Henry Rutgers (1745-1830)

Henry Rutgers (1745-1830)
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This white person has 1 related event in the database, listed at the bottom of this page.

This person is related to Rutgers University history. See our research guide Rutgers University & Slavery for more information about finding university affiliates and archival sources in our database.
Identifier
NJS-PER-00343
Given Name
Henry
Family Name
Rutgers
Birth Date
October 7, 1745
Death Date
February 17, 1830
Sex
Male
Occupation
Military and Militia
Government
Banking, Insurance, and Commerce
Biographical Description
Our school’s namesake Henry Rutgers (1745-1830) was a trustee and an important donor during the college's struggles in the early nineteenth century. Undergraduate classes were suspended at Queen’s College in 1816, but trustees worked to get the college back on solid footing financially. When the college reopened in 1825, the new president Rev. Philip Milledoler proposed to change the school’s name to Rutgers College in honor of one of the most benevolent members of the Dutch Reformed Church. Soon after, Henry Rutgers provided an endowment for the college and purchased a bell for the cupola of the Old Queens building. This bell is still in operation today for special ceremonies and events.

Henry Rutgers was a slaveholder for nearly all of his life. He was a wealthy Dutch landowner and developer in New York City where slaveholding was common among his class. His father and grandfather had owned slaves. By the end of the American Revolution, Henry Rutgers supported state laws to limit the slave trade, but he personally continued to exploit slave labor for decades after. According to federal census records, he was the owner of two enslaved people in 1790, five in 1800, and three in 1810.

In 1817, Henry Rutgers decided to manumit and set free a black man named Thomas Boston. However, Henry Rutgers continued to own human beings after he manumitted Thomas Boston. The 1820 census shows that Rutgers still owned one slave.

Henry Rutgers lived for 85 years and witnessed tremendous changes during his lifetime. In 1827, three years before his death, slavery was finally abolished in his home state of New York.
Keywords
white person
enslaver
Rutgers University history
Places
New York City, New York
Organization
Rutgers University
Relationship to Rutgers
Namesake (Queen's College renamed after him in 1825)
Trustee (1815-1821)
Benefactor (c. 1825)
Enslaver of
Thomas Boston
References

Fowler, David J. "Benevolent Patriot: Henry Rutgers, 1745-1830." Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries, 2010. https://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/new-brunswick/visit-study/locations/special-collections-university-archives/divisions-collections/university-archives/rutgers-history/benevolent-patriot-henry-rutgers-1745-1830.

Demarest, William H. S. A History of Rutgers College, 1766-1924. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers College, 1924. https://archive.org/details/historyofrutgers00dema.

This person is represented on the following page(s):
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Rutgers
Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12094720
Record Contributor
Jesse Bayker
Linked Sources

Author:

  • Manumission of Thomas Boston, by Henry Rutgers (Manumission of Thomas Boston, by Henry Rutgers, June 12, 1817. Archival location: New-York Historical Society. New-York Manumission Society records, 1785-1849. Vol. 2, Register of manumissions of slaves in N.Y.C June 18, 1816-May 28, 1818, p. 76.)
Linked Events

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Resource class
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