Rev. Alfred Osborn. Founder of Ocean Grove
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @ Blogfinger.net Re-post 2011.
Several weeks ago we received a flyer about a flea market sponsored by the Old Corlies Preservation Association (OCPA). It seemed innocuous enough when we posted it, until we read to the bottom where it said, “Hamilton—the birthplace of Neptune and Ocean Grove.” Hamilton is the site of an early settlement near Old Corlies Road. Its earliest name was Shark River Village, then Greenville and then it was called Hamilton in 1875, after the founding of OG. There was a church there, but it burned down in 1940 along with all its historic records.
Their claim was surprising, because it did not agree with the history of OG’s founding as we knew it. I contacted the OCPA and received an unsigned email linking to a YouTube video. Their claim is based on the assertion that Ocean Grove’s founding father Reverend William B. Osborn was working for the Hamilton church when he went off to start the community of OG. This seemed like a pretty flimsy linkage, so I hit the books.
Thanks to Ms. Marion Bauman, director at the Neptune Library, I was introduced to a pile of history books including the voluminous History of Monmouth County, a fat book that could give you a hernia if you didn’t lift it with both hands. I also had a history of Neptune Township, Gibbons History of Ocean Grove, and, best of all, I had, in my personal collection, a history of the founding of Ocean Grove written by Mrs. W.B. Osborn, the founder’s wife.
Since this blog posting is not an academic treatise, I will simply tell you that the OCPA’s claim is frivolous. Rev. Osborn singlehandedly promoted the camp meeting concept in New Jersey and it was his energy, commitment, and enthusiasm which resulted eventually in the founding of Ocean Grove
The idea was first presented in 1867 at a national camp meeting conference in Vineland, and the group appointed Rev. Osborn as their official agent to find a suitable site in New Jersey. After an extensive search up and down the Jersey coast, the site now known as Ocean Grove was chosen in 1868. Rev. Osborn named the town and he recruited a team of supporters from places like Farmingdale, Philadelphia and Long Branch.
A group of them set up tents in the summer of 1869 and had the first prayer meeting on July 31, 1869, amongst the bushes, trees, briars, and dunes at a location now known as Founders’ Park. In December 1869, the founders met in Trenton and set up the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association.
Rev Osborn was put in charge, although he was assigned a part time job, to help support his family, performing Sunday services at the church in Greenville (later known as the Hamilton Methodist Church).
None of my sources give credit to anyone or any church or any organization other than Rev. William B. Osborn himself as the founder of OG. The claim by the OCPA has the effect of diminishing Rev. Osborn’s role. I believe that the claim should be formally challenged by the Ocean Grove Historical Society and the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, in order to set the record straight.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Subsequently the OCPA gave up its paternity claim regarding Ocean Grove.–PG
RIVKA ZOHAR. “The Road to the Village” In Hebrew from a collection of Israeli folk songs.
CREDITS:
1. History of Neptune Township. “Four Score and Five”. 1964
2. History of Ocean Grove. Gibbons. 1944
3. History of Monmouth County, 1964
4. Pioneer Days of Ocean Grove. Mrs. W.B. Osborn c1910.
5. Mr Ted Bell. Ocean Grove Historical Society
Thank you for this information. Today, in my rolled up posters that I won at an auction was a blue print; PLAN of Osborne laid out by W.B. OSBORNE 1889.
The traditional story of Ocean Grove related by Rev. E. H. Stokes begins as follows:
This was the condition of things when a few families, about twenty persons in all, met on these grounds on the first week in July 1869. Our tents were poor, dingy and old, and ten in number. Amid these rude arrangements we enjoyed ourselves for several days. They had religious services in their own tents as they had in their families at home, but there was no united religious worship until Tuesday night, July 31st. That evening the moon arose about 9 o’clock. It was proposed to go down to the beach in order to have a good view of this interesting event, but Mrs. J. H. Thornley said she thought we ought to have a prayer meeting. Others said, “Yes, but where shall we hold it?” – “In my tent,” was Sister Thornley’s reply.—OGCMA Annual Report (1875).
Firstly, 31 July 1869 was a Saturday and not a Tuesday as mentioned. Had the party gone down to the beach at the suggested hour on the 31st, they would have been sorely disappointed. The day in question was exactly that of the last quarter moon, which rises nearly at midnight. However, moonrise earlier in the week, perhaps Monday or Tuesday, would have been around 9 PM. We might conclude that the Anniversary or Founders Day in Ocean Grove was earlier than the 31st.
David H. Fox