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List of directors of the Monmouth County Board of County Commissioners

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Monmouth County, New Jersey, is governed by a Board of County Commissioners, who choose a director from among themselves. Prior to January 1, 2021, this position was known as the Board of Chosen Freeholders.

Pursuant to legislation passed in 1709, freeholders sat with the justices of the peace as the Board of Justices and Freeholders; the presiding officer was then known as chairman. Chairmen of the Board of Justices and Freeholders are included here where records are still extant, as well as whether they were a justice or a freeholder. Legislation passed in 1798 separated the freeholders and justices; at that time the Board of Chosen Freeholders was established. Before 1906, Monmouth County Freeholders were elected by townships; As a result of a 1905 referendum reducing the membership on the board, from 1906 to the present they have been elected at-large.

On August 21, 2020, "amid a national reckoning to reexamine vestiges of structural racism," Governor Phil Murphy signed a bill to change the name of county governing bodies. Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver, an African-American woman who was once a Freeholder herself, said that the term "refers to a time when only white male landowners could hold public office." The law went into effect on January 1, 2021.

List of chairmen

Board of Justices and Freeholders (1790–1798)

# Name Term Party Notes
Hendrick Hendrickson 1790–1791 Justice. This was his first term. Of Dutch descent, Hendrickson was serving as a Justice of the Peace at least as early as 1784, and from records still extant, was sitting with the Board of Justices and Freeholders by 1788. He served at least to 1796. At the May 12, 1790, annual reorganization, he was chosen as chairman of the board for one year; he was again chosen as chairman at the May 9, 1792, reorganization. In 1797, Hendrickson was elected as a Chosen Freeholder to represent Middletown Township, New Jersey, and served a one-year term. At the May 10, 1797, annual reorganization, he was once again chosen as chairman, and served as in that capacity for one year before leaving the board. In March 1799, Hendrick Hendrickson was elected to the Middletown Township Committee, where he served until 1805.
Edmund Williams 1791–1792 Shrewsbury. Williams was elected to the board in 1789 to represent and served through 1792. At the May 11, 1791, annual reorganization, he was chosen as chairman, and served as chairman for one year before leaving the board.
Hendrick Hendrickson 1792–1794 Justice. This was his second term.
Joseph Holmes 1794–1795 Upper Freehold. This was his first term. Holmes was first elected to the County Board of Justices and Freeholders, the precursor to the Board of Chosen Freeholders, in 1768, and served until May 1776. He again served from May 1782 to May 1783, from 1786 to 1787, and from 1794 to 1803. He was chairman of the board from May 1794 to May 1795, and from May 1796 to May 1797. He later served on the Upper Freehold Township Committee. Holmes died on August 31, 1809, and is buried in the Olde Yellow Meeting House Yard, Upper Freehold Township.
Elisha Lawrence 1795–1796 Federalist Justice
Joseph Holmes 1796–1797 Upper Freehold. This was his second term.
Hendrick Hendrickson 1797–1798 Middletown

List of directors

Board of Chosen Freeholders (1798–2021)

# Name Term Party Notes
1 Captain Theophilus Little 1798–1804 Shrewsbury. (February 15, 1744 – February 19, 1825) He served in the Revolutionary War. He later served as a captain in the New Jersey Militia. Little previously served on the old Board of Justices and Freeholders as a Justice of the Peace. He was elected as a Chosen Freeholder in 1795 to represent Shrewsbury Township, and continued after 1798 on the reconstituted Board of Chosen Freeholders, serving through 1804. At the May 9, 1798, annual reorganization, he was chosen as the first Director of the Monmouth County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders, and served in that capacity for six years before leaving the board. Little ran as a candidate in the 1799 election for the New Jersey Assembly.
2 James Allen (freeholder) 1804–1805 Howell
3 William Lloyd 1805–1808 Federalist Freehold
4 Robert Evelman 1808–1810 Shrewsbury
5 John P. Conover 1810–1811 Freehold
6 Garret P. Wikoff 1811–1819 Federalist Upper Freehold. Of Dutch descent, Wikoff was a resident of Upper Freehold Township, New Jersey. In the 1790s he was an Overseer of the Highways for the northern division of Upper Freehold. From 1801 through 1819 he served on both the Upper Freehold Township Committee and the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders. At the May 8, 1811, annual reorganization, he was chosen as Director of the Monmouth County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders, serving until he left the board in 1819. In 1813, Garret P. Wikoff was an unsuccessful Federalist candidate for the New Jersey General Assembly.
7 William I. Conover 1819–1822 Democratic-Republican Freehold
8 John J. Ely 1822–1835 National Republican Freehold. (April 7, 1778 – January 11, 1852) was elected sheriff in 1817, during the Era of Good Feelings, as a Democratic Republican, Ely served three, one-year terms, the constitutional term limit at the time. In the March 1822 township elections, he was elected to represent Freehold Township on the Board of Chosen Freeholders. At the May 8, 1822, annual reorganization, he was chosen as Director of the Monmouth County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders, and served as director until May 13, 1835, when he left the board. In October 1822, Ely was elected to a one-year term representing Monmouth County in the New Jersey General Assembly. As the Era of Good Feelings closed, Ely affiliated with the National Republican Party, and returned to the shrievalty in 1825. He served three years. In 1832 and 1833, he was the National Republican candidate for the Monmouth County seat in the New Jersey Legislative Council, losing both times to Daniel Holmes. In 1829, John J. Ely moved to Holmdel Township, where he died on January 11, 1852. He is buried in the Holmdel Baptist Churchyard. A son, Horatio Ely, would go on to serve as sheriff from 1837 to 1838.
9 John I. Conover 1835–1844 Democratic Freehold
10 Elisha Lippincott 1844–1848 Whig Shrewsbury
11 Benjamin I. Lafetra 1848–1851 Democratic Howell
12 James Patterson 1851–1855 Democratic Middletown
13 Henry Howland 1855–1857 Democratic Ocean
14 Thomas H. Lafetra 1857–1860 Democratic Wall
15 Charles Butcher 1860–1872 Democratic Howell
16 William H. Bennett 1872–1873 Democratic Ocean
17 Austin H. Patterson 1873–1875 Democratic Howell. Patterson was born in Monmouth County and was a builder in Blue Ball, now Adelphia, Howell Township. Among his projects was the Monmouth County Court House. Elected as a Democrat to the State Assembly in 1857, Patterson served through 1860; that year he was elected Speaker of the Assembly. Patterson fought in the American Civil War and was captain of Company A of the 14th New Jersey Regiment. He would subsequently serve as a staff officer of the First Army Corps, Army of the Potomac; after two years in the Army of the Potomac Patterson was promoted to major of the Thirty Fifth New Jersey Volunteers. He retired from military service with the rank of colonel. At the close of the war, Col. Patterson reentered politics, serving again in the Assembly from 1870 through 1872. He was Clerk of the Assembly for the years 1875 and 1878. Patterson was elected to the Board of Chosen Freeholders representing Howell Township. At the May, 1873 annual reorganization, he was chosen as Director of the Monmouth County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders and served as director through May 1875. Austin H. Patterson died of cancer on June 5, 1905.
18 John T. Haight 1875–1881 Democratic Atlantic
19 Charles H. Boud 1881–1882 Democratic Howell
20 John C. Hathaway 1882–1884 Democratic Neptune
21 Theodore Fields 1884–1887 Democratic Wall. He served from 1887 to 1890. He was born near Eatonown and educated at Ocean Hill Institute in Long Branch. He went into the hotel business purchasing Osborn House (New Jersey) in Avon-by-the-Sea and Manasquan (then known as Swuan), before locating in Wall Township before returning to farming. He was a founder of the Bonnat Club, a hunting and fishing society.
22 John Henry Heyer 1887–1898 Democratic Holmdel
23 John Guire 1898–1906 Democratic Ocean; Ward No. 2, Long Branch
24 William Borden Conover 1907–1910 Republican At-large. Conover (October 10, 1865 – December 9, 1947), a Matawan resident, was the first Republican and served from 1907 to 1910, the entire four years as director. In the 1905 general election, the voters of Monmouth County approved changing the Board of Chosen Freeholders from 24 members elected by townships and wards to five members elected at-large. The new board was to be elected in the 1906 election. Republicans swept all five seats, defeating a Democratic ticket consisting of five incumbent freeholders, including Director John Guire. The Republicans held the monopoly on the board for four years before being swept out in the Democratic landslide of 1910.
25 John Minton Corlies 1911–1916 Democratic At-large. (October 30, 1868 – March 8, 1926) He was born in Middletown Township. – March 8, 1926 He attended school there and in Rumson, where his family moved when he was twelve years old. He assisted his father in managing the Dr. Erich Parmly estate in Rumson, and eventually went into the trucking and livery business. He was a member of the Rumson Fire Company. He served on the Shrewsbury Township Committee and later as Mayor of Rumson after that borough's incorporation. In the Democratic landslide of 1910, Corlies was elected to the Board of Chosen Freeholders. At the January 1911 annual reorganization, he was chosen as Director of the Monmouth County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders, succeeding Republican William B. Conover. He would serve on the board until 1916, when he was defeated by Republican Borden A. Jeffrey. Charles M. Wyckoff succeeded Corlies as director in 1917. He died of a heart attack on March 8, 1926.
26 Charles M. Wyckoff 1917–1918 Democratic At-large
27 William M. Bergen 1919–1920 Republican At-large
28 Bryant B. Newcomb 1921–1933 Republican At-large.
29 Frederic Patrick Reichey 1934–1935 Democratic At-large. (March 25, 1895 – March 3, 1978) He was born on March 25, 1895, in Belmar, New Jersey. In 1928 he was appointed to the Monmouth County Board of Taxation by Governor A. Harry Moore. William E. MacDonald, of Bradley Beach took his place when he left office. Reichey was elected in a close race in 1932, and served a single three-year term on the board of freeholders. When Democrats took a majority on the board with the election of Arthur Pryor and Henry W. Herbert in the 1933 general election, Reichey was chosen as Director of the Monmouth County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders for the years 1934 and 1935. Frederic P. Reichey was not a candidate in the 1935 general election. By 1936 he was the Borough Clerk for Bradley Beach, New Jersey. He moved to Schenectady, New York, in 1972. He died on March 3, 1978, at St. Claires Hospital in Schenectady, New York.
30 Raymond L. Wyckoff 1936–1938 Republican At-large.
31 Joseph Mayer 1938–1942 Republican At-large
32 Edgar O. Murphy 1942–1947 Republican At-large
33 James S. Parkes 1948–1950 Republican At-large
34 Joseph C. Irwin 1951–1974 Republican At-large
35 Philip N. Gumbs 1975–1976 Democratic At-large. Gumbs was a first generation American. He served in U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He earned his undergraduate degree from Rutgers University and his law degree from Lincoln University in Missouri. He worked as a probation officer and practiced law.

Gumbs entered public service by joining of the Matawan Board of Education. Gumbs was a member the Aberdeen Township council, which he did from 1972 to 1975, and served as Mayor of Aberdeen, New Jersey from 1974 to 1975. He was the first African American to serve the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders. He was elected in 1973 and served from January 1974 until April 1976. Gumbs was chosen as director of the board for the years 1975 and 1976, the first African-American freeholder director in the state's history. In 1976 Gumbs was appointed judge to Worker's Compensation Court Judge by Governor of New Jersey Brendan Byrne, a position he kept until January 1, 2002. He sat on court in four counties. Gumbs died in 2005

36 Ray Kramer 1976 Democratic At-large
37 Harry Larrison, Jr. 1977–1978 Republican At-large.
Ray Kramer 1979–1980 Democratic At-large
Harry Larrison, Jr. 1981–1983 Republican At-large.
38 Thomas J. Lynch, Jr. 1984–1985 Democratic At-large.
Harry Larrison, Jr. 1986–2004 Republican At-large.
39 Thomas J. Powers 2005 Republican At-large.
40 William C. Barham 2006–2007 Republican At-large.
41 Lillian G. Burry 2008 Republican At-large. Lillian G. Burry was the first female director of the Monmouth County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders.
42 Barbara J. McMorrow 2009 Democratic At-large.
Lillian G. Burry 2010 Republican At-large.
43 Robert D. Clifton 2011 Republican At-large.
44 John P. Curley 2012 Republican At-large.
45 Thomas A. Arnone 2013 Republican At-large.
Lillian G. Burry 2014 Republican At-large.
46 Gary J. Rich, Sr. 2015 Republican At-large.

Board of County Commissioners (2021–present)

# Name Term Party Notes
1 Thomas A. Arnone 2021 Republican At-large. First Director of the Board of county commissioners for Monmouth County

References

  1. ^ Minutes, Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders
  2. "'Freeholder' Title Abolished In New Jersey". Long Valley, NJ Patch. 2020-08-21. Retrieved 2020-08-21.
  3. Writer, MICHELLE BRUNETTI POST Staff. "Murphy signs bill into law to change "freeholder" title to "commissioner"". Press of Atlantic City. Retrieved 2020-08-21.
  4. First Upper Freehold Town Book
  5. History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. 1885.
  6. ^ Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, 1911; Thomas F. Fitzgerald
  7. Obituary, The Matawan Journal, June 11, 1903
  8. ^ Wiley, Samuel T. (ed.) Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of the Third congressional district of New Jersey, p. 1003. Biographical Publishing Company, 1896. Accessed October 20, 2015. "Theodore Fields, father of our subject, was also born near Eatontown, and was educated at the old Ocean Hill Institute near Long Branch. He was a farmer near Eatontown up to 1887, when he removed to Freehold, and is still interested in farming, having a farm several miles from the latter place. He is a democrat, and was always deeply interested in the success of his party. He removed from the farm to New Branch, now called Avon, where he engaged in the hotel business for about two years. Afterwards he removed to Manasquan, having purchased the Osborne House at that place, and this hotel he conducted for the next six years. He then sold out and removed to the farm in Wall township, Monmouth county, and while living on the farm, in Nov., 1887, he was elected sheriff of the county. He then moved his family to Freehold, the county- seat, where he resided until the close of his term of office in 1890. He lived a life of retirement until 1S9 (J, when he again became interested in farming on his present farm near Freehold."
  9. The American Angler - Volume 14, Issue 25 - Page 388
  10. The Matawan Journal, January 10, 1907
  11. The Matawan Journal, November 9, 1905
  12. History of Monmouth County, New Jersey 1664 - 1920, 1922, Lewis Historical Publishing Co., Inc.
  13. Red Bank Register, March 10, 1926
  14. History of Monmouth County, New Jersey 1664 - 1920, 1922, Lewis Historical Publishing Co., Inc.
  15. Gabrielan, Randall. Rumson: Shaping a Superlative Suburb, p. 35. Arcadia Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0-7385-2398-4. Accessed February 14, 2011. "Opponents cried 'political revenge', observing that Shrewsbury Township had just elected its first Democratic majority in about two decades, one which would be destroyed by taking from office Oceanic's John M. Corlies."
  16. ^ "F. P. Reichey, 82, Was Freeholder". Asbury Park Press. Asbury Park, New Jersey. March 4, 1978. Retrieved 2018-01-28.
  17. Senate, New Jersey. Legislature (1929). Journal of the Senate of the State of New Jersey. p. 1415.
  18. "Boro Clerk Frederic P. Reichey". Asbury Park Press. November 6, 1936. Retrieved 2018-01-28.
  19. ^ "IN HONOR OF JUDGE PHILIP N. GUMBS HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR. OF NEW JERSEY IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, November 1, 2005" (PDF).
  20. Staff. "Philip N. Gumbs, 82; Groundbreaking Judge" Archived 2012-07-18 at archive.today, The Record (Bergen County), October 21, 2005. Accessed August 13, 2012. "Philip N. Gumbs, the first black judge and freeholder in Monmouth County and a former mayor of Aberdeen, has died. He was 82."
  21. Joint Center for Political Studies (1977), Profiles of Black Mayors in America, University of Michigan, ISBN 9780874850741
  22. Pike, Helen-Chantal (February 22, 2007). Asbury Park's Glory Days: The Story of an American Resort. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 9780813540870 – via Google Books.
  23. "Gumbs Will Make History Again". Asbury Park Press. November 7, 1974 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. Conohan, Sherry (February 6, 1976). "Gumbs to quit county post to become judge" (PDF). The Daily Register. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  25. "Aberdeen's 1st black mayor reflects on township Former freeholder director steps down after 25 years on the bench – Central Jersey Archives".
  26. "Workers' Compensation News - November 10, 2005, Volume 3 Issue 313 > Jon Gelman, LLC - Attorney at Law > Reading Room". www.gelmans.com.
  27. "Philip N. Gumbs, 82, County's First Black Judge". The News-Press. October 21, 2005 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. "Judge Philip N. Gumbs". Asbury Park Press. October 22, 2005 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ Jordan, Bob. "Burry named first female director of Monmouth freeholders", Asbury Park Press, January 3, 2008. Accessed April 2, 2012. "Thomas J. Powers was director in 2005. The late Harry Larrison Jr. served as director of the freeholder board from 1974 until he stepped down in December 2004, with the exception of six years when the Democrats had a majority."
  30. Staff. "Former Freeholder Director said to have possessed 'big heart' - Friends, adversaries laud Thomas J. Lynch", The Independent, March 18, 1987, p. 10. Accessed April 2. 2012. "From 1984 to 1986, while the Democrats had control of the board, Lynch served as Freeholder director."
  31. Jordan, Bob. "Freeholders still must pick leaders", Asbury Park Press, January 1, 2008. Accessed April 2, 2012. "The current director, William C. Barham, is finishing his second year in that role..."
  32. ^ Freeholder Lillian G. Burry, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Accessed April 2, 2012. "Served as Director of the Board – 2008, 2010"
  33. Jordan, Bob. "Dems choose McMorrow to be freeholder director", Asbury Park Press, December 6, 2008. Accessed April 2, 2012. "Monmouth County freeholders will get their second female director next month. The new Democratic majority announced Friday that it has selected Barbara J. McMorrow for the title."
  34. Staff. "Robert D. Clifton named director; John P. Curley is deputy director: Tom Arnone sworn in as freeholder - Shaun Golden sworn in as Sheriff", Monmouth County, New Jersey, January 7, 2011. Accessed April 2, 2012. "Following the oaths of office, the 2011 Board of Chosen Freeholders selected Freeholder Robert D. Clifton to serve as director and Freeholder John P. Curley to serve as deputy director for the year."
  35. Staff. "Curley named director of Monmouth freeholders" Archived 2013-01-24 at archive.today, Tri-Town News, January 19, 2012. Accessed April 2, 2012. "John P. Curley took the reins of the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders on Jan. 5 at Monmouth County’s annual Organization Day held at Biotechnology High School, Freehold Township, pledging to hold the line on spending and provide more oversight over county government."
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