of Sandy Hook tell the story of an island several centuries old, but the narrow bars between that point and the mainland tell of constantly and recently shifting sands. The broad inlets or arms of the sea were important to the merchants and seamen. The Monmouth Patentees decided upon the founding of two well organized towns—Middletown, upon "Newasink Neck," and Shrewsbury, or "Narumsunk Neck." They were, as nearly as can be ascertained, settled by the same class of men, at the same time, and were laid out upon similar plans. "Portland Poynt" was a town limited to ten families. It was very important in the early history of Monmouth as the most frequently chosen place for the general assembly of the inhabitants of "Newasink, Narumsunk and Pootapeck." At a court held at Portland Poynt, December 28, 1669, it was ordered "that the inhabitants off Portland Poynt by virtue of this order, have full power and liberty to take up thein principle lott of land on second division at or near a small creek within the limits of this town (township) of Middletown, called Many Mind Springs, and there to be laid out, that there be not land enough conveniently to accommodate them, the said inhabitants, they shall have liberty to take up what there be wanting upon Navesink River, in some convenient place, to make up ye full complement of the number of acres of plantable land, together with meadow equal to ye rest of the inhabitants of the aforesaid town." This town, now probably Navesink, or once called "Riceville," nestled in an amphitheatre of hills beside good springs, with a waterway to the harbor, and limited to ten families, was laid out and organized like its twin sisters, Middletown and Shrewsbury. After Hugh Hartshorne, upholsterer of London, the brother of Richard, already one of the Middletown associates of the patentees, and residing at Waakaack, became one of the twelve English proprietors. Richard, his brother, received on June 28, 1676, a patent for 6,750 acres of land in and about Portland Point, Middletown and Waakaack. When, years later, he left the towns and moved to his out-plantation, he built a manor house which he named Portland Place. This beautiful home on the Navesink River is still the home of his descendants, and retains that name. Henry Percy, Richard Richardson, James Bowne, Randall Huet and Bernard Smith were five of the earliest "lott" purchasers of Portland Point. Richard Hartshorne probably took up a share upon Navesink River at a later time. As early as December 28, 1669, John Hance had taken up "lotts" upon Pootapeck Neck, two of which were held "for and in behalf of Edward Wharton and James Heard." Deeds show that lands were early held there by Reape, Lippincott, Tilton, Slocum and others, but these tracts or lots were out-plantations, and not town or home lots. There does not seem to have been any effort to establish a town upon Pootapeck Neck. Many years passed before the sands of the ocean front of Monmouth became almost fabulously valuable. To the pateutees of Monmouth they were useless wastes, save as homes and lookouts for the whalemen and fisher raen. Of the records of the three towns—Middletown, Shrewsbury and Portland Point—only the Town Book of Middletown has been preserved to give some insight into the lives of the Englishmen who gave form and character to the commonwealth ten years before the Proprietors began actively to take part in the settlement of the State. Middletown was typical as an English Colonial town in the seventeenth century. The following names of some of the purchasers of lands prior to the year 1670 prove that their blood is still potent throughout the United States to the present time: Middletown. *William Lawrence, James Ashton, *Stephen Arnold, *John Bowne, William Bowne, *Benjamin Burden. William Cheeseman, Walter Clark, *Thomas Cocks or Cox, William Compton, *James Dorsett, Benjamin Duell, *David Estell, *Richard Gibbins, *William Golding, *James Grover, Sr., James Grover Jr., *Richard Hartshorne, Samuel Holman, *John Harrabin. Jonathan Holmes, John Haws, Obadiah Holmes, Jr., Robert Jones. *William Layton, * Homes recorded with registered ear-marks of the owners of cattle in Middletown. The pioneer Englishmen who first settled upon the three "Necks" must have located their claims and moved with their families to their newly built homes before surveys were finally made. On December 14, 1667, a General Assembly was held at Shrewsbury on Narumsunk Neck. Officers for Middletown were Richard Gibbons, constable; Jonathan Holmes and William Lawrence, overseers; Stephen Arnold and James Ashton, deputies; for Portland Poynt, between Atlantic Highlands and the little town of Navesink: Henry Percy and Richard. Richardson, overseers; James Bown, deputy; and for Shrewsbury, Peter Parker, constable: Christopher Allmy and Edward Pattison, overseers; Eliakim Wardell and Bartholomew West, deputies. At this assembly a final survey was ordered, and on December 1. 1667, the plan of the town lots of Middletown was laid out and the lines were to be surveyed by James Grover, assisted by Richard Stout and James Ashton. James Grover belonged to the Grover family of Gloucester, Massachusetts a family of seamen. Among the British Colonial State Papers is a proposal made by James Grover on August 19, 1656, for transporting persons from Long Island to Jamaica Island. He was probably a sea captain trading between New England and the West Indies. About this time Admirals Penn and Yenable had obtained Jamaica as a British possession, and Cromwell, who was much interested in its settlement, encouraged emigration from New England. Navigation and surveying were allied sciences, so the old sea captain of the commonwealth became a land surveyor in the new English settlement of the lands granted to the Duke of York. After the Restoration, James Grover was an anabaptist, and after the passage of the Act of Uniformity could not sail a government vessel. Richard Stout, a merchant of New Amsterdam, probably had known and traded with the Navesink and Raritan Indians, had visited their villages and slept in their wigwams. They brought him peltries from the old fauna of the grand forests of oaks, chestnuts, beeches, walnuts, pines and cedars of Newasink, Narumsunk and Pootapeck, yes, and even from the headwaters of the Schuylkill and Delaware. Richard Stout's out-plantation a few years later included some of the finest lands of the county. The Navesink Indians had their corn fields, and knew something of the soil of Monmouth. James Ashton was already related to the Holmes and Stout families by marriage. It seems strange that men who were merchants and seamen should select inland sites for their towns, several miles distant from any harbor. Were they safer from the attacks of foreign war vessels? Their patent demanding self-defence. In 1701 the inhabitants of New Jersey were warned "against an invasion of a French fleet." The first three important towns of note in Monmouth—Middletown, Shrewsbury and Wickatunck, or later, Freehold—were located near Indian villages, among the hills where fine natural springs gushed forth, feeding small rivers flowing down to good harbors. The English always built their homes upon the highlands, while the Dutch of Long Island and New Jersey built theirs in the lowlands and often almost upon the marshes. The salt-meadows were highly valued as pasture lands for cattle. Both the English and Dutch thought that cattle would not thrive without salt hay. In locating Middletown a site was chosen very near the Indian village named Chaguasett or Choquasett, among the hills where there were many fine springs. The plan of the new English town was at first a cartway running almost east and west, with home lots of from eight to twelve acres upon either side, "beginning at the west end upon the south side." On April 9, 1670, in "a legall towne meeting," it was ordered "that the way wch was formerly layd out by James Grover throw the mountainy ffcild and Poplar ffeild shall be enlarged with the allowance of two pole of the breadth of every man's lott ffronting the said highway to make the sayd way full six pole (ninetynine feet) in breadth." The roadway was one mile long, and the town limits were one hundred and sixty rods, or one-half mile either way from it. West of the town Mahoras Brook flowed in almost a northerly direction until it emptied into the Bay of Waakaack. while among the hills which divided them—the hills of the "Mountainy ffeild"—arose Chancsis Supus Run, later Compton's Creek, flowing along the south side of the town and then turning to the northwest, and emptying finally into Shoal Harbor. Thus, on an eminence, probably in clearings where Indians had long planted their corn fields, where celebrated springs were plentiful, near an Indian trading village, with broad salt meadows for the grazing of their cattle, with a fine run of water upon the right and left, highways to the harbors open to a vast trade with the old and new world, a few men built a blockhouse, a few simple cabins, and laid the foundations not only of a town but of a commonwealth. Although the town was definitely planned and the town lots were assigned and numbered, the early—very early—sales and transfers of lands do not seem to follow those plans. It was impossible because of the roughness of many of the lots. Exchanges and compensating advantages were made and given. On January 6, 1668, after passing ordinances concerning the felling and ownership of timber, an ordinance "concerning wolves" was passed, viz. "It is ordered that if any one shall kill a wolfe hee shall have twenty schillings for his paines, all soe if any Indian shall kill a wolfe and bring the head to the constable: The Indian soe doing shall have for his reward twenty gilders, provided it can bee discerned that it (was) killd within ten miles of the towne; this order is disannulled concerning the paiment of 20 gilders to Indians." This ordinance does not simply reveal the fact that wolves were numerous and troublesome, but it reveals also the early confusion in money matters which continued for so many years in the Colonies. The Indians understood the value of Dutch currency. The English town clerk, James Grover, spelled the English word "shilling" after the Dutch fashion, "schilling," and the value of wampum, peltries and tobacco in Dutch and English currency were changeable and difficult to adjust. On the same day that the bounty was placed on wolves, the "Fence Overseers," John Wilson and Thomas Cocks, were appointed. Out in the forests during the winter months, with axe and wedge, the rail-splitters would be annoyed by the wolves. These buckskin clothes pioneers in raccoon cap—sailors, merchants and Indian traders of old Monmouth—were prototypes of the pioneers of Kentucky and Ohio, who, coming nearer to our own time, we can better picture. The same blood flowed in the veins of both. But some of the older men of Monmouth had ridden in the iron. armor of Cromwell's Ironsides, and at Marston Moor and Nasby had sung the Psalms of David as they charged and scattered the cavalry of Prince Rupert. Some had sailed the Spanish main, and given conscientiously the Word of God to the crews of Spanish galleons in exchange for the plundered wealth of Peru and Mexico. The same voices sang those |