History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 87

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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He was, on the 3d of February, 1819, mar- ried to Catharine, daughter of William I. Thompson, of the same county, and had ten children,-Tunis, William T., Daniel S., Mar- garet Ann, Sarah Jane (Mrs. Peter Jackson), John Henry, Rusha, Sidney C., David D. and Rusha (second), of whom but four survive. Mr. Denise, aside from his farming interests, was largely engaged in real estate operations, in which he was remarkably successful. He was director of the First National Bank of Free- hold, president and director of the Freehold ! and Colt's Neck Turnpike Company, director of the Freehold and Manalapan Turnpike Company, and actively identified with the material interests of both county and borough. He was a member of the Monmouth County Agricultural Society, and in hearty sympathy with its purpose and methods. Mr. Denise was, in his political views, an Old-Line Whig during the existence of that party, and joined the Republican ranks on the disruption of the former. He never aspired to office, and was not active as a politician, though serving as town commissioner until he deelined further election. He enjoyed a reputation for strict integrity, and possessed a keen sense of justice. In his varied business transactions he neither sned others nor was himself a party to litigation. Mr. Denise was a member of the Second Re- formed (Dutch) Church of Freehold, of which had been during a period of forty years an elder. His many acts of charity in connection with this church indieated his Christian faith, as exemplified in his works. Without ostenta- tion and with great judgment he gave, witness- ing the results of his liberality during his life- time. Mr. and Mrs. Denise celebrated, on the 5th of February, the fiftieth anniversary of

fifth anniversary of the same event. On these significant occasions many friends beside the immediate family cirele tendered their congratu- lations to this aged couple, who enjoyed a mar- ried life of sixty years' duration. The death of Mrs. Denise occurred on the 19th of April, 1879, and that of Mr. Denise on the 31st of December of the following year.

WILLIAM VAUGHN WARD, who for more than twenty years was a prominent merchant of Freehold, and a well-known and public-spirited citizen, was a great-grandson of Michael Ward, who, as early as 1731, had settled and was living at Hightstown, N. J., he being one of three brothers who had come to America to- gether prior to that time.

Benjamin, son of Michael and Hannah Ward, was born February 7, 1731-32, and died JJune 20, 1797. His wife, Lydia Cheeseman, was born December 18, 1742, and died November 13, 1794. They had three sons and four daughters. Their third son, On Ward, father of the subject of this biographical sketch, was born May 13, 1768. Ilis wife was Rebekah Vaughn.

William V. Ward, son of On and Rebekah (Vaughn) Ward, was born October 10, 1816, he being the youngest of a family of six children, all of whom except himself lived and died in Mercer County. He removed to Howell town- ship, Monmouth County, where, in 1841, he commenced a mercantile business at Lower Squankum, in partnership with Abraham G. Neafie, ex-sheriff of Monmouth County. In 1844 the business was closed by reason of finan- cial difficulties. He then entered the employ of his father-in-law, John Hall, where he re- mained for some time. The closing of the busi- ness at Lower Squankum had left Mr. Ward he was one of the founders, and in which he almost wholly without means, but his credit enabled him to recommence business, which he did, removing to Freehold, and there open- ing a store of ready-made clothing, which was the first in that line ever opened in the town. The business proved very successful, and was continued by him for twenty-two years, until the time of his death.

Mr. Ward was married, September 5, 1843,

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

to Catharine K. Hall, daughter of John and rine K. (Mrs. William V. Ward, of Freehold), Rebecca (Knott) Hall. Their children were Ruhama (Mrs. Stoutenburgh, of New York), John H., George D. (deceased), Charles E. | Eliza Ann (deceased) and Dr. Charles E. Hall (deceased), Elizabeth H., Everitt, George F. (now of Freehold.) In 1867, Mr. and Mrs. John Hall removed from Howell to Freehold, where they passed the remainder of their lives. She died in March, 1878 ; he in November, 1881. and Harry (deceased). Mr. Ward died at Long Branch, July 27, 1866. His widow still resides at Freehold. Of the surviving children, John H. and Everitt Ward are merchants in New York, the former being unmarried ; Elizabeth (Mrs. Mount) lives in Freehold ; George F. Ward is in the real estate and in- surance business in Freehold.

Mr. Ward was reared in the Baptist faith, but after his marriage he became, and continued to be, an attendant and supporter of the Presby- terian Church, of which his wife was, and now is, a member. He was a stanch Democrat and a politician, though never a scheming one. He was twice elected a member of the Legislature, serving in the years 1860 to 1862. He was appointed State Prison inspector by Governor William A. Newell in 1858, and served in that office till 1866, under the administration of Governors Newell, Olden and Parker, performing its duties in a manner cred- itable to himself and advantageons to the State.

Ward, was for several years a resident of Free- hold village, having previously spent more than sixty years in business in Howell township. His father was Samuel Hall, who, with his brothers Jesse and Jacob, came from England to America before the Revolution. Jesse mi- grated South, Jacob located in New York and Samuel settled at Kingwood, N. J. His wife was Ruhama Everitt, and they became the parents of twelve children. The youngest son, John, was born at Kingwood in 1786. At the age of nineteen years he removed to Howell township, Monmouth County, where he com- menced a general merchandising business, as also that of tanning and currying leather. After about twenty years he discontinued the leather business, but remained actively and successfully engaged in the mercantile pursuit for more than forty years from the time of his commencement.

In 1825, Mr. Hall was married to Rebecca Knott, daughter of Joseph and Catharine Knott, of Shark River. Their children were Catha-

The only publie office ever held by Mr. Hall was that of township collector of Howell, which position he filled for more than thirty years, and until he positively declined serving longer. He was no politician, vet a staneh Democrat in prin- ciple and practice, having annually voted that ticket, continuously and without an omission, for seventy-two years. He was an attendant and supporter of the Presbyterian Church, of which his wife was an active and consistent member.

HENRY BENNETT .- The grandfather of Henry Bennett was Hendrick, the son of William Bennett, born October 15, 1752, who died July 28, 1833, in Freehold, N. J. He was united in marriage, October 16, 1774,

JOHN HALL, the father of Mrs. William V. to Elizabeth Nowlan, whose birth occurred January 27, 1754, and her death August 29, 1817. Their children were William H., born Angust 1, 1775, who died April 20, 1848; John, born March 27, 1778, whose death oe- eurred November 30, 1812; Elizabeth, born March 11, 1780, who died August 10, 1849; and Nancy, born March 24, 1783, who died in January, 1784. William H. Bennett mar- ried, on the 29th of December, 1800, Jane, daughter of Oukey Lefferson, and grand- daughter of Lefferts and Jannetje Lefferson. The children of this marriage were Sarah, born October 11, 1801, and married to Walter W. Hart; John, born October 15, 1803; Elizabeth Ann, born January 22, 1806; William, born August 13, 180 <; Henry, whose birth occurred March 17, 1811; Garret Sehanck, born May 13, 1813; Gilbert, born June 18, 1815; Eliza Ann, born April 17, 1818; Charles A., whose birth occurred June 4, 1820; David V., born April 23, 1822; and Hudson, born May 1, 1825. Henry Bennett was born in the borough

Henry Permeth

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FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP.

of Freehold, and received his only educational and on the south by Ocean County. Within opportunities at a school three miles from his these boundaries lies the town or village of Freehold, which is situated in the northern part of the township. The JJamesburg and Freehold Agricultural Railroad traverses the township from northwest to sontheast, passing through the county town ; from which, also, the Freehold and New York Railway passes through the north part of the township into Marlborough, and thence to Matawan. Frechold township is

home. At the age of fifteen a serious accident disabled him and for eighteen months rendered physical exertion impossible. On his recovery he was apprenticed to the trade of a tailor, and pursued successfully for fifteen years the business of a merchant tailor, when, on the death of his father, in 1848, he inherited a portion of the estate. He at once began, and. has continued until the present time, to improve the property ! a part of the water-shed line of the county, and by the erection of dwellings and the sale of lots from it the head-streams of the Manasquan and Metedeconk Rivers flow towards the southeast ; for building purposes. Major Bennett in earlier years manifested an active interest in military . those of Hop Brook and Yellow Brook (trib- affairs, and received from Governor Newell, in utaries of Swimming River) flow towards the 1857, his commission as major of the Ocean and Monmouth Brigade. He was also appointed pay-

northeast, while from the northwest part of the township several small streams flow westwardly master on the staff of Governor Parker. He to unite with the larger tributaries of the South rendered efficient aid in the recruiting -ervice and Millstone Rivers.

during the late war, and was only precluded from rendered the performance of military duty impossible. His political associations are Den- ocratie, as were also those of his father. He has filled the office of town clerk for many years, and was for six years treasurer of the Monmouth County Agricultural Soci- Freehold is one of the three original town- active service by his physical condition, which ships of Monmouth County, although the towns of Middletown and Shrewsbury had been recog- nized in the public acts of the Governor, Council and General Assembly of New Jersey several years prior to the passage of the act of October 31, 1693,-then approved by Governor Andrew Hamilton, -by which the province was cty, and the first secretary of the society, of first divided into townships. By that act it was provided and declared that

which he was one of the originators. He is a director of the Freehold Gas Light Company and the Monmouth County Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Freehold, and was treasurer of the Freehold Loan Association from 1853 to 1864. Major Bennett is a member of the Second Reformed Church of Freehold, in which he has been deacon, elder, and clerk of the consistory. He is a member of both the Ma- sonic and Odd-Fellows' fraternities, and was for twenty-four years treasurer of the latter order.

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP.

" The township of Freehold includes all the land from the Head of Cheesequakes Creek, and runs along the lines of Middletown to the Burlington Path; thence along the line of Shrewsbury to the line of the Province; thence along the Province Line to the line of the county; thence northeast along the said county line to where it began."

The first reduction of the territory of Free- hold township was the laying off of the south- western portion to form the township of Upper Freehold, which was done prior to 1730. No record of the erection of Upper Freehold is fonnd, and therefore neither the precise date nor the original boundaries can be given of the part taken from Freehold for that purpose.

An act passed in 1767, "to divide the town The township of Freehold is bounded on the of Shrewsbury and annex parts thereof to west and northwest by Millstone and Manala- the towns of Freehold and Upper Freehold," pan, on the north by Marlborough, on the after providing for the formation of the new east by the townships of Atlantic and Howell

township of Dover (now in Ocean County)

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

from the territory of Shrewsbury, proceeds as follows :

" All that part of the aforesaid township of Shrews- bury, beginning at the mouth of Passaquanaqua Brook where it empties into Manasquan River, and from thence running south to the line of the before- mentioned town of Dover; thence west along the same line to the line of that part of said township of Shrewsbury annexed to the town of Upper Freehold ; thenee north eighteen degrees west to where Burling- ton Old Path crosseth the north branch of Tom's River, alias Pine Brook; thence easterly along the bounds of Freehold to where it began, shall be, and is hereby divided off from the said town of Shrews- bury aud annexed unto the town of Freehold, and forever hereafter shall be accounted part thereof."

Further reductions of the territory of Free- hold were made in 1844 (act of February 28th) by the erection of Millstone; in 1847 by the ereetion of Atlantic, and in 1848 by the erection of Marlboro' and Manalapan town- ships, all of which took parts of the area of Freehold, and to the histories of which (else- where given in this volume) reference may be had for a description of the Freehold terri- tory embraced in their erection.

The settlements first made within the terri- tory of the old township of Freehold are re- ferred to in a letter written by Lewis Morris, of Shrewsbury (afterwards Governor of New Jersey), to the bishop of London in the year 1700, as follows:

" Freehold was settled from Scotland (Mr. Keith began the first settlement there, and made a fine Plantation, which he afterwards sold, and weut into Pennsylvania), and about the one-half of it are Scotch Presbyterians and a sober people; the other part of it was settled by people (some from New England, some from New York and some from the fore-men- tioned towns)' who are, generally speaking, of no religion. There is in this town a Quaker Meeting- llouse, but most of the Quakers who built it are come off with Mr. Keith; they have not fixt yet on any religion, but are most inclinable to the Church; and could Mr. Keith be persuaded to go into those coun- trys he would (with the blessing of God) not only bring to the Church the Quakers that came off with him in East and West Jersey, which are very numer- ous, but make many couverts in that country."

Oldmixon, writing in 1708, says: " There's

1 Bergen, Acqueckenonck, Elizabethtown, Newark, Wood- bridge, Piscataway and Perth Amboy,

a new Town in the County called Freehold, which has not been laid out and inhabited long. It does not as yet contain above forty Families, and as to its Out plantations, we sup- pose they are much the same in number with the rest, and may count it about thirty thousand acres. There are several Congrega- tions of Church of England Men, as at Shrews- bury, Amboy, Elizabeth Town and Freehold, whose Minister is Mr John Beak,-his income is £65."

With reference to the first settlements in Frechold, it is to be noticed that Lewis Mor- ris, in the before-quoted letter to the Bishop of London, in 1700, mentions " Mr. Keith " as the pioneer settler in the township. In the " Records of ye Highways in ye Countie of Monmouth," as laid out March 2, 1687, is found the laying of a road, as follows : " And Burlington Path being the King's Highway from Crosswieks Creek, by George Keith's plantation, to John Hampton's, as ye way now goeth, and so to ye Leonards, and thence to ve Falls, as the way goeth, but it is to be made more straight at the Leonard's and at some other places betwixt that and ye Falls." In other ancient writing> it is written that George Keith was " a Scotch Man who founded Free- hold, where he lived some time. He was a Quaker preacher, afterwards became an Epis- copalian and started Episcopalian Churches in Freehold and Shrewsbury."

"George Keith, subsequently of considerable note as a prominent Quaker,2 a missionary of the English Church aud writer, arrived in East Jersey in 1685, having been appointed Surveyor-General of the Proy- ince by the Proprietors in Scotland [commissioned August 8, 1684]. IIe did not enter upon his duties, however, till some time after his arrival. It is thought that his acquaintance with the Scotch Pro- prietors grew out of the fact that, in 1683, he was in charge of a school which a son of Robert Barclay at- tended. He ran the division line between East and West Jersey in 1687, but two years afterward removed to Pennsylvania, and accepted the superintendence of a school in Philadelphia, and soon became eminent, both as a preacher and writer, among the Quakers, leading to the assumption of the post of a leader and the creation of a party which brought about great divisions and bitterness in a previously united body.

2 N. J. Arch., Series 1, vol. i. pp. 517-18.

505

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP.

His course was publicly denounced at a meeting of ministers in Philadelphia in 1692, but their action had no effect upon him. He continued preaching and writing in support of his views till 1694, when he returned to England, and soon after, although he retained a considerable number of adherents, he ab- jured the doctrines of the Quakers and became a zealous clergyman of the Established Church of Eng- land. He returned to America in 1702 as a mission- ary from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, receiving an allowance of £200 per annum. He preached in all the colonies from Massachusetts to North Carolina, several places in New Jersey prof- iting by his ministrations. Mr. Keith eventually returned to England, by way of Virginia, and received a benefice in Sussex, where he died, continuing until his death to write against the the doctrines of the Quakers."

The place where Mr. Keith preached in the township of Freehold was at Topanemns, which is in that part of the township which was sub- sequently taken off to form the township of Marlborough. Mr. Thomas Boels is mentioned as being then one of the leading men of the township, and the one who gave the site for the first Episcopal (St. Peter's) Church of Freehold. John Reid was also a prominent man at that place at that time. He was surveyor-general of the province and one of the justices of Monmouth County (in which capacity he pre- sided at the first court held at what is now Freehold, in 1715). He came to reside in what was then the township of Freehold as early as 1690. In 1693, John Johnston was a resident of the township and a commissioner of assess- ments for it. In 1697, Richard Salter was one of the inhabitants of Freehold township,-the records showing him to have been such, and that in that year he was appointed " King's Attorney " in the courts. In the southerly part of the township Cornelius Thomson was a resident as early as 1702, in which year he built the old stone house which is still standing about three miles south of Freehold town, just over the Manalapan township line, and is now occupied by Mrs. Achsah Hendrickson. At this old house (then owned and occupied by Cornelius Thomson) the township meetings were held in 1710, and it was one of the prin- cipal places where public meetings were held for twenty years later.

The first settlers in the old township of Freehold were (as mentioned by Lewis Morris in the letter to the bishop of London, already quoted) Scotchmen, and, almost as a matter of course, largely Presbyterian. Before the year 1700 they had established a church of that de- nomination near the Middlesex County line, in what was then Freehold township, " on the okl way [from Burlington] to Freehold and Am- boy." Of that church the Rev. Joseph Morgan became pastor in 1709. With reference to this godly man, there is found in " New Jersey Co- lonial Documents " (series 1, vol. iv. page 190) the following :

"Letter from Joseph Morgan, of Freehold, New Jersey, to the Lords of Trade,-relating to some im- provements in modes of navigation.

"Freehold, in Monmouth County, in ye East divi- sion of New Jersey, in North America.

"AUG. 5, 1714.

"May it please your Lordships :

" I hope ye enclosed Work will excuse my Presump- tion in writing to your Lordships, & though hitherto I am to you unknown, ye Work inclosed will be never ye Worse known, it being yt weh will justify or con- demn it-Self when effectually put to Tryal.

"What I propose to do by it I know to be true, but what ye Benefit of it at Sea in Calms & contrary Winds, I (having never crost ye Sea) must leave to Marriners to judge; and I believe yy can give no good Judgment till yy have tryed it. The Small cost, ye Lightness & little Lumber in a Ship, recommends ye Work to tryal. The oars keeping stroke on both sides of ye Ship to a hair's breadth, if yr were an hun- dred of ym, & ye Same Machine serving to row with many or few Oars indifferently, & ye Ease of Weald- ing ye Oars if great enough to require an hundred men to carry one of ym, & by consequence Oars big enough for a Spanish Galleon or ye Royal Sovereign, or such great Oars yt a Pair or two (if need require) Shall be Sufficient for a Ship; (together with ye hang- ing of ye Oars -o yt ye rowling Sea can have no power on ym) any other way y" only to thrust ye Ships for- ward, & yt ye Strength of One man will row as much a- 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 or ten men, according to ye way yt is taken, besides ye Addition of ye weight of ye wheel by it's motion & ye Swiftness of ye Oars into & in ye Water by ye help of Weights or Springs (all wch are infallibly so) recommend ye Tryal of it against ye Wind at Sea, wch if good may save many a Ship from Ship-wreek, & by weathering points, &c., many weeks & Months in voiages & be excellent in War."

Then follow thirteen descriptions of the mode of applying the invention to ships, with pen and

506

HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

ink figures, showing the wheels, cranks, booms, tioned elsewhere in this history. Among these etc., that were to aid men employed in moving is one which has become historic, viz., the post- ing of Colonel Morgan and his riflemen at Richmond's Mill on the 28th of June, 1778, during the battle of Monmouth. The mill, now owned by Charles Van Cleaf, standing on one of the branches of Manasquan River, a short distance from Blue Ball, is on the site of the old Richmond Mill of the Revolution, which, as late as 1825, was the property of David Richmond, from whom it passed to Aaron Shaw, and afterwards to Joseph Shumar, from whom it obtained its present name of Shumar's Mill.

the oars, which were to project from the sides of vessels, as " Found out in ye year 1712 [to 1714] by Joseph Morgan, of Freehold, in New Jersey, in North America." To the preceding Mr. Morgan adds, in his memorial : "In this Work it being as easy to weald Oars for ye greatest Ship on ye Ocean, as for yo Smallest Boat, and one man's Strength equalizing so many, ye bene- fit must be exceeding great for ships yt lye be- calmed or Wind Bound, &c." On the 28th of August he wrote again to the Lords, inclosing fifteen diagrams of methods of applying his invention, sending this communication by way of Philadelphia, fearing that the earlier in- closures might have miscarried. Nothing is found showing that the Lords or the Queen took any action as to the adoption of his inventions, which were certainly a foreshadowing (and per- haps the earliest) of the present system of pro- pelling vessels by mechanical power.

In 1763 the Rev. Samuel Cooke was the | missionary in Monmouth County of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, his labors being in Freehold, Shrews- bury, Middletown and vicinity, his salary being sixty pounds per year. With reference to his labors in this region, the minutes of the society give the following:

" The Rev. Mr. Cooke, the Society's Missionary in Monmouth County, in his letter dated November 14, 1763, acquaints the Society that his Congregation at Shrewsbury purpose to set about enlarging (if not entirely rebuilding) their church, and that his Con- gregation of Freehold and Middletown are gradually improving under his eare, In another letter, dated October 11, 1764, he writes that besides the regular Duties of the Mission, he offieiates, as often as Oppor- tunity will permit, at Cranbury, Middletown Point. &c., where he finds the People well disposed. He has baptised sinee April, six Adults, after they had passed publick and very satisfactory Examination; five Children between six and ten years of Age, and thirty-one Infants."

The pastor above referred to, left his congre- gation and went over to the British in the War of the Revolution. During that struggle Free- hold township was the scene of many exciting and memorable events, which have been men-

Gordon's " Gazetteer " of 1834 says of Free- hold township : " Its greatest length, northeast and southwest, is twenty-three miles ; greatest breadth, eleven miles ; area, 104,000 acres ; surface level, soil sand and sandy loam, not more than half of which is in cultivation, being barren or covered with pine forest. There are, however, some good farms which produce abundance of rye, corn, &c. Englishtown1 and Freehold are villages and post-towns. Popula- tion in 1830, 5481. In 1832 the township contained about 1100 taxables, 203 house- holders, whose rateables did not exceed $30, seventy-one single men, eleven stores, eleven saw-mills, sixteen run of grist-mill stones, two fulling-mills, four carding-machines, sixteen tan-vats, fourteen distilleries for cider, 1245 horses and mules and 2569 neat cattle."

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History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 87

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