Arent Schuyler

Arent Philipse Schuyler (June 25, 1662 – November 26, 1730) was a member of the influential Schuyler family (among the first settlers to New Netherland), during his lifetime he was a surveyor, Native American trader, miner, merchant, and land speculator.[1]

Biography

He was born in Rensselaerswyck, New York on June 25, 1662.[2]

Schuyler participated in the military actions of an early French and Indian War in Canada in the 1690s. In 1694, Schuyler traveled into north-western New Jersey to investigate rumors that the French were trying to incite the local Lenni-Lenape population to rebel against the English. Schuyler found no evidence of a rebellion, but discovered a rich fertile valley where the Lenni-Lenape grew a variety of crops. Schuyler reported his findings to the English and then convinced Major Anthony Brockholst, Samuel Bayard, Samuel Berry, Hendrick and David Mandeville, George Ryerson and John Mead to invest in the purchase of the land he referred to as the Pompton Valley.[3] The seven chose Schuyler to be negotiator with the Lenape for the rights to the area. Samual Bayard, however, was chosen to negotiate with the East Jersey Company, which maintained land rights over the area that is now Wayne. Approximately 5,000 acres (20 km²) were purchased on November 11, 1695. He built the Schuyler-Colfax House along the Pompton River.

In 1710, he bought a large tract on New Barbadoes Neck. The new purchase (present-day Kearny, North Arlington, and Lyndhurst and Kingsland) had a significant deposit of copper, and the family became wealthy as they started to mine the metal at the Schuyler Copper Mine.

Arent Schuyler married three times: to Jenneke Teller, to Swantje Van Duyckhuysen, and to Maria Walter(s), the daughter of Robert Walter(s) and Catharine Leisler. He had eleven children; among them were Adonijah, John, and Peter.[1][2]

He died in Belleville, New Jersey on November 26, 1730.[2]

Legacy

Peter Schuyler was responsible for the introduction of the first steam engine assembled in the United States. Schuyler Avenue (Kearny) recalls the early settlers.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Arent Philipse Schuyler". Contributions for the Genealogies of the First Settlers of the Ancient County of Albany, from 1630 to 1800. Retrieved 2014-12-30. trader, was admitted freeman of New York city in 1695; before 1725, he was probably settled on the Second or Passaic river, at Belleville, N.J. He married 1st, Janneke Teller, Nov. 26, 1684: 2d, Swantje Janse van Duykhuysen about January 1703. Children: baptized in Albany, Margareta, Sept, 27, 1685; Phillipus, September 11, 1687; Maria, October 6, 1689; Judik, March 13, 1692; Casparus in N.Y., May 5, 1695; Wilhelmus, June 2, 1700.
  2. 1 2 3 "Manuscript group 651: Schuyler Family". New Jersey Historical Society. Retrieved 2010-09-18. Arent Schuyler was born in Rensselaerswyck (Albany), New York on June 25, 1662 and died in Belleville, New Jersey on November 26, 1730. ...
  3. ↑ William Nelson (1876). Biographical Sketch of William Colfax, Captain of Washington's Body Guard.
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