Pieter Schuyler

For the militia colonel captured during the French and Indian War, see Peter Schuyler (New Jersey).

Pieter Schuyler
Painting of Schuyler from between 1710 and 1718
Acting Governor of the Province of New York
In office May 6 – May 9, 1709
Preceded by	Lord Lovelace
Succeeded by	Richard Ingoldesby
In office May 25 – June 1, 1709
Preceded by	Richard Ingoldesby
Succeeded by	Richard Ingoldesby
In office July 21, 1719 – September 17, 1720
Preceded by	Robert Hunter
Succeeded by	William Burnet
Personal details
Born	(1657-09-17)September 17, 1657 Beverwijck, New Netherlands
Died	February 19, 1724(1724-02-19) (aged 66) Albany, Province of New York
Resting place	Albany Rural Cemetery, Menands

Pieter Schuyler (September 17, 1657 – February 19, 1724) was the first mayor of Albany, New York. A long-serving member of the executive council of the Province of New York, he acted as governor of the Province of New York on three occasions – twice for brief periods in 1709, after the death of Lord Lovelace, and also from 1719 to 1720, after Robert Hunter left office.

Life

Pieter Schuyler was born in 1657 in Beverwyck, New Netherland, the son of Philip Pieterse Schuyler and Margarita Van Slichtenhorst.

In March 1685 Governor Dongan appointed Pieter Schuyler lieutenant of cavalry in the Albany militia. He later attained the rank of Major, and then Colonel. In 1690 during King William's War, Schuyler's younger brother led an attack on La Prairie, Quebec. Colonel Schuyler led a second attack the following year.

In April 1685 he was appointed Judge of the Court of Oyer and Terminer. On July 22, 1686, Albany was incorporated as a city and Pieter Schuyler was named its first mayor. As mayor, Schuyler was also chairman of the Board of the Commissioners for Indian Affairs.

From 1692, Schuyler was a member of the executive council, which was the unelected upper house of New York's colonial legislature. He was the first man from Albany to be appointed to the council. When Lord Lovelace died in May 1709, the lieutenant governor, Richard Ingoldesby, was absent. Under the terms of Lovelace's commission as governor, the executive council's most senior member was next in the line of succession, and Schuyler thus served as acting governor until Ingoldesby's return a few days later. Ingoldesby was again absent later in the month, with Schuyler taking over as governor for another period of less than a week.

When Robert Hunter had his commission as governor revoked in July 1719, Schuyler was still the most senior member of the executive council, and consequently served a third term as acting governor. The new governor, William Burnet, did not take office until September 1720. Burnet removed Schuyler from the executive council in 1721, along with another councillor, Adolphus Philipse, who like Schuyler was a New Netherlander.

Marriage and children

Pieter Schuyler was married twice.

His children with his first wife Engeltie Van Schaick (died 1689):

Name	Birth	Notes
Margarita	1682	married Robert Livingston the Younger.
Philip	1684	died young.
Anna	1686	died in childhood.
Gertruj	1689	died young.

His children with his second wife Maria Van Rensselaer:

Name	Birth	Notes
Gertruj	1694	married Johannes Lansing.
Philip	1696	married Margarita Schyuler.
Pieter	1698	twin, married Catherine Groesbeck.
Jeremiah	1698	twin, married Susanna Bayeux.

Family

Their many Schuyler children established the family name and the Schuyler Mansion in Albany. They were closely related with the great family patroons of New York, the Van Cortlandts and :

Print of Schuyler.

• Pieter's sister Gertrude was the wife of Mayor of New York Stephanus Van Cortlandt
• Pieter's sister Alida was the wife, first, of Nicholas van Rensselaer and, second, of Robert Livingston.
• The father of Pieter Schuyler's second wife Maria was Jeremias Van Rensselaer.
• A son of Jeremias and a brother of Maria was Hendrick Van Rensselaer whose wife Catherina was the sister of the mayor of Albany Pieter Van Brugh. (Catherina Van Brugh was the great-grandmother of Continental General Peter Gansevoort — the grandfather of author Herman Melville. Peter Gansevoort was married to Catherina — sister of Continental General Goose Van Schaick. Catherine & Gose were the children of Albany mayor Sybrant Van Schaick).
• Pieter Schuyler third son's granddaughter married Col. Philip Kiliaen van Rensselaer of "Cherry Hill" in Albany (Philip was a great-grandson of Jeremias Van Rensselaer).
• Two great-grandsons of Pieter Schuyler and Maria Van Rensselaer were Richard Livingston and Colonel James Livingston (American Revolution).

Other relatives:

• Pieter Schuyler's great nephew was Continental General Philip Schuyler whose cousin Hester Schuyler married General William Colfax-the grandparents of Congressman and Vice President Schuyler Colfax who married a niece of Senator Benjamin Franklin Wade and who was related to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes; see link on Schuyler Colfax to Dudley-Winthrop family.
• Philip Schuyler's sister was married to Director General of the Military Hospitals of the Continental Army Dr. John Cochran (military physician). They were the grandparents of US General/Congressman John Cochran (general).

External links

• Van Rensselaer/Schuyler genealogy-for reference only
• The Schuyler House and Family, Albany NY, New York State Museum