Dina Van Bergh Frelinghuysen Hardenbergh (1725-1807)

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Identifier
NJS-PER-01569
Given Name
Dina
Family Name
Hardenbergh
Alternate Name
Van Bergh
Frelinghuysen
Dinah Van Bergh
Dina van den Bergh
Birth Date
1725
Death Date
1807
Sex
Female
Biographical Description
Dina Van Bergh (sometimes written Dinah) was born in Holland and immigrated to New Jersey in the mid-18th century. She was the wife of Dutch Reformed minister Johannes (John) Frelinghuysen (1727-1754). After her first husband's death in 1754, she married Johannes's mentee Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh (1736-1790), who went on to serve as the first president of Queen's College (now Rutgers University).

She lived at the home now referred to as the Old Dutch Parsonage in Somerville. She had several enslaved people who worked as domestic servants in this home. She mentioned these enslaved workers in a letter to her brother-in-law Hendricus Frelinghuysen in 1754 (soon after the death of her first husband), but she did not mention their names.

Dina Van Bergh's diaries and letters written in Dutch in the 1740s and 1750s have been preserved by the Gardner Sage Library of the New Brunswick Theological Seminary and by Rutgers University's Special Collections and University Archives. The diaries and letters were translated into English by the Rev. Gerard Van Dyke and published in 1993 by the Historical Society of the Reformed Church in America.
Keywords
white person
enslaver
Rutgers University history
Places
Old Dutch Parsonage, Somerville (originally in Finderne aka Raritan)
Somerville (formerly Raritan)
Organization
Rutgers University
Relationship to Rutgers
Family (wife of first president Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh and parent of tutor Frederick Frelinghuysen and alumnus Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh Jr RC1788)
Parent of
Frederick Frelinghuysen (1753-1804)
Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh Jr. (1768-1841)
Eva Frelinghuysen Van Nostrand (1751-1826)
Spouse of
Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh Sr. (1736-1790)
Johannes Frelinghuysen (1727-1754) {aka John Frelinghuysen}
References

Muyskens, J. David, ed. The Diary of Dina Van Bergh. Translated by Gerard Van Dyke. New Brunswick, NJ: Historical Society of the Reformed Church in America, 1993. http://www.hardenbergh.org/people/DinaVanBergh.pdf

Van Rossum, Helene. “Hidden Dutch Treasures at Rutgers Special Collections.” What Exit? New Jerseyana at Rutgers University Special Collections and University Archives (blog), September 21, 2016. https://sinclairnj.blogs.rutgers.edu/2016/09/hidden-dutch-treasures-at-rutgers-special-collections/

Van Rossum, Helene. “The Terrible Fate of the Frelinghuysen Brothers, Part 1: The Raritan Valley.” What Exit? New Jerseyana at Rutgers University Special Collections and University Archives (blog), October 20, 2023. https://sinclairnj.blogs.rutgers.edu/2023/10/the-terrible-fate-of-the-frelinghuysen-brothers-part-1-the-raritan-valley/

This person is represented on the following page(s):
WikiTree: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Bergh-1
Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/87825873
Record Contributor
Jesse Bayker
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