Leendart Gansevoort
| Charts | Ancestors of Edward Ambrose Cooke |
Leendart Gansevoort, son of Harmen Harmense Van Gansevoort and Marritje Liendarts Coyne, was born probably shortly before his baptism at Albany, Albany Co., New York, 19 September 1683.1 He died at Albany, 30 November 1763.1
Leendart married Catherine de Wandelaer, daughter of Johannes de Wandelaer and Sara Schepmoes, at Albany, 11 May 1712.1
Numerous artifacts still exist documenting Leendart and his wife Catarina including a large Dutch Bible, portraits of each by a limner of the 1720's, and silverware including a tankard, a can, and two spoons.
Leendart was the only surviving son. He voted in the election of 1707, and in 1712 was elected constable (this office was usually allotted at this time to young men likely to serve on the common council later, but as yet unmarried and unready to exercise community leadership.
Around 1711, since there was no clergy available, Leendert and Catarina set up housekeeping. When the new priest reached Albany early in 1712, on Easter Sunday he baptized their son Harme. A month later, having duly proclaimed their banns three Sundays in succession, he married the baby's parents. This may be a case of misreading the calandar, the researcher not being aware of new style and old style calandars in use at the time. Although the New Amsterdam Dutch were on the new style, they may have converted under the influence of the English.
He and his seven sisters inherited their father's brewery and in 1714, Leendert bought all of their shares for 120-00-00. He apparently increased his inheritance operating the brewery and investing the proceeds in mortgages on city property and developed farms.
Leendert is known to have sold some of his beer to the commandant of the fort for the use of workmen repairing the defenses and to the common council for its annual corporation banquets, but his most regular customers were undoubtedly his neighbors in the city and on the thriving farms of Rensselaerswyck. Certainly he shared in the runaway prosperity among brewers that prompted the assembly to raise the excise tax on strong beer.
Albany County underwent a population explosion about this time, doubling in size between 1715 and 1723, and doubling again by 1737 when there were about 10,000 inhabitants. This made for a growing market for beer!
In 1734 he was elected alderman for the third ward. In 1736 he was permitted to share in two of the governor's Mohawk Valley land patents, after he and other alderman complained about the excessive size of those grants. When he left office in 1740, he was voted the honor of freedom of the city.
In Feb 1739, Leedert and other petitioned the governor's council for permission to purchase 24,000 acres on the north side of the Mohawk River from the Indians, which was granted. In 1742, Leendart executed a deed to divide up the grant, and apparently kept only 250 acres for himself.
According to one published account, seven of the ten Gansevoort children died as follows: One daughter died in 1723, two in the same week of 1731 in a widely fatal but unidentified epidemic, a fourth in 1738, and one engaged to be married in 1754. One son died in infancy, another at age 30 in a major yellow fever epidemic in 1746. This does not match other published accounts and needs to be researched further in the original records.2
Leendart married Catherine de Wandelaer, daughter of Johannes de Wandelaer and Sara Schepmoes, at Albany, 11 May 1712.1
Numerous artifacts still exist documenting Leendart and his wife Catarina including a large Dutch Bible, portraits of each by a limner of the 1720's, and silverware including a tankard, a can, and two spoons.
Leendart was the only surviving son. He voted in the election of 1707, and in 1712 was elected constable (this office was usually allotted at this time to young men likely to serve on the common council later, but as yet unmarried and unready to exercise community leadership.
Around 1711, since there was no clergy available, Leendert and Catarina set up housekeeping. When the new priest reached Albany early in 1712, on Easter Sunday he baptized their son Harme. A month later, having duly proclaimed their banns three Sundays in succession, he married the baby's parents. This may be a case of misreading the calandar, the researcher not being aware of new style and old style calandars in use at the time. Although the New Amsterdam Dutch were on the new style, they may have converted under the influence of the English.
He and his seven sisters inherited their father's brewery and in 1714, Leendert bought all of their shares for 120-00-00. He apparently increased his inheritance operating the brewery and investing the proceeds in mortgages on city property and developed farms.
Leendert is known to have sold some of his beer to the commandant of the fort for the use of workmen repairing the defenses and to the common council for its annual corporation banquets, but his most regular customers were undoubtedly his neighbors in the city and on the thriving farms of Rensselaerswyck. Certainly he shared in the runaway prosperity among brewers that prompted the assembly to raise the excise tax on strong beer.
Albany County underwent a population explosion about this time, doubling in size between 1715 and 1723, and doubling again by 1737 when there were about 10,000 inhabitants. This made for a growing market for beer!
In 1734 he was elected alderman for the third ward. In 1736 he was permitted to share in two of the governor's Mohawk Valley land patents, after he and other alderman complained about the excessive size of those grants. When he left office in 1740, he was voted the honor of freedom of the city.
In Feb 1739, Leedert and other petitioned the governor's council for permission to purchase 24,000 acres on the north side of the Mohawk River from the Indians, which was granted. In 1742, Leendart executed a deed to divide up the grant, and apparently kept only 250 acres for himself.
According to one published account, seven of the ten Gansevoort children died as follows: One daughter died in 1723, two in the same week of 1731 in a widely fatal but unidentified epidemic, a fourth in 1738, and one engaged to be married in 1754. One son died in infancy, another at age 30 in a major yellow fever epidemic in 1746. This does not match other published accounts and needs to be researched further in the original records.2
Family | Catherine de Wandelaer b. 17 Aug 1689, d. 16 Aug 1767 |
| Children |
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| This person was last edited on | 28 May 2022 |
Citations
- [S386] Jonathan Pearson, Contributions for the Genealogies of the Descendants of the First Settlers of the Ancient County of Albany, from 1630 to 1800 (1872; reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1984), 51-52, further cited as Pearson, Genealogies of the First Settlers of Albany.
- [S397] Alice P. Kenney, The Gansevoorts of Albany: Dutch Patricians in the Upper Hudson Valley (Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 1969), further cited as Kenney, Gansevoort Family.