Johannes DePeyster (1694-1789) [Section 49 Lot 1 Church Grounds]
Provincial Assembly, 16th Mayor of Albany, Captain in the Militia – participated in the first expedition against Crown Point (French-Indian War).
Johannes De Peyster was born in New Amsterdam (New York City) in 1694. He was the son of Huguenot-ancestry (French speaking Protestants who came to America during the seventeenth century to escape religious persecution and civil oppression in France) businessman Johannes De Peyster and his wife, Albany native Anna Bancker De Peyster. His long tenure in Albany represents a prime blueprint for success in early America.
With the coming of peace in 1713 (The Treaty of Utrecht signed in 1713 temporarily halted what would be a century of warfare between emerging European superpowers France and Great Britain. At the same time, the French in America and the British North American colonies pulled back from the intercolonial fighting of the past decade and moved into what became three decades of peace on the northern frontier.), a young Johannes was sent upriver to learn business with his uncle, Albany magnate Evert Bancker. Bancker was a prosperous export merchant involved in the fur trade and real estate businesses, including inheritance of a substantial family estate that included holdings in both Albany and New York City. Just past his twentieth birthday, in 1715 Johannes married Albany-born Anna Schuyler, an eighteen-year-old daughter of Albany's most prominent New Netherland family. They may have had eight children, but only two of the last four born after 1722 survived to adulthood.
Succeeding Evert Bancker on the Albany-to-New York end of his business, Johannes De Peyster settled into his uncle's house on the south side of Yonkers Street, now known as State Street, where he lived for the next seventy years. He also succeeded Bancker in Albany public life as he was elected a first ward assistant in 1721. The next year, he was elected alderman and then annually re-elected until he was appointed recorder of the city in 1726. He was appointed mayor of Albany in 1729 and served until 1733. During his term as mayor he purchased Albany’s first fire-fighting equipment, consisting of ladders and fire-hooks. He was again elected as an alderman from 1748 to 1754.
He frequently had contract business with city hall and was an active member of the Commissioners of Indian Affairs until he resigned in protest in 1746. He was a pewholder in the Albany Dutch church. He also was a partner in a number of frontier patents.
Active in a broad range of military activities, Johannes was a militia officer beginning as a Lieutenant of foot troops 1717, ascending to the rank of Captain of horse Calvary in 1744. During the French and Indian War he was paymaster of the New York regiment, inspector of ordnance, and supplier of the Fort at Oswego.
Anna Schuyler De Peyster died in 1750 - leaving her husband to administer the estate of her late father. Without sons, Johannes looked to a nephew and two able sons-in-law for support in his personal business. Over the next two decades, he remained one of the most prominent Albany merchants with a net worth among Albany's highest during the late 1760s.
He served as the first Albany County Surrogate from 1756 to 1766. He held the position again under New York State from 1778 to 1782 when he was replaced by his grandson, John De Peyster Douw.
As late as 1779, his State Street holdings were still valued substantially.
With the coming of peace in 1783, Johannes De Peyster was approaching his ninetieth birthday. He could look back on a varied and distinguished career in Albany that spanned seven decades. He died on February 27, 1789. He was ninety-five years old!