Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/572

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542
FREITES
FRELINGHUYSEN

the province of Para increased threefold. His life, written by Father Uoraingos de Teixeyra, contains much valuable information on the rebellion of Beekman against Freire de Andrada, which may be regarded as the first attempt of the Brazilians to establish their independence. It also contains the only authentic documents relative to the first difficulties between France and Portugal concerning the regions about C'ape North. — His cousin, (jromez, count of Bobadella, Portuguese statesman, b. in Coirabra in 1685 ; d. in Rio Janeiro, 1 Feb., 1768, studied at Coimbra, and entered the army at an early age. In 1707 he distinguished himself in the war between Portugal and Spain, in 1708 was promoted colonel, and in 1712 to general. On 8 May, 1733, he was appointed governor of Rio Janeiro, and in 1735 was also given the administration of the rich province of Slinas Geraes. He erected in Rio Janeiro many fine buildings and monuments, and made important improvements in the bay. In 1744 the mines of the district of Paracatu were discovered, and Freii'e organized a scheme for working them, and published a description of his system, which is even to-day an authority on mining engineering. On 17 Jan., 1752, he founded the first Brazilian academy, called Dos Selectos da Rio Janeiro, which association established in 1754 the first printing- office in Portuguese America. In 1754 a boundary dispute led to war with Spain, and Freire marched against the territory of the seven missions, gaining the victory in four battles. As a reward for this service he was made count of Bobadella in 1757. The loss of the colony of Sacramento by Portugal in October, 1762, was such a serious blow to Freire that he died in a few months.


FREITES, Pedro Maria (fry'-tes), Venezuelan patriot, b. in Barcelona in 1790; d. in Caracas, 7 May, 1817. His father was a colonel and governor of Barcelona, and Freites was also employed in the Spanish administration ; but when, in 1811, the independence of Venezuela was declared, he joined the republican army. He took part in Bolivar's expedition to Venezuela, and commanded the infantry of Piar in the battle of Juncal, 27 Sept., 1816, in which Morales's forces were annihilated. When Bolivar, in the beginning of 1817, resolved to evacuate Barcelona, he left there a battalion of 700 men under the command of Freites, who had been promoted to brigadier-general. Freites's forces were not sufficient to defend the whole city, and he therefore occupied Casa Fuerte, an intrenched fort constructed out of the convent of St. Francis, where also many of the principal families of Barcelona took refuge. This was captured by the Spanish on 7 April after a protracted resistance, but Freites made a desperate sally and had already nearly gained the neighboring woods, when he fell, and all his followers were overpowered and killed. Freites and the governor, Rivas, were spared and sent as prisoners to Caracas, where the captain- general, Moxo, ordered their execution.


FREJES, Francisco (freh-es), Mexican histo- rian, b. in Guadalajara ; d. in Zacatecas in 1845. He was a Franciscan monk in the convent of his native city, where he distinguished himself as a pulpit orator. His love of study caused him to obtain his transfer to the convent of Guadalupe, in Zacatecas, where he had the advantage of a valuable library containing many manuscripts of the time of the conquest. He was appointed chronicler of the convent in 1835, and in 1838 became its superior. Here he finished his " Historia Breve de la Conquista de los Estados Independientes del Imperio Mejicano " (new ed., Guadalajara, 1878). He is a clear and impartial writer, and as some material, which never had become public, was at his command, his history may be considered the most authentic one. Frejes also published " Memoria Historica de los Sucesos mas notables de la Conquista particular de Jalisco por los Espauoles " (1842), and a pamphlet on education.


FRELINGHUYSEN, Theodorus Jacobus, clergyman, b. in West Friesland in 1691; d. in New Jersey in 1747. After receiving a thorough classical education he began the study of theology, was ordained to the ministry in the Reformed Dutch church at the age of twenty-six, and was for about two years the pastor of a church in his native land. A movement to establish a missionary of the Reformed Dutch church in the new settlements on the Raritan River in New Jersey resulted in the choice of Mr. Frelinghuysen, who removed thither in 1720, and thus became the founder of the Frelinghuysen family in New Jersey. The field of his pastoral charge extended over the greater part of Somerset and Middlesex counties. He was an indefatigable worker, and remarkably successful in all his difficult undertakings. George Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards speak of him as “one of the greatest divines of the American church.” He was an early advocate for the establishment in America of an ecclesiastical judicatory possessing larger powers than had hitherto been granted by the church in Holland. As a member of the first convention of his church held in New York, he gave efficient support to a measure that resulted in the independence of that church in the New World. He is spoken of as a man of great fearlessness of spirit, of eloquence as a speaker, and of vigor as a writer. Mr. Frelinghuysen had five sons who were ordained to the ministry, and two daughters who married ministers. Three of his sermons, in the Dutch language, were published in New York as early as 1721, two others in 1729, and all these were translated into English and published in 1730. Ten sermons, in Dutch, were published in New York in 1733, and a second edition of the same in Holland, under approval and with the commendation of the theological faculty of the University of Groningen, who called them “The noble fruit brought from the New World to our doors.” Two sermons were published in Utrecht in 1738, four in Philadelphia in 1745. All these were translated into English by Rev. William Demarest, and published by the board of publication of the Reformed Dutch church in 1856, with an introduction by Dr. Thomas De Witt, and a biographical sketch by the translator. — His second son, John, b. in Three Mile Run, New Jersey, in 1727; d. on Long Island, in September 1754, was sent to Holland to complete his academic course, and in 1750 was ordained to the ministry by the classis of Amsterdam. Soon afterward he returned to his native country, and entered on his duties as the successor of his father, fixing his residence at Somerville, N.J. In addition to his pastoral work, he undertook the education of young men for the ministry, and to his labors in this direction Queen's College, now Rutgers, is largely indebted for its establishment. While on a journey, in September 1754, he was suddenly taken sick and died. — John's only son, Frederick, lawyer, b. in Somerset county, New Jersey, 13 April 1753; d. 13 April 1804, was graduated at Princeton in 1770, entered on the study of the law, and was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-one. When he had barely completed his twenty-third year he was chosen a member of the Provincial congress of New Jersey, where he was placed on the important committee of public safety. The following year (1776)