Religions

This page provides information on local religious groups, their leadership, and their history. 

It is a work in progress. 

Notes

Mentions of Baptist and Methodist Episcopal churches at Jacksonville refer to small communities at nearby Cheesequake.

Baptists

Local Baptist churches include the First Baptist Church (232 Main Street), Second Baptist Church (45 Orchard Street), St Mark AME Zion Baptist Church (218 Delaware Avenue, Cliffwood), St James AME Zion Church (100 Atlantic Avenue), New Light Baptist Church (Center Street, Cliffwood), Mt Moriah Baptist Church (Matawan Township), Providence Baptist Church (49 Kennedy Avenue, Cliffwood), and Calvary Baptist Church (491 Lloyd Road, Strathmore).

I've captured part of the text from the History of Baptists in New Jersey (1904), the part that focuses on Baptists in Matawan and Keyport.

First Baptist Church

See a piece on Rev Samuel Bower (1910) and a summary of First Baptist's pastors (1903-1952), based on Rev Kisenwether's book.

Pastors at First Baptist Church:

• Main Street building erected (1850)
• Job Gaskill (1850 - 1853)
• J W Crumb (1854 - 1858)
• Main Street building destroyed by fire (1858)
• J E Barnes (1859 - 1861+)
• R G Farley (unknown)
• New building erected on Main Street
• Franklin A Slater (1866 - 1889)
• C L Percy (1890 - 1894)
• H J Whalen (1895 - 1899)
• J Y Irving (1899 - )
• Samuel Bower (1903 - 1915)
• Luther Latham Holmes (1915 - )
• William W Ludwig (1920 - 1930)
• Carl H Koeker, Jr (1930 - 1936)
• Garrett S Detwiler (1937 - 1952)
• Lawrence R Bailey (1953 - 1960) (11 Dec 1952 MJ pg 5 col 4 Ladies Aid)
• Robert W Addiss (1962, 1965)
• Paul L Jackson (1968, 1969, 1972)

Second Baptist Church

Pastors at Second Baptist Church:

• W J Hutcheson (1950, 1954, 1955, 1957)
• Howe Perry (1968)

St Mark AME Zion Church

St James AME Zion Church

• 125th anniversary (Independent, Apr 1977) (Click here for my article)

New Light Baptist Church

• Edward Jones (1972)

Mount Moriah Baptist Church

• James W Carter (1950)

Providence Baptist Church

• John Currie (1950)

Calvary Baptist Church

Calvary Baptist Church, Lloyd Road, Matawan, was organized in 1969. (18 Sep 1969 edition, MJ, pg 10)

Catholics

The Roman Catholics in the area are served by Saint Clement's (Route 79, Freneau), Saint Joseph's (Lower Main Street, Keyport) and Saint Benedict's (Bethany Road, Holmdel).

St Benedict's

Priests serving at St Benedict's:

• Edward P Blaska (1962, 1969)
• William Anderson (1972)

St Clement's

• Meeting at St Joseph's Church in Keyport (1968)
• Meeting at Matawan High School (1969)
• Joseph Rucinski (1968, 1969, 1972)

St Joseph's

St Joseph's church was built in 1854, rebuilt in 1879, and built again in 1976. Its annual carnival was started in the mid-1920's.

Priests serving at St Joseph's:

• Cornelius J Kane (1962, 1969) 
• John A Dzema (1972)

Episcopalians

The Trinity Episcopal Mission was established in Matawan in 1850.

See the 85th anniversary article (1936) for a full roster of the rectors of Trinity Episcopal Church:

• Fernando Cortes Putnam. May 11, 1850 - November, 1852. (Rev Putnam served at St Peter's Episcopal Church in Freehold 1843-1852, handling the mission at Middletown Point as part of that assignment. He married Julia Ann Throckmorton, of Freehold, on 5 Oct 1853. He was reassigned to northern New York to handle a mission there, then he was assigned to Bergen, New Jersey. Julia died in 1863. He remarried in 1865. See Record of Yale University Class of 1837, pg 181, for a biography of the Reverend.)
• Maxwell Reilly. Nov. 10, 1859 - May l, 1861.
• O. Theo. Leibt. Oct., 1864 - May, l866.
• James E. Kenny.  June 1, 1867
• L Hodgson. Feb. 1, 1868.
• R. B. Chetwood, Jr. April 18, 1869 - August 13, 1870.
• John Braser Draper.- August 18, 1878 - March 4, 1879.
• No registration, 1879 - 1916.
• Benjamin D. Dagwell. June 18, l916 - November 1, 1919.
• Albert P. Mack. February 1, 1925 - Dec. 26, 1925.
• John H. Schwacke, Jan. 1,1926, 1936
• Alfred Clark Arnold, Jr (1950)
• B McK Garlick (1954, 1957)
• Carroll B Hall (1962, 1968, 1969, 1972)

Jews

Jewish tradesmen and service workers settled in the greater Keyport area around the time of the US Civil War. In 1880, they established the United Hebrew Congregation (UHC) and within the decade built a synagogue on Broad Street in Keyport.

Temple Beth Miriam was built are the same time in Long Branch but served the more exclusive Jersey Shore community that came to be known colloquially as the Jewish Newport.

The 19 Dec 1946 edition of The Matawan Journal (pg 4 col 3) announced the UHC's celebration of Chanukah with a guest speaker from Brooklyn.

Rabbi H O H Levine was holding services at the UHC in January 1960, according to the local religious services listings in the 21 Jan 1960 edition of The Matawan Journal (pg 7 col 1).

A growing population in the early 1960s due to the construction of the Garden State Parkway, the building of Levitt homes in Matawan Township's Strathmore development, and the influx of engineers and scientists to Bell Labs, prompted a need for more and larger worship facilities in northern Monmouth. To that end the Strathmore Jewish Center was organized in Matawan Township. It became Temple Beth Ahm in 1964.

For more information, read the Jewish Virtual Library's Monmouth County Jewish history.

Today, members of Temple Beth Ahm (Conservative) and Temple Shalom (Reformed) celebrate Judaism in the Aberdeen-Matawan area.

Rabbis at Temple Beth Ahm:

• Morris L Rubenstein (1965, 1969)

Rabbis at Temple Shalom:

• Mordecai Schreiber (1965)
• Henry M Weiner (1969, 1972)

Lutherans

Cross of Glory Lutheran Church

Pastors at Cross of Glory Lutheran Church:

• Meeting at the Strathmore Elementary School (1965) (21 Jan 1965 MJ)
• Richard A Weeden (1965) 
• Arthur W Ebischbach (1969, 1972)

Methodists

The First Methodist Church congregation, once known as the First Methodist-Episcopal Church or First M E Church, was at 147 Main Street, until they erected a new building at 178 Atlantic Avenue at Church Street.

There was also a Cliffwood congregation and occasional support for a church in Cheesequake. Read about the Cheesequake M E Church as of 1919. (MJ pg 1 col 6)

St Mark's Methodist Church was in Matawan Township.

St James AME Zion Church is in Matawan.

Pastors of First United Methodist Church, formerly known as First Methodist-Episcopal Church, Matawan:

• J W Morris (1906)
• B C Lippincott, Jr (1909)
• Elijah F Reed (1933)
• John A Naylor (1935)
• David A Simons (1943)
• Warren S Layton (1950)
• Albert D Curry (1953, 1954, 1957) 
• Frank E Sweeten (1960, 1962, 1965) 
• Donald T Phillips, Jr (1968, 1969)
• Robert B Heulitt (1972)

Pastors of the Cliffwood Community Methodist Church, known until 1939 as Cliffwood Methodist Episcopal Church:

• Harold Knappenberger (1928) 
• Franklin Bowen (1931)
• Edward D Hyrne (1939)
• Joseph E Uncle (1943)
• E Jay Amey (1950)
• John Fleischman (1954, 1955)
• Richard Youssy (1957)
• Lee Cotter (1960)
• Frank E Sweeten (1965)

St Mark's Methodist Church

• Ossie Lyons (1972) 

St James AME Zion Church

• E R Taylor (1950)

Pentacostals

David's Tabernacle, Highfield Avenue, Matawan, was listed as an Apostolic Faith church. (23 Jan 1969 MJ pg 8) The Tabernacle was earlier listed as being in Cliffwood.

Presbyterians

Presbyterian congregations include the First Presbyterian Church, which lost a building at 216 Main Street to fire and built a new building at NJ Route 34 and Franklin Street, and the Bayview Presbyterian Church at Greenwood Avenue and West Concourse in Cliffwood Beach.

Pastors of the First Presbyterian Church:

• Rev Charles McKnight (1767 - 1778)
• Mt Pleasant Church torched by the British in 1777 and rebuilt in 1819.
• Rev Eli F Cooley (1820 - 1823)
• Pulpit Supply (1823 - 1828)
• Rev Clifford Arms (1828 - 1832)
• Rev George Woodhull (1833 - 1834)
• Rev Joseph L Shafer (1835 - 1838)
• Rev Charles Webster (1838 - 1849)
• Mt Pleasant Church abandoned and sold to pay Rev Shafer; congregation used the Phillips Academy starting in 1839 during the construction of the downtown edifice; the 216 Main Street church opened in 1842.
• Rev John M Rogers (1850 - 1867)
• Rev James Otis Denniston (1869 - 1871)
• Rev J Henry Kaufman (1871 - 1873)
• Rev James M Anderson (1874 - 1881)
• Rev Robert James Kent (1883 - 1888) (MJ 24 Nov 1883) (Fulton History)
• Rev William C Alexander (1889 - 1893)
• Rev Alexander H Young (1894 - 1907)
• Rev Herbert B Smith (1908 - 1909)
• Rev Edwin I Stearns (1909 - 1912)
• Rev Charles H Bruce (1912 - 1925)
• Rev William H Dilts (1926 - 1935)
• Rev Robert B Berger (1936 - 1949)
• Rev Chester A Galloway (1949 - 1973)
• 216 Main Street church burned down in 1955; New Year's Eve service held at Matawan HS; Franklin Street & Route 34 church opened in 1959; the church used two manses after the Main Street church burned and before the Route 34 edifice was built.
• Rev Michael R Miller  (1974 - 1985)
• Rev Robert M Taylor - Interim (1985 - 1988)
• Rev Charles L Cureton, III (1988 - 2001)
• Rev Edward S Hamilton - Interim (2001 - 2003) died 24 Jan 2004
• Rev John W Caster (2003 - 2006)
• Rev Eric O Springstead - Interim (2006 - 2008)
• Rev Loril Hawk (2008 - 2011) (IND 9 Oct 2008)
• Rev N Scott Cupp - Interim (2011 - 2012), then Designated (2012 - )

Topical articles about First Presbyterian include:

• The Coming of the Second Mt Pleasant Church (1777-1820)
• Services held at the Phillips Academy (1839-1842)
• Major renovations to Main Street sanctuary (1892)
  
• Presbyterian Revisionism (1900-1903)
• New Year's Eve Services After the Main Street Fire (1955)
• Two manses (1955-1959)
• Women entering church leadership (1952-1959)

Pastors of the Bayview Presbyterian Church:

• H Douglas Merriam (1950)
• William Lehr (1954)
• Francis Osterstock (1957, 1960, 1962) 
• David L Bucci (1965, 1968)