Ryer Jacobse Schermerhorn (June 23, 1652 – February 19, 1719) was a merchant, politician and judge in provincial New York. He was the progenitor of the Schenectady branch of the

Schermerhorn Schermerhorn is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Alkmaar, and lies about 9 km south of Heerhugowaard. History The village was first mentioned in the 14th century as Den Horn, and mean ...

family.

Early life

Schermerhorn was born on June 23, 1652, and grew up in a

Beverwyck Beverwijck ( ; ), often written using the pre-reform orthography Beverwyck, was a fur-trading community north of Fort Orange on the Hudson River in New Netherland that was renamed and developed as Albany, New York, after the English took contro ...

home and then in

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

where his father also owned property. He was the eldest son of

New Netherland New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the East Coast of the United States, east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territor ...

pioneers Jannetje "Johanna" ( Segers) Schermerhorn and Jacob Janse Schermerhorn, who settled in New York from the Netherlands in 1636. In 1648, his father, a prominent Beverwyck trader, was arrested at

Fort Orange Fort Orange ( nl, Fort Oranje) was the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Netherland; the present-day city of Albany, New York developed at this site. It was built in 1624 as a replacement for Fort Nassau, which had been built on nearb ...

Peter Stuyvesant Peter Stuyvesant (; in Dutch also ''Pieter'' and ''Petrus'' Stuyvesant, ; 1610 – August 1672)Mooney, James E. "Stuyvesant, Peter" in p.1256 was a Dutch colonial officer who served as the last Dutch director-general of the colony of New Net ...

for selling firearms and ammunition to the Indians. Schermerhorn's books and papers were seized, his property was ordered to be confiscated, and he was sentenced for five years imprisonment at

Fort Amsterdam Fort Amsterdam was a fort on the southern tip of Manhattan at the confluence of the Hudson and East rivers. It was the administrative headquarters for the Dutch and then English/British rule of the colony of New Netherland and subsequently the ...

. Several leading citizens interfered and had his imprisonment struck, but his property was totally lost. He went back into trade, served as commissary at Fort Orange, one of the most important offices in the Colony, and was constable of Albany in 1676.

Career

In 1664, the English seized the New Netherland colony from the Dutch and renamed it

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. They confirmed the monopoly on the fur trade by Albany, and issued orders to prohibit Schenectady from the trade through 1670 and later. Settlers purchased additional land from the Mohawk in 1670 and 1672. Schermerhorn built a fortune in trade, primarily from shipping timber for use in shipbuilding and, throughout his lifetime, he grew the substantial landholdings he obtained through his marriage and from his father. During the 1680s, he led a group that vied for power with the original fifteen Schenectady patentees seeking acceptance at the provincial level. In 1684, Governor

Thomas Dongan Thomas Dongan, (pronounced "Dungan") 2nd Earl of Limerick (1634 – 14 December 1715), was a member of the Irish Parliament, Royalist military officer during the English Civil War, and Governor of the Province of New York. He is noted for hav ...

granted letters patent for Schenectady, encompassing about 80,000 acres, to five new trustees: Schermerhorn, William Teller, Sweer Teunessen Van Velsen, Jan Van Eps and Myndert Wemp. After Van Velsen, Van Eps and Wemp were killed in the

Schenectady massacre The Schenectady massacre was an attack against the colonial settlement of Schenectady in the English Province of New York on February 8, 1690. A raiding party of 114 French soldiers and militiamen, accompanied by 96 allied Mohawk and Algonquin wa ...

of 1689 and Teller (an old man who moved to New YOrk in 1692 where he died in 1700), Schermerhorn became the sole trustee of the Schenectady Patent.Lorna Czarnota. 2008. ''Native American & Pioneer Sites of Upstate New York: Westward Trails from Albany to Buffalo.'' The History Press, p. 23 After his father's death in 1688, he took the place as head of the family.

Public career

Upon the establishment of the first

New York General Assembly The General Assembly of New York, commonly known internationally as the New York General Assembly, and domestically simply as General Assembly, was the supreme legislative body of the Province of New York during its period of proprietal colonia ...

by Governor Dongan in 1683, Schermerhorn was appointed to the Assembly for Albany. He was elected to the provincial Assembly in 1683, 1694, 1698, 1699 and 1701. While in office, he sided with the government proposed by the insurgent

Jacob Leisler Jacob Leisler ( – May 16, 1691) was a German-born colonist who served as a politician in the Province of New York. He gained wealth in New Amsterdam (later New York City) in the fur trade and tobacco business. In what became known as Leisler's ...

. He was appointed a

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

in 1689, and on May 1, 1700, he was appointed assistant Judge of the

Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

at Albany.

Personal life

Coat of Arms of Jacob Jacobsen Schermerhoren

In July 1676, Schermerhorn married Ariantje Arentse "Harriet" ( Bradt)) Otten (–1719), the widow of Helmer Otten and daughter of fellow pioneers Arent Andriesse Bradt and Cathalina ( De Vos) Bradt (and step-daughter of Claes J. Van Bockhoven, who married her mother after her father's death in ). Together, they were the parents of at least seven children, including: * Cornelis Schermerhorn (1678–1678), who died young. * Jannetje Schermerhorn (1679–1750), who married Volkert Symonse Veeder (1678–1733), son of Symon Volkers Veeder, in 1698. * Catalynje Reyerse Schermerhorn (1681–1708), who married Johannes Myndertse Wemple, son of Myndert Janse Wemple, in 1701. * Johannes "Jan" Reyerse Schermerhorn (1685–1752), who married Engletie Janse Vrooman (1695–1754), a daughter of Johannes Hendrickse Vrooman, in 1711. * Segar Schermerhorn (b. 1686), who died young. * Jacob Ryers Schermerhorn (1692–1753), who married Margarita Teller, a daughter of Johannes Teller. * Arent Schermerhorn (1693–1757), who married Annetje "Anna" Jansen Fonda, a daughter of Douwe Jellis Fonda. His wife died on April 7, 1717. Schermerhorn died on February 19, 1719, and the principal heir of his estate was his grandson, Ryer Schermerhorn, who also served in the General Assembly.

References

External links

Ryer Schermerhorn
at

New York State Museum The New York State Museum is a research-backed institution in Albany, New York, United States. It is located on Madison Avenue, attached to the south side of the Empire State Plaza, facing onto the plaza and towards the New York State Capitol. ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schermerhorn, Ryer Jacobse 1652 births 1719 deaths People from colonial New York People from Albany, New York American people of Dutch descent Members of the New York General Assembly