Dubois, Benjamin

Dubois, Benjamin a Reformed (Dutch) minister, descended from the French Hugluenots who settled on Staten Island to escape the persecutions of Louis XIV, was born in 1739. He studied theology under Reverend J.H. Goetschius, was licensed by the American Classis in 1764, and for sixty-three years was pastor of the united Reformed Dutch churches of Freehold and Middletown, in Monmouth County, N.J. During the Revolutionary war he was foremost among the defenders of liberty, and often preached to his people upon their duty during the struggle. He died in 1827. See Marcellus, Hist. Discourse; Corwin, Manual of the Ref. Church in America, page 75. (W.J.R.T.)