# Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Romeyn, Theodoric

Edition of 1900.
​ROMEYN, Theodoric (called Dirck) (ro-mine'), clergyman, b. in Hackensack, N. J., 12 June, 1744; d. in Schenectady, N. Y., 16 April, 1804. His ancestor, Claas Janse, a native of Holland, emigrated to this country from Rotterdam in 1661. Dirck was graduated at Princeton in 1765, studied theology, and was ordained in 1766, subsequently becoming pastor of the Reformed Dutch churches in Hackensack and Schraalenburgh, N. J. During the Revolution he suffered from the depredations of the British, but continued to serve his congregation at great personal risk. He declined the presidency of Rutgers in 1784, and again in 1791, became pastor of the church in Schenectady, N. Y., in May of the former year, and continued in that charge until his death. He was one of the founders of the academy that subsequently became Union college, and from 1797 till 1804 was professor of theology in the general synod of the Reformed Dutch church. Rutgers gave him the degree of D. D. in 1789. — His brother, John Brodhead, clergyman, b. in Marbletown, Ulster co., N. Y., 8 Nov., 1777; d. in New York city, 22 Feb., 1825, was graduated at Columbia in 1795, and in 1798 was licensed to preach. He became pastor of the Reformed Dutch church in Rhinebeck, N. Y., in 1799, and of the Presbyterian church in Schenectady in 1803, was in charge of the church in Albany for the succeeding four years, and then accepted the charge of the Cedar street church, New York city, which he held until his death. Princeton gave him the degree of D. D. in 1809. Dr. Romeyn was one of the most popular preachers of his day, and an able theologian. He declined calls to numerous wealthy parishes, and the presidencies of Transylvania university and Dickinson college. He was one of the founders of Princeton theological seminary, a trustee of that institution and of Princeton college, and at the age of thirty-three was moderator of the general assembly of the Presbyterian church. He published a large number of occasional discourses, which were collected and republished (2 vols., New York, 1816). — Dirck's nephew, Nicholas, physician, b. in Hackensack, N. J., in September, 1756; d. in New York city, 21 July, 1817, wrote his family name Romayne. He was the son of a silversmith, and received great educational advantages. At the beginning of the Revolution he went to Edinburgh, where he was known as an able scholar, and took the degree of M. D., presenting a thesis entitled “De Generatione Puris,” which was at one time famous. He subsequently studied in Paris, London, and Leyden, and on his return settled in Philadelphia, and then in New York city, where he practised his profession. He embarked in the William Blount conspiracy in instigating the Cherokee and Creek Indians to aid the British in their attempt to conquer the Spanish territory in Louisiana in 1797, was seized and imprisoned, and subsequently again visited Europe. He was the first president of the New York medical society, and of the New York college of physicians and surgeons, of which he was a founder, and in which he taught anatomy and the institutes of medicine. Dr. John W. Francis says of him: “He was unwearied in toil and of mighty energy, dexterous in legislative bodies, and at one period of his career was vested with almost all the honors the medical profession can bestow.” He published an address before the students of the New York college of physicians and surgeons on “The Ethnology of the Red Man in America” (New York, 1808). — Nicholas's brother, Jeremiah (Romeyn), clergyman, b. in New York city, 24 Dec., 1768; d. in Woodstock, Ulster co., N. Y., 17 July, 1818, was educated by Dr. Peter Wilson in Hackensack, N. J., studied theology under Dr. Dirck Romeyn, and was pastor successively of Dutch Reformed churches in Livingston Manor and Red Hook, N. Y., from 1788 till 1806, after which he took charge of the church in Harlem till 1814. He was an eminent, linguist, and from 1797 till his death was professor of Hebrew in the Dutch Reformed church. — Another nephew of Dirck, James Van Campen, clergyman, b. in Minisink, N. Y., 14 Nov., 1765; d. in Hackensack, N. J., 27 June, 1840, was educated at Schenectady academy, studied theology under his uncle Dirck, and was ordained in 1787. From 1788 till 1799 he was pastor of the Reformed Dutch church of Greenbush, N. Y., having charge also of the churches of Schosack and Wynantskill, N. Y., at different periods. In 1799-1834 he was pastor of the united congregations of the Dutch Reformed church in Hackensack and Sehraalenburgh, N. J. He was a trustee of Rutgers from 1807 till his death, and one of the most successful collectors for the theological professional fund. He published an “Address to the Students of the Theological Seminary.” — James Van Campen's son, James, clergyman, b. in Greenbush, N. Y., in 1797; d. in New Brunswick, N. J., 7 Sept., 1859, was graduated at Columbia in 1816, licensed to preach in 1819, and was successively pastor of Reformed Dutch churches in Nassau, N. Y., Six Mile Run and Hackensack, N. J., Catskill, N. Y., Leeds, N. Y., and Bergen Neck, N. J. He abandoned preaching in 1852 on account of the failure of his health. Columbia gave him the degree of S. T. D. in 1838, but he refused it. He published “The Crisis,” a sermon (New Brunswick, 1842), and a “Plea for the Evangelical Press” (1843). — His son, Theodore Bayard, clergyman, b. in Nassau, N. Y., 22 Oct., 1827; d. in Hackensack, N. J., 29 Aug., 1885, was graduated at Rutgers in 1846, and at the New Brunswick theological seminary in 1849. He was pastor of the Reformed Dutch church in Blaw- enburg, N. J., in 1850-'65, and from the latter date until his death of the 1st Reformed church at Hackensack. Rutgers gave him the degree of D. D. in 1869. He contributed regularly to the religious press, and, besides sermons and addresses, published “Historical Discourse on the Reopening and Dedication of the 1st Reformed (Dutch) Church at Hackensack, N. J., May 2, 1869” (New York, 1870), and “The Adaptation of the Reformed Church in America to American Character” (1876). See “Memorial,” published by the consistory (New York, 1885).