The renowned Diedrich Knickerbocker in his famous History of New York contended that in order to give a proper understanding of the origin of the settlement of New York, it was necessary to begin with an account of the creation of the world, for said he "if this world had not been formed it is more than probable that this renowned island on which is situated the City of New York, would never have had an existence!" and after establishing the fact that the world really was formed, he proceeds to give an outline of various noted events in its history from that time down to the commencement of the settlement of New York.

In giving an account of the settlement of Monmouth, the writer will venture to depart from the precedent set by so noted an author and will take it for granted not only that the world was created and that many important events had happened in its history, but also, for the present, will assume that the county was discovered before any attempt to settle it was made!

The various accounts by the first whites who are known or supposed to have discovered the shores of Monmouth, or landed on its soil, undoubtedly should have a place in the history of the County, but inasmuch as most of these have been published in general and local histories of the country, it is thought sufficient to commence directly with an account of the first efforts to establish settlements in the county.

Some writer says that Richard Stout and family and five other families made an attempt to settle in Middletown in 1648, but after remaining four or five years they were compelled to leave on account of threatened attacks from Indians. This does not correspond with the version of the story published over a century ago in Smith's History of New Jersey. That states that there were about fifty families in the infant settlement at the time of this threatened attack, and that they were not frightened off but remained. This indicates that the affair occurred after the settlement had been permanently established.

At the time of the first settlement of Monmouth, the difficulties between the Dutch and the English relating to the ownership and sovereignty of New York and New Jersey originated in the question of earliest discoveries by navigators. The English based their claim on discoveries made in the reign of Henry 7th, by Cabot, and the Dutch based theirs on the discoveries made by Sir Henry Hudson in 1609. There is nothing on record to show that Cabot ever landed on the soil of the disputed territory. The first account of Whites landing in this section is contained in Verazzana's account of his voyage in 1524, to the King of France, under whose auspices his expedition had been fitted out.

The Nevisinck or Navisink Indians occupied the tract of land in Monmouth between the Atlantic and the Raritan Bay. It is evident that the Dutch of New Amsterdam, at an early period in the settlement of that place, carried on a trade in their small sloops with the Nevisink Indians. The noted Patroon, Van Rensallaer, had a landing place, known as Rensallaer's Pier, near the Highlands. In 1643, the Indians, for some cause, were aroused against the Dutch; one of their traders named Aert Theunnisen, said to have been from Hoboken, probably not knowing that the Navesinks were among the hostile tribes or bands, crossed over in his sloop to Shrewsbury Inlet, then called by the Dutch Beeregat, where he was surprised and killed.

O'Callaghan's History of New Netherlands, says a patent for an Indian tract on the Raritan was granted to Augustus Heermans, March 28, 1651, and for a colony at Nevesinks to Cornelius Van Werekhoven, November 7th, 1651.

The writer has found no mention of any attempt to settle on the land purchased by the Dutch, but as the presumption is that one object in view was to found a settlement, it recalls the statement made in one version of the familiar story of Penelope Stout to the effect that shortly after she married Richard Stout they settled where Middletown now is and there were at that time but six white families in the settlement, including their own, and that this was about 1648, and that after a few years they were compelled to abandon the place on account of threatened Indian troubles. The version given in Smith's History of New Jersey, says that at the time of this threatened Indian trouble there were some fifty families at Middletown; but this version evidently gives the traditional number of families at Middletown when the permanent settlement was effected a number of years later, and it is not probable that this threatened Indian trouble occurred after that, as if it had been the case, there would in all probability have been some allusion to it in ancient records, such records for instance as the old Middletown Term Book.

In 1643 a war existed between the Dutch and Indians during which a party of eighty Indians at Pavonia were massacred in their sleep, by Dutch soldiers, an act which greatly excited the indignation of De Vries, who says: "This was a feat worthy of the heroes of old Rome, to massacre a parcel of Indians in their sleep, to take children from the breasts of their mothers and to butcher them in the presence of their parents, or throw their mangled limbs into the tire or water! Other sucklings had been fastened to little boards and in this position they were cut to pieces! Some were thrown into the river and when their parents rushed in to save them, the soldiers prevented their landing, and let parents and children drown." The killing of Theunnisen in Shrewsbury Inlet was undoubtedly an act of retaliation by the Navesink Indians for this and similar acts.

To refer again to the Stout tradition: This states that after the six families had lived at Middletown five or six years, they were compelled to leave on account of troubles between Indians and whites. This time corresponds very nearly to the time of the fearful Indian uprising in New York in 1655. The Indians then massacred all the inhabitants of Pavonia, now included in Hudson County, and then passed over to Staten Island and left it without an inhabitant or a house. In three days over a hundred Dutch were killed and a hundred and fifty taken prisoners, and property to the amount of two hundred thousand florins was destroyed.

In August, 1664, the Dutch at New York surrendered to the English expedition under Col. Richard Nicolls, and by September 3d the English were fairly established in the fort, and from that time New Amsterdam became known as New York.

The Gravesend people then made another and a successful effort to purchase lands of the Nevesink Indians for the purpose of establishing a settlement, and shortly after, during the same year, made two other purchases. The abandoned maize or cornfields of the Indians, referred to by Tienhoven, may have saved the settlers some trouble in clearing lands.