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Maria
Gerritse Van Schaick
Maria Gerritse was born in May 1717. She was the daughter of tradesman and landholder Jan Gerritse and his second wife Maria Winne.
She
was twenty-six in November 1743 when she married
Albany blacksmith Wessel Van Schaick. By 1758, five
of her children had been baptized at the Albany Dutch
church where she was a pewholder and occasional baptism
sponsor. In 1745, she was named in the will of her
mother to inherit a share of her estate and a "great looking glass."
As
her husband made the transition from tradesman to
merchant, these Van Schaicks lived in the heart of
the first ward waterfront residential area in a substantial
home attended by several servants.
Wessel
Van Schaick died in 1783. Maria was left use of his
substantial estate during her widowhood. She was
attended by her youngest son Gerrit - a bachelor,
but was listed as the head of their household on
the census in 1790. Maria Gerritse Van Schaick died
in January 1797 and was buried from the Dutch church!
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Sources: The life of Maria Gerritse Van Schaick is CAP biography
number 6009. This profile is derived chiefly from
family and community-based resources.
By Stefan Bielinski, Colonial Albany Social History Project [http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany]
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