History of Asbury Park and Long Branch, together with the traditions of the Indians & settlers of Monmouth & Ocean counties, N.J

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

0 014 205 079 1

<

Hollinger

pH 8.5

Mill Run F3|.1719

\\

F 144
Copy 1

x-Iistory of Asbury Park
and Long Branch

Together with the Tradi-
tions OF THE Indians
& Settlers of Mon-
mouth & Ocean
Counties,
N.J.

%

COMPILED AND WRITTEN
BY

GEORGE C. MARTIN

Second Edition

PRIVATELY PUBLISHED

1903

Early History of Long Branch

From Salter's History of Monmouth Co.

I HE earliest mention of Long Branch in
any historical works that the writer of
this has found is in Watson's Annals of
Philadelphia, published in 1830, as
follows :

" This place before the Revolution, was
owned by Colonel White, a British officer and an inhab-
itant of New York. The small house he occupied as a
summer residence was existing among a clump of houses
owned by Renshaw in 1830. In consequence of the war
the place was confiscated. The house was first used as a
boarding house by Elliston Perot of Philadelphia, in 1788.
At that time the whole premises were in charge of one
old woman left to keep the place from injury. Of her
Mr. Perot begged an asylum for himself and family,
which was granted, provided he could get beds and bed-
ding from others. Being pleased with the place he re-
peated his visit there three successive years, taking his
friends with him. In 1 790-1, Mr. McKnight of Mon-
mouth, noticing the liking shown for the place, deemed
it a good speculation to buy it. He bought the whole
premises, containing one hundred acres for ^700 and
then got Mr. Perot and others to loan him $2,000 to im-
prove it. He then opened it for a watering place, and
before his death it was supposed he had made forty thou-
sand dollars by the investment. The estate was sold to
Renshaw for $13,000. Elliston Perot was really the
founder of Long Branch as a summer resort.

I

' ' Long Brancli takes its name from a brook, a branch
of the South Shrewsbury River which runs in a direct
line northward along the coast.

" Tradition points to an Indian Fishery, established
in 1734, as the first occupation of this place which was
styled at that time Lands' End. A legend tells us that in
those early times four men, Slocum, Parker, Wardell and
Hulett, came from Rhode Island in quest of land. They
found the Indians friendly but not disposed to sell. It
was proposed by the Yankees that a wrestling match
should be made up between one Indian and one of the
whites, to be decided by the best in three rounds. If the
champion of the white man won, they were to have as
much land as they could walk around in a day ; if other-
wise they were to leave peaceably. John Slocum was
selected for the struggle — a man of great proportions,
athletic and of great strength.

' ' Great preparations were made to witness the en-
counter. The spot chosen was the present Fishing Land.
Slocum proved too much for the Indian, and after a hard
struggle won.

' ' The land was divided and the descendants to this
day own a portion of the land gained by the struggle."

HISTORY OF ASBURY PARK.

By James A. Bradley.

ONE afternoon in May, 1870, I was walking down
Broadway, New York, and suddenly' ran against
my friend, David H. Brown, Esq., Treasurer of
the Ocean Grove Association ' How is Ocean Grove
getting along? ' I asked. ' Very fairly,' said he, ' why
don't you buy a lot ? Those who have their names put

down now have first choice,' ' well put me down for two,'
said I. A few days after, iu company with some friends
we started for Ocean Grove. We took the boat for Port
Monmouth, thence by railroad to Eatontown. The sea-
shore route was opened a few days afterwards. After
dining at Mr. Brown's country house at Eatontown, we
drove to Ocean Grove in carriages. The turnpike com-
pany had just commenced operations, and from Great
Pond to Ocean Grove was one of the worst roads that
could be imagined. I was completely taken i,vith Ocean
Grove and its surroundings — so much so that I purchased
the first lot ever sold there, the premium being $85.

" Having for some time previous been in bad health,
I concluded to try what I had been recommended — sea air.
Too close application to business had made inroads on my
constitution and my nervous system was seriously affected.
So a few days after purchasing the lots, taking two horses,
carriage and tent, and John Baker, my colored man, I
left the hnm of the city behind, to become an inhabitant
of the wild woods, where my wearied body and brain
might rest, lulled to sleep by the murmuring sea at night
and awakened in the morning by the songs of birds in
the pine trees surrounding my couch.

" John and I arrived at Ocean Grove just at night-
fall, and having got our horses under shelter in a barn
belonging to Charles Rogers, near the present Ocean
Grove school house, we entered the woods, and about
half a mile off", erected our tent, it was too dark to get
poles, so we hung the tent on the beams of what was
afterwards the Association office, the first building ever
erected in Ocean Grove. (This building stood near the
Auditorium and was afterward torn down or removed).

3

The building at that time was without roof. We were
without light, and soon after lunching on some crackers
we lay down to sleep, our heads resting on the carriage
cushions, and our covering being carriage blankets. So
we spent our first night at Ocean Grove, and so began an
entire change in my mode of life, and which led event-
ually to an almost complete restoration to health.

" In the morning Baker sighed and said, ' Mr. B.,
this is a wilderness place. ' He was homesick ; for let
the reader, who perhaps has been on the same spot dur-
ing the busy summer season, and heard the continuous
click of the telegraph instrument and seen the vast throng
of men and maidens call for their letters when the mail
arrives, remember it was far different on the morning of
which we are writing ; although it was the loth of June,
not a soul was within hearing distance of us, I cheered
him by saying : ' Oh ! don't be cast down ' and soon we
were eating our morning lunch. That finished, we pro-
ceeded to my lots on the lake, and pitched our small tent
on the ground now built upon and owned by Rev. Alfred
Cookman's widow. My large tent was erected, and so
we began our Crusoe life. During the day we occasion-
ally saw Forman Franklin's men who worked about the
grounds, and at night we were left to our solitude. Mr.
Franklin's men tented on the lots now covered by the
Hay ward cottage, but on Sundays went to their homes in
the interior of the township.

" Baker was my steward, housekeeper and cook. I
procured a box and dug a hole in the ground and put it
in, and that was our ice house. We would sometimes
drive to Long Branch, six miles away, and procure food,
principally canned goods. Mr. Fra.iklin's men indulged

4

more in fresh meats than Baker and I, so I would trade
canned goods for the old fashioned savory stew that
gave muscle to the men who first removed briars and
brush from Ocean Grove and made its streets.

" One evening Baker and I took a stroll along the
ocean and I proposed a bath. Baker smiled and said,
' No, no.' ' But remember, John, cleanliness is next to
godliness.' I took an ocean bath ; but, oh, how different
from the waj' bathers usually enjoy the surf, the waves
dashing over their heads. I laid down on the soft sand
and allowed the water to just touch my body, and I can
tell you, reader, it is somewhat lonely to trust yourself
in the great ocean in the twilight and alone. After I had
been lying on the beach for a little while, I looked around
to see what had become of Baker. He had plucked up
courage by my example and had really divested himself
of his clothes, and, coward, like myself, barely allowed
the water to touch him. His dusky skin was somewhat in
contrast with the white sand, and the whole scene forciblj^
reminded me of Robinson Crusoe and his man Friday.

"During the camp-meeting that took place in
August, we often heard the inquiry, ' who owns the land
on the other side of the lake ? ' One day Rev. Wra. B.
Osborne and m)'self went over, and at the risk of having
our clothes torn off, worked our way through the briars
until we reached Sunset Lake. And, like the red man
of whom we read in tradition, we could say ' Alabama —
here we rest ; ' for we stood on the banks of as beautiful
a sheet of water as can be found anywhere. We returned
to the Grove by way of the beach, and soon set to work
to make up a company to purchase the land. We learned
the owner would not sell the land in parcels, but the pur-

S

chaser must take the whole or none. Here was a diflS-
culty ; five hundred acres ! — wilderness and barren sand-
waste, without a house or inhabitant, and not a foot of
cultivated soil in the whole tract. ' Never mind,' said
some, ' the more land we have the more profit we will
have.' Our company was to consist of eight persons,
some of whom were very enthusiastic ; but when the cool
nights of autumn came along, it chilled their enthusiasm,
and their example had its chilling effect on me. But I
often thought of the matter, and as soon as I heard that
Bishop Simpson, of the M. E. Church, urged the Ocean
Grove Association to purchase it, to prevent its falling
into tlie hands of some one who was not in sympathy
with the enterprise they had in their hands, I called on
David H. Brown, and proposed he should join me in the
purchase by taking one-eighth, the price asked being
$90,000. 'No,' said he, 'I am determined to have
nothing to do with any enterprise in that neighborhood
that would seem to place me in an inconsistent position,
as I am now treasurer of the Ocean Grove Association.
This I will do ; I will write to every member of the
Association, and if they say buv it, I am inclined to think
I shall not oppose it, although I think we have enough
land now. But if they do not buy it, you can. And as
you wish me to negotiate the purchase, I will do so, on
condition that you advance the requisite amount to secure
the property, and if the Association decide to take it,
your money to be refunded, we are to have a week's
option to consider the matter.' A majority of the Asso-
ciation decided not to purchase the land, although some
urged it very strongly ; so the property became mine — I,
at the same time assuring them that the property would

6

be resold only to such parties as would appreciate the
situation of the place.

" After the purchase, the briars before alluded to,
with the tangled underbush, were removed at a cost of
several thousand dollars, and very few would now sup-
pose that the choice spot upon which are now erected
beautiful cottages was so recently a jungle.

" As stated above, it was supposed that immense
profits would result from the purchase of the land known
as Asbury Park, but the man who has tried to meet every
emergency that has arisen is wiser now than when he
first risked a fortune in an entirelj' new and untried
scheme. There was not, so far as he knew, a seaside re-
sort, an incorporated town, on the American continent
or in Europe, where in the deeds the sale of intoxicating
liquor was prohibited. ' With your restriction you can
never make a seaside resort a success so near New York, '
said the timid and the croakers, but the founder of Asbury
Park, with an intense and life long hatred of the liquor
traffic, has given hundreds and hundreds of deeds, which
are on record at the County Clerk's office, and contain a
protest against the curse of society which the American
people strangely allow to exist ; and yet Asbury Park
notwithstanding, did grow, and its success has been so
great that the anti-liquor clause is now a feature in the
deeds of many seaside resorts started on the New Jersey
coast within the past ten years.

"In 1 87 1, the only means of reaching New York
from Ocean Grove and what is now Asbury Park was by
stage to Long Branch, which was then the nearest rail-
road station, thence by railroad to Sandy Hook, and by
steamer Jesse Hoyt across the bay to New York. The

7

travel between Long Branch and what is now Asbury
Park was so light that daily trips could not be sustained.
To keep up daily trips, the founder of Asbury Park gave
the use of his rockaway, with a horse, to William Poland,
Jr., as a subsidy. Poland added his own horse. The
horse donated was used up in the servdce, but the old car-
riage remains, and has since been used as a plaything to
amuse the children who were born since the time of the
historical facts here recorded.

' ' There are more than eight hundred cottages, be-
sides hotels. The finest Masonic lodge-room in Mon-
mouth county was erected by the late Allen R. Cook,
who was for a long time the esteemed Superintendent of
Asbury Park. We have also one of the best planned
school hou.ses in the State, with a daily attendance of
seven hundred ; the school lot fronts on three streets.

"Asbury Park was assessed in 1869 at $15,000.
The assessed valuation in 1896 was $3,376,300.00

' ' Streets running at right angles to the sea are from
one to two hundred feet wide, an advantage possessed by
no other seaside resort on the New Jersey coast. The
depot grounds are the finest on the line of the Long
Branch Division of the Central Railroad of New Jersey,
and with adjoining streets cover four acres.

' ' In the matter of electric lights, Asbury Park was
the pioneer along the Monmouth County coast.

" The First National Bank of Asbury Park was or-
ganized for business in the early part of 1886, and the
Asbury Park and Ocean Grove Bank in 1889. Their
success has been great, the deposits in the summer of 1896
running up to nearly $1,250,000.00.

" The first street car line in Monmouth county had

its birth in Asburj' Park. The cars are propelled by
electricity, and besides a belt line encircling the town,
they are now running between Belmar and Pleasure Bay,
with prospects of continuing the road all along the coast
in the near future."

INDIAN WILL.

IN days gone by, the singular character and eccentric
acts of the noted Indian Will formed the theme of
many a fireside story among our ancestors, many of
which are still remembered by older citizens. Some of
the traditionary incidents given below differ in some par-
ticulars, but we give them as related to us many years
ago by old residents. Indian Will was evidently quite a
traveler and well known from Barnegat almost to the
Highlands. At Forked River, it is said he often visited
Samuel Chamberlain on the neck of land between the
north and middle branches and was generally followed
by a pack of lean, hungry dogs, which he kept to defend
himself from his Indian enemies. The following tradi-
tion was published in 1842 by Howe, in " Historical Col-
lections of New Jersey ' ' :

" About the year 1670, the Indians sold out the sec-
tion of the countrj^ near Eatontown to Lewis Morris, for
a barrel of cider, and emigrated to Crosswicks and Cran-
berry. One of them, called Indian Will, remained, and
dwelt in wigwam between Tinton Falls and Swimming
River. His tribe were in consequence exasperated, and
at various times sent messengers to kill him in single
combat ; but, being a brave athletic man, he always came
off conqueror.

9

' ' One day while partaking of a breakfast of suppawn
and milk with a silver spoon at Mr. Eaton's, he casually
remarked that he knew where there was plenty of such.
They promised that if he would show them where, they
would give him a red coat and cocked hat. In a short
time he was arrayed in that dress, and it is said the
Batons suddenly became wealthy. About 80 years since,
in pulling down an old mansion in Shrewsbury, in which
a maiden member of this family had resided, a quantity
oi cob dollars, supposed to have been Kidd's money, was
tound concealed in the cellar wall. These coins were
mostly square or oblong shape, the corners of which wore
out the pocket ' '

A variation of this tradition is as frequently heard
in the following manner :

"Indian Will often visited the family of Derrick
Longstreet at Manasquan and one time showed them
some silver money which excited their curiosity. They
wished to know where he got it and wanted Will to let
them have it. Will refused to part with it, but told them
he had found it in a trunk along the beach, and there
was i)lenty of yellow money besides ; but as the yellow
money was not as pretty as the white, he did not want it,
and Longstreet might have it. So L,ongstreet went with
him and found the money in a trunk covered over with a
tarpaulin and buried in the sand. Will kept the white
money and Longstreet the yellow (gold) and this satis-
factory division made the Longstreets wealthy.

" Captain Kidd did not .sail on his glorious cruises
until 1696, and as the money found by Will was dis-
covered in 1 670, it is impossible that it could be a portion
of that wonderful Captain's treasures.

10

"Will was, from the description ofmen who knew him,
stout, broad-shouldered, prominent Indian featured with
rings in his ears and one in his nose. Among other
things which Will had done to excite the ill-will of other
Indians, was the killing of his wife. Her brother Jacob
determined on revenge. He pursued him, and finding
him unarmed, undertook to march him off captive. As
they were going along, Will espied a pine knot on the
ground, managed to pick it up and dealt Jacob a fatal
blow. As he dropped to the ground, Will tauntingly ex-
claimed, ' Jacob, look up at the sun — you will never see
it again. '

' ' When five Indians set out to kill Will once he got
them intoxicated and despatched them with a hatchet."

Following told by Thomas Cook : Origin of the
name of " Will's Hole " Squan River.

"Indian Will lived in a cabin in the woods near
Cook's place. One day he brought home a musk-rat,
which he ordered his wife to cook for dinner ; she obeyed,
but when it was placed npon the table she refused to
partake of it.

" ' Very well,' said he, ' if j-ou are too good to eat
musk rat you are too good to live with me,' and there-
upon he took her to the place or hole in the river and
drowned her."

The following tradition is also told by Mr. Cook :

" Indian Will had three brothers-in-law, two of whom
resided on Long Island, and when in course of time,
word reached them that their sister had been drowned,
they crossed over to Jersey to avenge her death. When
they reached Indian Will's cabin, he was inside eating
clam soup. Knowing their errand he invited them to

II

dinner telling them lie would fight it out with them after-
ward. They sat down to eat, but before concluding their
dinner Will pretended he heard some one coming, and
hurried to the door, outside of which the visitors had left
their guns, one of which Will caught up and fired and
killed one Indian. He then shot the other as he rushed
at him. l,ater on Will met his other brother-in-law, and
was told by him that he would kill him. Will picked up
a large log of pine and crushed in his enemy's head.
Indian Will finally died alone in his cabin."

INDIAN PETER.

(A Tradition of Imlaystown.)

ABOUT a century and a quarter ago an Indian
named Peter, said to have been connected by rela-
tionship and business with the noted Indian Tom,
after whom some, we think erroneously, consider Tom's
River to be named, resided at Tom's River, but owing to
an unfortunate habit of mixing too much whiskey with
his water, he became unfortunate, and about the time of
the war removed with his family to the vicinity of Imlays-
town, where he built a wigwam by a pond not far from
the village.

Shortly after he located here, his wife sickened and
died. Peter loved his squaw dearly, and was almost heart-
broken on account of the unlucky event. He could not
bear the idea of parting with his wife, or putting her
under the ground out of sight. For a day or two he was
inconsolable and knew not what to do ; at length a lucky
idea occured to him ; instead of burying her where he
never more could see her, he would put a rope about her
neck and place her in the pond and daily visit her. This

plan he at once put into execution, and as he daily visited
her, it somewhat assuaged his poignant grief. On one
of his melancholy visits to the departed partner of his
bosom, he noticed in the water around her a large number
of eels. To turn these eels to account was a matter of
importance to Peter, for though he loved his wife, he
loved money too. So he caught the eels daily, and for a
week or so visited the village regularly and found a ready
sale for them among the villagers.

But at length the supply failed — his novel eel trap ■
gave out. A few days after he was in the village and
numerous were the inquiries why he did not bring any
more of those good eels.

" Ah," said Peter verj^ innocently, drawing a long
sight, ' me catch no more eels — me squaw all gone — boo
— hoo!"

His grief aud singular reply called for an explana-
tion, and he, thinking nothing wrong gave it.

The result was a general casting up of accounts
among the villagers, terrible anathemas upon the Indian,
and a holy horror of eels among that generation of Im-
laystown citizens, and even to this day it is said some of
their descendants would as soon eat a snake as an eel.

(The above tradition we have no doubt is substanti-
ally correct ; we derived it from Hon. Chas. Parker, for
many years State Treasurer, father of Gov. Parker, who
some eighty years ago while at Toms River met with
some of the disgusted purchasers of ludian Peter's eels. )

13

A SAVORY DISH.

BATHSHEBA, an Indian Queen who resided in
Burlington County, was very hospitably inclined
and entertained many white guests though she may
have occasionally prepared Indian delicacies for the table
which the whites seldom appreciated. Some years ago
Eli Collins, a well remembered aged citizen of Barnegat
told the writer of this, that when he was a young man,
one time he had been out from home all day, and on his
way back stopped at the hut of Moluss. His wife Bash,
or Bathsheba, was boiling something in a pot which sent
forth a most delightful odor to a hungry man, and he
was cordially invited to dine. As he had been without
anything to eat all day he willingly accepted the invita-
tion ; but he soon changed his determination when he
found the savory smelling dish was hop-toad sotip.

THE INDIAN FIELD.
Shark River.

WHERE Shark River narrows almost to a brook
and makes a sharp turn toward the south lies the
Indian Field. It is about two hundred and fifty
feet long and is shaped something on the order of a
triangle. Here the Indians for generations planted their
com and from the small pieces of broken half-baked
pottery found in one corner it may be said was used as a
work shop.

Not many years ago a person might walk across the
field and find arrow-heads and chips of flint or possibly a
stone hatchet but now, at this late day, a find is rare.

14

About fifty feet from the Indian Field is a clearing
in the woods slightly smaller than the one already de-
scribed. This is the House Field. In the north eastern
corner their huts were made and their families reared.
Somewhere in the woods, back of the House Field (so
the older inhabitants of that part of the country tell me),
lies a large mortar in which the Indians used to grind
their grain into flour. * It is said to be too large for any
persons to cart away unaided by machinery. Still farther
into the woods to the south of the House Field on the
right hand side of the old wood-road (once an Indian
trail) lies the burying ground. It is situated on the
edge of a gully the feet of the graves facing west. So
many years have passed since the last Indian was buried
here that all trace of mounds have disappeared but people
living in that vicinity from childhood remember visiting
them and seeing about about forty graves stretched along
three hundred feet of space.

* I am indebted to Dr. Peter Davison and others for iuformation about this
stone. I have made several fruitless attempts to find it.

l<i

LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS

"""'|lll Ijllllll [|I(«n--

0 014 205 079 i

<

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

I

0 014 205 079 1

<

HoIIinger

pH8.5

Mill Run F3I-1719

V

n;