Abraham Bruyn Hasbrouck (November 29, 1791 – February 23, 1879) was a United States Congressman from New York and the sixth President of Rutgers College (now

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

) serving from 1840 to 1850. He was a slaveholder.

Biography

He was born in 1791 in

Kingston, New York Kingston is the only Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in, and the county seat of, Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany, New York, Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grou ...

, to Jonathan Hasbrouck (1763–1846) and Catherine Wynkoop (1763–1846). He studied at the Kingston Academy in

before entering

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

where he graduated in 1810. Studying the law under Tapping Reeve, Elisha Williams, and James Gould, he returned to

, in 1814 to practice law. In 1817 he started a law practice with Charles H. Ruggles. He married on September 12, 1819, to Julia Frances Ludlum (1795–1869), the sister of Judge Gabriel W. Ludlum. Together they had eight children, including a son: Jonathan Howard Bruyn Hasbrouck (1820–1899), and a daughter, Caroline Hone Hasbrouck (1830-1898), who married George H. Sharpe, also a Hasbrouck descendant. Hasbrouck was elected to the 19th United States Congress, holding office from March 4, 1825, to March 3, 1827. In 1840, he was appointed as the sixth president of Rutgers College. He was the first layman to hold the office. During his tenure as president, he taught

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

constitutional Law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

, and

political economy Political or comparative economy is a branch of political science and economics studying economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and national economies) and their governance by political systems (e.g. law, institutions, and government). Wi ...

. He worked to gain more independence from the Dutch Reformed Church and added modern languages to the curriculum, and expanded scientific instruction to the curriculum. He resigned from the office in 1849. He remained in office until 1850 when Theodore Frelinghuysen was appointed as his successor. Hasbrouck retired to

, where he died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

on February 23, 1879.

Legacy

Abraham Bruyn Hasbrouck was a descendant of the Hasbroucks who founded New Paltz in 1678. The Hasbroucks were

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

, Protestant followers of

John Calvin John Calvin (; ; ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French Christian theology, theologian, pastor and Protestant Reformers, reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of C ...

who fled what is today Northern France and South Belgium who fled persecution by the ruling Catholics. The original settlement of their ancestors survives today as Historic Huguenot Street, a National Historic Landmark District. A street named after him in both Newburgh and Kingston, New York. The street in Kingston is named "Abruyn," because of the way he would sign his name, "A. Bruyn Hasbrouck," to differentiate himself from his first cousin, Abraham J. Hasbrouck.

References

External links

Historic Huguenot Street

Hasbrouck Family Association
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hasbrouck, Abraham Bruyn 1791 births 1879 deaths Hasbrouck family Yale University alumni Presidents of Rutgers University Deaths from pneumonia in New York (state) Politicians from Kingston, New York National Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) Bruyn family 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives