Frederick Frelinghuysen [1753-1804]

Frederick Frelinghuysen served his country in many areas. His first major area of service was in the Revolutionary War during which time he attained the rank of Colonel when he was just in his early twenties. Later, in 1790, during the campaign against the western Indians, President George Washington appointed Frelinghuysen to the military rank of Brigadier General. And during the Whiskey Rebellion, in 1794, Frelinghuysen was again commissioned to serve his country as a Major General.

Frelinghuysen’s other major contribution to his country was his service as a U.S. Senator during the period from March 4, 1793 to November 12, 1796, when he resigned. Previous to his service as a U.S. Senator, Frelinghuysen had been a Member of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey from 1775 to 1776, a Member of the Continental Congress in 1779, a Clerk of the Common Pleas Court in Somerset County, New Jersey from 1781 to 1789, a Member of the New Jersey General Assembly in 1784 and again from 1800 to 1804, a Member of the New Jersey Convention that ratified the Federal Constitution in 1787, and a Member of the State Council from 1790 to 1792. He also served as a U.S. District Attorney in 1801.

Frederick Frelinghuysen graduated from the College of New Jersey, which is now Princeton University, in 1770. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1774 when he was only 21 years old. He then commenced to practice law in Somerset County, New Jersey.

Frederick Frelinghuysen was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York which was then a British Colony on April 13, 1753. His parents were John Frelinghuysen [1727-1754] of Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, and Dinah Van Berr [1725-?] of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Frederick Frelinghuysen’s father, John, was a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church, as was his grandfather, Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen. John’s father and, of course, Frederick’s grandfather had immigrated from the northeastern part of the Netherlands to Brooklyn, New York in 1720. After the grandfather arrived in Brooklyn, New York in 1720, he married Eva Terhune [1708-?] also of Brooklyn, New York. The couple then had seven children, all of whom, except one who lived to the ripe old age of 72, died in their twenties. Frederick’s father died one year after Frederick’s birth, at the age of 27, in Somerville, New Jersey, where he then was serving as a minister in the local Dutch Reformed Church. The parsonage in which he died is now “The Old Dutch Parsonage”, a historical house on Washington Place in Somerville, New Jersey.

Frederick Frelinghuysen was married to Gertrude Schenck. The couple had the following children, Catherine Frelinghuysen, John Frelinghuysen [1776-1833], a General who married Louisa Mercer, and after her death married Elizabeth Mercereau Van Vechten, Maria Frelinghuysen [1778-?], Theodore Frelinghuysen [1787-1862], a U.S. Senator from New Jersey , and Frederick Frelinghuysen [1788-1820], who was married to Jane Dumont. Frederick Frelinghuysen and Jane Dumont had a son, Frederic Theodore Frelinghuysen [1817-1885], who also became a U.S. Senator. Following Gertrude Schenck’s death, Frederick Frelinghuysen married Ann Yard [1764-1839].

Frederick Frelinghuysen [1753-1804] was the first in a family dynasty of New Jersey politicians. His son Theodore Frelinghuysen [1787-1862] became a U.S. Senator and also served as president of Rutgers College which later became Rutgers University. And his nephew and adopted son, Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen [1817-1885] also became a U.S. Senator and a U.S. Secretary of State.
A nephew of Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen [1817-1885], Joseph Sherman Frelinghuysen [1869-1948], became a U.S. Senator. And a great grand son, Peter Hood Ballentine Frelinghuysen [1916-?] became a U.S. Representative in Congress. And finally, a great great grand son, Rodney P. Frelinghuysen [1946] presently serves as a U.S. Representative in Congress.

Frederick Frelinghuysen, third generation Dutch immigrant, a Major General, a U.S. Senator, a person who served his country well, passed away on April 13, 1804. He is interred in the Old Cemetery in Weston, New Jersey.