to keeping the burial-plat properly fenced.

The " Old Tennent Church " is situated in Manalapan township, about three miles north- west from Frechold, and two miles southeast of Englishtown. This is the most widely cele- brated and historie house of religious worship in Moumouth County, if not in all the State of New Jersey, because of its Revolutionary as- sociations and the ability and devotional fame of ministers who spent the greater part of their lives in pious labor within its walls.

The old church edifice, which is now more than one hundred and thirty years old, is the successor of an older church that was built on the same site before the birth of George Wash- ington, and which was, in fact, the successor of the still more ancient "Scots Meeting-House," which, however, did not occupy the same site, but stood some miles farther north, in what was then the township of Freehold, but now Marl- borough, where the place is still marked by the relics of the old "Scots burying-ground," though the last vestiges of the old meeting-houses had disappeared years before the birth of any now living. This old meeting-house was built in 1692. The first of the churches built on the " White Hill" site (where the Tennent Church now stands) was erected under a permit granted by King George in 1727 ; was finished in 1730, and dedicated April 18, 1731. Its successor, the present church, was built in 1752, and first occupied early in 1753.

The name "Old Seots Meeting-House " indi- cates correctly the nationality of its original congregation. They were Seotch emigrants, who set out from their native country in Sep- tember, 1685, in the ship " Caledonia." The vessel had a tempestuous passage, but at length made the port of Perth Amboy. The passengers had encountered so much of suffering during the voyage that, though they had first intended settling further south, they determined to re- main in New Jersey. Many of them came to Monmouth County and settled. Being faithful adherents of the Church of Scotland, they soon formed a church, " which was the first one settled with the gospel ministry in East Jersey, west [south] of the Raritan River."1 The exaet date of their organization has not been aseer- tained, but their meeting-house was built in 1692, as before mentioned.

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History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 2, Part 36

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co. Number of Pages: 994

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 994