The Anglican Church in Colonial Monmouth County, New Jersey

The Church of England, also known as the Anglican Church (and since 1789 in the United States as the Protestant Episcopal Church), made its entry into the area south of the Raritan River in New Jersey by 1700. Beginning in 1702, missionaries sent to America by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts served Monmouth County whenever possible in spite of the often-dangerous ferry crossing at Perth Amboy. The Society finally assigned missionaries full time to the area beginning in 1733. From then through the years of the American Revolution, the three Anglican congregations that evolved in Shrewsbury, Middletown, and Freehold depended on the Society for much of their support. This article, the first of three, tells the story of the Anglican Church in Monmouth County from its earliest fragile beginnings through 1751, a period of slow uncertain growth fraught at one point with intense internal controversy. The second article in this series will discuss the period of steady growth and increasing prosperity through 1774. The final article will focus on the depredations and difficulties faced by the Anglicans of Monmouth County and their churches during the years of the American Revolution when many (but not all) of them became Loyalists.