Person

Staats Van Deursen (b. 1773)

Identifier

NJS-PER-00460

Given Name

Staats

Family Name

Van Deursen

Birth Date

1 June 1773

Sex

Male

Biographical Description

Staats Van Deursen (born in 1773) was an enslaver who resided in New Brunswick, NJ. He was a graduate of Queen's College (now Rutgers University), class of 1791. His father Willem (William) Van Deursen (1736-1816) had been one of the early trustees of the college. In 1807, Staats Van Deursen became a trustee of Queen's College, and he served as the college's Treasurer from 1813 to 1823. He also sent his son John Schurman Van Deursen to study at the college in the 1810s. In the early 19th century, Staats Van Deursen served in various roles in city government, including as treasurer of New Brunswick and as Overseer of the Poor for the township of North Brunswick (which contained within it most of the the city of New Brunswick).

Staats Van Deursen's younger brother William Van Deursen (1791-1873) was also a Queen's College alumnus and prominent physician in New Brunswick.

In 1817, Staats Van Deursen and his brother William decided to sell two young Black women to a man named Jacob Klady who was moving from New Brunswick to Ouachita, Louisiana, to establish a plantation there. As the result of Staats Van Deursen's actions, a 22-year-old woman named Phillis was taken away from New Jersey to Louisiana to work on Klady's plantation. At the same time, his brother William sold a woman named Dinah, who was also taken to Louisiana by Klady.

Place of Significance

New Brunswick, NJ

North Brunswick, NJ

Occupation

Government

Organization

Rutgers University

Relationship to Rutgers

Alumnus 1791

Trustee (1807-1823)

Treasurer (1813-1823)

Patron (son John Schureman Van Deursen RC1814)

Parent of

John Schureman Van Deursen

Sibling of

William Van Deursen (1791-1873)

William Van Deursen

Bibliographic Citation

Van Deusen, Albert Harrison. Van Deursen Family. Vol. 1. New York: Frank Allaben Genealogical Co, 1912.

Bayker, Jesse, Christopher Blakley, and Kendra Boyd. “His Name Was Will: Remembering Enslaved Individuals in Rutgers History.” In Scarlet and Black: Slavery and Dispossession in Rutgers History, edited by MARISA J. FUENTES and DEBORAH GRAY WHITE, 58–81. Rutgers University Press, 2016.