Peter Gerard Stuyvesant

Peter Gerard Stuyvesant (/ˈstaɪv.əs.ənt/; September 21, 1778 – August 16, 1847) was an American landowner, philanthropist and descendant of Peter Stuyvesant who was prominent in New York society in the 1600s.

Peter Gerard Stuyvesant
President of the
New-York Historical Society
In office
1836–1839
Preceded byMorgan Lewis
Succeeded byPeter Augustus Jay
President of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York
In office
1835–1836
Preceded byInaugural holder
Succeeded byGulian Crommelin Verplanck
Personal details
BornSeptember 21, 1778
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedAugust 16, 1847(1847-08-16) (aged 68)
Niagara Falls, New York, U.S.
Spouses
Susannah Barclay
​
​
(m. 1803; died 1805)​
    Helena Rutherfurd
    ​
    (after 1805)​
    RelationsSee Stuyvesant family
    Nicholas Fish (brother-in-law)
    Hamilton Fish (nephew)
    Pierre Van Cortlandt (uncle)
    Dirck Ten Broeck (brother-in-law)
    ChildrenMargaret Chanler Stuyvesant
    Parent(s)Peter Stuyvesant
    Margaret Livingston
    Alma materColumbia College (1794)

    Early life
    Portrait of his father, Peter Stuyvesant, by Gilbert Stuart

    Stuyvesant was born in New York City on September 21, 1778. He was the son of Petrus "Peter" Stuyvesant (1727–1805) and Margaret (née Livingston) Stuyvesant (1738–1818). His siblings included Judith Stuyvesant, who married Benjamin Winthrop (grandparents of U.S. Representative John Winthrop Chanler); Cornelia Stuyvesant, who married Speaker of the New York State Assembly Dirck Ten Broeck, Nicholas William Stuyvesant, who married Catharine Livingston Reade, and Elizabeth Stuyvesant, who married Adjutant General of New York Nicholas Fish.[1][2]

    Peter was descended from many of New York's most prominent families and characters. Through his father, he was the 2x great grandson of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Director-General of New Netherland. His paternal grandparents (and his namesake) were Peter Gerard Stuyvesant and Judith (née Bayard) Stuyvesant of the Bayard family.[1] Through his mother Margaret, he was descended from the Livingston and Beekman families, as she was the daughter of Gilbert Livingston and Cornelia (née Beekman) Livingston, granddaughter of Robert Livingston the Elder, the first Lord of Livingston Manor, and great-granddaughter of Wilhelmus Beekman (who arrived in New Amsterdam aboard the same ship as Peter Stuyvesant).[3] His maternal aunt, Joanna Livingston, was married to Pierre Van Cortlandt, the first Lieutenant Governor of the New York.[4][5]

    Career

    Stuyvesant graduated from Columbia College in 1794. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar.[6]

    Stuyvesant was one of the largest and wealthiest land owners in New York City, second only to John Jacob Astor in terms of wealth and property in all of the United States.[7] He owned the 60 acre Stuyvesant family bouwerie (or farm) which he developed into residential housing from Houston Street to 23rd Street.[8][9] Stuyvesant lived in one of the Stuyvesant country homes, known as Petersfield, overlooking the East River between 16th and 17th Streets until 1825 when he sold the house and 200 lots for $100,000.[10] He then built his home on the northwest corner of 11th Street and Second avenue directly opposite St. Mark's Church. In 1846, the then Mayor of New York, Philip Hone, wrote in his famous diary of having "dined with Stuyvesant in his splendid new house in the Second avenue near St Mark's Church."[11]

    Stuyvesant was a founder and the seventh president of the New-York Historical Society, serving from 1836 until 1839.[12][13]

    He was also a founder (along with author Washington Irving) and the first president of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York, an organization of men who are descended from early inhabitants of the State of New York, serving from 1835 to 1836.[14]

    Stuyvesant Park

    In 1836, Stuyvesant and his wife reserved four acres of the family farm and sold it to the City of New York, for five dollars, as a public park which was originally known as Holland Square, but later became Stuyvesant Square.[15][16] The western boundary of the park, Rutherfurd Place, was named after his wife.[8]

    Personal life
    Helena Rutherfurd Stuyvesant

    Stuyvesant was married twice. His first marriage was in 1803 to Susannah Barclay (1785–1805), the daughter of lawyer Thomas Henry Barclay, a Loyalist during the American Revolutionary War who became one of the United Empire Loyalists in Nova Scotia.[17][18]

    After his first wife's death in 1805, Stuyvesant was remarried to Helena Rutherfurd (1790–1873), daughter of U.S. Senator John Rutherfurd and Helena (née Morris) Rutherford, and granddaughter of Walter Rutherfurd and Continental Congressman Lewis Morris.[19] Stuyvesant did not have any children with either wife, however, after his second marriage, the Stuyvesants adopted Helena's niece, Margaret Stuyvesant Chanler (1820–1890), who changed her name to Margaret Chanler Stuyvesant.[12][3] She later married astronomer Lewis Morris Rutherfurd (1816–1892).[3][20]

    Stuyvesant, by then the reigning patriarch of the Stuyvesant family,[21] died by accidental drowning on August 16, 1847, while visiting Niagara Falls, New York.[22] Stuyvesant was buried in the cemetery at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery. His widow died in 1873; her funeral notice in The New York Times described her thusly: "The late Mrs. Stuyvesant was an exemplar of the sterling, hereditary virtues of the family, a devout Christian, given to charity and all good works. Her life was long, and she retained the vigor of an unclouded mind to the end. She took a practical interest in the literature and passing topics of the day, and won the hearts of all who had the good fortune to know her by the unselfishness of her disposition."[19]

    Estate and descendants

    In 1847, to conform with Stuvyesant's will,[23] four year old Stuyvesant Rutherfurd (1843–1909), the eldest son of his adopted daughter Margaret and her husband Lewis Morris Rutherford (and great-grandson of his sister Judith Stuyvesant Winthrop), changed his name to Rutherfurd Stuyvesant.[24] in order to inherit a third of his Stuyvesant fortune,[25][26] then estimated at $2,500,000 (equivalent to $78,518,000 in 2022).[23] The other two thirds of his estate were left to Stuyvesant's nephews, Hamilton Fish (1808–1893) and Gerard Stuyvesant (1805–1859).[27][10] Rutherfurd Stuyvesant later married Mary Pierrepont (1842–1879) (granddaughter of Peter Augustus Jay). After her death, he married Countess Mathilde Elizabeth Loewenguth de Wassanaer (1877–1948), with whom he had two sons.[28]

    References
    1. The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York: History, Customs, Record of Events, Constitution, Certain Genealogies, and Other Matters of Interest. V. 1-. Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York. 1905. p. 32. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
    2. Virshup, Amy (4 May 1987). "The East Village | Rebels and Immigrants in the Land of the Stuyvesants". New York. New York Media, LLC: 54. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
    3. Rutherfurd, Livingston (1894). Family Records and Events: Compiled Principally from the Original Manuscripts in the Rutherfurd Collection. De Vinne Press. p. 252. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
    4. Judd, Jacob (1977). Van Cortlandt Family Papers Vol II. Tarrytown: Sleepy Hollow Restorations. pp. xxxviii, liv. ISBN 0-912882-29-8.
    5. Van Cortlandt, Pierre (1721-1814) at The Political Graveyard
    6. Kelby, Robert Hendre (1905). The New York Historical Society, 1804-1904. New-York Historical Society. p. 13. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
    7. Schulz, Dana (November 5, 2014). "Peter Stuyvesant's NYC: From the Bouwerie Farm to That Famous Pear Tree | 6sqft". 6sqft. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
    8. Dunning, Jennifer (March 12, 1982). "Metropolitan Baedeker; EXPLORING THE HISTORIC STUYVESANT SQUARE AREA". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
    9. "Guide to the Stuyvesant-Rutherford Papers 1647-1917 (bulk 1840-1917) MS 605". dlib.nyu.edu. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
    10. "ST. MARK'S HISTORIC DISTRICT, Borough of Manhattan" (PDF). www.nyc.gov. Landmarks Preservation Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
    11. New York (State) Legislature Assembly (1916). Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York. E. Croswell. p. 142. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
    12. "Peter Gerard Stuyvesant (1778-1847)". www.nyhistory.org. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
    13. Robert William Glenrole Vail. "Knickerbocker birthday; a sesqui-centennial history of the New-York Historical Society 1804-1805". Hathi Trust Digital Library. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
    14. Youngs, Florence Evenlyn Pratt (1914). Portraits of the presidents of the society, 1835-1914. The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York. OCLC 682402324. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
    15. "Stuyvesant Square Monuments - Peter Stuyvesant". www.nycgovparks.org. NYC Parks. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
    16. Hargittai, István; Hargittai, Magdolna (2017). New York Scientific: A Culture of Inquiry, Knowledge, and Learning. Oxford University Press. pp. 99–100. ISBN 9780198769873. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
    17. Tulloch, Judith (1987). "Barclay, Thomas Henry". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. VI (1821–1835) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
    18. Moffat, R. Burnham (1904). The Barclays of New York: Who They Are And Who They Are Not,--And Some Other Barclays. R. G. Cooke. p. 116. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
    19. "Funeral of Mrs. Stuyvesant" (PDF). The New York Times. 21 August 1873. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
    20. "Lewis Morris Rutherfurd" (PDF). New York Times. June 1, 1892. Retrieved 2014-01-09. Lewis Morris Kutherfurd died on Decoration Day at his home, Tranquility, N.J., in the seventy-sixth [sic] year of his age.
    21. Calhoun, Ada (2015). St. Marks Is Dead: The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street: The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 18. ISBN 9780393249798. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
    22. "Death of Peter G. Sturvesant". Brooklyn Star. Brooklyn, New York. August 19, 1847. p. 2 – via newspapers.com.
    23. "The Will of P. G. Stuyvesant". The Weekly Wisconsin. September 8, 1847. p. 2. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
    24. "R. STUYVESANT DIES SUDDENLY IN PARIS; Stricken on Street -- Though Born Rutherfurd, an Ancestor Was Gov. Peter Stuyvesant. HE WAS 69 YEARS OLD Ambassador White's Brother-in-Law -- First Wife Was Miss Pierrepont -- Second, Countess de Wassenaer, Survives Him" (PDF). The New York Times. 5 July 1909. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
    25. Tauber, Gilbert (August 13, 1995). "REMEMBRANCES OF A WAR'S END; A GOVERNOR'S DESCENDANTS". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
    26. Hughes, Stefan (2012). Catchers of the Light: The Forgotten Lives of the Men and Women Who First Photographed the Heavens. ArtDeCiel Publishing. p. 742. ISBN 9781620509616. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
    27. "Gerard Stuyvesant (1805-1859)". www.nyhistory.org. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
    28. "Mrs. Rutherford Stuyvesant (LOC)". Flickr.com. Library of Congress. January 1915. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
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