By North Jersey History and Genealogy Center -

Peter H. B. Frelinghuysen Sr.’s Twin Oaks Farm

By Linda Ross, North Jersey History and Genealogy Center

After his graduation from Princeton and the Columbia Law School, and his marriage to Adeline Havemeyer, Peter H.B. Frelinghuysen, grandfather of Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen, bought his first farm property in 1914, on land between Whippany and Columbia Roads in Morris Township.

He added acreage until eventually he owned a farm of 150 acres, on both sides of Whippany and Columbia Roads, abutting his father’s Whippany Farm (now the George Griswold Frelinghuysen Arboretum). Peter named his farm Twin Oaks and proceeded to build one of the finest herds of Jersey dairy cattle in the country.

The first cow was purchased in 1916, with regular acquisitions thereafter. Peter and Adeline Frelinghuysen worked with importers of cattle from the Island of Jersey, most notably an importer named Paul Spann.

They followed the “Noble” line of cattle descended from Golden Fern Noble, “a magnificent Jersey bull” that sired the Twin Oaks line. Both Frelinghuysens reportedly had a shrewd sense of divining potential champions: they bought and bred their way to nine consecutive champion bulls at the National Dairy Show from 1922 to 1930. Their cows were also prize winners. Between 1923 and 1939, Twin Oaks cows were national champions four times.

Show potential was important but milk production was essential. According to an article in the Daily Record of August 12, 1963, “Animals that did not exceed by at least 50 percent requirements laid down by the American Jersey Cattle Club were not kept.”

Production by a single Twin Oaks cow of more than 18,000 pounds of milk and 1,000 pounds of butter fat annually was not uncommon. At the time, the national average production was 4,500 pounds of milk and 250 pounds of fat per cow per year.

There were five barns at Twin Oaks. The main barn was built in 1921 and accommodated 40 cows in stanchions and 10 in box stalls. One barn housed only calves. In addition to the barns, there were extensive greenhouses on the farm, along with a boarding house for the single male workers.

In its heyday the farm produced about 500 quarts of milk per day. The milk was bottled on site and distributed for sale around the township. It was trademarked as Jersey Creamline and became the standard for milk in the region, being rated grade-A-plus.

Peter and Adeline Frelinghuysen attended almost every major cattle show east of the Mississippi in the 1920s, where they not only exhibited their own prize-winning stock, but served as show judges.

In addition to cattle, they won prizes for their poultry, carnations, and miniature poodles. Mrs. Frelinghuysen had the first ever best-in-show miniature poodle at the Madison Square Garden show. Her breeding kennels were at the Wexford Farm.

The couple was so immersed in their cattle business that they had murals of their favorite cows and bulls painted on the walls of their bedroom by livestock painter Edwin Megargee.

Although Megargee was widely known as a painter of realistic portraits of hunting and show dogs, his work included horses, cattle and other forms of livestock. Unfortunately the murals no longer survive.

As the farm gained in recognition and reputation, cattlemen from around the world became interested in the herd. Frelinghuysen exported cattle, primarily to South America, and also to Australia and New Zealand. His sires were sold throughout the United States and were instrumental in raising the average milk and fat production of US herds substantially.

A popular story about a Frelinghuysen prize-winner garnered this caption in Morristown’s Daily Record on December 13, 1939:

“Royalist Dandy Victor, champion Jersey bull bred and owned by Peter Frelinghuysen of Twin Oaks Farm, walked through a china shop without doing a bit of damage.”

The famous band leader Fred Waring had made a bet with Paul Douglas, a radio commentator, on the outcome of a college football game. The loser was to lead a bull through a china shop and pay for any breakage that occurred.

They selected Plummer’s on Fifth Avenue in New York and invited guests to witness the event. Mr. Waring lost the bet. The manager from Twin Oaks actually led the bull through the shop, with Mr. Waring walking alongside, his hand resting on the lead.

The only breakage of the day came from Mr. Douglas purposely breaking a plate, which startled not the bull but Mr. Waring, who bumped into and broke another plate and three cups.

When Peter Frelinghuysen died in 1959, the family reduced the herd to about 20. They stopped showing their cattle and selling milk to the public. After Adeline Frelinghuysen died in 1963 the property was put up for sale.

In 1964 the Frelinghuysen Foundation Inc. proposed to subdivide 47 acres of the farm for building and industrial development. The subdivision included 10 lots from the property bounded by Columbia and Whippany Roads, Woodruff Road and Normandy Heights Road.

One of the 10 lots was the Frelinghuysen home which became the Morris Museum. An additional subdivision included a 30-acre tract bounded by Columbia Road, Normandy Parkway and Oak Lane. From this subdivision, 12.5 acres was to be donated to the township for use as a municipal playground, which is today known as Frelinghuysen Park.

Sources

Cavanaugh, Cam, In Lights and Shadows: Morristown in Three Centuries, Morristown, NJ: Joint Free Public Library of Morristown and Morris Township, c1986.

Hoskins, Barbara, Morris Township, New Jersey: A Glimpse into the Past, Morristown, NJ: Morris Township American Revolution Bicentennial Committee, 1976.

Rae, John Warden, Morristown’s Forgotten Past, “The Gilded Age”: the story of a New Jersey town, once a society center for the nation’s wealthy, Morristown, NJ: J. W. Rae, 1979.

The Daily Record, Morristown, NJ, multiple articles (from the Frelinghuysen family file)

June 5, 1936;

December 13, 1939;

May 5, 1959;

August 12, 1963;

March 6, 1964

July 21, 1964