Maria Bradt Hansen

Maria Bradt was born in January 1722. She was first daughter born to the marriage of Benjamin and Magdalena Ryckman Bradt. She grew up in the home of an Albany mason who had married the daughter of a prominent brewer and the one-time mayor of Albany.

In December 1742, Maria was still twenty when she married an older Isaac Hansen at the Albany Dutch church. By 1757, nine children had been christened in Albany.

These Hansens began to raise their family in a small house located next to that of her father. Isaac Hansen supported them as a shoemaker.

Isaac Hansen died in 1758 leaving the thirty-six year old widow with a large and young family.

In 1766 and '67, her second ward house was assessed lightly. In 1779, her now third ward property was accorded a modest assessment. Throughout, the widow Mary Hansen's holdings also considered her sons. In 1788, she was noted under the third ward holdings of her son Benjamin.

Maria Bradt Hansen died in May 1790 as noted in the Hansen family bible. She had lived sixty-eight years - more than the last thirty as a widow.

Sources: The life of Maria Bradt Hansen is CAP biography number 4266. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.