Peter Stuyvesant (merchant)

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Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant (merchant).jpg
Portrait of Stuyvesant by Gilbert Stuart, c. 1793-95
Born
Petrus Stuyvesant

(1727-10-13)October 13, 1727
New York City, Province of New York, British America
DiedOctober 7, 1805(1805-10-07) (aged 77)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Spouse(s)
Margaret Livingston
​
(m. 1764)​
Children5, including Nicholas, Peter
Parent(s)Peter Gerard Stuyvesant
Judith Bayard Stuyvesant
RelativesHamilton Fish (grandson)
Peter Stuyvesant (great-grandfather)

Petrus "Peter" Stuyvesant (October 13, 1727 – October 7, 1805) was a New York landowner and merchant who was a great-grandson of his namesake, Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Director-General of New Amsterdam.

Early life[]

His great-grandfather, Peter Stuyvesant

Stuyvesant was born in New York City on October 13, 1727. He was one of four sons born to Peter Gerard Stuyvesant (1691–1777), who was prominent in the civil affairs of New York and served as a magistrate for over thirty years, and Judith (née Bayard) Stuyvesant (b. 1685), who married in 1720.[1] His father owned the original Stuyvesant family home, and which burned down in 1778. Being the only son that left descendants, Peter inherited the 60 acres (24 ha) Stuyvesant family bouwerie (or farm).[2] His eldest brother was fellow merchant Nicholas William Stuyvesant, who died unmarried in 1780.[3] His other two brothers died in infancy.[4]

His maternal grandparents were Balthazar Bayard (a brother of the Mayor Nicholas Bayard) and Maria (née Loockermans) Bayard.[4] His paternal grandparents were Nicholas William Stuyvesant and Elizabeth (née Van Slichtenhorst) Stuyvesant (a daughter of Brant Van Slichtenhorst, the director of Rensselaerwyck; her sister, Margaretta, was the wife of Philip Pieterse Schuyler).[5] Before their marriage, his grandfather had been married to Maria Beekman, the eldest daughter of Mayor of New York City Wilhelmus Beekman, with whom he had a daughter before Maria's death in 1679.[4] As was common in colonial America, his family regularly intermarried and his grandfathers were first cousins; his maternal grandfather Balthazar was the son of Ann (née Stuyvesant) Bayard, sister of Peter Stuyvesant. Further, Peter Stuyvesant's wife Judith Bayard, was the sister of Ann's husband, Samuel Bayard.[4]

Career[]

St. Mark's Church on Stuyvesant Street, 1830

Stuyvesant was educated in the schools of New York and became a merchant in New York City like his elder brother.[6] He inherited significant property and great wealth, and was active in philanthropy like his father before him.[4] He is credited with the original layout of the streets between what is today known as Fourth Avenue and the East River, and East 5th Street to East 20th Street.[7]

St. Mark's Church[]

In 1793, Stuyvesant sold the property encompassing the Stuyvesant family chapel to the Episcopal Church for $1,[8] stipulating that a new chapel be erected to serve Bowery Village, the community which had coalesced around the Stuyvesant family chapel.[9] His great-grandfather had purchased the land from the Dutch West India Company and in 1651 and, by 1660, had built the family chapel. The elder Stuyvesant was interred in a vault under the chapel following his death in 1672.[10][11] In 1795, the cornerstone of the present day St. Mark's Church was laid, and the fieldstone Georgian style church, built by the architect and mason John McComb Jr., was completed and consecrated on May 9, 1799.[10] Alexander Hamilton provided legal aid in incorporating the church as the first Episcopal parish independent of Trinity Church in New York City.[9]

Personal life[]

Stuyvesant's younger son, Peter Gerard Stuyvesant.
Photograph of Stuyvesant's grandson, Hamilton Fish, a New York governor, United States Senator, and U.S. Secretary of State

In 1764, Stuyvesant was married to Margaret "Peggy" Livingston (1738–1818), the daughter of Gilbert Livingston and Cornelia (née Beekman) Livingston. Margaret was a granddaughter of Hendrick Beekman and Robert Livingston the Elder, the first Lord of Livingston Manor, and great-granddaughter of Wilhelmus Beekman (who arrived in New Amsterdam aboard the same ship as his great-grandfather, Peter Stuyvesant).[12] Among her siblings were Henry Gilbert Livingston (father of Gilbert, John Henry, and Henry Livingston Jr. among others), Alida Livingston (wife of Jacob Rutsen and Hendrick Van Rensselaer), and Joanna Livingston (who was married to Pierre Van Cortlandt, the first Lieutenant Governor of the New York).[13] Together, Peter and Margaret were the parents of five children, two sons and three daughters, including:[4]

The American portrait painter Gilbert Stuart made a portrait of Stuyvesant in c. 1793-95,[27] that was later owned by his 2x great-grandson, Winthrop Astor Chanler, and his son, Rear Admiral Hubert Winthrop Chanler (d. 1974),[28] Stuyvesant's 3x great-grandson.[29]

Stuyvesant died in New York City on October 7, 1805, a few days shy of his seventy-eighth birthday. He was buried in the churchyard of St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery in Manhattan.

Descendants[]

Further information: Stuyvesant family

Through his eldest daughter Judith, he was a grandfather of Elizabeth Sherriff (née Winthrop) Chanler (1789–1866) (wife of John White Chanler and mother of U.S. Representative John Winthrop Chanler), Margaret Cornelia (née Winthrop) Folsom (1801–1863) (wife of the chargé d'affaires to the Netherlands George Folsom),[30] and Benjamin Robert Winthrop (1804–1879) (who married Eliza Ann Coles Neilson and was the father of Egerton Leigh Winthrop).[31]

Through his daughter Cornelia, he was a grandfather of at least twelve grandchildren including Petrus Stuyvesant Ten Broeck (1792–1849), a priest who married Lucretia Loring Cutter (daughter of Mayor Levi Cutter),[32] and Stephan Philip Van Rensselaer Ten Broeck (1802–1866), a physician who married Mary Nielson.[32]

Through his son Nicholas, he was a grandfather of Gerard Stuyvesant (1805–1859),[16] Nicholas Stuyvesant (1805–1871),[33] and Margaret Livingston Stuyvesant (1806–1845), who married Robert Van Rensselaer (a son of Jeremiah Van Rensselaer and Sybil Adeline (née Kane) Van Rensselaer and nephew of Jacob R. Van Rensselaer).[34]

Through his daughter Elizabeth, he was a grandfather of at least five, including Hamilton Fish (1808–1893), a New York governor, United States Senator, and U.S. Secretary of State,[35] who married Julia Ursin Niemcewiez Kean (sister of U.S. Senator John Kean and granddaughter of Continental Congressman John Kean).[36]

References[]

  1. ^ New-York Historical Society (1958). "Quarterly, Volumes 42-43": 197–198. Retrieved 28 September 2020. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ Schulz, Dana (November 5, 2014). "Peter Stuyvesant's NYC: From the Bouwerie Farm to That Famous Pear Tree | 6sqft". 6sqft. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
  3. ^ "Guide to the Stuyvesant-Rutherfurd Papers 1647-1917 (bulk 1840-1917) | Series VII: Nicholas William Stuyvesant (1722-1780)". dlib.nyu.edu. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Reynolds, Cuyler (1914). Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. pp. 1011–1015. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  5. ^ Roper, Louis H.; Ruymbeke, Bertrand Van (2007). Constructing Early Modern Empires: Proprietary Ventures in the Atlantic World, 1500-1750. BRILL. p. 314. ISBN 978-90-04-15676-0. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Guide to the Stuyvesant-Rutherfurd Papers 1647-1917 (bulk 1840-1917) | Series III: Peter (Petrus) Stuyvesant". dlib.nyu.edu. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  7. ^ a b Berman, Andrew (September 13, 2018). "The oldest house in the Village? It's not what you think". 6sqft. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  8. ^ New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission; Dolkart, Andrew S.; Postal, Matthew A. (2009). Postal, Matthew A. (ed.). Guide to New York City Landmarks (4th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-28963-1., p.67
  9. ^ a b Burrows, Edwin G. and Wallace, Mike (1999). Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-195-11634-8. p. 389
  10. ^ a b Virtual tour on the St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery website
  11. ^ Dunlap, David W. (2004). From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. Columbia University Press. p. 224. ISBN 978-0-231-12543-7. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  12. ^ a b Rutherfurd, Livingston (1894). Family Records and Events: Compiled Principally from the Original Manuscripts in the Rutherfurd Collection. De Vinne Press. p. 252. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  13. ^ Judd, Jacob (1977). Van Cortlandt Family Papers Vol II. Tarrytown: Sleepy Hollow Restorations. pp. xxxviii, liv. ISBN 0-912882-29-8.
  14. ^ a b c d The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York: History, Customs, Record of Events, Constitution, Certain Genealogies, and Other Matters of Interest. V. 1-. Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York. 1905. p. 32. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  15. ^ Reynolds, Cuyler (1911). Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs: A Record of Achievements of the People of the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys in New York State, Included Within the Present Counties of Albany, Rensselaer, Washington, Saratoga, Montgomery, Fulton, Schenectady, Columbia and Greene. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p. 32. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  16. ^ a b "Gerard Stuyvesant (1805-1859)". www.nyhistory.org. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  17. ^ Miller, Tom (9 April 2018). "Daytonian in Manhattan: The Lost Nicholas Wm. Stuyvesant Mansion - St. Mark's Place". daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com. Daytonian in Manhattan. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  18. ^ Scoville, Joseph Alfred (1864). The Old Merchants of New York City. Carleton. pp. 318–319. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  19. ^ Barrett, Walter (1865). The Old Merchants of New York City Volume 3. Books on Demand. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-598-37947-4. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  20. ^ Alexander, Cathy A. (September 1, 1974). "Hamilton Fish House" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination. National Park Service. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  21. ^ Tulloch, Judith (1987). "Barclay, Thomas Henry". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. VI (1821–1835) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  22. ^ Moffat, R. Burnham (1904). The Barclays of New York: Who They Are And Who They Are Not,--And Some Other Barclays. R. G. Cooke. p. 116. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  23. ^ "Peter Gerard Stuyvesant (1778-1847)". www.nyhistory.org. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  24. ^ "Funeral of Mrs. Stuyvesant" (PDF). The New York Times. 21 August 1873. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
  25. ^ "ST. MARK'S HISTORIC DISTRICT, Borough of Manhattan" (PDF). www.nyc.gov. Landmarks Preservation Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
  26. ^ Dunning, Jennifer (March 12, 1982). "Metropolitan Baedeker; EXPLORING THE HISTORIC STUYVESANT SQUARE AREA". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
  27. ^ Kelby, William (1922). Notes on American Artists, 1754-1820: Copied from Advertisements Appearing in the Newspapers of the Day. New-York Historical Society. p. 69. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  28. ^ "Hubert W. Chanler Dies; Retired Admiral Was 74". The New York Times. 2 October 1974. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  29. ^ "Attributed to Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755-1828) Winthrop Astor Chanler's "Portrait of Petrus Stuyvesant"". www.cottoneauctions.com. Cottone Auctions. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  30. ^ "The Death of Hon. George Folsom" (PDF). The New York Times. April 11, 1869. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  31. ^ "Century Archives – BENJAMIN R. WINTHROP". centuryarchives.org. The Century Association Archives Foundation. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  32. ^ a b Runk, Emma Ten Broeck (1897). The Ten Broeck Genealogy, Being the Records and Annals of Dirck Wesselse Ten Broeck of Albany and his Descendants. New York: De Vinne press. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  33. ^ Hughes, Thomas Patrick; Munsell, Frank (1895). American Ancestry: Giving Name and Descent, in the Male Line, of Americans Whose Ancestors Settled in the United States Previous to the Declaration of Independence, A. D. 1776 | Vol. X. United States: Joel Munsell's Sons, Publishers. p. 178. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  34. ^ Aitken, William Benford (1912). Distinguished Families in America, Descended from Wilhelmus Beekman and Jan Thomasse Van Dyke. Knickerbocker Press. p. 13. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  35. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Fish, Hamilton" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 427.
  36. ^ Burke, Arthur Meredyth (1908). The Prominent Families of the United States of America. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 385. ISBN 9780806313085. Retrieved 15 September 2017.

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