Joseph T. Laird

  General Notes:

Joseph T Laird
Find A Grave Index
Name:
Joseph T Laird
Event Type:
Burial
Event Date:
1884
Event Place:
Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey, United States of America
Photograph Included:
Y
Birth Date:
12 Feb 1824
Death Date:
11 Oct 1884
Affiliate Record Identifier:
92253938
Cemetery:
Maplewood Cemetery
Attached to:
Joseph T Laird
1824'961894 • K4T9-FTS??
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Similar Historical Records
Joseph T Laird
United States Census,
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Both at Maplewood cemetery Freehold Monmouth New Jersey
Laird Joseph T. 12 Feb 1824 11 Oct 1884
Mary L. (Evans) 18 Apr 1842 25 Apr 1909
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Laird family, genealogy of:
Alexander, William and Robert, brothers, ances-
tors of the Laird family in Monmouth County,
emigrated from Scotland before 1700 and set-
tled in East Jersey;
Robert Laird, born 1758, a descendant of one of

the three brothers, married Elizabeth , born

1754; his home was at Englishtown; the child-
ren of Robert and Elizabeth Laird were: Sarah
(married Thomas Walton), Charlotte (married
James Herbert), John A., Benjamin, Samuel
(see below) and Elisha;
Samuel Laird, born 1787, son of Robert and
Elizabeth Laird, married Eleanor Tilton, daugh-
ter of John Tilton, a Revolutionary soldier: the
children of Samuel and Eleanor (Tilton) Laird
were: Sarah, Benjamin, Alice, John T., Joseph
T. (see below), Elizabeth, James, Malvina, Mary,
Robert and Mary S.:
Joseph T. Laird, born at Coifs Neck, 1824, son of
Samuel and Eleanor (Tilton) Laird, married
Mary Evans, daughter of John Evans of Fryes-
burg. Me.: the children of Joseph T. and Mary
(Evans) Laird were: Marion, Joseph T. Jr., Elea-
nor and Samuel E.; biography; 468
Laird, Benjamin, prominent citizen of Monmouth

County in early nineteenth century, 391

storekeeper. Freehold, 1811, 394

opened a ball at Freehold, 1825, 394

opened Monmouth Hotel, Freehold, 1830, 459

manager United States Hotel, Freehold, 1845, 459

kept old Smock tavern. Red Bank, 1843, 597

Laird, Dr. Charles A., member of Medical Society of

Monmouth, 1873, 321

son of Dr. Robert Laird, practiced at Squan, 1871 , 802

Laird, Daniel, sold lot for Englishtown Methodist

Church about 1843, 691

Laird, Daniel H., kept store, Englishtown, 1820, 690

postmaster, Englishtown, 1839, 691

Laird, David, sailor in navy. War of 1812, buried at

Old Tennent, 688

kept store, Englishtown, 1820, 690

sold lot for Englishtown Methodist Church about
1843. 691

Laird, Dr. E. B., member of Medical Society of Mon-
mouth, 1878, 321
Laird, Elisha, prominent citizen of Monmouth County

in early nineteenth century, 391

established general merchandise business, 1830, 469

corporator, Monmouth Mutual Fire Insurance Com-
pany, 1858. 469
kept store, Colt's Neck, 1836, 666
initiated by Masonic Lodge, Shrewsbury Township,
1815, 882
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History
The Colts Neck Inn claims on its commercial sign that it was established as a tavern about 1717, but documentation of the inn's actual founding date is unavailable. The tavern was a stopover for stagecoaches and messengers traveling the post road between Freehold and Perth Amboy, New Jersey.[1][2][3]

Tavern
Levi Hart (?-1775), of England, settled in the village of Colts Neck, then part of Freehold Township, New Jersey, in about 1735 and set himself up as the tavern keeper. His place became known as Hart's Tavern. (His Jewish heritage led the British to mark Colts Neck on their Battle of Monmouth map as Jewstown.) After Levi died in 1775, his widow, Catherine (Applegate) Hart, owned the tavern. She remarried in 1778 to Joshua Huddy, who became involved in local activities against Loyalists during the first years of the American Revolution. He was often in court as a defendant and at one point the Monmouth County sheriff had to intervene in a dispute in which Huddy allegedly attempted to wrest ownership of the tavern from his wife and put her and the children on the street. (Note: By September 1780, Huddy was living in a Colts Neck house that would later belong to Thomas G Haight, the father of US Congressman and New Jersey Assemblyman Charles Haight, of Freehold. This is where Colonel Tye and his band of Loyalists attempted to capture and kill Huddy.) Jacob Hart took over for his mother and ran the tavern until 1817.[4][5][6][7][8]

Samuel Laird (1 February 1787 - 5 July 1859) replaced Jacob Hart as proprietor of the tavern in 1817 and served in that role until his death in 1859. Samuel served as the first postmaster of Colts Neck when a post office was opened on 24 February 1824. Samuel was running the tavern when Colts Neck became part of Atlantic Township in 1857.[9][10]

Samuel Laird trained race horses while operating the tavern. Prominent among the horses was the thoroughbred Fashion, which was owned by William Gibbons and which Samuel's son Joseph T. Laird rode for all engagements. Joseph was known as the best jockey on the US East Coast at the time. Fashion's big race was at the Union Course on Long Island, New York on 10 May 1842 against a horse named Boston.[11][12][13][14]

Samuel's son Robert Laird ran the tavern from the time of his father's death until 1869. Augustus Manning took over, followed by several unknown proprietors. As of 1885, Monroe Matthews ran the tavern.[15][16][17][18]

Samuel's father, Robert Laird (7 Apr 1758 - 3 June 1811), established Laird & Company, a distillery adjacent to the tavern and operated it from 1780 until his death in 1811. Cited as the oldest licensed distillery in the United States, Laird & Company produced and sold applejack from this location until the distillery burned to the ground in 1849. Samuel Laird's son Robert, who was operating the distillery at the time of the fire, rebuilt it in nearby Scobeyville, New Jersey, where it remains today.[19][20][21][22]

Hotel
Frederick Luther was operating the hotel when he sold it to Louis V. Snyder of Long Branch, New Jersey in December 1908. The inn, which had more than 25 guest rooms, stables for 25 horses, and several acres of land at the time, was said to be the only hotel between Eatontown and Freehold, New Jersey. Luther planned to retire and engage in the horse business. Snyder would take over the business in March 1909.[23]

The hotel was incorporated as a separate business in 1997. Peter Mavrookas was President of the corporation as of 2003. [24] [25]

The hotel had 47 guest rooms as of October 2016.[26]

Inn
Arthur Ruffalo and his brother, Joseph Ruffalo, were partners in the Colts Neck Inn in the mid-1960s. The Inn was sold to George Mavrookas in 1973. The family of the new owner continues to control the business as of October 2017.[27][28][29][30]

References
Colts Neck Inn website
History of Colts Neck, by Colts Neck Historical Committee (Colts Neck: c 1965)
Colt Neck Survives As A Fount of Applejack, New York Times (New York: 28 October 1973)
This Old Monmouth of Ours, by William S Hornor (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932), page 411
History of Monmouth County, New Jersey, by Franklin Ellis (Philadelphia: R T Peck & Company, 1885), pages 214, 666)
Joshua Jack Huddy, Revolutionary New Jersey website, Crossroads of the American Revolution
Jean Klerman, co-president, Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County, in a letter to the editor of The New York Times, 14 January 2007, responding to New Jersey's Millstone, 7 January 2007
Asbury Park Press, 1 April 2004, page 24
This Old Monmouth of Ours, by William S Hornor (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932), page 411
History of Monmouth County, New Jersey, by Franklin Ellis (Philadelphia: R T Peck & Company, 1885), page 666)
Laird & Co website
This Old Monmouth of Ours, by William S Hornor (1932: Moreau Brothers, Freehold), page 368
History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, by Edwin Salter (Bayonne: E Gardner & Son, 1890), page xxxv)
Making the American Thoroughbred, by James Douglas Anderson (Norwood, Massachusetts: Plimpton Press, 1916), page 209
Laird & Co website
History of Colts Neck, by Colts Neck Historical Committee (Colts Neck: c 1965)
This Old Monmouth of Ours, by William S Hornor (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932), page 368
History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, by Edwin Salter (Bayonne: E Gardner & Son, 1890), page xxxv)
Laird & Co website
History of Colts Neck, by Colts Neck Historical Committee (Colts Neck: c 1965)
This Old Monmouth of Ours, by William S Hornor (Freehold: Moreau Brothers, 1932), page 368
History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, by Edwin Salter (Bayonne: E Gardner & Son, 1890), page xxxv
Asbury Park Press, 30 December 1908
Better Business Bureau website
Colts Neck Inn Hotel website
Colts Neck Inn Hotel website
Asbury Park Press, 1 July 1964, page 19
Asbury Park Press, 7 May 1973, page 3
Red Bank Register, 2 July 1965, page 1
Colts Neck Inn website

Joseph married Mary L. Evans on an unknown date. (Mary L. Evans was born on 18 Apr 1842 in Monmnouth Co New Jersey, died on 25 Apr 1909 in Freehold Monmouth New Jersey and was buried Maple Wood Cemetery in Free Hold Monmouth New Jersey.)