History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 2, Part 48

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

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Mr. Conover, on his marriage, removed to Middletown township, where, in connection with his brother, John L., he purchased a farm and remained two years. In 1850 he returned to Marlborough and became owner of the farm which is his present residence. Here he has sinee been engaged in general farming and made horticulture a study, pear-eulture having been attended with much success and corresponding profit. He is a member of the board of direc- tion of the Momnouth County Agricultural So- ciety, was director and treasurer of the Holm- del Transportation Company, which he form- erly, in connection with a partner, controlled, and was also a member of the board of direction of the Freehold and New York Railroad.

Mr. Conover is in politics a Democrat, having served for seven years on the Board of Chosen Freeliolders and been placed on the building committee appointed to superintend thie eon-

struction of a new court-house and jail, on the destruction by fire of the original buildings. He has also acted as member of the township committee, collector, etc., and been identified with the most important interests of both town- ship and county. Mr. Conover has been as- soeiated sinee his youth with the Reformed (Dutch) Chureli. Stacy P. Conover, the third son of Peter G. and Charlotte Lyell Conover, was born on the 5th of June, 1828, at the an- cestral dwelling-house in Marlborough, and received a rudimentary education at the district seliool near his home. In youth he became familiar with the labor of the farm, and assisted in itseultivation until his majority was attained, when he managed it on shares until 1856, at which date a portion of the land was purchased by him.

He was married, on the 3d of July, 1860, to Miss Ellen L., daughter of Daniel Schenck, of Marlborough township. Mr. Conover, in 1862, purchased the farm on which he at present re- sides, in the same township, and is still engaged in the employment of an agrieulturist, devoting special attention to horticulture. Mr. Conover's extensive business interests have not, however, rendered him indifferent to affairs connected with his township. A Democrat in his political predilections, he has held various local offices and been an influential factor in the develop- ment of his section of the county. He is a member of the board of direction of the Free- hold and Keyport Railroad. His religious views are in accord with the doctrines of the Reformed (Dutch) Church, in which the fam- ily for generations have worshiped.

J. V. N. WILLIS is a son of Ralph Willis and Lucretia A. Van Nuise, the former born in London, England, in 1815, and the latter near New Brunswick, N. J., in 1811. Rev. Ralph received his primary education in London and in Yorkshire, having been a pupil of " Dough- boy Hall." In 1830 he emigrated to this country, whither his father, Edwin Willis, within a few years followed, settling with his remaining family in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Rev. Ralph, after pursuing a preparatory course

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

of study in Philadelphia and in the grammar school at New. Brunswick, in 1835 entered Rutgers College, from which he graduated with reputation in 1849, when lie became a member of the Theological Seminary of the same place. At the conelnsion of his theological course he was called to the pastorate of the Reformed Church of Bethlehem, N. Y., where his name and usefulness have still honorable mention. Leaving this charge in 1851, he became pastor .of the Briek Church, Monmouthi County, N. J., where he remained an honored and successful pastor until the spring of 1868, when he as- sumed, in connection with his official position as county superintendent of publie instruction, the care of the Reformed Church of Spotswood, N. J., whose interests, both spiritual and ma- terial, he greatly advanced. This reverend gentle- man still holds, at this writing, the office of superintendent of instruction, his efficiency and adaptability having secured his reappointment, term after term, for the past seventeen years. In addition to this publie service, his old age is honored with the responsible position of reetor of the Theological School at New Bruns- wiek, where he resides with his remaining family in circumstances of competence and comfort.

John V. N. Willis was born in Bethlehem, N. Y., August 15, 1843. His primary edu- cation was obtained at the Woodhulls' school, Freehold, and, for a time, in Philadelphia. His more advanced studies were under his father's tuition, at Marlborough, N. J. At the age of nineteen he assumed the care of the home farin, preferring the occupation of a farmer to that of any other. After his marriage to an estimable lady, Ann Schanck, he purchased a farm in Atlantie township, which he retained but a short time, disposing of it for the purchase of the Schanek homestead, Marlborough, where he still resides. Here, together with general farm- ing, he devoted mueh attention to the raising and training of fine horses, owning at one time, .among others of note, the famous trotters " Edwin Booth " and "Sensation." In 1876 his attention was diverted from fine horses to fine cattle, making the Jerseys his specialty; being the first to intro- duee registered Jerseys into this section. This en-

terprise at first was not looked upon with favor by his more cautions neighbors ; but with a self- reliance that was always a prominent trait in his character, he persevered. In the spring of 1879 his offering at the Breeders' Combination Sale in New York comprised the two-year-old heifer " Daisy Maid of Bloomfield " and her calf, with some yearlings. Prices at that time did not range so higli as at present, vet the cow and calf were sold to Mr. T. A. Havemeyer, of New York, for fifteen hundred dollars, and the yearlings brought prices ranging from three hundred to four hundred dollars cach. At the subsequent sales, held in the American Institute Building, his stock has always been much sought after by the prominent breeders of the country, and have always com- manded large priees. At the Breeders' Contri- bution Sale in New York, in May, 1883, Mr. Willis received the second prize, a costly silver cream pitcher, presented by his associate breeders for the second highest average, being $1224.50 per head. His contribution at the sale was all of young animals, and included the little bull-calf " Koffee's King," only twenty- one days old, which was bred by Mr. Willis, and brought sixteen hundred and fifty dol- lars, which was within fifty dollars of the highest price ever paid up to that time for a Jersey bull-calf. At a similar sale, in New York, in May, 1884, Mr. Willis contributed fifteen head of young Jerseys, which sccured for him the admiration of the visitors and of the press, and their sale aggregated ten thousand three hundred and thirty-five dollars.

Again, at the annual sale in New York, in April of the present year (1885), he carried off the prize offered to the person contributing the five animals selling for the highest price, whether bred by the contributor or not. This much-cov- eted prize consisted of a beautiful solid silver punch-bowl, mounted on an ebony pedestal, and was valued at one hundred and seventy-five dol- lars. The average obtained at the sale for five of his cattle was nine hundred and thirty-one dol- lars per head, which was also the highest average obtained by any participant in the sale. Mr. D. F. Appleton, of New York, in presenting the prize to Mr. Willis, paid a very high compli-

Eng.1y, A H Ritchie

John v . Willis

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MARLBOROUGH TOWNSHIP.

ment to his ability to seleet and develop the very best animals, and said that his consignments to these sales had always been greatly admired. He has also been a successful prize-winner at local and State fairs, receiving many herd and individual prizes. His stock in the hands of others has also been successful in winning prizes at St. Louis and at other points in the West. He was sent, as an expert in Jersey cattle, by the American Jersey Cattle Club, to test the great cow " Princess II.," who made twenty-seven poundsten ounces of butter in seven days, at that time, the largest yield on record ever made by any cow. He has also aeted as judge of live stock at the most prominent exhibitions lately in Baltimore, Rhode Island, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and elsewhere. At the present time Mr. Willis' herd comprises a large num- ber of superior animals of various ages and the most popular and varied strains. He ranks among the first breeders of fine eattle in the eoun- try, and as a judge of the merits of young eattle and of their future promise, and as a conditioner, it is eoneeded that he stands in the front rank. The Jersey Bulletin, published at Indianapolis, under date of May 1, 1884, said : " [He] is an extraordinary judge of the possibilities of young stock, and is one of the first managers and handlers in the country." October 29th, it said : "[He] possesses the utmost instinctive power of judging of the probabilities of young ealves." December 31st, it said : " [He] has an intuitive knowledge of the capabilities of animals to feed, has had a most thorough education, training and experience in rearing, feeding and the manage- ment of cattle, and in taet and talent in this di- rection is equaled by few."

Mr. Willis is a Demoerat in politics, and a popular man in his section, in which his party has been in the ascendaney for many years. He has frequently had publie positions tendered to him, but has always declined to accept them. He was appointed by Governor Abbett to represent the Third Congressional District on the board of visitors to the State Agricul- tural College, his commission bearing date of April 18, 1884. IIe has also recently been re-elected as a member of the board of mana- gers of the Monmouth County Agricultural So-

eiety, of which society he has been an active and prominent member for a number of years. He is still a young man, and ean scareely be said to have reached the prime of his mental abilities. Should he eseape aceident and disease, he has a bright future before him, and the kindest re- gards of his friends and associates will aecom- pany him in his career.

DANIEL P. VAN DORN. - The Van Dorn family are of Holland deseent, the progenitor of the family in New Jersey having been Jacobus Van Dorn, a native of Holland, who settled on Long Island, from whence he removed to Monmouth County in 1698, purchasing six hundred and seventy-six acres of land in Marl- borough township. At the organization of the First Church of Freehold, in 1709, Jacobus Van Dorn was one of the two members appointed to fill the office of deaeon.

The northwest corner of the land above re- ferred to is now in possession of the subject of this biographical sketeh, having come to him by inheritance through an unbroken line of aneestors, embracing a period of more than one hundred and eighty years. In the direct line of deseent from Jacobus, who married Maritje Bennet, a lady of large wealth, was Peter Van Dorn, born July 4, 1755, on the aneestral land in the present township of Marlborough, where he followed the occupations of a farmer. He married Jane Williamson, whose birth occurred July 5, 1758. Their children were Mary, Jacob, Elbert, Williampe, Anne, John, Wil -. liam, Isaac, Peter, Jannetje, and Sarah. William, of this number, was born March 2, 1790, and married, November 28, 1815, Catherine, daughter of Daniel Polhenius, of the present Atlantic township, a soldier of the Revolution, who was confined in the famous Sugar-House Prison, in New York. To this marriage were born four children,-Catherine, Jane, Daniel P. and Mary,-of whom Jane, born January 14, 1819, married, March 10, 1842, John Rue Per- rine, of Manalapan, whose only daughter is Catherine Polhemus Perrine. Mrs. Perrine's death ocenrred August 28, 1877.

Daniel P. Van Dorn was born October 7, 1820, on the homestead still occupied by him,

752

HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

which has been his life-time residence. He was educated at Matawan, in his native county, and later at Lenox, Mass., after which, on his return, he assisted in the routine of labor con- nected with the farm until the death of his father, when he received as his patrimony a portion of the land, and acquired the remainder by purchase. He has since that time been devoted to the varied labors of an agricultur- alist. Mr. Van Doru was, on the 9th of Sep-

the State Legislature in 1854, serving during the session on various important committees, including that on banks and banking. He has also acted as chosen freeholder and filled other township offices. Mr. Van Dorn was educated in the faith of the Reformed (Dutch) Church, to which he still adheres.

OBADIAH C. HERBERT .- The ancestry of the Herbert family having been already given

tember, 1874, married to Anna J. Roche, of North Hadley, Mass. Their only child is a son, William, born on the 20th of August, 1875. Mr. Van Dorn has been identified with many of the most important interests of the county. He was one of the early projectors and is still a director of the Frechold and New York Railroad. He is also a member of the Monmouth County Agricultural Society. His political principles have always been those of the Democratic party, which he represented in

elsewhere in this volume renders repetition here unnecessary. The subject of this biographical sketch is the son of Conover Herbert, who married Elizabeth, daughter of. Major David Provost, of Monmouth County. The children of this marriage are Obadialı ; Cornelia, wife of William H. Heyer; David P., deceased; Elca- nor G., deceased; Mary Louisa; William HI., deceased; John W., deceased; Evelina E., de- ceased; and William C., married to Lonisa Applegate. Obadialı C. was born on the 12th

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OCEAN TOWNSHIP AND LONG BRANCH.

of October, 1834, at Matawan, Monmouth County, where he remained until his twelfth year, subsequently residing for four years with his uncle, Judge J. W. Herbert, in Marlborough township. His education was received in Marlborough and at Matawan, and later at the Madison University, at Hamilton, N. Y., from whenee lie was called home by the illness of his father, whose death occurred in 1858. He assumed direction of the farm, and in 1859 became, by inheritance and purchase, the owner of the paternal home, which is his present resi- denee. He was, in 1857, married to Mary A., daughter of Jolin Buek, of Freehold, their children being Ralph Willis, a praetieing physi- cian at Manasquan; Dora E., wife of Dr. Charles N. Cox; Frank C .; George B .; Evan M .; Carrie O .; and Harvey C., deceased. Mr. Herbert has, since his marriage, been engaged in farming, though various business interests requiring elose attention have influeneed him to place the cultivation and improvement of his lands in the hands of his sons. On his farm are extensive and valuable marl-pits, which have brought their owner into prominent notiee as the most extensive dealer in this remarkable fertilizing produet in the State. (A comprehen- sive deseription of the marl-beds of the county will be found in the chapter on the geological formation of the county.) The whole of Mr. Herbert's farm is underlaid with marl, about twelve aeres of which have thus far been profit- ably worked, the supply being praetieally un- limited. The market is chiefly found in adja- eent portions of the State, tlie Frecliold and New York Railroad, which runs over the land, affording superior facilities for shipment. Mr. Herbert was the projector and lias been the leading spirit in the development of Marlborough, the village in which he resides. He purchased the ground, which was laid out in lots, build- ings ereeted, and manifested a spirit of energy and determination which insured its rapid de- velopment and growth. He still continues these improvements, and has recently devoted much attention to real estate operations and the purchase and sale of property in this and other localities. Mr. Herbert is a member, and was formerly an officer, of the Monmouth County 48

Agricultural Society. He is a Republican in politics, and although at times the ineumbent of various township offiees, has frequently de- clined sueh honors. He has, however, been more largely identified witli religious work, and was an active member of the building eom- mittee in the ereetion of the edifiee of the First Baptist Church of Marlborough, of which he is both deaeon and trustee, and has been, sinee its organization, superintendent of the Sabbatlı- sehool.

CHAPTER XXVI.

OCEAN TOWNSHIP AND LONG BRANCH.

THE township of Oecan was erected from a part of Shrewsbury by an aet passed February 24, 1849, dividing the said township of Shrews- bury into two townships, by a line " beginning at the mouth of Shrewsbury South river, and running up said river to Eatontown Landing Creek, to the east line of Jacob White's land ; thence northerly, along the line of land between Jacob White and Peter Castler, to Parker's Creek ; thenee up said ereek to the Eatontown mill- brook ; thenee up said brook to said mill ; thenee up the pond to a point where line south ten degrees west will strike the road west of Asel Spin- ning's ; thenee on a straight line to the road leading from Eatontown to Shark River, where said road erosses Cranberry Brook; thenee along said road, as it runs across Jumping Brook, to the northwest corner of Skullthorp's farm ; thenee on a straight line running west of the sehool-house, near John P. L. Tilton's, to the Howell line. The northwesterly part to be called the township of Shrewsbury, and the southeasterly part to be ealled the township of Ocean."

In 1867 the Legislature of New Jersey passed an aet deelaring " That the township of Ocean, in the county of Monmouth, shall be hereby divided into two townships, by a line running as follows, to wit : Beginning at the inouth of Peter. Reynolds' mill-brook, where it empties into Shark River, and running up said brook to said mill ; thence a straight line

754

HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

northeasterly to the southwest corner of Elisha J. Morrison's farm by a bridge over a stream which empties into Great Pond ; thence down the said stream to the aforesaid pond, and around the same to the north side thereof, to the southeast corner of Jeremiah White's farm, being also the southwest corner of the farm of Garret Vanderveer; thence along the line of said White and Vanderveer due north to the Deal road, leading from thence to the Eaton- town and Long Branch turnpike road, by Elisha Lippincott's store; thence along said Deal road to a cross-road at the foot of Negro Hill, near the Methodist Episcopal Church, leading to Lane & Corlies' store ; tlience along the mid- dle of said cross-road to a stone planted for the northwest corner of John Lever's farm, being also the northeast corner of the farm of the late James T. Woolley, deceased ; thence north nine degrees east to the Turtle mill-brook; thence down the said brook and creek to the southeast corner of George Hance's farm ; thence along the east line of said farm to the northeast cor- ner thereof, being a corner of lands belonging to William Morris; thence north thirty-five and a half degrees west to South Shrewsbury River, being the Shrewsbury Township line. The easterly part to be called the township of Ocean, and the westerly part the township of Lincoln." This act was repealed in the follow- ing year, thus obliterating Lincoln township from the map of Monmouth County, and leav- ing Ocean township with boundaries the same as before the passage of the act dividing it.

Ocean township was reduced to its present limits by the erection of Eatontown township, in 1873, and Neptune township, in 1879. The descriptions of the territory taken from Ocean to form these townships are given in their re- spective histories. The present boundaries of Ocean township (including Long Branch) are,- on the north, Middletown,1 Shrewsbury River and Eatontown; cast, by the Atlantic Ocean; south, by Neptune township; west, by Shrews- bury River and Eatontown and Shrewsbury townships. The only stream of importance in Ocean township is Shrewsbury River. The

railways of the township are the sea-shore line, which runs from Sandy Hook southward along the entire ocean-front of the county, the New York and Long Branch Railroad and the Eaton- town Branch of the New Jersey Southern Rail- road, which connect with the sea-shore line at Long Branch. By the United States census returns of 1880 the population of Ocean town- ship (including Long Branch village) is given as six thousand and twenty-seven, of which the population of Long Branch was three thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.

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

1849-50. Henry Wolcott, Jr.

1849. Henry Howland.

1850. Isaiah S. Lane.

1851-56. Henry Howland.

1857-62. Jordan Wooley.

1863-64. Edward Wardell.

1865-68. Joseph H. Cooper.

1869-72. William H. Bennet.

1873-74. Joseph H. Cooper.

1875-78. James W. Conover.

1879-82. Thomas R. Wooley.

1883-84. John A. Eaton.

LONG BRANCH.

Long Branch, the most famed sea-side resort in America, if not in the world, lies on the eastern border of Ocean township and on the shore of the sea. It comes down by tradition that the first name given by white men to this locality was "Land's End;" but this is of very doubtful authenticity, and it is far more likely that that designation, if applied at all in this region, was given to Sandy Hook. The present name, which is known to have been in use for more than a century, was derived from the "long branch" of South Shrewsbury River, which here flows in a northwardly course, and is only a little distance back from the sea.

In the list of associate patentees of Monmonth are found the names of John Slocum, Joseph and Peter Parker and Eliakim Wardell. These men all came to Monmouth County, and in May, 1668, subscribed, with other "freeholders," to

· 1 By Middletown, on the neck of land that extends north to Sandy Hook.

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OCEAN TOWNSHIP AND LONG BRANCH.

the oath of allegiance, the heading of which is,- "The names of the inhabitants of Midleton upon Nauesink that doe subscribe to the oath of Aleagance to the King and Fidelitie to the Lords Proprietors."

John Slocum received from the proprietors a grant of land lying in Shrewsbury township (now Ocean). , In the carly times, and before the Indian title was extinguished, it was neces- sary to buy their rights as well as to patent from the proprietors. An amusing tradition is related by Judge William H. Slocum, of Ocean Port, as to the manner in which his an- cestor, John Slocum, secured the Indian title to his land, viz .: It was arranged between him and the savages that he should engage in a wrestling contest with an Indian, who was se- lected by them for his strength and skill as a wrestler, the stake to be a certain amount of land which was agreed upon, and which Sloeum was to have as a gift if victorious in the con- test. He was of large size and very athletic. "Great preparations were made to witness the encounter. The chosen Indian wrestler prac- tieed continually for the event. The day long expected proved cloudless and auspicious. The spot chosen was the present Fish Landing. A circle was formed, and the Indian champion, elated, confident and greased from head to foot, appeared. Sloeum advanced coolly, and the struggle began; it was long and doubtful. Finally Slocum threw his antagonist, but in an instant the Indian was again on his feet. A

murmur ran through the cirele. Again the Indian made a violent effort and both fell. Another murmur was heard. Silence prevailed as they came together again, broken only by the roaring of the surf. A long struggle. Slo- cum inured to toil, hardy and rugged, proved too much for the Indian, and threw him, to the intense disappointment of the Indians and un- disguised joy of the whites. The terms were then all arranged. John Slocum had two brothers, and they located that part of Long Branch reaching from the shore to Turtle Mill Brook, embracing all lands lying north of the main road, from the sea to Eatontown, between these two points, to the south of Shrewsbury, : except Fresh Pond and Snag Swamp, which

was located by one of the Wardell family. A considerable portion of these lands continued in the possession of the Slocums until thirty or forty years ago. All are now gone into other hands."

If this be true, it shows the way in which John Slocum secured the Indian title to the lands he purchased in 1670. It is stated that Slocum, Wardell, Parker and Hulett were to have the land resulting from the contest, and Slocum was selected as the strongest of the four men to meet the Indian ; but this is not truc, as the records show that in 1670, Eliakim Wardell bought the Indian rights for four pounds.

In 1683 John Slocum was foreman of the grand jury, chief ranger of Monmouth County and one of the commissioners for laying out roads. In 1688 a road was laid out "from the King's Highway that erosseth the brook, the bounds betwixt John Sloeum and his brother Nathaniel," past Thomas Hulett and Henry Chamberlain to Whale Pond Brook, past Thomas Eaton's and Samuel White's to Horse Pound, by his "little water pond " and through " Deale."

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History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 2, Part 48

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