On December 3rd, 1663, 20 men travelled from Gravesend, Long Island (now New York) to what is now Navesink, New Jersey. One of these 20 included William Goulding. These gentlemen set their sights upon colonizing New Jersey, then under Dutch control, and many of them would return just over a year later with written rights (patent) to settle the land for what is now much of Monmouth County. The Monmouth Patent of April 8th, 1665 was formal recognition of the ouster of the Dutch from what is now New Jersey.