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Robert
Henry
Robert
Henry was born in Northern Ireland about 1735. He
was of Scottish ancestry - possibly the son of a
trading family that emigrated to America during the
mid-eighteenth century. By 1757, he had settled in
Albany where he was selling broadcloths from the
Court Street home of Dr. Van Dyck in partnership
with Thomas Shipboy.
The
trader quickly prospered - establishing his own store
on Court Street near the city hall from where he
supplied goods to frontier traders and opened business
connections with New York and Montreal. By 1766,
he was counted among the most affluent Albany merchants.
Although he would hold no municipal positions, he
was a contractor of the city and also acquired a
number of Albany lots.
In
1766, he married innkeeper's daughter Elizabeth Vernor.
That marriage produced several children including
sons who became his business associates and then
partners.
Robert
Henry was one of the founders of the Albany Presbyterian
Church. He was a member, elder, and trustee from
1762 almost until his death.
Beginning
in 1766, Robert Henry began to build a record as
a supporter of American liberties when he signed
the constitution of the Albany Sons of Liberty. Like
many Albany men, he served in the provincial militia
- an affiliation that later would endow him with
land bounty rights. With the outbreak of war in 1775,
this wealthy, relative newcomer and importer might
be expected to have sided with the British. However,
he applied his business connections to the American
cause - securing supplies for the Continental army
and frequently being called on to act as "commissary of clothing for New York
State."
By
the end of the war, he had entered into another business
partnership widely known as "Henry, Mc Clallen, and Henry" which "advertized a "formidable array
of goods" at their store north of the city hall. During the 1780s, he bought
and sold Albany lots and provided contract services for the city.
Elizabeth
Vernor Henry died in 1788. Surrounded by children
and servants, Robert Henry lived on in his landmark
Court Street home until his death in May 1794. A
number of local children were named in his honor.
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Notes: The life of Robert Henry is CAP biography number
8425. This profile is derived chiefly from family
and community-based resources. Perhaps he was the
son or nephew of Alexander Henry, a fur trader in
Canada!
Real
estate: Besides expanding his house and lots on Court
Street, he owned lots on the hill in the second ward,
on Gallows Hill, and west of what became South Pearl
Street - near the Presbyterian meeting house. He
also participated in a number of land patents in
the Mohawk Valley and in what became Berkshire County,
Massachusetts. His real estate holdings probably
were more extensive than we now know!
By Stefan Bielinski, Colonial Albany Social History Project [http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany]
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