Christ Church is a historic church in Middletown Township, New Jersey built in 1744.

History

Early years

Though not officially named as such, it is believed that the first Church of England services held in Middletown was in the private home of Alexander Innes, the former

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

of the Fort of New York, as early as the 1680s. Middletown, at the time, wasn't the best place in the region due to its proximity to the shore and the perpetuation of its residents to house visiting pirates. In 1701, New Jersey British Governor

Lewis Morris Lewis Morris (April 8, 1726 – January 22, 1798) was an American Founding Father, landowner, and developer from Morrisania, New York, presently part of Bronx County. He signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a delegate to the Continen ...

wrote to the Bishop of London about the "wicked" Middletown. The letter described the Sunday Meetings (presumably church services) at the local publick house being filled with fights and running of races. By 1702 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts arrived by way of their missionary George Keith. Along with Innes, the men formed what was to become Christ Church on October 17, 1702. For several years, services were held in private homes until 1705, when Judge John Johnson - a friend of Innes - gave over the rights to the old Monmouth Patent courts for use of a church. In 1738, King George II granted the church an official charter that was signed by Governor William Burnet. By 1744, a building was constructed and finished the next year allowing services to being.

American Revolution

The church survived the battles unscathed despite its proximity to several battles and skirmishes. Following the

Battle of Monmouth The Battle of Monmouth, also known as the Battle of Monmouth Court House, was fought near Monmouth Court House in modern-day Freehold Borough, New Jersey on June 28, 1778, during the American Revolutionary War. It pitted the Continental Army, co ...

, the battle-beaten Sir Henry Clinton and Lord Cornwallis met at the church and some of the wounded were held in the Church. Following the successful end of the War, the Church sent delegated to the first General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States.

Pirates and the church

In 1736, William Leeds, a reputed cohort of the pirate Captain Kidd, had left a sizable glebe for the church. But the controversy over how the glebe came to be is what made the donation a topic of controversy. Leeds, following a successful career as a pirate and profiteer, had settled, along with some of his fellow shipmates, in the Ideal Beach section of Middletown and married some of the township women. In order for him to make good after his deeds as a pirate, he set up a trust that would be given to both the Middletown and Shrewsbury Christ Churches following his death. The trust included any money and his property at Swimming River, in Leedsville (now Lincroft). Is it believed that his sizable wealth came, most likely, as a result of is plundering since Leeds was a

Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

member and took no part in any piratical violence. Leeds died in 1739.

References

External links

* {{NRHP in Monmouth County, New Jersey Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey Churches completed in 1744 Churches in Monmouth County, New Jersey Episcopal church buildings in New Jersey Middletown Township, New Jersey 18th-century Episcopal church buildings National Register of Historic Places in Monmouth County, New Jersey New Jersey Register of Historic Places 1744 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies