Editing Monmouth County, New Jersey (section)

=== Colonial era ===
{{see also|Monmouth Tract}}
In 1609, the English navigator, [[Henry Hudson]], and his crew aboard the Dutch vessel ''[[Half Moon (ship)|Half Moon]]'' spotted land in what is now Monmouth County,<ref>{{cite book|last=Salter|first=Edwin|title=History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties|url=https://archive.org/stream/historyofmonmou00salt#page/n33/mode/2up|year=1890|page=5|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324180235/https://archive.org/stream/historyofmonmou00salt#page/n33/mode/2up|archive-date=March 24, 2016}}</ref> most likely off [[Sandy Hook, New Jersey|Sandy Hook]]; however, some historical accounts credit this landing to present-day [[Keansburg, New Jersey|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, New Jersey|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.{{citation needed|date=May 2014}}  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.<ref>[http://co.monmouth.nj.us/page.aspx?Id=3806 Freehold Township] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328165211/http://www.co.monmouth.nj.us/page.aspx?Id=3806 |date=March 28, 2012 }}, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Accessed July 12, 2012.</ref> [[Enslaved Africans]] were present in the area from at least 1680, and by 1726 made up 9% of the total population of the county.<ref name=Hodges>Hodges, Graham Russell. [https://books.google.com/books?id=3pN_wSILWZ8C ''Slavery and Freedom in the Rural North: African Americans in Monmouth County, New Jersey, 1665–1865''], p. 32. Madison, WI: Madison House, 1997. {{ISBN|9780945612513}}. Accessed October 7, 2013.</ref>

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 Township, New Jersey|Freehold]], [[Middletown Township, New Jersey|Middletown]] and [[Shrewsbury Township, New Jersey|Shrewsbury]].<ref name=Story>Snyder, John P. [http://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/enviroed/oldpubs/bulletin67.pdf ''The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120605161833/http://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/enviroed/oldpubs/bulletin67.pdf |date=June 5, 2012 }}, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 177. Accessed October 1, 2013.</ref>
{{anchor|Name origin}}

In 1764, the [[Sandy Hook Light]]house was built.

At the June 28, 1778, [[Battle of Monmouth]], near [[Freehold Township, New Jersey|Freehold Township]], General [[George Washington]]'s soldiers battled the British under Sir [[Henry Clinton (American War of Independence)|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.<ref>Capuzzo, Jill P. [https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/18/nyregion/british-beware-monmouth-redux.html "British Beware: Monmouth Redux"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414172249/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/18/nyregion/british-beware-monmouth-redux.html |date=April 14, 2016 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', May 18, 2003. Accessed April 9, 2012. "The largest land artillery battle of the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Monmouth marked a significant turning point in the colonies' fight against the British crown."</ref> Other battles and massacres during the war in Monmouth County include sites such as the [[Maj. John Burrowes Mansion|Burrowes Mansion]] in [[Matawan, New Jersey|Matawan]], and the [[Allen House (Shrewsbury, New Jersey)|Allen House]] in [[Shrewsbury, New Jersey|Shrewsbury]].

At independence, Monmouth's population included 1,640 slaves, as well as an undetermined number of [[free black|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.<ref name=Hodges/>  There was a small African-American middle class consisting of freedmen present in Monmouth County by the 1840s and 1850s.<ref>New Jersey: A History of the Garden State edited by Maxine N. Lurie, Richard F. Veit page 131</ref>

In 1790 Monmouth County's population was 16,918, of whom roughly 6,600 were of [[English American|English descent]] and the remainder were [[Welsh American|Welsh]], [[Dutch American|Dutch]] and [[Swedish American|Swedish]], as well as small amounts of [[African Americans]] and [[Scots-Irish Americans|Northern Irish Protestants]].<ref>Forstall, Richard L. Population of states and counties of the United States: 1790 to 1990 from the Twenty-one Decennial Censuses, pp. 108-109. United States Census Bureau, March 1996. {{ISBN|9780934213486}}. Accessed October 7, 2013.</ref>  By 2010 Monmouth County's population was 628,112 of whom 40,489 were of [[English American|English descent]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_5YR/DP02/0500000US34025 |title=American FactFinder - Results |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200213040232/https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_5YR/DP02/0500000US34025 |archive-date=February 13, 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref>  Between 1890 and 1907 nearly 18 million European immigrants came to America.<ref>American School Reform: Progressive, Equity, and Excellence Movements, 1883-1993 by Maurice R. Berube. Pg.3</ref>  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.<ref>New Jersey: A History of the Garden State edited by Maxine N. Lurie, Richard F. Veit page 204-205</ref>