Abraham De Peyster (1657-1728)
(If you are a Watters grandchild, he is your ninth great grand uncle)
Abraham De Peyster was appointed mayor by Governor Henry Sloughter in October 1691. Through his suggestion, the city started providing public support to the poor. From a wealthy merchant family, De Peyster also reportedly served in a number of public roles during his life, including stints as alderman, Associate Judge and later Chief Justice on the province's Supreme Court, President of the King's Council, and as Treasurer for New York and New Jersey provinces. He also served as a Colonel in the militia. Some sources state that he served as governor or acting governor of the Province of New York, which refers to a few months' time in 1701 after the death of Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont, when Lieutenant Governor John Nanfan was abroad. This left De Peyster, as the senior member of the Council, briefly in command until Nanfan returned.
From History of the City of New York: Its Origin, Rise, and Progress:
The year 1695 was eventful in city improvements as well as political encounters. Notwithstanding all the inconveniences of war, there was a healthy, bustling activity among the people, and a rapid increase of population. There was more money in circulation than ever before, and merchants were extending their commerce and growing rich. The privateers and pirates whom the war sustained came here to buy provisions in exchange for gold and valuable commodities from the East.
Many new houses and stores sprang up, and real estate suddenly advanced. Colonel Abraham
De Peyster built a palatial mansion on Queen Street, nearly opposite Pine (note: Queen St. was renamed Pearl St). It was fifty-nine by eighty feet, and three stories high. It had a great double door in the center of the front, over which was a broad balcony with double-arched windows. This balcony was for nearly a century the favorite resort of the governors of New York when they wished to hold military reviews. The rooms of the house were immensely large (some of them forty feet deep), and the walls and ceilings were handsomely decorated. The furniture was all imported, and was elaborately carved and very costly. The grounds occupied the whole block, and there was a coach-house and stable in the rear.
The style of life of the family was the same as that of the European gentry of the same period. They indulged in elegant hospitalities and costly entertainments, the chief people of the city and province, and stately visitors from the Old World, were often grouped together under this roof. The silverware in daily use upon the table was estimated as worth about $8,500, and the most of it was of exquisite workmanship. The finest cut-glass and the rarest pattern of China adorned the quaint and massive sideboard; and the walls were hung with paintings from the old masters. They had sixteen household servants, nine of whom were negro slaves. De Peyster owned a tract of land on the north of Wall Street, east of Broadway to William Street, and thence toward the river, which was called the “Great Garden of Colonel De Peyster,” and which after his death was divided into lots and partitioned among his children. Around 1699, De Peyster donated some of his land holdings, part of his garden, for the construction of a new city hall. That city hall was later renamed Federal Hall, which briefly served as the first capitol of the United States, and the site of the first inauguration of George Washington as President.
De Peyster built a palatial mansion on Queen Street, nearly opposite Pine (note: Queen St. was renamed Pearl St). It was fifty-nine by eighty feet, and three stories high. It had a great double door in the center of the front, over which was a broad balcony with double-arched windows. This balcony was for nearly a century the favorite resort of the governors of New York when they wished to hold military reviews. The rooms of the house were immensely large (some of them forty feet deep), and the walls and ceilings were handsomely decorated. The furniture was all imported, and was elaborately carved and very costly. The grounds occupied the whole block, and there was a coach-house and stable in the rear.
The style of life of the family was the same as that of the European gentry of the same period. They indulged in elegant hospitalities and costly entertainments, the chief people of the city and province, and stately visitors from the Old World, were often grouped together under this roof. The silverware in daily use upon the table was estimated as worth about $8,500, and the most of it was of exquisite workmanship. The finest cut-glass and the rarest pattern of China adorned the quaint and massive sideboard; and the walls were hung with paintings from the old masters. They had sixteen household servants, nine of whom were negro slaves. De Peyster owned a tract of land on the north of Wall Street, east of Broadway to William Street, and thence toward the river, which was called the “Great Garden of Colonel De Peyster,” and which after his death was divided into lots and partitioned among his children. Around 1699, De Peyster donated some of his land holdings, part of his garden, for the construction of a new city hall. That city hall was later renamed Federal Hall, which briefly served as the first capitol of the United States, and the site of the first inauguration of George Washington as President.
Fast Forward to 2013: Son Douglas, who lives in New York, saw this statue in a park and then noticed the article in the TriBeca Tribune.
Homeless and unwanted, a 355-year-old former mayor of New York City is finally returning to a place of distinction.
Rising 15 feet atop his pedestal, the bronze statue of Abraham
De Peyster, Dutch-born mayor of New York City during the late 1600s, has been bounced from park to park over the years and languished in storage since 2004. Now, it appears, he has found a home.
“We’ve looked at about 30 locations for Mr. De Peyster over the past dozen years or so and for whatever reason every one has been eliminated because of location or interference with utilities,” George Bloomer, a Parks Department design supervisor, told Community Board 1’s Seaport Committee last month.
De Peyster, Dutch-born mayor of New York City during the late 1600s, has been bounced from park to park over the years and languished in storage since 2004. Now, it appears, he has found a home.
“We’ve looked at about 30 locations for Mr. De Peyster over the past dozen years or so and for whatever reason every one has been eliminated because of location or interference with utilities,” George Bloomer, a Parks Department design supervisor, told Community Board 1’s Seaport Committee last month.
The proposed new location is in the northwest section of Thomas Paine Park, at Worth and Lafayette streets.
CB1 voted unanimously in favor of the location, though given De Peyster’s history, some wondered how long he would stay. “This poor guy has been evicted from [so many] places,” said board member John Fratta.
De Peyster was a man generous with both his money and his land. He pushed for the city to care for its paupers and donated space for a new city hall on Wall Street, the site of Federal Hall. In addition to serving as mayor, he was also a city comptroller, alderman and judge.
He is most famous for being mayor but he was also the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in what was then the colony of New York. So putting him in front of the courthouse is also an appropriate spot. And he did live on Pearl, then Queen Street, so it’s nearby there as well.
Commissioned in the late 1800s by one of De Peyster’s great-great-great-grandsons, the seated solemn figure was created by the sculptor George Edwin Bissell. But no sooner had work begun on a foundation for the statue in Battery Park than it became the target of criticism and the city had to look for a new location.
Commissioned in the late 1800s by one of De Peyster’s great-great-great-grandsons, the seated solemn figure was created by the sculptor George Edwin Bissell. But no sooner had work begun on a foundation for the statue in Battery Park than it became the target of criticism and the city had to look for a new location.
“The sentiment which promotes the erection of the statue to Abraham De Peyster is altogether commendable,” the New York Times wrote in spring of 1895. “But Battery Park is not the place for the effigy. There is no room for it. We have gone too far in the park statuary already.”
Over yet other objections, the statue went to Bowling Green in 1896. But after a short time in Bowling Green, De Peyster was donated to Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania. There it stayed for 76 years. But in 1972, Bowling Green underwent a major renovation and it was decided that De Peyster had to go.
Next stop: Hanover Square. Atop a new pedestal, he stood there until 2004, when the Parks Department turned the site into the British Memorial Garden. This time, he had no place to go but storage. But Jonathan Kuhn, the Parks Department’s director of Landmarks and Relics, was determined to find him a home.
One of the sites he selected was Tribeca’s Bogardus Garden, at Reade and Hudson streets. The community group that oversees the planted triangle said no.
It could be said that similar confusion may lie ahead when De Peyster resides in a park named for a different historical figure, Thomas Paine.
It could be said that similar confusion may lie ahead when De Peyster resides in a park named for a different historical figure, Thomas Paine.
Note: Abraham De Peyster's daughter Catherine married Philip Van Cortlandt, son of Stephanus Van Cortlandt.
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