Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen (1691-1747)

Name

Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen (1691-1747)

Identifier

NJS-PER-00351

Given Name

Theodorus Jacobus

Family Name

Frelinghuysen

Alternate Name

Mr. Freelandhouse

Birth Date

1691

Death Date

1747

Sex

Male

Description

The Rev. Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen (1691-1747) was a Dutch Reformed minister who immigrated to New Jersey and settled in the Raritan Valley in 1720. He is best known for bringing religious fervor to the Raritan Valley during the First Great Awakening. He pastored several churches in the Raritan Valley, including congregations in Raritan, New Brunswick, Six-Mile Run, and Three-Mile Run (locations in present-day Middlesex County and Somerset County). Although he passed away nearly two decades before Queen's College (later Rutgers) was officially established, he is widely acknowledged as the progenitor of the school by Rutgers historians who credit him with originating the intellectual ideas that would eventually prompt his sons to seek a charter for a Dutch Reformed school in New Jersey.

Frelinghuysen enslaved several persons of African descent in his household and worked to convert them to Christianity. The most well-known of these enslaved people was Ukawsaw Gronniosaw. Frenlinghuysen manumitted Gronniosaw upon his death in 1747, and Gronniosaw went on to publish an autobiography in 1772 where he recounted his life in the Frelinghuysen household.

Spouse of

Eva Terhune Frelinghuysen

Parent of

Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen II (1723-1760)

Johannes Frelinghuysen (1727-1754)

Grandparent of

Frederick Frelinghuysen (1753-1804)

Same As

Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen (Wikidata)

Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen (Wikipedia)

Bibliographic Citation

Demarest, William H. S. A History of Rutgers College, 1766-1924. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers College, 1924.

Congress, Nita, ed. Rutgers: A 250th Anniversary Portrait. Third Millennium Publishing, 2015.

Source Resource

https://records.njslavery.org/api/items/1433

Source Site

https://records.njslavery.org/s/doc/page/home

Occupation

Religious

Contributor

Jesse Bayker