Monmouth Baptists Reset Their Congregations

On the eve of the American Revolution, Monmouth County had a large Baptist congregation in Middletown (248 congregants) and a smaller one at Imlaystown in Upper Freehold (78 congregants). The two meetings were served by a single minister, Abel Morgan. He lived and preached in Middletown, but preached at Imlaystown one Sunday a month.

The prior minister for the Upper Freehold meeting, David Jones, was an outspoken supporter of independence. While visiting Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1775, Jones preached, “Defensive War in a Just Cause, Sinless.” His sermon was published and widely distributed. After this, Jones was unable to safely return to Upper Freehold—which would soon be the scene of a Loyalist insurrection. Jones served as a chaplain in the Continental Army during the war and never returned to Monmouth County.

When Upper Freehold was rocked by a second and more severe Loyalist insurrection in December 1776, the Baptist meeting suspended operations. After a period of irregular entries, on March 1, 1777, the congregation’s Deacon, Thomas Farr, recorded, “No meetings—these are troublesome times indeed.” The war years were hard on the congregation—it admitted twelve new members in 1776 and eleven new members at war’s end in 1783, but it only admitted a total of fifteen new members in the six years in between.

Baptist Meeting Purges Loyalists

While the Upper Freehold congregation was pro-independence from the start, the Middletown congregation only supported the Revolution after a “purging time” in 1777. On May 10, the meeting moved against its active Loyalist members. The church book recorded three votes:

1. In the first place was to consider whether we believe it justifiable, in sight of Holy God, to joyn [sic] the free States of America, to the utmost of our power, in defense of our rights and privileges, against our cruel enemies, who is now fighting against us with fire and sword, to deprive us of them. – Agreed.

2. Whether the standing of our Church does not call for a purging time, when we are so divided in judgment and in practice, and further, whether or not those members have standing in our church, that do side with the enemy, ought to be laid under censure. – Agreed.

3. Whether or not David Burdge and Elias Baly [Elias Bailey], who have left this State and gone over to the enemy ought to be debarred from communion in our church, yea or nay. – yea.

The meeting took other acts as well. John Taylor and James Grover were summoned to answer for their roles in administering British loyalty oaths. Edward Taylor and Mary Bailey were warned to “forebare talking so much against the present state, and in behalf of the enemy.” James Mott, Richard Crawford, John Walling, and Samuel Bray were appointed to counsel and monitor the disaffected congregants. Sixteen other congregants signed on to support them.

The Middletown Baptists met again on May 24 to consider removing John Taylor and James Grover:

The church laid before said Taylor and said Grover the charge, which was that they had sworn so many of their brethren and neighbors to swear true obedience to King George; the church then asked them whether they justified themselves in acting that part - they answered they did justify themselves, but was sorry they had done it because things had not turned out as they expected - upon hearing the whole affair, the church agreed to a man, except Edward Taylor, and then told said Taylor and said Grover they was disbarred from communion with the church.

The congregation’s minister, Abel Morgan, was initially cautious toward disaffected members. As late as December 1777 he warned of "dispersion among the churches” and “discord and contention among neighbors" without directly criticizing Loyalists. But Morgan’s voice grew stronger after the British Army passed through Middletown following the Battle of Monmouth. They occupied and vandalized the Baptist meeting house and forced Morgan to preach in the woods. A year later, Morgan preached: “Our continent is filled with tears and blood, ravages and desolations abound, perpetrated by the English troops and, if possible, by the more wicked combinations of traitors among ourselves."

Other Disturbances in the Congregations

The Baptists of Upper Freehold never needed to purge the meeting of Loyalists, but the congregation did discipline several members. On June 16, 1777, it suspended “Candice, a Black woman… disguised with liquor” from the congregation. In December 1778, the meeting again moved against three members for poor attendance and acting with “no sense of guilt.” Another round of suspension in 1781 was meted out for non-attendance and drinking. The congregation never needed to punish any of its members for Loyalism.

However, the Upper Freehold Baptists needed to find a new minister. In June 1777, they invited John Pittman, “a very promising young man," to be the congregation’s minister. It appears that Pittman relocated from Philadelphia to Imlaystown in September (as the British Army was threatening invasion of that city). Pittman co-served the Baptist meetings at Imlaystown and Cranbury. In March 1780, Pittman received luxury goods from Boston. This caused an argument with Joseph Cox, from one of the meeting’s leading families. The bad feelings escalated when Pittman insulted Joseph’s brother, Thomas Cox:

Thomas Cox entered the following complaint or charge against him, that Mr. Pittman had represented him [Thomas Cox] as his worst enemy, and Mr. Pittman not giving him satisfaction was forbid preaching in the meeting house & warned to go out of the dwelling house.

Pittman returned to Philadelphia in 1781. The next minister, John Blackwell, was not found until late 1782. As for Abel Morgan, he grew ill in 1784. The Middletown congregation recognized him as an “infirm” and hired a servant to tend to him. Morgan died in 1785.

Related Historic Site: Old Yellow Meeting House

Sources: Upper Freehold Baptist Records, Rutgers University Special Collections, reel 1; David Jones, Journal of Two Visits to Some Indian Nations on the West Side of the Ohio River, 1772-3 (Burlington, NJ: Isaac Collins, 1774) p V-VIII, 11; Defensive war in a just cause sinless. A sermon, preached on the day of the continental fast, at Tredyffryn, in Chester County, https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N11160.0001.001/1:2?rgn=div1;view=fulltext; Jones, David, 1736-1820.Baptist Meeting Minutes, John Stillwell, Historical and Genealogical Miscellany (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) v2, p 273; John Stillwell, Historical and Genealogical Miscellany (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) v2, p 273; Upper Freehold Baptist Records, Rutgers University Special Collections, reel 1; R.T. Middletditch, "Abel Morgan of Middletown", The Baptist Quarterly, 1874, vol. 8, p331-2; American Baptist Magazine and Missionary Intelligencer (Boston: James Lording, 1829) vol. 3, p443-444; Upper Freehold Baptist Records, Rutgers University Special Collections, reel 1; R.T. Middletditch, "Abel Morgan of Middletown", The Baptist Quarterly, 1874, vol. 8, p332; Norman H. Maring, Baptists in New Jersey: A Study in Transition (Valley Forge, Penn.; Judson Press, 1964) pp. 57-8, 69, 74; Upper Freehold Baptist Records, Rutgers University Special Collections, reel 1; Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County, (Peck: Philadelphia, 1885) p 635; Upper Freehold Baptist Records, Rutgers University Special Collections, reel 1; Monmouth County Historical Association, Church Book, Upper Freehold Baptists (typescript); R.T. Middletditch, "Abel Morgan of Middletown", The Baptist Quarterly, 1874, vol. 8, p334.