Philip Jeremiah Schuyler

Philip Jeremiah Schuyler was born in January 1768. He was the son of Philip and Catharine Van Rensselaer Schuyler. He grew up in the middle of the large family of Albany's leading citizen at homes in the city and on family properties in the countryside.

Philip Jeremiah married twice. He wed Sara Rutsen in May 1788. She died in 1803. In February 1807, he married Mary Ann Sawyer. By 1811, the two marriages had produced eight children.

By mid-1799, Schuyler family business in Claverack and its environs had been entrusted to Philip Jeremiah.

In 1803, he was named co-executor of his father's will. Upon Philip's death, he became guardian of his fatherless nephews and received substantial properties at Saratoga and in the city of Albany.

However, by that time, he had left Albany and settled elsewhere. In 1790, his household was configured on the census for Dutchess County in Rhinebeck. In 1798, he was a member of the New York State Assembly. In 1817, he was a Federalist member of the United States House of Representatives. He then retired from public life and returned to his Dutchess County farm.

Philip Jeremiah Schuyler died in February 1835 (reputedly of tuberculosis) in New York City. He was buried in Poughkeepsie. He had lived sixty-seven years. We have not followed his adult life closely as it was not closely connected to the development of his native city.

Sources: The life of Philip Jeremiah Schuyler is CAP biography number 1754. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources. Wikipedia;

Portrait: His portrait, along with that of his second wife, is said to have been painted by Thomas Sully. Gilbert Sturt is said to have painted his portrait in 1807.