Peter Schuyler | |
---|---|
Born |
Pieter Schuyler 1707 New Barbadoes Neck, New Jersey |
Died | March 7, 1762 Near Newark, New Jersey |
Nationality | American |
Spouse(s) | Hester Walter Mary Walter |
Children | Katherine Schuyler |
Parent(s) |
Arent Schuyler Swantje Van Duyckhuysen |
Relatives |
Philip P. Schuyler (grandfather) Pieter Schuyler (uncle) Archibald Kennedy (son-in-law) |
Pieter "Peter" Schuyler (1707 – March 7, 1762), a member of the Schuyler family, was a wealthy Dutch farmer from New Barbadoes Neck, now western Hudson County, New Jersey. He was a Colonel during King George's War and was captured and exchanged as a prisoner during the French and Indian Wars.
Peter Schuyler was born in 1707 in New Barbadoes Neck, opposite Belleville, New Jersey. He was the son of Swantje Van Duyckhuysen (1679–1724) and Arent Schuyler (1662–1730) of Rensselaerswyck, now (Albany), New York. He was the grandson of Philip Pieterse Schuyler (1628–1683) and Margarita Van Slichtenhorst (1627–1710) and the nephew of Pieter Schuyler (1657–1724), mayor of Albany.
In 1710, his father purchased a large tract of land along the shores of the Passaic River where large amounts of copper were discovered and mined at the Schuyler Copper Mine. When his father died in 1730, he received 787 acres of land and a large home. He also received one-third of the profits from his father's copper mine.
In order to pump out mines which would fill with water in his father's copper mine, Schuyler arranged for the first steam engine in North America to be built.Schuyler Avenue, which runs along the eastern edge of the ridge honors the early settlement.
In 1746, during King George's War, Schuyler, a colonel of militia, raised a detachment of 500 volunteer soldiers to fight in the Jersey Blues. After arriving in Albany in September 1746, the expedition was abandoned and his soldiers complained and threatened to leave. He wrote to the governor in February 1747, asking for a surgeon, medicine, clothing, flints, bread and peas. Governor Hamilton replied in May 1747, complimenting Col. Schuyler for his zeal and offered each man "two speckled shirts and one pair of shoes." As this did little to calm down his men, he paid thousands of his own pounds to still the situation. Later, Schuyler and his detachment were sent to Saratoga to garrison the fort.