Nicholas Bayard
| Nicholas Bayard | |
|---|---|
| 16th Mayor of New York City | |
|
In office 1685–1686 |
|
| Preceded by | Gabriel Minvielle |
| Succeeded by | Stephanus Van Cortlandt |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1644 Alphen, Holland |
| Died | 1707 |
| Relations | Bayard family |
Colonel Nicholas Bayard (c. 1644–1707) was an official in the colony of New York. Bayard served as the 16th Mayor of New York City, from 1685 to 1686. He is notable for being Peter Stuyvesant's nephew and for being an immigrant member of the Bayard family, which remained prominent in New York City into the 20th century.
Bayard was born in Alphen, Holland, the son of a Huguenot refugee to Samuel Bayard and Ann Stuyvesant, the sister of Governor Petrus Stuyvesant. In May 1647, he accompanied his widowed mother to America. Three other children, Balthazar, Petrus and Catharine, also arrived in New Amsterdam. His Aunt Judith, the sister of Samuel Bayard, married Director General Stuyvesant, and thus there was a double relationship between the families.
In 1664, Stuyvesant, whose patronage supported Bayard's career, appointed him clerk of the Common Council, and soon afterward became private secretary to Stuyvesant and received the additional appointment of surveyor of the province. After the re-conquest of New York by the Dutch in 1672, Bayard became secretary of the province. Under the second English regime, in 1685, when Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick, was governor, Bayard was mayor of New York; prior to 1680, New York mayors served one-year terms but thereafter they served two-year terms, with few exceptions. Bayard was one of the exceptions and served only one year. As a member of the governor's council, Bayard drew up the Dongan Charter that was granted in 1686.
In 1688, he received, at the head of the regiment of militia of which he was colonel, the restored but cordially detested Governor Edmund Andros. As one of the three resident members of the governor's council, and commander-in-chief of the militia of the province, he was the object of popular hatred during Leisler's Rebellion, and fled to Albany to escape assassination. Returning to attend an only son on his sickbed, he was arrested and briefly imprisoned. He was released upon the arrival of the new governor, Henry Sloughter, who put down the rebellion and sat on the Common Council.
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