History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 68

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

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390

HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

cially by the operation of the embargo act. He purchased a farm lying south of what is now McLean Avenue, and on the southeasterly side of the Burlington Path, which, at a point a lit- tle above where ex-Governor Parker's residence now stands, deflected considerably to the south- ward of the line of the present main street of Freehold. The farm was of about two hundred acres, and included the ground on which now stand the Roman Catholic Church, the Free- hold Institute and a great number of dwellings in the same vicinity. It was then called the " Factory Farm," from the fact that a hat-factory had previously been in operation on it. The residence of Mr. Lloyd on this farm, was an old- fashioned Dutch house of good size, which stood east of the Path, about thirty rods back of the site of the parsonage of the Reformed Church, and between it and where the institute now stands.

Caleb Lloyd and Corlies Lloyd, both lawyers, came to locate in the village about two years earlier than their brother William. James Lloyd, another brother, came a little later. James Lloyd succeeded his brother William as sheriff in 1796, and was again elected in 1805, and still again in 1820. Caleb Lloyd was On the 1st of January, in the year (1795) of the occurrence narrated as above by Asbury, the post-office of the village was established, and designated on the department records as " Mon- month." The first postmaster was Samnel MeKinstry, who held the office but three following by Samuel McConkey. Whether these gentlemen were merchants of the village or not has not been ascertained ; nor is it known where the post-office was kept at that time. surrogate from 1797 to 1804, county clerk from 1812 to 1817, and again surrogate from 1817 to 1822. Corlies Lloyd was prosecutor of the pleas from 1828 to 1833. Richard Lloyd, a Revolutionary officer of some prominence, succeeded his brother James as sheriff in 1823. months, and was succeeded on the 1st of April Dr. Robert Laird, in writing of Freehold village as it was between 1820 and 1830, says: " At that early day the family of Lloyd-Wil- liam, James, Caleb and Corlies-held all the im- portant offices in the county. William Lloyd was judge of the court; James, the high sheriff; Caleb, the clerk and surrogate; Corlies, the dis- trict attorney. No business of a legal char- acter could be done excepting through this family." -

Forman now lives. The date of the erection of the old mansion is not precisely known.

As early as 1785 the village around the court-house began to be called simply " Mon- mouth." This is the name by which it is designated in various entries made in the years 1785-86, 1791 and 1795, in the journal of the Rev. Francis Asbury, who was then making preaching tours through this part of the State. And in an entry of the last-mentioned year he gives an uncomplimentary notice of the shire town in an account of a scene he witnessed there, as follows :

"October 28, 1795,-We came to Monmouth ; we would have gone to Shrewsbury, but time and our horses failed us. . . . I was shocked at the brutality of some men who were fighting; one gouged out the other's cye ; the father and son then both beset him again, cut off his ears and nose, and beat him almost to death. The father and son were tried for a breach of the peace, and roundly fined ; and now the man that has lost his nose is come upon them for damage. I have often thought that there are some things prac- tised iu the Jersies which are more brutish and diabolical than in any other of the States; there is nothing of this kind in New England-They learn civility there at least."

The public-houses of Major James Craig and Samuel Coward are found mentioned in the records of 1797, 1798 and 1799, and meetings of the Board of Freeholders were held at both during that period. Craig's stand was the same as is now called the Washington Hotel, and Coward's was on the site of the present Union (or Taylor's) Hotel.

Joseph Scudder, son of Dr. Nathaniel Scudder, and afterwards one of the most prominent lawyers of Monmouth County, was a resident of In April, 1798, John A. Laird was appointed ceeded in that office, in July of the same year, Frechold in 1794, being appointed surrogate of postmaster of Monmouth village, but was suc- the county in that year, and was elected clerk in 1798. His residence was where Dr. D. M. , by David Craig, who held it for seven years.

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THE TOWN OF FREEHOLD.

John A. Laird was the eldest of four brothers, of whom the others were Benjamin, Samuel and Elisha Laird, all of whom were well-known and prominent citizens of Monmonth County in the early part of the present century. Benjamin, who was widely known as a hotel-keeper, was the father of Dr. Robert Laird, now of Mana- squan ; and Samuel was the father of Joseph T. Laird, now president of the First National Bank of Freehold.

In 1801 (January Ist) the name "Mon- mouth," which had been given to the post-office on its establishment, six years before, was changed to " Freehold ;" but the old name still clung to the village, and for more than a quarter of a century afterwards it remained in more frequent and common use than that by which it was superseded. As late as the year 1836 (on the 31st of December) a public meeting of citizens was held " to take into consideration the pro- priety of changing the name of the village of Freehold to that of Monmouth," and the prop- osition lacked little of the support necessary to secure adoption.

Mr. William Lloyd (son of the William Lloyd who served in the Revolution, as before mentioned), who was born in the year 1800, and who is now (November, 1884) living in Freehold, with a good memory, which reaches farther back in the history of the village than that of any person known, relates the following with regard to the inhabitants, dwellings and business places of Freehold at the time of his earliest recollection-about 1810 to 1812-viz .:

Commencing at the northeastern end of the village, and proceeding up the main street on its southeastern side, the first dwelling was that of William H. Bennett-an old-fashioned red house, which stood on or very near the site of the present residence of Mrs. William V. Ward. William H. Bennett (who was the father of Henry, Charles A. and Hudson Bennett) came from "Sandy New " to Freehold early in the vear 1801, and located at the place mentioned. Near the old red house, and farther back from the street, was an old bark-mill ; but it does not appear that the business of tanning was ever carried on by Mr. Bennett, who was a black- smith, and had a shop near his house and on the

same side of the road ; but it was removed (or another one built by him), a few years later, on the opposite side. He was the contractor for the iron-work of the court-honse and jail building, which was completed in 1808. He afterwards built and removed to another house, standing on the spot now occupied by the residence of his son, Hudson Bennett. He made two purchases of land, contiguous to his first location, from Major James Craig, in 1805 and in 1812.

Next above the red house of Mr. Bennett was the latter's shop of John Bowne, which stood partly on the site of the present American Hotel.

The old "Red Tavern" of Major James Craig was the next building above Bowne's hatter's shop. This tavern, which had then been kept by Major Craig for at least fifteen years (and probably much longer), was the same which was afterwards known as the Washington Hotel, the oklest tavern-stand in Frechold. Above the tavern, Major Craig owned the land up to the road, which is now South Street. On it stood his stables and behind them was an orchard extending back a long distance on the road.1

On the south corner of the road and the main street of the town, the site of the Union Hotel of later years, was the tavern of Samuel Coward, who had then kept it several years, as mentiou is found in the records of this, as well as Craig's tavern, in 1797. Coward's tavern was a small, two-story wooden building, which now forms a part of Taylor's Hotel. To the rear of this tavern, on what is now South Street, the old court-house of the Revolution was re- moved in the year 1809, soon after the comple- tion of the new one. It was fitted up as a dwelling-house and was then, or a few years later, occupied by Joseph Thompson. It was also the publication office of the Monmouth Star newspaper for a short time.

The next building above Coward's inn was

1 Reference to certain old deeds from James Craig and John Craig (among them being the deeds to William H. Bennett, before referred to) shows that about the year 1800, James and John Craig had owned all the land on the south side of Main Street, from South Street northeasterly to the present limits of the town.

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

the dwelling-house of Caleb Lloyd, an old- fashioned wooden building, which is still stand- ing, and now occupied by his nephew, Mr. Wil- liam Lloyd, on whose recollection this description of Freehold, three-fourths of a century ago, is based.

Samuel Throckmorton's residence was the next southwest of Caleb Lloyd's; it was a wooden buikling, and (with some changes and additions) is still standing and in use as the office of Dr. O. R. Freeman. The widow of Samuel Throck- morton became afterwards the wife of Joseph Phillips, Esq.

Passing on beyond where the railroad track now crosses the main street, there stood a small wooden building, owned and occupied by Re- becca Forman (familiarly known as "Aunt Becky"), who met a terrible death by falling into the fire. The site is the lot now occupied by B. White's tin-shop and stove-store, and a part of the ancient building is still standing.

Next above the last named was the house of William Clark, tailor. It was afterwards re- built by him, and the house still stands, the next northeast of the residence of Dr. I. S. Long.

The house of Alexander Low, a Scotchman, and by trade a cabinet-maker and joiner, was next above Clark's, standing where now is the residence of ex-Governor Parker, whose father, Charles Parker, afterwards purchased the Low property. The okl Low house was moved back and is still standing in the rear part of the ex-Governor's house.

Above Alexander Low, the next house was that of John Morford, a Revolutionary soldier, and by trade a saddler and harness-maker. The house, then ocenpied by him, was afterwards moved across the street by Tylee Cottrell, and on its first site now stands the parsonage of the Reformed Church. Back of the Morford house (as before mentioned) was the house of William Lloyd, on the " Factory Farm."

Beyond the Morford house there was then no other on the south side of the main street within the present corporation limits ; but a short distance outside lived James Lloyd, in the house now occupied by Henry Brinckerhoff. Very soon afterwards James Lloyd removed from

that place, and it was then occupied by Judge John Quay until about 1820, when it came into possession of the Brinckerhoff family, and Qnay moved down the main street to the small house that stood on the site of the present residence of Mr. Elihu B. Bedle.

Near James Lloyd's, on the same side, was the house (still standing) which was occupied by William Conover in the time of the Revo- lution, and now known as the " Murphy house," becanse owned and occupied at one time by Judge Joseph Murphy. At this house Sir Henry Clinton had his headquarters during the two days preceding the battle of Monmouth.

Returning on the northwest side of the street there were but two dwellings west of where the railroad track now crosses, one of these being the residence of Joseph Scudder, Esq., and the other that of Benjamin Campbell, who at that time owned the land along the street, on the north side, from Manalapan Avenue to the present residence of Major James S. Yard. The old honse in which Mr. Campbell lived stood a considerable distance back from the highway and nearly in the rear of the site of the present house of Charles T. Fleming. After Mr. Campbell, it was owned and occupied by Daniel Stillwell, and was usually known as the Stillwell house.

Proceeding northeast from the Scudder house (now Dr. D. M. Forman's residence) and passing the Episcopal Church, which was the same edi- fice that now occupies the same site, the next building was the store which had been opened by Corlies Lloyd very soon after the year 1800, and which was then occupied by him and his brothers, William and James. It was in this store that they did the extensive business and sustained the heavy losses which have already been mentioned as resulting from the Embargo Act. Its location was on or very near the spot where the post-office now is. The old building was at one time used for academy purposes.

Next, below, was the house and store of John Throckmorton. The store was afterwards ocen- pied by William I. Bowne1 and, later, by the

1 William I. Bowne was born in Monmonth County in 1792, and, being left an orphan at an early age, was placed under the guardianship of Judge Hull, of Freehold,

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THE TOWN OF FREEHOLD.

Monmouth Bank. The Throckmorton house , which was afterwards for many years the prop- stood a little distance back from the street, and Judge Bowne built in front of it another and larger house, which (having been repaired and improved) stood until destroyed by the great fire of October, 1873.

The next house northeast of John Throck- morton's, was that of Aaron Forman Walker,1

He obtained a good preparatory education in the schools of Trenton and elsewhere, and entered as a law student in the office of Joseph Phillips, Esq., in Freehold. About 1822 he was elected a member of the Legislative Council of New Jersey, and was, not long afterwards, appointed judge of the Common Pleas of Monmouth County, which office he held for several years. " llis associates were Judges Patterson, Hull and Hopping, during whose term of office the Court of Common Pleas in Monmouth County was raised to a high standard, and came to be regarded by the bar and the community as the most efficient, judicious and impartial tribunal of the kind in the State." Afterwards, Judge Bowne retired to the farm now owned by the heirs of Daniel S. Shanck, adjoining Freehold, and between 1840 and 1850 removed to a fine property owned by him near Lawrenceville, Mercer County, where he died April 16, 1858.

1 Aaron Forman Walker was a soldier of the Revolution, first entering the patriot service as a drummer, as is shown by the Revolutionary rolls. In connection with his name, and with the faet of his residence at the place mentioned, the following notice of the recent death of a very aged colored woman is given here, as extracted from the Monmouth Democrat of September 18, 1884 :

" Mary Vincent, colored, died at the Freehold town- house on Tuesday afternoon. ller death was occasioned by a cancerous affection of the breast. She was in good health until about a year ago. Her age is estimated at from 110 to 120 years. Some old people remember her as a 'gray-haired old woman' when they were children. She was a slave, and was originally owned by a man named Walker, a resident of this township. Afterwards she became the property of the Solomon family, at West Freehold. When she married she was given her freedom. Iler husband and two children died many years ago. For the past fifteen years she 'has been cared for by the town- ship. In conversation with her, Mary told Mr. Barkalow, the overseer of the poor, that when the county buildings were erected she was employed in carrying brick to be used in their erection, and that at that time she was a 'likely young woman.' The clerk's and surrogate's offices were first erected in 1800 to 1802, and in 1806 the ereetion of the court-house was commenced. She was also employed on the latter building."

The fact that Aaron Forman Walker lived within a few rods of the court-house and publie offices at the time of their ercetion renders it more than probable that he was the " man named Walker" referred to as the owner of the slave woman, Mary Vincent. The old Revolutionary court-house was quite thoroughly repaired in 1791, at

erty of Judge Thomas C. Throckmorton. Its site was nearly the same that is now occupied by the stores of E. B. Bedle and J. B. Havi- land. Next below the Walker dwelling and very near the clerk's office, (Court Street not having then been opened), was a small house occupied by William Low, the jailor. Next was the clerk's office and the new court-house, which was completed in December, 1808, as elsewhere noticed.

Bevond the court-house, going northeast, was the two-story frame dwelling of John Craig, who was familiarly known as " Poor Johnny," though it is not now known how he obtained that sobriquet. His house was in existence in the time of the Revolution, and there is a tradition (no doubt correct) that it was used as a hospital after the battle of Monmouth. There is also reason for believing that it was the same house which was occupied by Captain James Green in 1782, and to which the body of Captain Joshua Huddy was brought, as before men- tioned. This, however, can only be mentioned as a probability. The building, which at the time referred to was occupied by Craig as a dwelling-house, afterwards became the Mon- mouth Hotel, and (with the addition of a third story and some other enlargements and remodel- ing) is still standing, occupied by stores and lawyers' offices.

On the easterly end of John Craig's house, and attached to it, was a small frame wing or addition, in which, in the years 1814-15, was published the first newspaper of Freehold, called the Spirit of Washington. From Craig's dwelling, on the same side of the street, a line of Lombardy poplars extended along the fence to or beyond where Walker's drug-store now stands. Beyond, there was no other house within the present town limits; but a little further out on the Keyport road, where B. Huemann now lives, was the residence of Richard Throckmorton, who was then surrogate

which time (under the supposition that she was one hun- dred and ten years oldl at her death) she would have been seventeen years of age,-a " likely young woman," as she described herself as being at the time she was put to the hard work of carrying bricks.

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

and postmaster. and kept both offiees in the same quarters, an arrangement which created some dissatisfaction among the townspeople.

For many years from the time above referred to, Freehold made but very slow progress in improvement, and increased comparatively little in population. Dr. Robert Laird, born in 1811, now in practice at Manasquan, gives the follow- ing as his earliest recollection of the village and its people, having reference to the period about the years 1820 to 1825 : Beginning at the lower end of the main street, on the south- east side, as before, William H. Bennett's old red house was still standing, but he had re- moved to and was then occupying a new house, which he had built on the land purchased by him from Major Craig, in 1812, the new house referred to being the one standing, as before mentioned, where Hudson Bennett now lives. Next southwest of this, on a part of the site of the American Hotel, was a store-house oceu- pied by Robert Wardell. Next above it was a building in which Francis M. Deklyn carried on a grocery and bakery.1 In an old building adjoining this, the Monmouth Star newspaper (started by West Deklyn in 1819)

1 The "shop " part of the Deklyn building had been owned prior to 1816 by William HI. Bennett. It stood on his land above the old red house, and had been used as a hat- factory. In that year it was purchased hy Deklyn and moved to the site mentioned, where he used it as a store and bakery for eight years. He then sold the property to Peter Vanderhoof and James Ten Eyck, and removed to the State of New York. The building was then leased by Charles C. Higgins, who occupied it three years, during which time he carried on the business of a silversmith. In 1827 it came into possession of Elias Hart, who built an addition to it, and occupied it for more than thirty- five years as a confectionery store and eating-house; it being then the only one of that specialty in Freehold. It was a very popular resort in its early days, and was well patronized by judges, lawyers, doctors and the leading citi- zens of the community in general. " Many private political conferences were held in the room adjoining the shop, and the oyster supper which Colonel W. D. Davis always gave on the night of election to his ' chosen twelve' was looked forward to with great pleasure.' " Mr. IFart owned the place until 1868, when he sold it to Charles H. | on this side of the street within the village Wolcott. It was then occupied for a time by J. Singer as a tobacco and cigar-store. Afterwards it was sold to Stewart Brown, who had the old building demolished in May, 1874, and erected the fine brick and brown-stone building which now stands on its site.

had been printed a short time after the re- moval of its office from the old court-house, on South Street.

The Washington Tavern, which had been kept for many years by Major James Craig, was, at the time referred to by Dr. Laird, kept by William Craig, and on the Craig land, at the corner of what is now South Street (previously ovenpied only by the tavern stables), was a small building, then in use as a market-house.

The old tavern on the other corner of South Street had passed from the proprietorship of Samuel Coward, and was kept by Charles Burk. Dr. Laird says,-" I well remember a ball given at this hotel February 22, 1825, when Colonel Ten Eyek, Benjamin Laird, John I. Thompson and Charles Burk opened the danee."

Passing the house of Caleb Lloyd (who still oceupied it until his death, in 1822), the next was the house of Joseph Phillips, in a part of which was then a millinery or faney-goods store. Phillips had married the widow of Samuel Throekmorton, the previous owner of the prop- erty. Afterwards it was owned by Colonel William Ten Eyck.

At what is now the south corner of Throck- morton Avenne and Main Street, Miss Sally Throckmorton kept a school. Afterwards the premises were occupied by Isaae K. Lippincott. Adjoining this was the residence of Benjamin Laird, who came to Freehold in 1810 or 1811 and opened a small store. Afterwards he he- eame widely known as a hotel-keeper. Next, beyond this place, was that of Alexander Low, the Scoteh cabinet-maker before mentioned. Above Low's (where E. B. Bedle now lives) was the house of Judge John Quay, who had moved there from the Brinckerhoff farm. Next was the house of John Bowne, hatter, who had previously carried on the same business on or near the site of the American Hotel. Beyond Mr. Bowne's, John Morford, saddler, still oeeu- pied the house where the Reformed Church parsonage stands, and his was still the last house limits.

On the north side of the street, down to the present railroad crossing, there were yet no dwellings, exeept the Stillwell house and the

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THE TOWN OF FREEHOLD.

residence of Joseph Scudder, as before men- tioned. East of the Englishtown road (Throek- morton Street), and above the Episcopal Church, an old lady, called "Aunty Conover," lived in a very small house, where she sold cakes and beer. This was the only dwelling-house in the village on that road. Corlies Lloyd still occu- pied the residence before mentioned. Next to this was the boot and shoe-store of Benjamin Laird, and, next, the residence, previously of John Throckmorton, but then of William I. Bowne, manager and eashier of the old Mon- mouth Bank, which was chartered in 1824. Between Bowne's and the court-house lived Judge Thomas C. Throckmorton, in the house which had been the residence of Aaron Forman Walker. In the west part of this house was a small store, kept by Miss Lydia Walker. This house was removed afterwards to Court Street, and is still used as a dwelling.

Next cast of the court-house, John Craig was still living in the same house which he bad occupied for nearly or quite a quarter of a cen- tury, and in which he continued to reside until about 1830, when he removed to the farm property which afterwards passed to the owner- ship of Enoch L. Cowart. Eastward from the Craig house there was no dwelling between it and the old house which was the residence of of Judge Joseph F. Randolph. Just below William Davis, father of Colonel William D. Davis, and his brother Richard, where Andrew Perrine now lives.

With regard to the general appearance of the village at about this time, a writer in the Mon- mouth Democrat of Angust 24, 1854, said : " The Monmonth Court-House of thirty years ago was very different from the Freehold of to- day. Then it was rare to see a strange face on the main road,-it could not then be called street. It seemed to be a well-preserved Revo- lutionary relic, and the old houses reminded one of the red-coats who had used them for by the Freehold Banking Company-was quarters, and left abundant marks, vet fresh ; burned in the following year. The old Mon- and unpainted, of their bayonets, the butts of mouth Bank had then a nominal existence, its their guns and destructive missiles."

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History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 68

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