History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 120

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Swan, Norma Lippincott. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia, R. T. Peck & co.
Number of Pages: 1148

USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > History of Monmouth county, New Jersey > Part 120

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The school has an average of seventy-five pupils.

Cæsarea Lodge, No. 64, F. and A. M., was chartered January 18, 1865, and was instituted with twenty-three members and the following- named officers, viz. : Samnel Lockwood, W. M .; Brewster H. Porter, S. W .; Holmes C. Crawford, J. W.

Prior to the formation of this lodge a warrant of dispensation had been granted (June 22, 1864), by the Grand Lodge of New Jersey, to fourteen persons to organize the Alpha Lodge in Keyport. Under that dispensation the lodge was organized and continued until January 4, 1865, when the warrant was surrendered and application made by most of the members of Alpha Lodge for a charter of Caesarea Lodge, which was granted, and the lodge organized as above mentioned.

Meetings of Cæsarea Lodge were held in the Holmes Academy, corner of Front and Church Streets, until January 1, 1883, when they moved to rooms fitted up for their use over Mckinney's drug-store, corner of Broad and Front Streets. The lodge has now a membership of forty-six. The following is a list of Past Mas- ters : Joseph K. Lewis, John Brittan, Benjamin B. Pearce, A. B. Stoney, David Warner, Benja- jamin Deeker, Jr., George W. Holmes, Benja- min B. Luffburrow, James H. Johnson, Marcus B. Taylor.

The present officers are Marcus B. Taylor, W. M .; Charles Miller, S. W .; G. Morris Brit- tan, J. W .; D. Warner, Sec. ; B. Decker, Sr., Treas.

Delta Chapter, No. 14, R. A. M., was insti- tuted October 5, 1865, under John C. G. Rob- ertson, G. H. P. The constituent members of this chapter were from Hiram Chapter, No. 1, now at Red Bank. The first officers were Samuel Lockwood, M. E. H. P .; Joseph Van Cleaf, E. K .; and Brewster H. Porter, E. S. The chapter meets in Caesarea Lodge-room, and has now seventeen members.

Chingarora Lodge, No. 110, I. O. of O. F., was instituted with twenty-eight members March 17, 1853, and continued in existence until Janu- ary 21, 1856. Its meetings were first held in

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THE TOWN OF KEYPORT.

Storm's Hall, but the lodge afterward united Front Street. The building was completed at with the Rechabites and Order of United Americans, and fitted up rooms in Chingarora Hall, where they met until they disbanded.

Bayside Lodge, No. 193, 1. O. of O. F., was instituted August 23, 1883, with fifteen mem- bers. A room was fitted up in Odd-Fellows' Hall, in the Salz Block. The lodge has now a membership of thirty-three. The present officers are P. G., D. E. Roberts, M.D .; N. G., O. C. Bogardus ; V. G., John R. Dufour ; Rec. See., John R. Farout ; Per. Sec., S. P. Dye ; Treas., W. E. Warne.

Keyport Division, No. 7, S. of T., was estab- lished December 10, 1860. It meets in Wood- ruff's building, and has a present membership of forty.

THE RARITAN GUARD is a military com- pany which was formed at Keyport in the fall of 1861, with twenty-two members and the . following-named commissioned officers: Thomas Robinson, captain ; William Warner, first lieu- tenant ; George W. Taylor, second lieutenant. The company having filled its ranks, most of the members volunteered for service in the War ! of the Rebellion, and formed the nucleus of Company B, Twenty-ninth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers. On their departure for the army, Rufus Ogden was elected temporary cap- tain over the remnant of the company during the absence of the majority at the front. On their return, June 24, 1863, a publie recep- tion was given them by the citizens, and Captain Ogden turned over his men to the proper officers.

In the railroad riots of 1877 the company was called out and proceeded to Phillipsburg, N. . I., where they remained until the restoration of order among the railroad employés. On the return of the company the members held a meeting and each man donated his pay to form a fund to build an armory. The fund was raised by subscription to three thousand dollars, and one thousand dollars in timber was given by the farmers of the vicinity, which was cut and hauled to the mills during the winter months of 1877-78. The armory was built on a lot purchased of Uriah H. Dudley, located on

a cost of about seven thousand dollars, and was opened in 1879. It is fifty-two by one hun- dred feet in size ; the drill-room is fifty-two by eighty-six feet and eighteen feet in height. The captains of the Guard have been Thomas Robinson, Rufus Ogden (temporary), William Warner, Alfred Walling, Jr. (now judge), James W. Hill, Benjamin A. Lee (now major of Third Regiment), Thomas L. Seabrook, Os- car F. Stanhope. The company has now about fifty members. Rufus Ogden and John S. Halstead have been members from the forma- tion of the company, Halstead having filled the office of orderly sergeant for seventeen years.

KEYPORT HOOK-AND-LADDER COMPANY, No. 1, was incorporated February 27, 1878. The members of the company at that time were H. J. McCabe, E. Maynard, Jr., F. D. Woodruff, Elias H. Force, A. Van Nostrand, A. Salz, W. L. Conover, Jolin F. Runyon, Ru- fus Ogden and George Cooper. This company, with its apparatus, is the entire Fire Department of Keyport.

On Friday, the 21st of September, 1877, at a little after eleven o'clock P.M., there broke out in Keyport a fire which proved to be the most ex- tensive and disastrous one that ever visited the place. The fire originated in the building of Abraham Morris (occupied by him as a butcher- shop), from which it spread rapidly and with little or no check until the arrival of a fire-en- gine and company from Matawan, Keyport being destitute of fire apparatus at that time. The origin, progress and extent of the great conflagration were narrated in a communication to the Monmouth Inquirer of the next week, as. follows :

" In the rear of Abraham Morris' butcher-shop is a vacant room, whose outside door hung loose upon one hinge. In this room William H. Madden, who lived next door, says he first saw the fire. There were four rooms over the butcher-shop, occupied by Mrs. Ann Riley and Mary McGerry. Mr. Morris left the butcher- shop at nine o'clock, and all was then right. He ques- tioned Mrs. Riley as to when and how she first saw the fire. Mrs. Riley told Mr. Morris that she was awakened from sleep by a crackling noise, and got up to ascertain the cause of it. She passed out of her

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

room to a rear room, just above the one in which Mr. Madden saw the fire, and upon looking out of the side window the flames and smoke from without puffed up in her face. Between this building and the adjoining one, occupied and owned by Mr. Charles Miller, there was about one foot of space, and there were no windows on the side of Mr. Miller's house adjoining to Mr. Morris' building.

" From Abraham Morris' building the fire extended north, taking first Mary J. Hill's dwelling-house, oc- cupied by William H. Madden, and then the adjoin- ing building, a shoe and tobacco-store owned and oc- cupied by Hughey Daugherty. This was the last building on the north side of Broad Street standing south of the yards belonging to the livery stable. The wind was blowing from the northwest, a fresh, brisk breeze, which did not lull till after two o'clock. The space between Daugherty's store and the stables broke the flames from extending further north, and as the wind was coming from the northwest the greatest peril was looked for ahead. Every moment the danger increased, for the flames were becoming less and less controllable as they spread along these wooden struc- tures, and swept one and another down to the ground, Almost at the same time that Morris' building was burning the fire extended southward, fanned into activity and intensity by the brisk wind that was blowing. It soon caught David Warner's cigar-store, owned by Charles Miller, and from thence extended till it took Charles Miller's barber-shop and house, upon the rear part of the same lot.

"The mass of burning matter being then so large, the sparks and even flames were spreading in almost every direction. It was very appareut then that nothing could stay its onward course on the west side of Broad Street. Accordingly, the greatest scene of confusion ensued, wherein, as before in a measure, people buckled to and tried their utmost to save the goods in the various houses and stores. Families living in the second stories were almost frenzied. Cries, shouts and screams came from the women and chil- dren, and the greatest turmoil and confusion followed. Goods were carried out as fast as possible by willing hands, but the flames rolled on in their terrific fury so fast that people had to run for their lives and let their goods and chattels be consumed.

"The Pavilion Hotel, owned by C. D. Emson and Cyrenius Van Mater, caught fire several times and was somewhat damaged, but by almost superhuman exertions was saved. The trees in front of the Pavil- ion were thought to have stayed the flames some. Adam Huylar's grocery-store, owned by William W. Conover and Samuel T. Hendrickson, of Red Bank, narrowly escaped burning. The building was fire- proof, but it came near succumbing to the flames.

Upon the other side of the street, after Warner's cigar-store and Miller's barber-shop and house fell as victims, Joseph Maurer's lager beer saloon and dwell- ing were the next to fall. Then followed Walcott &

Matthews' confectionery store and dwelling, and his bake-shop in the rear, and all out-buildings. While these were burning, the Mansion House, owned by Messrs. John S. Sproul and Necourseli Johnson, at the northeast corner of Broad and Front streets, caught fire from the sparks so speedily winged from the opposite side of the street. While the Mansion House was burning the fire was the hottest, and the flames sped away across to St. Mary's Episcopal Church (Rev. Mr. Love, rector), all of which was consumed almost in a twinkling.

"From the church it spread to Dr. MeKinney's house, at the south wing of the drug-store, which was soon enveloped in the onward-marching flames. Ad- joining his house was Dr. Mckinney's drug-store and the Western Union Telegraph office on the first floor, and the law and insurance office of Mr. Alfred Wall- ing and surveyor's office of Mr. George Cooper, on the second floor, all of which business centres shared the same sad fate. Upon the opposite side of the street, next to the corner, Andrew Campbell's 'Rail- road Hotel,' owned and occupied by Mr. Campbell and his family, was going through the fiery furnace. At the northwest corner of Broad and Front Streets stood an unoccupied grocery-store and dwelling-house com- bined, owned by Asher Holmes, which was the next building laid in ashes by the attack of the flames. Van Arsdale and Ellison's butcher-shop, around the corner, was next swept away. Theodore M. Ander- son's cigar manufactory, owned by Asher Holmes, next gave way before the flames like a tinder-box. The fire then communicated with Cyrenius Waite's cigar-store, owned by Asher Holmes, and dowu it went among the other ruins.

" The Keyport post-office and harness-shop, in the rear, owned by Rufus Ogden, joined its neighbors, and although a receptacle for governmental matter, yet it too gave way before greater powers. Two other build- ings, Wolcott and Matthews' dwelling-house, occupied by Sands Selleck and Benjamin Decker's shoe-shop and house combined, were destroyed, the latter being torn down, on the north side of Front Street, before the flames could be stayed.

" At this point, Washington Engine, forty-five men strong, came from Matawan with its active foreman, Jesse Sickles, and assistant, Henry Wyckoff, being summoned to the scene of the conflagration by a horseman, who had been previously dispatched to Matawan. The firemen fought nobly to check the flames at this point, and succeeded in preventing their spreading further on that side of the street. The wind, however. carried the flames across the street to the south side of Front Street, and although a des- perate effort was made to save the handsome building across the street, all efforts proved futile.

" The Atlantic Hotel and out-buildings, owned by John S. Sproul, of Keyport, John J. Hopping, of Middletown, and George Schenck, of Holmdel, was the first victim. Then came Morritz Naftal's cigar

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THE TOWN OF KEYPORT.

manufactory, and A. Salz's building, occupied by F. Eckehardt for a barber-shop. A. Block's elothing- store, a splendid three-story briek building, an orna- ment to any town, owned by the heirs of William Walling, deceased, next succumbed to the all-devour- ing element, and fell a mass of smouldering ruins, with nothing to mark its former fine, substantial ap- pearance but the charred and burnt brick walls, tow- ering high above the mass of ashes that represents what once was the wooden structures belonging to Keyport's citizens. Down Broad Street the flames swept, taking first Bedle & Thomas' stone and marble- store and then attacking and conquering a dwelling occupied by William E. Storms, owned by the Wall- ing estate, and sweeping the last two structures on that side of the street before reaching four vacant lots, namely, a two-story double house, occupied by Jacob and Edward Brown, and owned by the Walling estate, and Fred. Hoffman's saloon, occupied by the same. The stables in the rear were saved. Then came four vacant lots between the burnt distriet and the northwest corner of Broad and Cross Streets, which served to stay the flames from progressing far- ther south.

" Nearly opposite the brick building owned by the Walling estate stood the structure occupied by the Keyport Weekly. Between this building and the drug- store was a vacant space, which served to break the progress of the flames in a measure, and with favoring wind and hard and determined struggles of Mr. Wil- liam F. Leroy and his band of printers, who were pronounced exceedingly plucky, the building and contents were saved.

" Besides the Weekly building, William Bedle's three-story brick house, with undertaker's shop in the basement, owned and occupied by Mr. Bedle, and a double frame house adjoining, occupied by Asbury Bedle, and owned by Alfred Walling, Jr., were saved. The most vigorous efforts were made by the citizens to stay the flames at this point, but the wind shifted a little, so that the two-story frame house belonging to John Van Woert, of Long Branch, caught fire and burned very rapidly. Flames then communicated with James Brown's two-story frame double house, both of which were soon consumed. At this point the flames were controlled by several active, venturesome young men, who plied their energies and used water very freely in their efforts to save the carpenter-shop, barn and dwelling owned by Asher Holmes, which stood just beyond Maurer's house, a yard only inter- vening. Here, then, we have at last found the extent of the fire in each direction, stayed at the points des- ignated by heroie battling or by fortuitous circum- stances."

In this great conflagration, which swept the central part of the town of Keyport, there were destroyed two hotels, one church and twenty-

five other buildings, including dwellings and business places. Thirty families were made homeless by the fire, and the total loss was stated to be two hundred thousand dollars.

MECHANICSVILLE is a small village at the southeast corner of Keyport, forming, in fact, a part of the corporation. In 1843 there was but one dwelling-house standing where now is the village called Mechanicsville, now a part of Keyport. In the next year Thomas Carhart, a carriage-builder, erected a shop at the corner where now stand the carriage-shops of Theodore W. Aumack. The name of the place was de- rived from the fact that a number of mechanics were employed there. In 1850, Thomas Car- hart sold his interest to Samuel Carhart, whose son Timothy conducted the business for ten years and sold to John Herbert, who leased it, after a year or two, to Theodore W. Aumack, who now carries on the business. Thomas Car- hart, after the sale of his business, erected a shop where B. H. Harvey now occupies. The brick shop which Mr. Carhart erected in 1856, two stores, a carriage-shop, blacksmith-shop, St. John's Methodist Episcopal Church and a few dwellings constitute the village at present.

ST. JOHN'S METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH at Mechanicsville is the successor of the old Bethany Church Society (Methodist), which was organized not far from the year 1800 at the place known as Bethany, in the south part of, and near the Holmdel line. The first members were of the families of Murphy, Carhart, Bedle, Hoff, Polin and others. Meetings were first held in 'Squire Thomas Murphy's house. In 1822 a lot of land was purchased for fifteen dollars of John Dorset, containing one-quarter of an acre, on which was erected the Bethany Church. The early ministers were Bartholo- mew Weed, Betts, Walker, Moore, Lang, Stuart, Mclaughlin and others. From this Church sprang the churches of Keyport, Mata- wan, Clifford, Granville, Harmony and others. It was sometimes called Dorsettown Church. In 1870 the building was removed to Mechan- iesville and placed on a lot donated by Andrew Polin. It was dedicated January 1, 1871.

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

Father Bartholomew Weed, who was present at the dedication of the old church in 1822, took part in the dedication of the present church.

The pastors who have served this church since its removal to Mechanicsville are O. Eller- son, E. Livingston, Allen J. H. Bennett, J. S. Parker, E. W. Woodward and the present pas- tor, G. G. Senser.

Rufus Ogden has in his possession a roll of the scholars of Bethany Sunday-school in 1828.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

THOMAS S. R. BROWN .- Mr. Brown is of Scotch ancestry, and descended from a family who first settled iu Browntown, Middlesex County. His grandfather, Lewis Brown, a na- tive and continuous resident of the above place, married, first, a Miss Blue, and, seeond, Rebecca Owen. Among the children of the first mar- riage was Benjamin L. Brown, born in Brown- town, where he learned and successfully fol-

That S. R. Brown

It contains the names of one hundred and twenty-eight pupils, of whom are now living the Rev. James O. Rodgers, Eusebius Walling, of Freehold, Peter Stout, of Holmdel, Timothy Murphy, of Keyport (who became a teacher the next year and afterwards superintendent), G. W. Walling (now superintendent of police of New York City) and Taylor W. Walling, of Keyport. William I. Brown, now of Ocean County, was teacher in that year.

lowed the trade of a earpenter. Hemarried Susan, daughter of Daniel Brown, whose ten children are Thomas S. R., Richard, Charles M., Cor- nelius H., Amos, Adelia (Mrs. Stephen Arose), Margaret (Mrs. Richard P. Burlew), Jane (Mrs. James Bowne), Sophia (Mrs. John Bloodgood) and Eliza (Mrs. Benjamin F. Ely).

Thomas S. R. Brown was born on the 8th of September, 1823, in South Amboy township (then Madison), Middlesex County, N. J., on

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THE TOWN OF KEYPORT.

the farm of his father, where, until seventeen township, ineluding that of freeholder. He was, for 1866 and 1867, as a Democrat, elected to the State Legislature, and identified with various influential committees, on one or more of which he was chairman. Though a supporter of all evangelical denominations, he was more closely allied to St. Mary's Protestant Episcopal Church of Keyport. Mr. Brown was, on the 15th of Jan- uary, 1846, married to Margaret, daughter of David Lamberson, of Middlesex County, whose years of age, he continued to reside, alternating between the sessions of the neighboring school and the labor of the fields. He then became an ap- prentice to the trade of a mason and builder, and in 1846 settled in Keyport, where he conducted for twenty years an extensive business, taking large contraets and becoming interested in much of the building in that portion of the county. He subsequently abandoned his trade and engaged in oyster-planting. In 1866, Mr. Brown em- i only surviving child is Caroline, wife of Wil-

Holl lesbrook

barked in the hardware business and the sale of | liam C. Bedle. He was a second time married, coal and lumber, which he still conduets in con- to Sarah, sister of his first wife. By his union to Mary, daughter of John M. Beers, was born a son, Arthur M., and his children Richard R., George W. and Susan are the issue of his last marriage, to Maria L. Hunt. nection with his interest in the oyster-beds. He has been largely influential in the development of the town which is his home, and of all its impor- tant enterprises. He was one of the incorpora- tors of the First National Bank of Keyport, and is president of the Middletown Point and Key- HENRY H. SEABROOK. - Mary, widow of James Seabrook, in, 1676, married Thomas Whitlock, and removed from Westchester County, N. Y., to Shoal Harbor, (now Port port Gas Company. His public spirit has led to his identification with polities in the county and his acceptance of various offices in the 46

722

HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

Monmouth), in Monmouth County. Her son James settled on the Whitlock property, at the latter point, having married Mary Grover. Their son Daniel, who succeeded to the estate, married Mary, danghter of Nicholas Brown, whose son, Major Thomas Seabrook, married Martha, daughter of Dr. Stephen Tallman. son by this marriage, Thomas by name, married Anna, daughter of Aaron Longstreet, of Pleasant Valley, Monmouth County. Their children were Aaron, who died in infancy; Mary; Aaron, married to Euphemia C. Wilson ; Elea- nor, wife of William Applegate; Lydia, mar- ried to Rev. W. V. Wilson; Thomas; Martha, wife of Rev. W. V. Wilson ; and Henry H. The last named and youngest of these children was born September 10, 1813, on the homestead at Shoal Harbor, where his childhood was spent, his edneation having been received at New York and New Brunswick. His first mercantile experience was acquired in a whole- sale dry-goods store in New York, after which, on returning to his native county, he purchased the interest of his father in a store at Middle- town, the business being conducted under the firm-name of Aaron Seabrook & Co. His next venture was in connection with Charles J. Hen- driekson, after which he removed to Keyport in the spring of 1839, and engaged in various commercial undertakings, becoming identified with steamboat, turnpike, railroad and other prominent interests of the place. In 1841 he succeeded Leonard Walling as postmaster and was for twelve years the incumbent of the office. He was the principal manager of the Middle- town Point Steamboat Company, which built, under his direction, the steamer "Chingarora," plying between New York and Keyport, after- wards sold in New Orleans, the steamer " Key- port," later sold at Washington, the "Matawan" and three others, also disposed of advantageously by him. Mr. Seabrook was, in 1852, married to Therese, daughter of Leonard Walling, the only one of the eight original proprietors of Keyport who settled on his purchase. He laid out the town, built two sloops and the dock, the hotel, and, aside from his extensive mercantile interests, was the leading spirit of the new and growing hamlet. He was the son of Daniel Walling

and Helena Hoff, the grandson of John and Elizabeth Roberts Walling and the great-grand- son of Thomas Walling. The children of Henry and Therese Seabrook are, Annie L., wife of William L. Conover ; Thomas L., who married Mand L. Barney; Henry, deceased; Helena, deceased ; Harry, a physician in New York City ; and Martha Washington. Mr. Seabrook manifested little interest beyond the casting of his ballot in the political movements of the day, and invariably declined office, his influence and time, apart from that required by his varied business interests, having been given to those moral and philanthropic schemes which had for their purpose the upbuilding and elevation of the community. In this good work Mrs. Seabrook has proved his earnest successor. He united in 1852 with the Baptist Church of Keyport, in which he was deacon, as also first correspond- ing secretary of the New Jersey Sabbath-School Union, which office he held until his death, in March, 1872.

REV. ELIAS MEAD .- Is a native of Al- bany County, N. Y. He was married, May, 1881, to the young and interesting granddaughter of Captain Peter IIulst, Keyport, N. J .; was the fifth son in a family of thirteen ehil- dren, five of whom are living. Two perished during the late civil war in the Union army. Peter died at Fairfax Court-House; Lucius fell on the bloody field of Gettysburg. A braver man never faced the foe. Hon. John Sanders, in a eulogy on the heroes of Schenectady, pro- nonneed him " one of Nature's noblemen."

The ancestors of Mr. Mead were all patriotic men. Both grandsires were identified with the country in her early struggles for freedom and right. Peter Cole, his maternal grandfather, was a musician in the American army in the War of 1812. Jeremiah Mead, the father of his father, served in the army of Washington during the War of the Revolution. In that important time that "tried men's souls" he gave all,-laid upon the altar of his country both life and fortune, demanding no higher honor than victory, and no sweeter reward than the vindication of his country's rights.

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History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 120

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Swan, Norma Lippincott. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia, R. T. Peck & co. Number of Pages: 1148

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Swan, Norma Lippincott. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia, R. T. Peck & co.
Number of Pages: 1148