Dating from about 1750, around the time Stafford Township was established by separation from Shrewsbury Township in Monmouth County, the Randolph farmstead was built by Reuben Randolph, its first occupant, who also constructed the tavern on Old Shore Road that served as headquarters of the Manahawkin Militia during the American War of Independence, commanded Company #5 of the 2nd Monmouth Militia as captain, and is also credited with building the original general store that now stands as the Old Stone Store in Heritage Park. Randolph's son managed the tavern and lived in the farmstead. In the early 1800's, Dr. G. Augustus Hankinson, the first doctor in what is now this part of Ocean County, lived in the house and is buried across the street under the only obelisk in Baptist Cemetery, and his nephew Dr. William Newell lived there with him while studying medicine. In 1836, Newell witnessed a deadly shipwreck off Long Beach Island, an event that began his lifelong commitment to lifesaving, and he worked on lifesaving technologies on the property. In 1848, as a member of Congress, he secured passage of an authorization of $10,000 to fund a series of lifesaving buildings along the New Jersey coast, an effort that later evolved into the U.S. Life Saving Service and then the United States Coast Guard. Newell later became Governor of New Jersey from 1856 to 1860, personal family physician to Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, and Governor of the Territory of Washington. From 1901 to 1952, Dr. Joshua Hilliard lived at the farmstead, is said to have delivered more than 3,000 babies in the area, and became the first president of the Ocean County Historical Society. In the 1920's, the building became the first in Manahawkin to have electricity, and in 1957 it became the Thomas L. Shinn Funeral Home, with the west wing addition erected in 1993.