Joseph McDermott Abstracts of Title, 1907-1963

Joseph McDermott was born at Tennent, New Jersey on October 12, 1858. He lived and studied in Englishtown and Freehold in Monmouth County. At the age of seventeen, he began a career in law as a copyist, messenger, and utility man at Robins & Hartshorne. At twenty-one, he was admitted to the bar. After working with his brother, Frank McDermott, Joseph McDermott went on to establish his own law office specializing in title work.[1]

In 1898, McDermott was appointed Monmouth County Clerk by Acting Governor Watkins following the death of the County Clerk-elect, Theodore Aumack. McDermott served in this position until his death forty years later. In addition to his position as County Clerk, McDermott conducted a title searching business on Court Street in Freehold for many years. He was one of the organizers of the Monmouth Title Company and was a recognized authority on titles in Monmouth County.[2] A title search is an examination of official county government records to determine whether title to the property is good; i.e. whether there are any defects in the ownership of a certain tract of land. The examiner then prepares an abstract of title, a summary of the material examined that provides a condensed history of the title to the land.

In addition to his Monmouth Title Company, McDermott organized the Freehold Trust Company and served as its president until his death. McDermott died on June 10, 1938.[3]

The collection includes abstracts of title for properties in the Freehold area. The bulk of the title searches were conducted through the offices of Joseph McDermott, specifically the Freehold Trust Company and Monmouth Title Company. Principal family names occurring throughout the collection include Conover, Minkerson, Quackenbush, Stokes, and Throckmorton.

Abstracts of title include property deeds, mortgages, wills, affidavits, sales, leases, lists of relatives, and geographic descriptions of the premises. The collection also contains correspondence between interested parties, correspondence with courts, names and dates of births and deaths of family members related to property holders, and diagrams indicating family relations.

In addition to abstracts of title, the collection also contains corporate records on the formation of the Stokes Bros. Manufacturing Company; a partition suit between the Conover and Minkerson families; property diagrams for JCP&L electrical lines; correspondence between JCP&L and the General Board of Proprietors of the Eastern Division of New Jersey; and property surveys requested by the utility company JCP&L.

The collection covers the period from 1907 to 1963, but the documents referenced in the abstracts date to as early as 1745. There is a significant gap between records created by the Monmouth Title Company, which end in 1941, and those created by JCP&L, which begin in 1961. Note cards in the JCP&L records refer to the earlier abstracts of titles in the collection.

This collection is open to researchers.

The collection is available for use in its original format. A container list is included in this finding aid.

The collection is in two sections, Abstracts of Title and Other Records. Abstracts of title are arranged alphabetically by name of the client who requested the title search. Other Records, consisting of surveys, diagrams and tax maps requested by JCP&L are arranged chronologically.

Monmouth County Archives
125 Symmes Drive
Manalapan, NJ 07726
Phone: 732-308-3771

The collection was donated by the Battleground Historical Society of Freehold on July 5, 2011.

Finding aid created by Tad Shubert on December 3, 2012.