Magdalena Ryckman Bradt

Magdalena Ryckman was born in March 1689. She was the daughter of Albany mainstays Albert Janse and Neeltie Quackenbush Ryckman. She grew up a younger daughter of a large family in the riverside home of a prominent brewer and civic leader.

In November 1720, she married a somewhat younger Benjamin Bradt at the Albany Dutch church. Over the next decade, five children were christened in the Albany church where she was a frequent baptism sponsor along with her husband who succeeded his father as the church sexton.

These Bradts raised their family in a modest home in the third ward where Benjamin made a living as a mason and by performing other city-based services.

In December 1736, Magdalena was left household goods and a share of the estate in the will filed by her father. Her husband was named co-executor.

Magdalena Ryckman Bradt was still alive in 1750 when she was one of two living sisters named in the will filed by her brother.

After that, her name seems to be absent from the community record. Her husband survived into the 1770s and several of her children became Albany residents.

Sources: The life of Magdalena Ryckman Bradt is CAP biography number 1976. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.