Frederick Frelinghuysen (1753-1804)
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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.
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- Identifier
- NJS-PER-01587
- Given Name
- Frederick
- Family Name
- Frelinghuysen
- Birth Date
- 1753
- Death Date
- 1804
- Sex
- Male
- Biographical Description
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Frederick Frelinghuysen was a lawyer, Revolutionary War veteran, and U.S. Senator from Somerset County, New Jersey. He was born at the home now known as the Old Dutch Parsonage in Somerville in 1753 and died in Millstone in 1804.
He was the son of Johannes Frelinghuysen and Dina Van Bergh, but as his father died when he was an infant, he was raised by his stepfather Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh, the first president of Rutgers (then called Queen's College). He graduated from Princeton (then called the College of New Jersey) in 1770. He then served as the first tutor at Rutgers in the early 1770s and was elected a trustee in 1782. His son Theodore Frelinghuysen would become the 7th president of Rutgers in 1850.
It appears that he was an enslaver, but the names of the Black people he enslaved have not been identified. After his death, his widow Ann Frelinghuysen filed documents with the Somerset County Clerk showing that there was at least one enslaved woman in the household, and that woman gave birth to several children. - Keywords
- white person
- enslaver
- Rutgers University history
- Princeton University history
- government official
- U.S. Congress
- Places
- Millstone (Somerset Court House)
- New Brunswick
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Old Dutch Parsonage, Somerville (originally in Finderne aka Raritan)
- Somerville (formerly Raritan)
- Relationship to Rutgers
- Instructor (first tutor 1770s)
- Trustee (1782-1804)
- Namesake (Frelinghuysen Hall named in 1956)
- Relationship to Princeton
- Alumnus
- Child of
- Johannes Frelinghuysen (1727-1754) {aka John Frelinghuysen}
- Dina Van Bergh Frelinghuysen Hardenbergh (1725-1807)
- Spouse of
- Ann Yard Frelinghuysen (1764-1839)
- References
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“FRELINGHUYSEN, Frederick.” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/F000368.
This person is represented on the following page(s):
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Frelinghuysen_(general) - Record Contributor
- Jesse Bayker
