Wealth of county history recalled at ceremony
Church and cemetery in Holmdel tie into Upper Freehold's heritage
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

Kitty Bowers, of South Amboy, and Clark McCullough, of Middletown, participate in a grave-marking ceremony in honor of Asher Holmes at the Holmdel Community Church in Holmdel on Oct. 15.

Col. Asher Holmes, one of the great patriots of the American Revolution, has been at rest in the Holmdel Community United Church of Christ (UCC) cemetery for almost 200 years.

On Oct. 15, the local chapter of National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) honored Holmes in a grave-marking ceremony that was attended by Holmes family descendants.

Among the descendants at the ceremony were J. David and Sandy Holmes, and Harold and Ruth Holmes Honadle, all of the Cream Ridge section of Upper Freehold; Laura Steward, of Allentown; Joseph and Roberta Holmes, of the New Egypt section of Plumsted; Robert Philip and Cherry Holmes, of Brick; Adeline Holmes Lubkert, of Holmdel; and Verona and Dewey Holmes, of Marlboro, where in the Morganville section of town there is an elementary school named after the patriot.

During the ceremony, Holmdel Mayor Serena DiMaso read a proclamation from the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders declaring Oct. 15 "Asher Holmes Day" in the county.

CHRIS KELLY staff

Joyce Lee, a Colts Neck resident who is a member of DAR and the Holmdel Community UCC, explained how it was discovered in 2005 that Asher Holmes' grave was not marked.

She said that in the spring of 2005, the church's pastor, the Rev. John Waldron, gave a talk about the parish's history at a DAR meeting that was held at the church.

"After the talk, we all took a tour of the graveyard," she recalled, "and while we were roaming through the cemetery, we discovered Asher Holmes' grave was not marked by the DAR."

In the summer of 2005, according to Lee, DAR decided to look into what needed to be done to have a grave-marking ceremony.

"After we got all the OKs from the Washington, D.C., DAR," Lee said, "we went ahead to find a company that makes the plaques, and then we had to get enough money together to order them."

PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff Color guard members Victoria Field, 15, of Howell, Maria Coppa, 15, of Millstone Township, and Rebecca Newman, 15, of Howell, stand ready during a grave-marking ceremony for Revolutionary War patriot Asher Holmes in Holmdel on Oct. 15.

Of the grave-marking ceremony, Lee said, "We were happy that so many of the Holmes descendants were able to attend, and also that the weather was great."

Born in Middletown in 1740, Asher Holmes was the fifth child of Samuel and Huldah Holmes, according to Rashel Carnefix, the historian of DAR's Francis Hopkinson-Monmouth Court House Chapter.

In 1770, Holmes married Sarah Watson, who is buried with him along with their daughter, Catherine, who never married. The couple's other children are apparently buried elsewhere.

Appointed a member of the committee of the township of Freehold in 1774, Holmes also served as the county sheriff in 1776 and 1777, and was appointed county appraiser in 1781 to ascertain the damage sustained by inhabitants by military operations during the war. He also served as a member of the Legislative Council of New Jersey from 1786-88, according to Carnefix.

North Brunswick's Rashel Carnefix reads from the biography of Monmouth County's Asher Holmes during the ceremony.

Carnefix said there is evidence that at the time of Holmes' death in 1808 at age 68, the patriot was being considered for the office of surveyor general of New Jersey.

An inventory of Holmes' estate after his death valued it at 2,460 pounds, which amounts to about $250,000 today, not taking into account the value of his house and land, according to Carnefix.

Mary Ellen Rogan, registrar of DAR's Francis Hopkinson-Monmouth Court House Chapter, spoke about Holmes' military career.

Holmes began his military career at the start of the war as a captain in the first regiment of the Monmouth County militia. He rose quickly through the ranks and by November 1776 was a major in the same regiment. By October 1779, according to Rogan, Holmes was a colonel, commanding a regiment of 10 companies consisting of 106 men from Essex, Middlesex and Monmouth counties.

Robert Philip Holmes of Brick Township, (l-r) Ruth Holmes Honadle of Upper Freehold Township, Adeline Holmes Lubkert of Holmdel, J. David Holmes of Upper Freehold Township, Dewey Holmes of Marlboro, and Joseph Holmes of Plumsted, attend the grave-marking ceremony for their ancestor, Asher Holmes.

From 1780 through 1781, Holmes commanded a detachment stationed at the Monmouth County Court House, which is now located in Freehold. He acted as a musterman and commissioner for the payment of bounty in 1776, and in 1780 recruited for the New Jersey Continental Line, according to Rogan.

Holmes also commanded a detachment in February 1777 at the Highlands, where 71 officers and men were taken prisoner. He was also present at the battles of Germantown and Monmouth. In December 1779, he commanded a detachment that captured the British Brig Brittania off Shoal Harbor, and in June 1781 engaged with the British Light Horse at Pleasant Valley in Monmouth County. He served throughout the war from 1775 until its end in 1783, according to Rogan.

During the ceremony, the Rev. Russell Eidmann-Hicks, pastor of the Holmdel Community UCC, provided a brief history of the church and cemetery.

A church has existed on the property since the late 17th century, but the current church dates from the 1840s, he said. Twenty years ago, the cemetery was completely overgrown, but church members cleared it over time, he said, making an inventory of the graves.

The earliest graves date from 1718. Many of them had wooden markers that deteriorated over time. There are depressions in the ground at the cemetery that are likely graves, but the identities of those buried in them are no longer known, according to Eidmann-Hicks.

During his speech, Eidmann-Hicks also noted "the tremendous history in our area." While Virginia and New England are recognized for the part they played during the revolution, New Jersey played just as large a role, he said.

The reverend commended DAR for its interest in maintaining history at the church and its cemetery while elsewhere land is being cleared and historic structures are being torn down.

Eidmann-Hicks also commented on why the Old Yellow Meeting House graveyard in Upper Freehold Township has many of the same family names on its headstones as the Holmdel Community UCC cemetery. He said that there was a schism in the Middletown (Holmdel) congregation, a Baptist church in the 18th century, that sent about one-third of its congregation to worship in Upper Freehold.

He said the conflict had to do with creed, and that the Middletown church had always been "fiercely free" in the matter of freedom of conscience. Although details of the conflict were lost in the mists of time, according to Eidmann-Hicks, the ordeal was so divisive that the pages concerning the subject were ripped out of the church's minute books in the 18th century in order to heal the division.