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Monmouth County New Jersey Genealogy and History

Monmouth County was formed in 1683 from the Province of East Jersey.

County Seat: Freehold


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Monmouth County History

Monmouth County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is bordered to its west by Mercer and Middlesex Counties, to its south by Ocean County, to its east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to its north by the Raritan Bay (sharing a border with the boroughs of Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Queens in New York City, across it). Monmouth County's geographic area comprises 30% water. The county is part of the Jersey Shore region of the state.[6] It has also been categorized under the Central Jersey region.

While there are differing historical theories, the most plausible of theories in the origin of the county's name are attributed to many settlers originating from Rhode Island where the Rhode Island Monmouth Society hailed from, or it being named after the historic county of Monmouthshire in Wales, Great Britain. The county, like much of the state, was significantly involved during the American Revolutionary War. The Battle of Monmouth was fought in June 1778 in what has been preserved as Monmouth Battlefield State Park, currently located in Freehold Township and Manalapan Township.

The county's economy is rich and diverse, due to its high population density and proximity to New York City. Located in the middle of the Northeast megalopolis, its inland county seat of Freehold Borough, the Tri-City region of coastal cities of Red Bank, Long Branch, and Asbury Park, along with the county constituting a vast swath of the New Jersey coastline, has contributed in its draw of tourists throughout the state (and much of the Northeastern United States at large), particularly during the summer months.[16][17] Many communities within the county serve as commuter towns to and from New York City and other points north. Highways such as the Garden State Parkway, U.S. 9, Route's 34, 35, and 36, along with NJ Transit's North Jersey Coast Line and Seastreak, connects county residents to economic centers in North Jersey and New York City.

Around the year 1000, the area of Monmouth County began to be inhabited by the Lenape Native Americans prior to the arrival of European settlers. They came from the Mississippi River area. They lived along the vicinity of the Jersey Shore, the Raritan Bay, the Raritan River and other areas in the northeastern United States. The Lenape were a hunter-gatherer society. They were largely sedentary, changing campsites seasonally. They were prolific hunters of small game and birds. They were also skilled fisherman, and were known to harvest vast amounts of clams from the bays and inlets on the Jersey Shore. They also practiced some agriculture to augment their food supply. During this time, an important crossroad of two major Lenape trails was located in the area of Freehold Township in western Monmouth County.

In 1609, the English navigator, Henry Hudson, and his crew aboard the Dutch vessel Half Moon spotted land in what is now Monmouth County, most likely off Sandy Hook; however, some historical accounts credit this landing to present-day Keansburg. Among the first European settlers and majority landowners in the area were Richard and Penelope Stout. Penelope "miraculously" survived her wounds from a native attack in Sandy Hook and lived to the age of 110. A group of Quaker families from Long Island settled the Monmouth Tract, an early land grant from Richard Nicolls issued in 1665. They were followed by a group of Scottish settlers who inhabited Freehold Township in about 1682–1885, followed several years later by Dutch settlers. As they arrived in this area, they were greeted by Lenape people, who lived in scattered small family bands and developed a largely amicable relationship with the new arrivals. Enslaved Africans were present in the area from at least 1680, and by 1726 made up 9% of the total population of the county.

Monmouth County was established on March 7, 1683, while part of the province of East Jersey. On October 31, 1693, the county was partitioned into the townships of Freehold, Middletown and Shrewsbury.

In 1764, the Sandy Hook Lighthouse was built.

At the June 28, 1778, Battle of Monmouth, near Freehold Township, General George Washington's soldiers battled the British under Sir Henry Clinton, in the longest land battle of the American Revolutionary War. At Monmouth the tactics and training from Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben developed at Valley Forge during the winter encampment were first implemented on a large scale.[31] Other battles and massacres during the war in Monmouth County include sites such as the Burrowes Mansion in Matawan, and the Allen House in Shrewsbury.

At independence, Monmouth's population included 1,640 slaves, as well as an undetermined number of free African Americans. The number of enslaved persons fell steeply after 1820, though a small number remained until at least 1850. Monmouth's free African American population climbed from 353 in 1790 to 2,658 in 1860. There was a small African-American middle class consisting of freedmen present in Monmouth County by the 1840s and 1850s.

In 1790 Monmouth County's population was 16,918, of whom roughly 6,600 were of English descent and the remainder were Welsh, Dutch and Swedish, as well as small amounts of African Americans and Northern Irish Protestants. By 2010 Monmouth County's population was 628,112 of whom 40,489 were of English descent. Between 1890 and 1907 nearly 18 million European immigrants came to America. At the same time the region underwent massive and not unrelated economic changes, this process led to places like Monmouth County, New Jersey becoming significantly more diverse and somewhat less rural.

In 1850, Ocean County was carved out of Monmouth County.


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Genealogy Research in Monmouth County, New Jersey

Monmouth County Clerk
Market Yard
33 Mechanic Street
Freehold, NJ 07728
Phone: 732-431-7324
Website


Adjacent counties

Monmouth County borders the following counties:


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