Ocean County , NJ History

Trenton Times 17 Apr 1932

Early 1990s newspaper ad for A-Z video rental store.

From the Ocean Emblem 3 Jan 1855: "By the same, at Good Luck, on Thursday 28th, Capt. James. P. Dye to Miss Mary E. Stout, all of Good Luck"

from the Ocean Emblem 10 Oct 1855:

New Jersey Courier 19 Aug 1909

from the New Jersey Courier 23 Apr 1929 Capt. Nelson Grant, 80 years of age, a life long resident of Lacey Township, honored and respected by all who knew him, killed himself on Thursday morning, August 22, by sending a load of shot through his breast. He lived not far from the Central Railroad station at Lanoka Harbor. At 6:15 that morning he went over to the station with a single barreled shot gun. It is assumed that he sat down with the gun between his knees, butt on the ground and leaned over so that the muzzle was against his chest. Then with a bit of shingle lathe he pushed the trigger, launching himself into eternity. His death was probably instantaneous, as he was found sitting up, the gun between his knees. Capt.Nelson Grant was an oldtime waterman. In his early days he went to sea. Later he spent a long time in the Life-Saving service, till laid off from disability acquired in the service. After that he was an oyster planter and bayman. For a long time before the small Boar

From the New Jersey Courier 5 Apr 1900

New Jersey Courier 3 Nov 1910 Mrs. Julia Bunnell and Miss Lou Frazee were delegates last Friday to the County Sunday school convention in Lakehurst.

New Jersey Courier 22 Sep 1939: A heart rending tragedy touched Ocean County homes Tuesday when Albert J. King, aged 36, and father of 3 small children, and Marie Pirozzi, aged 26, of Bergen avenue, Lakewood, were found dead in the rear seat of King's car in the woods near Lacey Road, about five miles West of Forked River. The man and woman were evidently victims of a suicide pact, as the police and Coroner J. Anderson have found no evidence of violence. The terrible discovery was made by William Cranmer of Forked River, who noticed the car in the woods as he drove along Lacey Road Tuesday afternoon. When he returned about 6:30 he again saw the machine and investigated. He found King's body sitting on the side of the rear seat of the car, and Mrs. Pirozzi's body was lying across the seat with her head nestled in his lap. A hose had been taped to the exhaust pipe of the car and pushed through a crack in the floor so as to supply the lethal carbon dioxide gas which broug

New Jersey Courier 2 Mar 1911 An old time Ocean County industry can be seen here [Forked River] just now as Zeb Britton has started fires in his five charcoal pits for Dr. G.E. Wallace. Time was when such sights were common, but many people have never seen a coaling.

"NOTICE OF SALE OF LAND IN THE TOWNSHIP OF LACEY, N.J. FOR UNPAID TAXES FOR THE YEAR 1920". BAKER, Frederick A. 5 lots, Cedar Crest Cedar Crest Orchard and Produce Co., 6807 acres, dwellings, barns and mills at Cedar Crest. (Cedar Crest Co. seems to have been the biggest employer in this town, and with what appears to be their failure, a lot of residents probably moved on, explaining the discrepancy in population from 1920 to 1930.) COHEN, Joseph H., 20 acres, Cedar Crest DALE, John, 2 acres and bungalow, Cedar Crest LEHTONEN, Lydia, 3 acres, Cedar Crest ( A Lydia LEHTONEN lived on W. 79th Street, Manhattan, in 1920, working as a private nurse in the home of Carl Mead. She was a Finnish immigrant, having come from that country in 1911. It seems unlikely she would have owned speculative land in Ocean County, but I suppose not impossible. In 1910, a 35 year old Lydia LEHTONEN shows up on W 48th St in Manhattan, also a Finnish immigrant. She worked as a servant in the ho

from the New Jersey Courier 25 Nov 1900: Zebulon Collins, a well known woodsman, died suddenly of heart failure at Bamber on Tuesday. There was no physician attending. He will be buried on Saturday at Whitings. Collins was one of the men who found Jim Wainwright's body, where it had been hidden in Cedar Creek after the murder in 1885. Zeb's quaint humor on the witness stand also softened the grim features of that tragic trial. (I have located some of Zebulon's census entries--it appears he was born about 1801, and was married to a woman named Rebecca (b. about 1803). In 1860 the family was living in Dover Township (what is now Toms River township); living with them were daughter Nancy Collins, b. abt 1855; Zebulon Collins, Jr, b. about 1842; Joseph Collins, b. about 1837; and Rachael Collins, born about 1844. In 1870, the family was still in Dover Township. Zebulon, Jr. is the only child still at home, employed somewhere as a laborer (Zebulon, Sr. was a farmer). His sis