James Neilson (c. 1700-1783)

Name

James Neilson (c. 1700-1783)

Identifier

NJS-PER-01359

Given Name

James

Family Name

Neilson

Birth Date

1700

Death Date

1783

Sex

Male

Description

James Neilson immigrated from Ireland circa 1716 to Perth Amboy and then moved to New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he established himself as one of the area's most prominent merchants. He was the owner of several vessels that traded between Europe and America. Although the Trans-Atlantic slave trade was not his main business, shipping records indicate that he participated in bringing captives to New Jersey. Records in the Slave Voyages Intra-American Slave Trade database show that his schooner called New Brunswick brought enslaved persons for sale from Rhode Island to Perth Amboy on at least three occasions between 1747 and 1751, each time carrying several enslaved persons, plus cargo of rum and sugar (presumably from the Caribbean).

James Neilson was the brother of physician John Neilson (1717-1745), who also immigrated from Ireland to New Jersey. After his brother's untimely death in 1745, James Neilson adopted his brother's infant son John Neilson Jr (1745-1833), raised the boy to go into the family mercantile business, and made John Jr his heir. The nephew John Jr would go on to become a Revolutionary War commander in New Jersey (known locally as Colonel John Neilson) and a long-time trustee and benefactor of Rutgers University (originally Queen's College).

Sibling of

John Neilson (d. 1745)

Relation

John Neilson (1745-1833)

Same As

James Neilson, ID Neilson-2312 (WikiTree)

Bibliographic Citation

Slave Voyages, Intra-American Slave Trade database. Voyage IDs: 107155, 107162, and 107161.

Thompson, Robert. Colonel James Neilson: A Business Man of the Early Machine Age in New Jersey, 1784-1862. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1940. See especially pages 5-7.

Source Resource

https://records.njslavery.org/api/items/3305

Source Site

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

Contributor

Jesse Bayker