James Neilson (ca. 1700-1783)
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This white person has 1 related event in the database, listed at the bottom of this page.
- Identifier
- NJS-PER-01359
- Given Name
- James
- Family Name
- Neilson
- Birth Date
- 1700
- Death Date
- 1783
- Sex
- Male
- Biographical Description
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James Neilson immigrated from Ireland circa 1716 to Perth Amboy and then moved to New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he established himself as one of the area's most prominent merchants. He was the owner of several vessels that traded between Europe and America. Although the Trans-Atlantic slave trade was not his main business, shipping records indicate that he participated in bringing captives to New Jersey. Records in the Slave Voyages Intra-American Slave Trade database show that his schooner called New Brunswick brought enslaved persons for sale from Rhode Island to Perth Amboy on at least three occasions between 1747 and 1751, each time carrying several enslaved persons, plus cargo of rum and sugar (presumably from the Caribbean).
James Neilson was the brother of physician John Neilson (1717-1745), who also immigrated from Ireland to New Jersey. After his brother's untimely death in 1745, James Neilson adopted his brother's infant son John Neilson Jr (1745-1833), raised the boy to go into the family mercantile business, and made John Jr his heir. The nephew John Jr would go on to become a Revolutionary War commander in New Jersey (known locally as Colonel John Neilson) and a long-time trustee and benefactor of Rutgers University (originally Queen's College). - Keywords
- white person
- enslaver
- Places
- New Brunswick
- Enslaver of
- Phill
- Sibling of
- John Neilson (d. 1745)
- Related Person
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John Neilson (1745-1833)
- References
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Slave Voyages, Intra-American Slave Trade database. Voyage IDs: 107155, 107162, and 107161. https://www.slavevoyages.org/american/database.
Thompson, Robert. Colonel James Neilson: A Business Man of the Early Machine Age in New Jersey, 1784-1862. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1940. See especially pages 5-7.
This person is represented on the following page(s):
WikiTree: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Neilson-2312 - Record Contributor
- Jesse Bayker
- Linked Sources
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Author:
- Runaway ad for Phill, by James Neilson (Runaway ad for Phill, by James Neilson, New-York Gazette, or, the Weekly Post-Boy, June 16, 1763.)
- Linked Events
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Additional Participant in:
- 1763-06-15 Freedom Seeking: Phill (Role: Enslaver, Advertiser)