Jacob G. Lansing was born in June 1681. He was the son of Albany baker Gerrit Lansing and his wife Elsje Van Den Uythoff Lansing. He grew up as part of a large family on the hill behind what became State Street.

Just past his thirtieth birthday, he married an only slightly younger Helena Glen in October 1711 - a few days following the birth of their first child. By 1725, he was forty-four when the last of their nine children was christened at the Albany Dutch church where both parents were members.

These Lansings lived on Pearl Street in a house Jacob built about the time of his marriage. That building stood on the site until 1882. He was a silversmith of some reknown and also was known as a merchant. In 1720, his name appeared on a freeholder's list for Albany's first ward.

Jacob G. Lansing may have lost his wife as early as 1725. He is said to have died in December 1767 at the age of eighty-six years and six months. However, we cannot reconcile community-based information of Jacob Lansing with so many same-named individuals at risk during the second and third quarters of the eighteenth century.

He was succeeded by his nephew and protege, Jacob G. Lansing - who married the elder Jacob G. Lansing's daughter in 1774.

Sources: The life of Jacob G. Lansing is CAP biography number 3477. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.