History detectives rediscover, restore 5 Revolutionary War patriot graves in Marlboro
MARLBORO - A couple of months after he signed the Declaration of Independence, Richard Stockton was on the run as the British Army marauded through New Jersey. He holed up at the home of a friend, Col. John Covenhoven of the Monmouth County militia, near present-day Marlboro.
Someone ratted them out. Both men were seized in a midnight raid, forced-marched to Perth Amboy, imprisoned and very likely tortured. Both signed an oath professing loyalty to King George III in exchange for their freedom.
Stockton has a university and a Turnpike rest stop named in his honor. Covenhoven, who helped draft New Jersey’s first constitution, design the state seal and served in the state assembly as the American Revolution wound down, fell into obscurity after his death in 1803. The inscription disappeared from his gravestone, worn smooth and blackened by time and the elements. Eventually, the location of his burial place at Old Brick Reformed Church along Route 520 was lost to history.
Until now.
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After a year’s worth of research and restoration, members of the Daughters of the American Revolution’s Middletown Chapter are dedicating grave markers for Covenhoven and four other newly “found” patriots Saturday, 10 a.m. at Old Brick Reformed Church. It’s part of a widespread DAR initiative to identify, clean and mark as many graves of revolutionary soldiers and patriots as possible before the nation’s 250th birthday in 2026.
“I think it’s a good way to bring history back to life,” said Michele Donnelly, the DAR’s Middletown chapter regent and a Holmdel resident. “People know about the Revolutionary War but they don’t really appreciate the guys who fought it, who were basically living where we’re living now.”
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The 'Fighting Preacher' and others
The other markers being dedicated:
Rev. Benjamin Dubois
A minister at Old Brick Church during the Revolution, he exhorted the Patriot cause from the pulpit and walked the walk, too. Known as the “Fighting Preacher,” he toted a gun and skirmished with British patrols.
“He apparently gave these sermons riling up the congregation,” Donnelly said. “The more we found, we started to realize what it must have been like going to church every Sunday hearing from this guy. Could you even coexist in this congregation if you were a Tory? Probably not.”
Private Peter Van Dorn
Defended the borders of Monmouth County from 1776-82 while serving multiple enlistments. Fought with the Continental Army in the 1777 Battle of Germantown in Pennsylvania.
Garret Van Der Veer
Monmouth County militiaman who helped fund the patriots by paying a supply tax. Two of his sons fought for the cause.
Private Oukey Lefferson
Guarded the shores of Middletown for the Monmouth Militia and signed the Articles of Retaliation, an alliance among area patriots that pledged vigilante justice as tensions with loyalists boiled over along the Bayshore.
“It was like a civil war,” Donnelly said. “Yes, we’re very polarized today, but we don’t have neighbors going out and killing each other.”
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'Black and illegible'
Donnelly and fellow DAR members dove into old records to locate the graves, then carefully cleaned them to a pearly white, sometimes revealing previously obscured inscriptions. The national DAR, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., then sent personalized bronze markers for placement at each tomb.
“Covenhoven was the hardest to find,” Donnelly said, noting it took a full year. “We just kept walking up and down the rows and looking, and finally we got a little smarter and found an inventory.”
A century-old inventory located at the Monmouth County Historical Association revealed the plot.
“It was black and illegible,” Donnelly said.
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There was another problem: The national DAR balked at furnishing a marker because Covenhoven had signed that oath to King George. So back to the archives Donnelly went, finding the oath of office he took upon his election to the assembly a few years later — an oath that swore allegiance to the nascent American nation.
That was enough to sway the decision, and Covenhoven’s marker arrived just in time for Saturday’s ceremony. Two hundred and twenty years after his death, a forgotten patriot is getting his due.
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Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Revolutionary War patriot graves restored by DAR in Marlboro NJ
