New Book by Wall residents covers 350 Years of NJ history

In 350 Years of New Jersey History, From Stuyvesant to Sandy (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2014), the authors, Joseph G. Bilby, James M. Madden and Harry Ziegler, experienced narrators of the New Jersey saga, provide a year by year chronicle of notable events that mark the fascinating evolution of the Garden State.

In 2014, New Jersey celebrates its 350th birthday, recalling the day in 1664 when a British force sailed into New Netherland waters and captured the Dutch colony’s capital of New Amsterdam without a fight. The colony’s new master, James, Duke of York, handed off the sparsely settled land across the river to two of his cronies, initiating a centuries-long saga of New Jersey political squabbling down to the present day.

A more positive New Jersey heritage is the state’s diversity.  An initial population of English and Dutch settlers, free and enslaved African Americans and Native Americans, merged over the centuries with waves of immigrants from Ireland, Germany, Italy, Eastern Europe and, in more recent years, all over the world.  It is no mere coincidence that the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are located in New Jersey waters.

Through three and a half centuries of war (the “Jersey Blues” have served in every conflict from King James’ War in 1694 to Iraq and Afghanistan) and peace, New Jersey’s people have had their ups and downs, transitioning from agricultural to industrial and postindustrial economies; pioneering steamboats, railroads, electric lights, traffic circles, transistors and drive-in movies along the way; and recovering from setbacks with a brash boosterism belying the storyline that the state is merely a byway between New York and Philadelphia. 

New Jersey has been home to outsized personalities in political, military, economic, entertainment and social fields, some still widely known, others unfairly forgotten, including Elizabeth Haddon, “Scotch Willie” Maxwell, Joseph Bloomfield, Aaron Burr, Sam “Jersey Jumper” Patch, Sam Colt, William Still, Phil Kearny, Leon Abbett, Alice Paul, Thomas Edison, John Draney, Albert Einstein, Moe Berg, James “Jimmy Buff” Racioppi, Curtis Culin and Bruce Springsteen—not to mention the fictional Tony Soprano, played by native “Jersey guy” James Joseph Gandolfini Jr.

350 Years of New Jersey History, From Stuyvesant to Sandy is available from local booksellers and chain bookstores, online book vendors including Amazon and in e-book form for Kindle, Nook and iPad.

AUTHOR BIOS

Joseph G. Bilby received his BA and MA degrees in history from Seton Hall University and served as a lieutenant in the First Infantry Division in Vietnam in 1966-1967. Mr. Bilby is Assistant Curator of the New Jersey National Guard and Militia Museum in Sea Girt, a member of and publications editor for the New Jersey Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee, and a free lance writer and historian.  He is the author, editor or co-author of over 400 articles and seventeen books on New Jersey, the Civil War, and firearms history.  Mr. Bilby has received the Jane Clayton award for contributions to Monmouth County (NJ) history, an award of merit from the New Jersey Historical Commission for his contributions to the state’s military history and the New Jersey Meritorious Service Medal from the state’s Division of Military and Veterans Affairs.

James M. Madden was born in Jersey City, New Jersey and received his BS in Marketing from Saint Peter’s College.  He is a political consultant who has contributed articles to many Civil War publications and projects, including the New Jersey Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee publications New Jersey Goes to War and New Jersey’s Civil War Odyssey, as well as co-author of Hidden History of New Jersey. He is also a trustee and treasurer of the New Jersey Civil War Heritage Association and its 150th Anniversary Committee, treasurer of the Lincoln Group of New York and member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and Hudson County Genealogical & Historical Society.

Harry Ziegler was born in Neptune, New Jersey.  He received his BA in English from Monmouth University and his M.Ed from Georgian Court College.  He worked for many years at the Asbury Park Press, New Jersey’s second largest newspaper, rising from reporter to bureau chief to editor and managing editor of the paper. He is currently Associate Principal of Bishop George Ahr High School in Edison, New Jersey and is co-author of Asbury Park: A Brief History, Hidden History of New Jersey and Asbury Park Reborn.