When Captain Cornelius Vermeule resigned his commission in 1802 after 27 years of service in the Somerset County Militia, he addressed his company for the last time, recalling the county’s role in the Revolution and praising “the brave city of Boston” and its slain patriot leader, Joseph Warren. So great was his veneration of General Warren (both were Masons) that Vermeule named his Green Brook farm “Warren Plains” and one of his sons, “Warren.” Captain Vermeule’s admiration for General Warren may be the reason Warren Township was so named when it was formed in 1806.

Could Captain Vermeule have suggested the name? No evidence survives about his role, if any, in naming the new township. But what we do know about Vermeule suggests he might have been responsible: He was a leading member of a prominent family in the area and four members of the family – Frederick, John, Cornelius himself and Cornelius Jr. – were the first to sign the 1799 petition calling for the formation of a new township.