The Middletown Area Daughters of the American Revolution invite all to attend a unique grave marker dedication Saturday, April 11, at Bayview Cemetery, ,80 Hosford Rd., Belford. The cemetery is located three blocks behind the Bayshore Middle School.
The DAR will honor two Revolutionary war heroes buried at the cemetery, Ezekial Lewis and Joseph Johnson, both privates during the Revolution.
Ezekiel Lewis was born December 26, 1723, in Rhode Island. It is not known how or why he came to New Jersey, but he married Phebe Johnson on May 14, 1766 at Christ Episcopal Church in Shrewsbury, establishing his family here in New Jersey a decade before the Revolution.
During the Revolutionary War, Lewis served as a Private in the 1st Regiment of the Monmouth County Militia in the artillery company commanded by Captain Barnes Smock. In this capacity he stood with his fellow militiamen in defense of local communities and in actions aimed at undermining British military efforts in the region. His military service included participation in one of the more notable local engagements of the war—the capture of the British brigantine Britannia in late December 1779.
The Britannia was a British privateer – a square-rigged brigantine armed with about 20 guns. It that had broken its moorings in a severe Nor’easter and drifted into shallow waters of Sandy Hook Bay near Shoal Harbor where the Bayshore Waterfront Park is today.
The ship became stranded and immobilized in ice, its crew unable to regain control. Patriot scouts and militia soldiers of the 1st Regiment of the Monmouth Militia, including Lewis, seized the opportunity to take possession of the vessel and its valuable cargo, a capture that both disrupted British supply operations and offered significant financial reward to the men involved.
After the militia secured the vessel, they towed it to Cheesequake Creek to unload and guard it, later participating in the legal adjudication and sale of its cargo, hull, and fittings—a process that underscored both the risks and rewards of militia service in that era. This episode exemplified the kind of local, volunteer service rendered by men like Lewis, whose contributions helped sustain the Patriot cause in New Jersey.
Lewis died intestate on December 4, 1790, leaving behind an estate valued at 90 pounds. He is known to have one son, James. He was reinterred to Bayview in 1910 when William Golden acquired the Locust Point burial ground from the heirs of Ezekiel Lewis, Harman and Phebe Johnson and Leah Corwin. William desired to improve his adjoining property and reinterred those four graves as part of the deed purchase.
Joseph Johnson was born June 19, 1759 and was a Revolutionary War soldier from Middletown, who served as a Private in the 1st Regiment of the Monmouth County Militia under Captains Elisha Walton, Joseph Stillwell, Moses Shepherd, and John Schenck. His duties under these captains would have been primarily to guard the shores. The British occupied Sandy Hook and frequently came ashore to plunder the rich farmlands of the residents of Monmouth County.
On March 16, 1780, Johnson was captured by British forces and endured approximately nine and a half months as a prisoner of war before being exchanged at Elizabethtown. He remembers his capture as being ‘the day before St. Patrick’s Day” in his pension testimony.
Prison conditions were horrific for American captives who suffered greatly from severe overcrowding, bitter cold, scant rations, rampant disease, and brutal neglect. Prisoners were often deprived of adequate food and bedding, and many perished from starvation or illness amid the filth and damp conditions.
Johnson was fortunate to survive such hardships and later be exchanged. He married Mary Patterson on September 29, 1783, and she later applied for, and received his pension following his death.
Although his existing headstone bears an incorrect birth year and date of death, the sworn testimony within his pension file affirms that he was born June 19, 1759 and died November 7, 1833, a conclusion supported by pension payment records and the probate of Mary’s will.
Mary wrote her will 20 years after her husband had died and directed her executor and friend, Robert Allen, “to provide gravestones at my grave and the grave of my husband”.
She would live another even years before she herself died. It was then left to Robert Allen to purchase a headstone for Joseph 27 years after his death.
It is not surprising that the date is in error. It is not known how Joseph Johnson, Phebe Johnson wife of Ezekiel Lewis, and Henry Johnson a Revolutionary war soldier buried in Huber Woods are related, however, it is possible they are all from the same Johnson family.
Bayview was not established until 1889, therefore, both Joseph and Mary were reinterred here. It is unknown where their family burial ground was.
Johnson’s life reflects both the sacrifice endured by ordinary soldiers and the resilience required to survive captivity during the struggle for American independence.
The DAR has been aided in dedicating the two graves through grants from the New Jersey Historical Commission, the America 250 AR and Monmouth County.
Grave Grave Grave Grave
