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
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 (
néeBayard) 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-acre (24 ha)
Stuyvesant familybouwerie (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
MayorNicholas 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 CityWilhelmus 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
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
masonJohn 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
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]
Nicholas William Stuyvesant (1769–1833),[16] who married Catharine Livingston Reade (1777–1863), a descendant of
Robert Livingston.[14] He was educated in Scotland, inherited his uncle's "the Bowery House",[17] and had nine children.[6][18] In 1795, he built a Federal-style house that today is the oldest house in
Greenwich Village at 44 Stuyvesant Street.[7]
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.
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
MayorLevi 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]