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Monmouth County is a county located on the coast of central New Jersey, in the United States within the New York metropolitan area, situated along the northern half of the Jersey Shore. As of the 2020 United States Census, Monmouth County's population was enumerated at 643,615, making it the state's fifth-most populous county, representing an increase of 13,245 (2.1%) from the 2010 Census, when the population was counted to be 630,380, in turn an increase of 15,079 from 615,301 at the 2000 Census. As of 2010, the county fell to the fifth-most populous county in the state, having been surpassed by Hudson County.[1] Monmouth County's geographic area comprises 30% water, with a trend toward more expensive homes being constructed along the Shore, bringing rapid gentrification to the county overall.
[edit] History
[edit] EtymologyThe naming of Monmouth County has different historical theories. It is thought that the county received its name from the Rhode Island Monmouth Society. This is likely, due to many of the county's earliest settlers originating from Rhode Island. Another plausible theory, is from a suggestion from Colonel Lewis Morris that the county should be named after Monmouthshire in Wales, Great Britain. Other suggestions include that it was named for James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth (1649–1685), who had many allies among the East Jersey leadership. [edit] Indigenous historySee also Lenape people 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 in western Monmouth County. [edit] Dutch and English colonizationSee also Monmouth Tract 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 further lived to the age of 110. Additionally, 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.
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. It was at Monmouth that the tactics and training from Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben developed at Valley Forge during the winter encampment were first implemented on a large scale. 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.[2] There was a small African-American middle class consisting of freedmen present in Monmouth County by the 1840s and 1850s. Ocean County was carved out of Monmouth County in 1850. 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 the year 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. [edit] Timeline
[edit] Population History
[edit] CemeteriesCemeteries of Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States [edit] Research Tips[edit] External linkshttp://shore.co.monmouth.nj.us/
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