Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh (22 February 1735/6 – 30 October 1790) was an American

Dutch Reformed The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family an ...

clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

, colonial and state legislator, and educator. Hardenbergh was a founder of Queen's College—now

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

—in 1766, and was later appointed as the college's first president. Hardenbergh was descended from a Dutch family that settled New Amsterdam in the seventeenth century and was prominent in New York colonial affairs. He prepared for ministry at the home of the Reverend John Frelinghuysen, a prominent Dutch Reformed minister near

Somerville, New Jersey Somerville is a borough and the county seat of Somerset County, New Jersey, United States.New Je ...

. After being ordained, Hardenbergh was called to serve congregations in New Jersey's

Raritan River Raritan River is a major river of New Jersey. Its Drainage basin, watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean. History Geologists assert that the lower Rar ...

valley, and later in

Ulster County, New York Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster. History ...

. During the 1760s, Hardenbergh was influential in the establishment of Queen's College, the eighth of nine colleges established during the colonial period. After his efforts to lobby Britain's

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

and New Jersey's royal governor,

William Franklin William Franklin (22 February 1730 – 17 November 1813) was an American-born attorney, soldier, politician, and colonial administrator. He was the acknowledged illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin. William Franklin was the last colonial Gov ...

to permit the establishment of a Dutch Reformed-affiliated college, Queen's College was chartered in 1766. During the American Revolution, Hardenbergh served as a delegate for New Jersey's Provincial Congress which ratified the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...

and to frame the state's first constitution (1776). He subsequently served several successive one-year terms in New Jersey's General Assembly. In 1785, Hardenbergh was appointed as the first president of Queen's College, a post he would hold from 1786 to his death in 1790.

Biography

Early life and education

Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh was born on 22 February 1735/36 at Rosendale near Kingston,

Ulster County Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster. History ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in the

Hudson River Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to Yo ...

. He was the son of Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh, Jr. (1706–1786) and Maria DuBois (1705/06–1790). His parents had married in Kingston on 6 December 1728 and seven children were born to the marriage of which Jacob was the fourth. His father, later served with distinction as a field officer under Washington in the Continental Army, served in New York's Colonial Assembly.18. Major Johannes Hardenbergh, Sr.
and

at

' at hardenbergh.org (Jan C. Hardenbergh's website). Retrieved 19 January 2014.
at

' at hardenbergh.org (Jan C. Hardenbergh's website). Retrieved 19 January 2014.Frusciano, Thomas J., "Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh" (essay) in "Leadership on the Banks: Rutgers' Presidents, 1766–2009", ''The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries''. LIII(1) (June 1991): 3–5; published online by Rutgers, The State University of New Jerse
Rutgers Leaders, Rutgers History: Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh, Queen’s College President, 1786 to 1790
Retrieved 19 January 2014. Frelinghuysen instructed Hardenbergh from his home, preserved as the

Old Dutch Parsonage The Old Dutch Parsonage is a historical house built in 1751, moved about 1913 and now located at 65 Washington Place, Somerville, Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 25, ...

Somerville, New Jersey Somerville is a borough and the county seat of Somerset County, New Jersey, United States.New Je ...

. Hardenbergh was the grandson of

Johannes Hardenbergh Major Johannes Hardenbergh (1670–1745), also known as Sir Johannes Hardenbergh, was the owner of the Hardenbergh patent of land in the Catskill Mountains. Biography He was born in Albany, New York, in 1670. He was Sheriff of Ulster County, New ...

, a wealthy landowner and prominent figure in New York colonial government, who was the owner of the colony's Hardenbergh Patent (1709), an immense tract of land that covered approximately 2,000,000 acres (8,100 km2) of the

Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...

in what is now Sullivan,

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

and

Delaware counties The U.S. state of Delaware is divided into three counties, the fewest of any state in the United States: New Castle, Kent and Sussex. The origin of the county boundaries goes back to their former court districts. The powers of the counties' legi ...

in New York. He was likely named for his great-grandfather, Jacob Rutsen, whose daughter Catherine was the second wife of his paternal grandfather. According to John Howard Raven and William H.S. Demarest, Hardenbergh obtained an education from the Kingston Academy, in Kingston, Ulster County, New York.Raven, John Howard (Rev.) (compiler).
Catalogue of the Officers and Alumni of Rutgers College (originally Queen's College) in New Brunswick, N.J., 1766–1916
'. (Trenton, New Jersey: State Gazette Publishing Company, 1916). However, the Kingston Academy was not established until 1773. Kingston did, however, have a small school with a Dutch schoolmaster founded in 1722 by the Trustees of the Freeholders and Commonality of the Town of Kingston—an organization chartered by colonial governor

Thomas Dongan Thomas Dongan, (pronounced "Dungan") 2nd Earl of Limerick (1634 – 14 December 1715), was a member of the Irish Parliament, Royalist military officer during the English Civil War, and Governor of the Province of New York. He is noted for hav ...

to provide for the free education of Kingston's children. In his late teens, he travelled to Somerset County, New Jersey to receive religious and theological instruction from the Reverend John Frelinghuysen, who was serving Dutch Reformed congregations in the Raritan valley of central New Jersey. John Frelinghuysen died in 1754, and at the age of twenty, Hardenbergh married Frelinghuysen's widow, Dinah Van Bergh (c.1723–1807) on 18 March 1756 at

Raritan, New Jersey Raritan is a borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 6,881, Born in Amsterdam, Dinah was the daughter of Louis Van Bergh, a wealthy merchant who was "engaged in East India trade."Steele, Richard Holloway, ''Historical Discourse Delivered at the Celebration of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the First Reformed Dutch Church, New Brunswick, N.J. October 1, 1867'' (New York: John A. Gray & Green Printers, 1867). Hardenbergh proposed as Dinah was strongly considering returning to the Netherlands with her two children. Her diary, dating from February 1746 to late 1747, is held by Special Collections and University Archives, at the Archibald S. Alexander Library of

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

. Hardenbergh and his wife had nine children: Maria (born 1757–1789), Laura (born 1757–1785), Johannes (1759–1798), Elinor (born 1760), Dina (born 1762), Jacob Rutsen (1763–1764), Rachel (born 1765–1845), Jacob Rutsen (born 1768), and Lewis (1771–1810).Hardenbergh genealogy provided in ''Genealogies of New Jersey Families: Families A-Z, Pre-American Notes on Old New Netherland Families'' (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1996), 857ff. Hardenbergh's step-son, Frederick Frelinghuysen (1753–1804), served in the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, state legislature, and was elected a United States Senator. He also served as a military officer in the Revolution and in the Whiskey Rebellion (1794) when he attained the rank of major general.

Career as a minister

Old Dutch Parsonage, Somerville, NJ - 2017

Hardenbergh studied theology under the Reverend John Frelinghuysen, a Reformed clergyman who served several congregations located in the valley of the

Somerset County, New Jersey Somerset County is a county located in the north-central part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States Census, the county's population was 345,361, an increase of 21,917 (6.8%) from the 323,444 counted at the 2010 U.S Cen ...

, at the village of Raritan, Bedminster, Millstone, Neshanic, North Branch, and

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. These congregations had been served by Frelinghuysen's father, the Reverend

Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen ( – ) was a Dutch-American Dutch Reformed minister, theologian and the progenitor of the Frelinghuysen family in the United States of America. Frelinghuysen is most remembered for his religious contribution ...

(1691–1749), who rose to prominence during the

First Great Awakening The First Great Awakening (sometimes Great Awakening) or the Evangelical Revival was a series of Christian revivals that swept Britain and its thirteen North American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s. The revival movement permanently affecte ...

. The First Great Awakening was an evangelical revival in the 1730s and 1740s that revitalized Christian beliefs in Protestant Europe and the North American colonies through powerful preaching that gave listeners a sense of deep personal revelation of their need of salvation by Jesus Christ. Frelinghuysen had adapted the theological developments of the Puritan divines to preach a style of Reformed

pietism Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christian life, including a social concern for the needy and ...

, a revivalistic style of Calvinism. His son, John, preached and instructed his students in the same style. With John Frelinghuysen's unexpected death in 1754, Hardenbergh, as his last theological student, assumed the pulpits of five congregations in central New Jersey served by his teacher. In 1757, Hardenbergh received a license to preach from the Coetus and was formally called by these congregations in May 1758. In 1761, the Coetus relieved him of two of these congregations, at Millstone and New Brunswick. During the Revolution, General Washington, a personal friend of the Hardenbergh family, established a headquarters at Raritan in the home of John Wallace and frequently attended services sitting "at the head of the elder's pew". In 1779, the church at Raritan was burned by British forces under Colonel

John Graves Simcoe John Graves Simcoe (25 February 1752 – 26 October 1806) was a British Army general and the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada from 1791 until 1796 in southern Ontario and the Drainage basin, watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. ...

who had intensified efforts to capture Washington. The church was not rebuilt until 1788. In 1781, Hardenbergh resigned his pastorates in New Jersey to accept the call to congregations at Marbletown, Rochester, and Wawarsing in Ulster County, New York. He would serve these congregations until 1785. In October 1785, Hardenbergh was called to serve as pastor to the congregation at the First Reformed Church in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He would arrive in New Brunswick to assume the pastorate in April 1786. At the same time, the trustees of Queen's College had called Hardenbergh, a devoted trustee for the school, to serve as its first appointed president. Hardenbergh was invited to fill a vacancy left by the death of the Rev. Johannes Leydt (1719–1783). For two years the church had been served by neighboring clergymen. Hardenbergh had trained both of Leydt's sons in theology—

Matthew Leydt Matthew Leydt (1755–1783) was the first graduate of Queen's College (now Rutgers University) in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Matthew was the son of Syntje Slegt (1729–1763) (also spelled Tryntje Slecht or Sleight) and the Rev. Johannes Leydt (171 ...

(who also died in 1783) was the first graduate of Queen's College. He would serve the congregation until his sudden death in 1790. According to church historian, Richard Holloway Steele, Hardenbergh was the last pastor at New Brunswick to preach in Dutch. On four occasions, Hardenbergh was selected to serve as the President of the General Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church.

Queen's College

In 1763, he traveled to Europe and appealed to King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

of Great Britain on behalf of the proposal. On 10 November 1766, Royal Governor

chartered Queen's College. Hardenbergh served as an early

Trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...

of the college, beginning with its first meeting in Hackensack on 12 May 1767, and during this time served in the capacity as board secretary until 1782. Hardenbergh's was named on both of the college's charters, the first in 1766 and the second in 1770. Hardenbergh's father served as a trustee from 1767 until 1786. It is assumed that he served in a role administering the college's activities as early as 1770. His name appears as college president on the diploma conferred to Simeon DeWitt, a 1776 alumnus. In 1785, the trustees invited the Reverend Dirck Romeyn to be the college's first appointed president but he declined. The trustees then appointed Hardenbergh. In 1789, ten students graduated from Queen's College.

Political career

During the American Revolution, Hardenbergh represented Somerset County as a delegate to the final session of New Jersey's Provincial Congress, a transitional legislative and governing body that met in

Burlington, New Jersey Burlington is a city in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 9,743. Burlington was first incorporated on October 24, 1693, and was r ...

from June to August 1776. This session ordered the arrest of the New Jersey colony's last royal governor,

, and began to transition the state from a crown colony into an independent state. The Provincial Congress subsequently ratified the

and framed the first Constitution of the State of

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

(1776). Hardenbergh served several one-year terms in New Jersey's General Assembly.

Death and legacy

Hardenbergh died on 30 October 1790 of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat, seat of government of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.churchyard In Christian countries a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster-Scots, this can also ...

of the First Reformed Church in New Brunswick. The inscription on his grave was written by the Reverend

John Henry Livingston John Henry Livingston (May 30, 1746January 25, 1825) was an American Dutch Reformed minister and member of the Livingston family, who served as the fourth President of Queen's College (now Rutgers University), from 1810 until his death in 182 ...

and exhorts mourners to "go walk in his virtuous footsteps; and when you have finished the work assigned you, you shall rest with him in eternal peace." It eulogises Hardenbergh as "a zealous preacher of the Gospel, and his life and conversation afforded, from his earliest days, to all who knew him, a bright example of real piety...a steady patriot, and in his public and private conduct he manifested himself to be the enemy of tyranny and oppression, the lover of freedom, and the friend of his country." At the time of his death, Hardenbergh was a wealthy man—largely due to monies and property inherited from his father and grandfather—and was the owner of 40,000 acres of land in Ulster County that was once part of his grandfather's patent. Hardenbergh's great-great-grandson, architect

Henry Janeway Hardenbergh Henry Janeway Hardenbergh (February 6, 1847 – March 13, 1918) was an American architect, best known for his hotels and apartment buildings, and as a "master of a new building form — the skyscraper." Life and career Hardenbergh was born in ...

(1847–1918) was hired by the trustees of Rutgers College to design three buildings for the campus—

Geology Hall Geology Hall (also Geological Hall) is a historic building on the Queens Campus of Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was built from April 1871 to June 1872 to house various science classes and the Rutgers Geology Museum. Th ...

(1871–72),

Kirkpatrick Chapel The Sophia Astley Kirkpatrick Memorial Chapel, known as Kirkpatrick Chapel, is the chapel to Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and located on the university's main campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey in the United States. Kirkpatrick ...

(1873), an addition to the grammar school (now

Alexander Johnston Hall Alexander Johnston Hall is a historic building located on the corner of Somerset Street and College Avenue, New Brunswick, New Jersey, New Brunswick in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, New Jersey and is the second oldest building on ...

)—and to design Suydam Hall (demolished) on the former campus of the

New Brunswick Theological Seminary New Brunswick Theological Seminary is a Reformed Christian seminary with its main campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was founded in 1784 and is one of the oldest seminaries in the United States. It is a seminary of the Reformed Church in Ame ...

, before a career designing large hotels and buildings in New York City. In Kirkpatrick Chapel, the large stained-glass window in the chancel above the altar, titled "Jesus, the Teacher of the Ages", was donated to the college by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh after the renovation of the chapel in 1916 and dedicated to his great-great-grandfather.DiIonno, Mark
"Di Ionno: At historic Rutgers chapel, stained glass is still shining"
in ''The Star-Ledger'' (8 August 2012). Retrieved 2 September 2013. This window is one of four in the chapel designed and crafted in the studios of

Louis Comfort Tiffany Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art NouveauL ...

(1848–1933).Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey — Kirkpatrick Chapel
"Stained Glass Windows"
. Retrieved 2 September 2013. His grandson, Cornelius Low Hardenbergh, served as the Mayor of New Brunswick, New Jersey from 1829 to 1838. Cornelius's son,

Augustus Albert Hardenbergh Augustus Albert Hardenbergh (May 18, 1830 in New Brunswick, New Jersey – October 5, 1889 in Jersey City, New Jersey) was an American Democratic Party politician who represented New Jersey's 7th congressional district in the United States House ...

, served two separate terms as a United States Congressman from New Jersey, 1875 to 1879 and 1881 to 1883. His great-grandson, Cornelius Abraham Jansen Hardenbergh (1826-1893), twice served as the Town Supervisor of

Shawangunk, New York Shawangunk is a town in southwestern Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 13,563 at the 2020 census. The town takes its name from its largest stream, the Shawangunk Kill. The name Shawangunk is from the language of the Lena ...

, from 1861 to 1867 and 1876 to 1882, then served in the New York State Assembly from 1885 to 1886. His second great-nephew,

Jacob Hardenbergh Jacob Hardenbergh (May 1823 New Paltz, Ulster County, New York – April 29, 1872 Albany, New York) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. Life He was the son of Richard Hardenbergh (1791–1870) and Catharine Maria (Crispell) Hard ...

, served as a New York State Senator from 1870 to 1872. Hardenbergh Hall, a building on Rutgers University's College Avenue Campus in

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat, seat of government of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New Jersey Route 18 Route 18 is a state highway in the central part of the US state of New Jersey. It begins at an intersection with Route 138 in Wall Township, Monmouth County and ends at Interstate 287 (I-287) in Piscataway Township, Middlesex County. Route ...

.Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Residence Life
Halls & Apartments: Hardenbergh Hall
Retrieved 19 January 2014.

References

Notes

Citations

External links

Dinah Van Bergh's translated Diary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardenbergh, Jacob Rutsen Presidents of Rutgers University Members of the New Jersey General Assembly Members of the New Jersey Provincial Council 1736 births 1790 deaths

Jacob Rutsen Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Ja ...

18th-century deaths from tuberculosis American Calvinist and Reformed ministers American members of the Dutch Reformed Church American people of Dutch descent Tuberculosis deaths in New Jersey People from Rosendale, New York People of colonial New Jersey 18th-century American politicians University and college founders 18th-century American clergy