Catherine Schuyler Lansing

Catherine Schuyler was born in August 1723. She was the daughter of Schenectady residents Nicholas and Elsje Wendell Schuyler. This middle child grew up in the home of a Schenectady-based trader and public official. Her mother passed on in 1744 and her father remarried. Nicholas Schuyler died in 1748 leaving many heirs as seven of Catherine's siblings were still living.

In December 1747, she was called a "spinster" when Catherine Schuyler became the third wife of Albany native John Jacob Lansing at the Dutch church in Schenectady. By 1759, five children had been christened at the church in Albany where both parents were members.

Eight years younger than her husband, Catherine moved in to the comfortable home of a Market Street merchant in a marriage that lasted almost fifty years.

Catherine Schuyler Lansing died in March 1797 at the age of seventy-three. Her husband survived until 1808. Their eldest son became a prominent cleric in the lower Hudson Valley. Their daughter married newcomer John Zabriskie and lived with her parents for a time following her first husband's death in 1782.

Sources: The life of Catherine Schuyler Lansing is CAP biography number 1246. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.