Description: Middletown Baptist Church in Monmouth County (Old First Church since 1963) is the oldest Baptist congregation in New Jersey and one of the constituting churches of the Philadelphia Baptist Association in 1707. Church meeting minutes, membership rolls, congregational correspondence, and personal letters cover the period 1712 to 1811. The earliest years after the church's founding in 1688 are largely unknown due to discord and subsequent excision of records. Records for the years 1741 to 1785 are incomplete, but transcribed entries from Elder Mott's Journal provide a first-hand account of the church's life during that period. Of great interest is the long ministry of Abel Morgan, Jr., an ordination controversy surrounding David Jones, the congregation's vote to expel members who did not support the Revolution, and the decision in 1836 to form two separate congregations: Middletown and Holmdel. The records reveal a great deal about gender, race, and church conflict.
