Johannes Schuyler (1668-1747) [Sec 29 Lot 66]
Member of Colonial Assembly, 10th Mayor ofAlbany , Indian Commissioner, Captain attached to General Winthrop’s army, trader, Grandfather of Maj Gen Philip Schuyler.
Johannes Schuyler was born in Albany in 1668 to Philip Pieterse and Margarita Van Slichtenhorst Schuyler. His father was a Dutch born landowner who was the progenitor of the American Schuyler family. He was the youngest of six sons, and one of 10 children born to his parents.
Johannes grew up in the family home on State Street and on the farm at the Flats. Although his father died when the boy was just fifteen, Johannes was already established in profitable business situations beyond Albany. Later, he became well known and wealthy as a trader and river transport operator.
Residing with his widowed mother, Johannes Schuyler grew into adulthood. An accomplished fur trader who often went into the Indian country, he learned business and the responsibilities of landholding. Beginning in 1690, he held commissions as both Captain and Colonel in the militia, serving Albany’s interests well.
In April 1695, he married the widow Elsie Staats Wendell - already the mother of eleven children. Marriage to the daughter and widow of two of early Albany's foremost families was not surprising. However, Johannes was twenty-seven and his bride a decade older. In addition, Elsie was expecting and would give birth to the first of their four children just eight months later. This union of an older women to a much younger man is without parallel in early Albany history.
Johannes moved into his wife's home on State Street and was elected to the city council in 1695. He would hold the first ward aldermen seat for much of the next two decades. His trading experience made him one of the more active members of the Commissioners of Indian Affairs. Several English governors used him as an envoy to the Iroquois because as he was well liked and trusted by them. In 1724, Lieutenant Governor William Dummer of Massachusetts appointed him a commissioner to negotiate with the Iroquois. As late as 1737, he was sent into the Onondaga country on a diplomatic mission.
In 1703, this city father was appointed the 10th mayor of Albany. Re-appointed three more times, he served until 1706. He enacted a law mandating that each homeowner had to build an eight-foot sidewalk. In 1710, he was elected to represent Albany County in the provincial Assembly - where served until 1713. During this time, he retained his seat on the common council.
Assessment rolls for the early 1700s show Johannes Schuyler to be one of the wealthiest Albany traders. He was a supporter and deacon of the Albany Dutch Church and the godfather of many Albany children. Like many Albany leaders, he was able to acquire extensive frontier acreage and administered his mother's lands as well. During the three decades of peace and development (1713-44), he was able to establish mills on some of those properties and engage tenants to begin to tap farm and forest potentials.
Having outlived all of his siblings, by the 1730s this onetime youngest son became patriarch of the Schuyler family - watching as children, Wendell stepchildren, and grandchildren succeeded to places of prominence and leadership in Albany and beyond. Johannes Schuyler's long career spanned Albany's transition from outpost to entrepot. He died in February 1747 - a year shy of his eightieth birthday.