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Edward
Holland
Edward
Holland was born in Albany in 1702, the eldest son
of English garrison officer Henry Holland and Irish-born
Jenny Seeley. As his father later became sheriff
of Albany and the holder of other royal appointments,
Edward grew up in an advantaged Albany home where
he learned the multi-faceted nature of his father's
business.
Although
listed on the rolls of garrison companies from an
early age, Edward Holland was a part-time soldier
during a long period of peace on the northern frontier.
During that time, he focused more on his father's
business as he ran frequent errands to provincial
outposts and downriver to New York.
By
the mid-1720s, the Hollands were invested in New
York commerce which included supplying military outposts
at Albany and beyond and shipping out the bounty
of upriver farms and forests. Representing his father's
interests among the English-speaking business community
of New York, Edward Holland made an important personal
contact in 1726 when he married Magdalena Bayeux
- daughter of a downriver business family. The union
produced a large family - with four of the children
surviving to maturity. The couple set up housekeeping
in Albany in one of Henry Holland's houses on Court
Street. Like his father, he was a frequent baptism
sponsor at the nearby Dutch church. Also like Henry
Holland, Edward became an active member of St.
Peters Anglican church.
During
the 1720s, Edward Holland established himself as
a leading Albany merchant. Civic responsibility followed.
From 1728 to 1733, he was an Albany alderman and
particularly active as a member of the Commissioners
of Indian Affairs. He also was held in high regard
by royal officials in New York. In 1733, he was appointed
mayor of Albany and presided over the city corporation
until 1741. During his long mayoralty, he negotiated
an Indian deed for the tract of land at the confluence
of the Mohawk River and the Schoharie Creek that
had been granted in the city charter of 1686
but so far had eluded Albany's grasp.
During
the 1730s, native son Edward Holland emerged as a leading Albany figure and as a prime upriver contact for an increasingly interested royal government in New York. However, he lost his strongest ally when, after a lengthy illness, Henry Holland died in 1736 - leaving Edward to administer his substantial estate. Edward's first, wife, Magdalena, died in 1737. Two years later Edward Holland wed Frances Nicolls of New York City.
By
the mid-1740s, Edward Holland had moved his base
of operations to Manhattan. He owned a number of
ships and became even more prosperous and prominent.
In 1747, Holland was appointed mayor of New York
City - serving until his death in 1756. In 1748,
he was named to the governor's advisory Council and
also was appointed to the provincial chancery court.
By mid-century, this Albany boy had reached the top
rung of the provincial hierarchy.
Fifty-four-year-old
Edward Holland made his will on November 8, 1756.
At that time, he identified himself as a New York
City merchant. After dividing a large estate among
his four children and their children, he provided
his "beloved wife" Frances with an annuity of 750
pounds as long as she remained a widow. Edward Holland
died two days later was buried in his vault at Manhattan's
Trinity Church. He was the only man to serve as mayor
of both Albany and New York City.
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Notes: The
life of Edward Holland is CAP biography number
8487. The most knowing source on the Holland family
is an article in New
York Genealogical and Biographical Record 111:219-20
by Henry Hoff. This profile focuses on Edward Holland's
Albany life and career which all but ended when he
moved to New York City. This extraordinary character
deserves a more extensive biography.
In
1708, an Edward Holland was listed as a "centinell" (private) in Lord Cornbury's
company of fusiliers. Governor Cornbury (Edward Hyde) had been Edward's baptism
sponsor six years earlier. Subsequently, young Holland's name appeared on other
provincial muster rolls as well. Without further explanatory resources, the
nature of his military service is open to speculation.
Three
decades free from warfare from 1713 to 1744 enabled
the initial development of the New York lands beyond
the lower Hudson Valley corridor. The Mohawk Valley
- from Schenectady all the way to the new fort and trading posts at Oswego,
began to fill with settlers, whose roots were in populated New York areas,
but also with newcomers from Germany, Scotland, and New England. The population
of geographically huge Albany County jumped from 2,273 settlers in 1703
to 10,634 in 1749 - or a 6.5 times increase. During
that time, most of the best settlement locations
were spoken for and were pioneered. The Mohawk Valley
represented the most desirable of development locations.
The
so-called Dongan Charter gave Albany a tract of 1,000
acres in the Mohawk Valley at a place called Tionnderoge
or Fort Hunter. That prime location also was known
as "the Mohawk Flats." In
1734, Mayor Holland negotiated a deed with the Mohawks (in the name of the King,
for the benefit of Albany, and for the protection of the Mohawks) to the Fort
Hunter tract. But because powerful interests throughout the colony coveted the
location, Albany was unable to assert or act on its claim to Fort Hunter as it
had done with Schaghticoke twenty-five years earlier. Holland's deed is considered
in Documents Relative to the Colonial
History of the State of New York 6:14-16.
By Stefan Bielinski, Colonial Albany Social History Project [http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany]
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