History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 79

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 79

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January, 1831, just about daybreak, this build- ing was discovered to be on fire, and was entirely destroyed. The only article belonging to the printing-office that was saved was the Ramage press upon which the paper was printed. This was saved by taking it apart and throwing it out of the window. The fire, however, was prevented from reaching the press-room. It was afterwards ascertained that the fire origin- has just entered upon his first term as President, 'ated in the tailor-shop from the carelessness of a journeyman. By the generosity of the busi- ness men of the town, a considerable amount of money was raised for the sufferers by the fire, but the Messrs. Bartleson refused to accept any part thereof, relying upon their youth and industry to recover their losses. The same The two brothers, with the assistance of a boy (John Conley),1 by close application, managed to morning of the fire a severe snow-storm set in, and before night the roads were completely blockaded. The next morning, without waiting for the roads to be broken, the senior partner of

of his opportunities. His ear was ever open to the tale of woe, and his hand always ready to relieve the distressed. ; The memory of few men of his generation will be longer cherished in the hearts of the poor than his. In his fam- ily he was a beloved friend and brother to all in the house- hold, laboring unselfishly to the end for the comfort and welfare of those committed to his charge. Hle died at Freehold, Angust 18, 1881.

1 John Conley was born at Stillwell's Corners, January 15, 1817, and died at Freehold, August 11, 1881. At the

age of twelve years he went into the Inquirer office to learn the business, and he continued there, almost without inter- mission, until the time of his fatal illness. "There were several instances when Mr. Conley was the only person who remained faithful to it (the Inquirer), and he never failed to bring it out some time during the week, and so kept np its regular publication."

453

THE TOWN OF FREEHOLD.

the firm started for Philadelphia on a wood- to Philadelphia and engaged in the mercantile sled to purchase materials to start the office | business. Henry, for a number of years after again. It took all the first day to work his 'his removal, was a literary contributor to the way to Trenton. From there to Philadelphia Inquirer, over the signature of " Aunt Betsey." he found the roads open. Having purchased In the spring of 1835, Mr. Bartleson soll a balf-interest in the Inquirer establishment to Jacob M. Callender, of Doylestown, and the firm of Bartleson & Callender continned the business until 1840, when Mr. Bartleson dis- posed of his remaining interest to Robert H. Johnson, of New York City. In 1842, Cal- lender sold his interest to Orrin Pharo. Subse- quently Mr. Bartleson purchased Johnson's interest and shortly after sold it to Pharo, who then became sole owner. In September, 1854, the necessary materials and packed them upon his sled, he started at sunset and reached Bristol on the evening of the third day after leaving home. The fourth day he made good progress, and reached the "Willow-Tree Tavern" (now Clarksburg) just as night closed in, but shortly after leaving there he lost his way in the pine forests, and wandered about for several hours. The weather was intensely cold, the ther- mometer marking below zero. He left his team in the woods and started on foot. At | Mr. Bartleson again purchased a half-interest in length he discovered a light which led him to a | the Inquirer, and the business was carried on house, where he received directions, found his under the firm-name of Pharo & Bartleson until May 8, 1856, when the latter withdrew, and was not afterwards connected with the paper. During this period, namely, October, 1855, the firm issued the first number of the New Jersey Far- mer, a monthly of sixteen small quarto pages, the publication of which was continued success- fully for several years, in the mean time having been sold to Judge Naar, of the True American, at Trenton. road and succeeded in reaching Freehold about half-past one o'clock in the morning. His feet and hands were badly frost-bitten, but he thawed them with cold water, and subsequently experienced no serious trouble from that canse. In the mean time another building had been procured, and before noon of the day of his return the printing-office was in full operation again. The week having elapsed, they lost the publication of the paper, but the next week they issned two editions to make up for it. These incidents are particularly mentioned to show the difficulties that attended the publica- tion of a newspaper in Monmouth County half a century ago, and the courage and persever- ance that was necessary to overcome them.

The establishment by this firm of private post routes for the distribution of their news- paper throughout the county cost them about five hundred dollars a year, and about this time they discovered that it was a losing busi- ness, and discontinued it. The firm continued until July, 1833, when E. R. Bartleson, the junior partner, withdrew from it, and re- moved to Wheeling, Va., where he established the Wheeling Gazette, daily, semi-weekly and weekly, and built up a large business. Henry and George Ayres at this time came into the Inquirer office as apprentices, and with John Conley formed the operative force. They re- mained there until 1840, when they removed & Son. The last change of proprietorship was

Soon after the final withdrawal of Mr. Bar- tleson from the Inquirer, Charles S. Tunis be- came associated with Mr. Pharo in the proprie- torship of the paper. The next change was the withdrawal of Pharo, leaving Tunis sole pro- prietor. Then came the firm of Tunis & Stout, then the withdrawal of Tunis in June, 1859. During Mr. Tunis' proprietorship a daily edition of the Inquirer had been issued for a time, but was found unprofitable, and discontinued July 17, 1858. After Stout, the next proprietor was Mr. Lyons. In April, 1860, the Monmouth Herald was united with the Inquirer,-Proprie- tors, W. D. & J. P. Connolly; Editor, John C. S. Connolly. The next change was the with- drawal of W. D. Connolly. Next, W. D. Con- nolly associated with him W. S. Cloke, under the name of Connolly & Cloke. Connolly withdrew, and A. P. Fardon became proprietor with ( loke. Fardon withdrew, and on the 24th of July, 1862, Cloke sold to Benjamin Snyder

454

IIISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

made in 1864, when Snyder sold out to Col- onel Edwin F. Applegate, who remained the owner and manager of the Inquirer establish- ment until his death, in the present year, and it is now carried on by his son. Of those who preceded him in the proprietorship of the paper, there are now living Charles S. Tunis, Dr. A. P. Fardon, William S. Cloke (editor of the State Gazette, at Trenton) and W. Scott Snyder.

stitution, the leading issues being the election of Governor and county officers by the people, the constitutional abolition of the property qnalifi- cation for members of the Legislature, and the creation of the Court of Errors and Appeals. It also opposed the high tariff doctrines of Henry Clay and the Whig party, and advocated " a tariff for revenue, with incidental protection." After the custom of those days, the paper was essentially a political one, prominence being given to reports of congressional and legislative proceedings and debates on political questions. In the matter of news, preference was given to that from foreign countries, while local events in State and county, other than the proceedings of political meetings and conventions, were largely ignored.

The Monmouth Democrat was founded and established by Mr. Bernard Connolly, who died without leaving any record of the history of the paper under his administration as editor and publisher. No files of the paper were pre- served by him, and no copy of the first number is known to be in existence. From a copy of the second number, in good state of preservation, About the 1st of January, 1854, the estab- lishment was purchased of Mr. Connolly by James S. Yard, under whose management it has since continued. Mr. Yard was then publish- ing the Village Record, at Hightstown, a paper which, in partnership with Jacob Stults (now of the Long Branch News), he had established a few years before, and which had acquired some local reputation for its independent and vigor- ous treatment of social and political topics. He was largely imbued with the new ideas in jour- nalism then coming into vogue, and upon as- suming control of the Democrat, without chang- ing its politics, he at once altered its whole gen- eral character and its typographical appearance. He announced, in his first address to its readers, that while the paper would be always found the ready and zealous champion of Democratie men and measures, its political department would and now in possession of the present owner of the establishment, we learn that the first number of the paper was published on Saturday, April 12, 1834. It was a folio of four pages, with five columns to a page, printed on a sheet twenty by twenty-eight inches in size, and set in large type. The motive leading to its establishment was tosus- tain President Jackson in his opposition to the recharter of the United States Bank, then the prominent political issue before the country. Mr. Connolly was a printer, then a resident of Princeton, and, from certain indications in the material of the office when it passed from his control, was employed in printing the publi- cations of the Presbyterian Church, under the direction of its board of publication. The first thirteen numbers of the Democrat were printed at Princeton, as appears from a paragraph in the number for July 5, 1834, in which the never be allowed to engross so much space in publisher announces that he hopes to be able to its columns as to detract from its merits as a newspaper for the family, and that especial at- tention would be given to the chronicling of local news. Since that time the press of the State and of the whole country, in the particu- lars referred to, has been revolutionized, and the Democrat, among the pioneers in the movement, has maintained a good reputation among the papers of its class at home and in the State at large. remove his printing material to Freehold by the early part of the succeeding week. Of its fur- ther history under Mr. Connolly's management we have but a few general facts gathered from occasional numbers collected by the present owner. In 1836 it supported Van Buren for the Presidency, and has supported the nominees of the Democratic National and State Conventions from that period down to the present time. Under the leadership of John R. Thompson, in 1842- While faithfully supporting the principles and organization of the party to which it is at- 43, it advocated the framingof a new State Con-

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THE TOWN OF FREEHOLD.

tached, the Democrat has not blindly followed the lead or submitted to the control of party man- agers, but has aimed to elevate the tone of party | upon the plea that in the existing emergency polities, and in doing so has not hesitated to re- : there should be but one political party. This buke the wrong method or to repudiate the im- attempt was promptly and energetically opposed by the Democrat, and the effort was shortly abandoned.

proper nomination. At the same time, it has maintained the right and duty of a public news- paper to discuss social and moral questions upon In 1855 the Democrat attacked and was in- strumental in breaking up the practice of horse- racing on the public roads, then to the demorali- their merits, and without regard to party con- siderations ; and this it has done at all times and upon all occasions when it has seemed to be "zation of the community largely indulged in. It demanded. It was among the first to call atten- tion to the dangerous tendencies of the Know- Nothing organization, and was unremitting in its opposition to it until it ceased to exist. It was among the first in the State in its support of the war to suppress the Southern Rebellion. In its leading editorial in its issue immediately succeeding the attack upon Fort Sumter, and, in common with the press of all parties, still hoping that an appeal to arms might be averted, it said,-

" Let us throw no obstacle in the way of the gov- ernment in carrying out its policy. . . . We should | progress and development. It has been the remember, whenever the flag of our country is un- furled and the stars and stripes are flung to the breeze, that it is our flag, and that the country over which it waves is our country."

In the next succeeding issue of the paper it , ends. It has always held that a newspaper is a said,-

" Allegiance to the government is as imperative as ; general public, and not as an instrument to re- fidelity to one's family. To oppose the government when war is in progress is a crime."

As an earnest of his faith in the cause, the | less and uncompromising in opposing that which

publisher immediately tendered his services to Governor Olden, was accepted, went to the seat of war as Major of the Third Regiment N. J. Militia, with the first New Jersey troops that left the State, and served his tour of duty with credit. Until the close of the war the Democrat was foremost in encouraging the raising of troops and in sustaining measures for the sup- pression of the Rebellion. It also vigorously opposed all peace measures that were not based upon a complete restoration of the Union and an unqualified surrender to the constitution, and throughout the struggle counselled obedi- ence to law and the constituted anthorities. During this period an attempt, which was

seconded by some local leaders of the party, was made to disband the Democratic party,

attacked and broke up the unlicensed liquor saloons in Freehold, several of which then ex- isted in open violation of law and without re- monstrance from the public. It has been ar- tive in encouraging the construction of our local railroads and other enterprises designed to de- velop the industries of the county. It early called publie attention to the advantages of our sea-coast, and lent efficient aid in the effort to build up that section of the county. It from the beginning supported our public-school sys- tem, and has Ient aid and encouragement to its

friend of progress, but at the same time has steadily opposed sudden and radical changes in okl-established laws and customs, and changes merely to answer present emergencies or partisan public trust, to be used in the interest of the dress private grievances or to further personal aims and ambitions, and while it has been fear- it believed to be wrong, and sustaining that which it deemed to be right, whether in either case in- volving the reputation of public officials or per- sons in private life, it has never been called into court to justify any publication in its col- umns, and this immunity from prosecution it no doubt largely owes to its close adherence to the principle above stated.

The establishment was removed to the build- ing it now occupies in the fall of 1860. Since then considerable additions have been made to the building to accommodate its increasing busi- ness. Recently its mechanical departments have been remodeled by the introduction of new machinery and the latest modern appliances

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

and in this respect it now ranks with the best weekly newspaper and job printing offices in the State.

MAJOR JAMES STERLING YARD, son of the late Captain Joseph A. Yard, whose sketch may be found in the military history of this volume, was born in the city of Trenton, April 20, 1826. He received his preliminary education from books at Trenton Academy, and left school at the age of fourteen to act as book-keeper for his father

the Kings County Democrat, and in 1850 he printed for Benjamin F. Yard, owner and editor, the first thirteen numbers of the Ocean Signal (now Ocean County Courier), at Tom's River. Subsequently he started the Village Record (now Gazette) at Hightstown. While at that place, he was postmaster for a period just before 1854, which position he resigned upon removing to Freehold. He was also postmaster of Freehold from October 1, 1855 to July 1, 1860, when he

JamesSifar

in the auction business. He afterwards entered resigned. In 1854 he purchased the Monmouth the True American office to learn the art of Democrat (see sketch), and has conducted it to the present time (1885). In 1866 he also established the Long Branch News, which he conducted for several years. He was elected a member of the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Frecholders in the spring of 1863, and re-elected for two succeeding years, when he declined to serve longer. printing, and spent several years in learning the mechanical branch of the trade. He was a skillful compositor and pressman, and at one time worked the entire weekly edition of the True American on a hand-press. In 1846 he started the Weekly Visitor in the city of Tren- ton, and after conducting it for three months, sold it. In 1848 he published for an association He was major of the Third Regiment of militia during the three months' service at the in Williamsburgh, L. I., a campaign newspaper,

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TIIE TOWN OF FREEHOLD.

outbreak of the late war, and afterwards was large family, which she has managed discreetly, connected with all the military operations in has been an active and useful member of the the county for raising troops until the close of church and of society, taking a leading part in the war. He was appointed by Governor Ollen 'the affairs of both ; and not only with her hands, to draft the militia for Monmouth County, and but by her counsel and with her pen, has she labored efficiently and contributed her share in the world's work. was commander of Camp Vredenburgh and as- sisted in raising the Twenty-eighth and Twenty- ninth Regiments of volunteers. He was also com- missioned as commander of Camp Bayard, at Trenton, which he declined. He held several

The earliest physician in Frechold of whom any mention is found was one referred to in the commissions under Governor Parker during the . old records as "Doet" Nichols, Esq." (meaning war, in connection with New Jersey troops in | ex-Sheriff William Nichols), who is there men- the field.

Major Yard was appointed commissioner of ary, 1728, soon after the destruction of the first railroad taxation by Governor Parker in 1873, court-house by fire, his house was designated as which position he filled until 1883. In 1878 he received the appointment of deputy quarter- master-general from Governor Mcclellan, which position he still holds.

While Major Yard has been earnestly en- gaged in business matters, and filling responsible military and civil places and assuming respon- sible trusts in the interests of his fellow-citizens, he has not been unmindful of other obligations, to himself and to the community in which he ; has resided.

While at Hightstown, in 1852, he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has remained in that communion since. He efficiently served there as superintendent of the Sabbath-school, and upon his removal to Free- hold was appointed to the same position here which he held for many years. In this, and also in church-work, he has zealously guarded the interests of both morality and religion. For several years Major Yard has held a license as local preacher in the church at Frechokl.

tioned in connection with the fact that in Janu-

the place for the holding of the courts of Mon- mouth, and his name is also found in the records of the freeholders, whose place of meeting was at his house in 1730.

Mention has already been made of Dr. Na- thaniel Seudder and Dr. Thomas Henderson, both of whom were physicians of Freehold in the time of the Revolution, and both of whom were colonels in the patriot forces. Dr. Na- thaniel Scudder was a son of Jacob Scudder, born May 10, 1733, graduated at Princeton in 1751, became a physician of note at Monmouth Court-House, was a delegate in the Continental Congress, 1777-79, and was killed by Refugees October 16, 1781, at Black Point, Monmouth County, where he went, as colonel of the First Battalion of Monmouth County militia, to ope- rate with General David Forman against the enemy.

Dr. John Anderson Sendder, son of Dr. Nathaniel Scudder, was born March 22, 1759, graduated at Princeton in 1775, and, like his father, he became a well known physician of Freehold. During the Revolutionary War he served two or three years as surgeon's mate. Lanman's "Dictionary of Congress" says of him : " A native of New Jersey, a physician

On September 25, 1856, he married Adaline Clark, daughter of Daniel D. Swift, of Lan- caster County, Pa. (see sketch of H. W. Murphy), by which union he has had seven children, - Emma, wife of Wm. M. Ivins, of New York City; Mary Sterling, wife of A. by profession ; he served a number of years in Harvey Tyson, of Reading, Pa. ; Daniel Swift, the Assembly of his native State, and was a who graduated at Princeton in the class of Representative in Congress from New Jersey 1882, died November 21, 1883; Joseph Ashton ; for the unexpired term of James Cox, who AdalineSwift ; James Sterling, died April 7, 1877, died in 1810." Not long afterwards Dr. John and Thomas Swift, who died June 14, 1880. A. Seudder removed from Monmouth County,

Mrs. Yard, in addition to the usual cares of a , N. J., to Kentucky, where he died.

458

HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

Dr. Samuel Forman, who was one of the most noted physicians who ever practiced in Freehold, was a son of " Sheriff David" For- man, born on the old Forman homestead on the 3d of August, 1764. As a boy he was present in Freehold through all the period of the Rev- olution, and was an eye-witness of most of the stirring scenes which were enacted at the county- seat during that bloody period, the story of which he often narrated in his later years. His home was just outside the village, below the toll-gate on the Colt's Neck road, where he died in 1845. He was one of the originators of the Monmouth County Medical Society, and a more : extended mention of him, as also of his son, Dr. David Forman, a prominent physician of Free- hold, who died in 1826, will be found in the account (elsewhere given in this volume) of that society. He was a grandfather of Dr. D. Me- Lean Forman, now one of the leading practi- tioners of Freehold.

Among other prominent physicians of Free- hold during the past half-century, of whom mention is made in the history of the Medical Society, are Dr. Charles G. Patterson (born 1796, died 1835), Dr. Grandin Lloyd (born 1807, died 1852), Dr. John B. Throckmorton (born 1796, died 1856), Dr. James H. Baldwin (born 1807, died 1868), Dr. John T. Woodhull (born 1786, died 1869). Dr. John R. Conover (born 1813, died 1871) and Dr. John Vought, who died in 1882.

The present (January, 1885) physicians of the town are Dr. O. R. Freeman, Dr. D. Me- Lean Forman, Dr. I. S. Long, Dr. J. S. Cono- ver, Dr. W. M. Hepburn ; and of the homeo- pathie school, Dr. William W. Burnet.

Of hotels or taverns in the village that is now Freehold, the earliest suggestion is found in the records of January, 1728, when the conrt, having met at the ruins of the court-house, which had been destroyed by fire a month be- fore, adjourned to the house of William Nichols, where the business of the term was transacted.

to that presumption, as it is almost certain that there must have been a tavern in the court- house village, and it appears probable that the tavern would be the place selected (rather than a private house) for the purposes mentioned. The William Nichols referred to had been high sheriff of Monmouth County, and it appears that he was also a physician, as the records of 1730 mention him as " Doct" Nichols, Esq."

From that time no reference has been found to taverns or tavern-keepers at Monmouth Court-House, until 1778, when James Wall's name is found in that connection. It is not known that then, or at any time during the Revolution, there was more than one tavern in the village. A second one, however, must have been opened soon after the close of the war, as in 1788 the taverns of John Anderson and Samuel P. Forman are mentioned, and in 1789, Lewis MeKnight was an inn-keeper at Mon- mouth village. There is nothing in the men- tion of these to indicate the locations of their houses, but there can be little doubt that they kept the two ancient tavern-stands of Free- hold,-the Washington and the Union.

The Washington Tavern, (or Hotel, as named in later years,) is said by tradition to be the pioneer inn of the village. Its earliest land- lord, who can be mentioned as such with cer- tainty, was Major James Craig, who kept it from 1797 to 1810, and, perhaps, before and after that period. He was succceded by Wil- liam Craig, who was, in turn, succeeded by John Casler, who was its landlord in 1818 and in 1825. It was kept by Aaron Brewer in 1827 to 1830. In 1832-33 it was kept by General James Ten Eyck, who afterwards removed to Colt's Neck, and was succeeded in the Wash- ington by C. C. Higgins, who was a silversmith by trade, but who, having taken up the business of tavern-keeping, became successively the landlord of all hotels in Freehold except the American, and was also interested in several stage-lines. He kept the Washington from 1834 to 1837. inelusive. His successors down to the year 1850 were Elisha Thompson, John I. Thompson, William D. Oliphant and Ab- ner H. Reed. In 1851 the house was rented

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History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 79

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