Johannes Frelinghuysen (1727-1754) {aka John Frelinghuysen}
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This white person has 1 related event 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-01608
- Given Name
- Johannes
- Family Name
- Frelinghuysen
- Alternate Name
- John Frelinghuysen
- Birth Date
- 1727
- Death Date
- 1754
- Sex
- Male
- Occupation
- Religious
- Biographical Description
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Johannes Frelinghuysen (often called John Frelinghuysen in historical narratives) was a Dutch Reformed minister who pastored several congregations in the Raritan Valley. Born circa 1727, he was the second son of the immigrant minister Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen. He went to Holland to be educated for the ministry. There he met and married Dina Van Bergh and brought her to New Jersey with him. He also brought back bricks to be used to build the house now known as the Old Dutch Parsonage in Somerville, Somerset County, where he would live with Dina. Johannes and Dina held several enslaved people in their household, but the names of these Black laborers are not known.
Johannes Frelinghuysen began educating future ministers in his home, most notably educating and mentoring Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh who would go on to become the first president of Queen's College (now Rutgers University). His efforts to provide an education for Dutch Reformed ministers in America are remembered in Rutgers University history as an important contribution to the college's founding, although Johannes did not live long enough to see the college chartered. Frelinghuysen Hall at Rutgers in New Brunswick is named for his family. Johannes died when he was about 27 years old, leaving behind two small children, Eva and Frederick, who would be raised by Dina Van Bergh and Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh, whom Dina married after Johannes's death.
Johannes Frelinghuysen had four brothers, all ministers who also died fairly young. As Johannes was the only one of his brothers to leave progeny, all of the Frelinghuysens of New Jersey are the descendants of him and his son Frederick. - Keywords
- white person
- enslaver
- Rutgers University history
- Places
- Three Mile Run, New Brunswick
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Old Dutch Parsonage, Somerville (originally in Finderne aka Raritan)
- Organization
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Rutgers University
- Relationship to Rutgers
- Namesake (Frelinghuysen Hall named in 1956)
- Sibling of
- Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen II (1723-1760)
- Jacobus Frelinghuysen (1730-1753)
- Ferdinandus Frelinghuysen (1732-1753)
- Hendricus Frelinghuysen (1735-1757)
- Margaret Frelinghuysen (1737-1757)
- Anna Frelinghuysen Jackson (1738-1810)
- References
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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/
Bayker, Jesse, Christopher Blakley, and Kendra Boyd. "His Name Was Will: Remembering Enslaved Individuals in Rutgers History." In Scarlet and Black: Vol. 1, Slavery and Dispossession in Rutgers History, edited by Marisa Fuentes and Deborah Gray White, 58–81. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2016. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1k3s9r0.7
This person is represented on the following page(s):
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Frelinghuysen_(minister)
WikiTree: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Frelinghuysen-12
Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8253689 - Record Contributor
- Jesse Bayker
- Linked Events
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Additional Participant in:
- 1754-11-29 Mention: Black persons in the Frelinghuysen household (Role: Enslaver, Deceased)