Joseph Sherman Frelinghuysen Jr. (August 11, 1912 – January 8, 2005) was the author of ''Passages to Freedom'', about his escape from a prison camp in Italy during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
Early life
Frelinghuysen was born in
East Hampton, New York
East Hampton is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York United States. It is located at the eastern end of the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long Island. It is the easternmost town i ...
, the son of Emily Brewster Frelinghuysen and Joseph Sherman Frelinghuysen Sr., a New Jersey state senator and later U.S. senator. In 1916, he was painted as a young boy, with his mother in a full-length portrait by the Swiss-born American artist
Adolfo Müller-Ury
Adolfo Müller-Ury, Order of St. Gregory the Great, KSG (March 29, 1862 – July 6, 1947) was a Swiss-born American portrait painter and Impressionism, impressionistic painter of roses and still life.
Early life and education
Müller was b ...
, which was later donated to the
Newark Museum
The Newark Museum of Art, formerly known as the Newark Museum, in Newark, New Jersey is the state's largest museum. It holds major collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia (including a large collection of T ...
in New Jersey. He graduated from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
in 1934.
Service and career
During World War II, he served as an artillery captain in the First Infantry Division in North Africa. Members of his family had served in the military since the Revolutionary War. On November 23, 1942, he was captured by German troops and taken to a prison camp in Italy. He and another American
POW
POW is "prisoner of war", a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict.
POW or pow may also refer to:
Music
* P.O.W (Bullet for My Valentine song), "P.O.W" (Bull ...
, Richard M. Rossbach, escaped on September 23, 1943, by crawling through the camp's wire fences. The
British Eighth Army
The Eighth Army was a field army of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed as the Western Army on 10 September 1941, in Egypt, before being renamed the Army of the Nile and then the Eighth Army on 26 September. It was cr ...
, which they had hoped to join, was stationed on the other side of the
Apennines
The Apennines or Apennine Mountains ( ; or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; or – a singular with plural meaning; )Latin ''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which would be segmented ''Apenn-inus'', often used with nouns s ...
. Though the Germans briefly recaptured Rossbach, they both succeeded in rejoining the Allied forces.
After the war, Frelinghuysen worked in insurance and later managed the family dairy business in
Somerville, New Jersey
Somerville is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in and the county seat of Somerset County, New Jersey, Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
Personal life
Frelinghuysen married Emily Lawrance (1911–2004), the daughter of
Charles Lawrance
Charles Lanier Lawrance (September 30, 1882 – June 24, 1950) was an American aeronautical engineer and an early proponent of air-cooled aircraft engines.
Early life
Lawrance was born on September 30, 1882, in Lenox, Massachusetts, the son of ...
Morgan Dix
Morgan Dix (November 1, 1827 – April 29, 1908) was an American Episcopal Church priest, theologian, and religious author.
Early life
Dix was born on November 1, 1827, in New York City. He was the son of Catherine Morgan, the adopted daughter ...
, rector of Trinity Parish). Together, they had:
* Barbara Frelinghuysen, who married Thomas C. Israel, chairman of Ingleside Investors
* Joseph S. Frelinghuysen III,
Princeton
Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...
class of '63 and president of J. S. Frelinghuysen & Company, a financial advisory and private investment concern in Mendham, N.J.
* Margaret Lawrance Frelinghuysen, who married Paul Alfred Kurzman in 1964. Kurzman is a great-grandson of Ida and
Isidor Straus
Isidor Straus (February 6, 1845 – April 15, 1912) was a Bavarian-born American businessman, politician, and co-owner of Macy's department store with his brother Nathan. He also served for just over a year as a member of the United States House ...
, who died aboard the Titanic in 1912. Mr. Straus was a
U.S. Congressman
The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
and a co-owner of
Macy's
Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...
department store
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...
.
* Susan Emily Frelinghuysen, who married Robert Dudley van Roijen in 1981. van Roijen is the grandson of Jan Herman van Roijen, the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
Minister to the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
from 1918 to 1933.
At the end of his life, Frelinghuysen was living in
Far Hills, New Jersey
Far Hills is a borough in the Somerset Hills of northern Somerset County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 924, an increase of 5 (+0.5%) from the 2010 census count of 919, whic ...
, and died of pneumonia on January 8, 2005, in Morristown,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
.
Published work
*''Keep Your Heart Running'' (1976) with Dr. Paul J. Kiell
*''Passages to Freedom'' (1990)