Elias Van Bunschooten (1738-1815)

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This white person has 2 related events 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-02172
Given Name
Elias
Family Name
Van Bunschooten
Birth Date
1738
Death Date
January 10, 1815
Sex
Male
Occupation
Religious
Landowning
Biographical Description
Elias Van Bunschooten (1738-1815) was a Dutch Reformed minister, a major benefactor of Rutgers University (then called Queen's College), and an enslaver. He was born into a prosperous family in New Hackensack, New York, where his father exploited dozens of enslaved Black people in agricultural production. Van Bunschooten graduated from Princeton University (then called the College of New Jersey) in 1768 and then went to Amsterdam to study theology and receive his ordination as a minister. Upon his return to America, he moved to Sussex County, New Jersey. He pastored several congregations on what was then the frontier of European settlement in the Delaware Valley. He was most prominently associated with the Clove Church in Wantage, which he pastored for three decades until his death in 1815.

Van Bunschooten purchased a 1000-acre plantation at Clove. He had a large house built there, about a mile and a half north of the Clove Church. He operated a farm and mill on the property, and his labor force included enslaved Black people. Van Bunschooten's home has been preserved; it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is now known as the Elias Van Bundschooten Museum, and it serves as the home for the Chinkchewunska Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. It is located at 1097 NJ Route 23, Sussex, NJ 07461.

Van Bunschooten was a Rutgers trustee from 1787 until his death in 1815. Near the end of his life, he made several large donations to the college, establishing an endowment of over $17,000. This was the single largest gift the college received in its early era (far larger than the endowment provided by the school's namesake Henry Rutgers). Van Bunschooten's endowment provided scholarships for students studying for the ministry and is thus also considered an important part of the history of the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, which was at that time intertwined with Rutgers College.

For more information about Van Bunschooten's life, Rutgers University, and slavery, see the chapter "Old Money: Rutgers University and the Political Economy of Slavery in New Jersey" in the book Scarlet and Black, Volume 1: Slavery and Dispossession in Rutgers History.
Keywords
white person
enslaver
Rutgers University history
clergy
Places
Clove Church, Wantage
Elias Van Bunschooten House (DAR Van Bunschooten Museum), Wantage
Wantage
New Hackensack, New York
Wappinger, New York
Organization
Rutgers University
Princeton University
Relationship to Rutgers
Trustee (1787-1815)
Benefactor (c. 1814)
Relationship to Princeton
Alumnus
Enslaver of
Caesar
Martin (b. 1806) {son of Phebe}
Phebe
References

Boyd, Kendra, Miya Carey, and Christopher Blakley. "Old Money: Rutgers University and the Political Economy of Slavery in New Jersey." In Scarlet and Black: Vol. 1, Slavery and Dispossession in Rutgers History, edited by Marisa J. Fuentes and Deborah Gray White, 43–57. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1k3s9r0.6

Van Benschoten, William Henry. Concerning the Van Bunschoten or Van Benschoten Family in America: A Genealogy and Brief History. Poughkeepsie, NY: A. V. Haight Co., 1907. Pages 29-44, 51. https://archive.org/details/VanBunschotenConcerningTheVanBunschotenOrVanBenschotenFamilyInAmericaByWilliamVanBenschotenPub1907/page/n49/

Elias Van Bunschooten Museum website https://www.vanbunschootenmuseum.com/

This person is represented on the following page(s):
Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/68661400
Record Contributor
Saketh Mandayam
Jesse Bayker
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