Ocean County, New Jersey

Ocean County was split-off from Monmouth County and incorporated in 1850. There are 2 deep sea ports in the county: Point Pleasant Beach and Barnegat Light.

Barnegat Bay off Ocean County is the start of the Inland Waterway which terminates in Florida.

Beginnings [1]

Letters of Honorable Edwin Salter, published in the New Jersey Courier (in 1877 and 1878), give many interesting items respecting the early settlers of Ocean county, which was originally a part of Monmouth. The Rogerine Baptists came from New London (via Schooley's Mountain) to Waertown in 1737. Abraham Waer, one of their number who gave name to Waertown, is said to have come from near the Hurlgate, above New York. The Brown family came originally from Goshen, N. Y.; the Headleys from the same State. Samuel Bennett came from New England; John Perkins came from England during the old French war. The first Soper who landed in West Jersey, was Thomas Soper, in 1678. Tradition says that the Sopers were of Huguenot descent. The Camburns came from New England, probably from Nantucket. They went on whaling voyages. The Birdsall family originally came from Long Island. The Predmores are said to be from Middlesex County.

The Stout family of Ocean and Monmouth counties descended from John Stout, a gentleman of good family of Nottinghamshire. England. His son Richard married a widow, whose maiden name was Penelope Van Princes. Her romantic history and marvelous escape from the Indians are described [in various historical accounts.]

The Falkenberg families of Ocean county are said to have descended from Henry Jacob Falkenberg, who came from Holstein, a little province adjoining Denmark. He acted as interpreter between the English and the Indians, near Trenton, in 1677. He removed his residence from Burlington about 1698 to Little Egg Harbor, settling a short distance below Tuckerton.

The Holmes family in Ocean county are descended from Reverend Obadiuh Holmes, so favorably remembered in the annals of the Baptist Church in America. His son Jonathan became a resident of Monmouth County, and was in 1668 a member of the Assembly.

1. Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, Second Series, Vol VI-VII, 1879-1881, Daily Advertiser, Newark, 1881.