Staats Van Deursen (b. 1773)

NJS-PER-00460

Staats

Van Deursen

(b. 1773)

Male

1 June 1773

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 Deurse became a trustee of Queen's College and 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 city.

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.

New Brunswick, NJ

Government

Rutgers University

Alumnus 1791

Trustee (1807-1823)

Treasurer (1813-1823)

Patron (son John Schureman Van Deursen RC1814)

William Van Deursen (1791-1873)

William Van Deursen

John Schureman Van Deursen

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.

Enslavers

Officials, Clergy & Witnesses