Cornelia Abeel Van Schaick
by
Stefan Bielinski


Cornelia (Neeltie) Abeel was born in March 1701. She was the daughter of Albany mainstays Johannes and Cathalina Schuyler Abeel. She grew up in comfortable homes in Albany and New York where her father was a prosperous businessman. Once the mayor of Albany, her father died in 1711 when Neeltje was just ten-years-old. Her mother re-married a year or so later and gave birth to four more children.

In September 1720, nineteen-year-old Neeltje married Gosen (Goose) Van Schaick at the Albany Dutch church. By 1729, her five children had been christened in Albany.

These Van Schaicks set up their home in Albany's third ward where Goose Van Schaick was an emerging trader who skippered his own sloop. However, Neeltie would not live to see her family grow up and build on their father's successes.

Cornelia Abeel Van Schaick died in November 1730. She had not reached her thirtieth birthday. Goose Van Schaick re-married and lived until 1736.

biography in-progress


notes

the people of colonial Albany Sources: The life of Cornelia Abeel Van Schaick is CAP biography number 133. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.



first posted: 6/10/05