Anna Switts Beekman

Anna Switts was born in October 1712. She was the daughter of Cornelis and Hester Visscher Switts. She grew up in the third ward while her father operated a sloop on the Hudson River.

In November 1737, she married Albany native Hendrick Beekman. By 1752, six children had been christened at the Albany Dutch church where she was a pewholder and regular baptism sponsor.

In November 1762, she was named to share in the estate of her uncle, Jacob Visscher.

Hendrick Beekman died before the mid-1760s for his widow was listed as the owner of substantial land across the river in Rensselaerswyck and of a property in the first ward of Albany where she lived with her son.

We believe that she may have been alive in 1779 and living in the same location with a "French merchant" boarding in her house.

Anna Switts Beekman probably died during the 1780s.

Sources: The life of Anna Switts Beekman is CAP biography number 5649. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.