Sara Visscher Van Zandt

Sara Visscher was born in November 1766. She was the first daughter of Barent and Sara Visscher. Her father followed a family interest in the fur trade which enabled the couple to begin to raise their family in a comfortable Albany house.

In April 1769, she was named among the heirs identified in the will filed by her father. Barent Visscher died less than a decade later and Sara helped her mother in the family home in the second ward. The widow Sara Visscher would survive until 1822.

In August 1787, she married Albany area native Benjamin Van Zandt at the Albany Dutch church. By 1793, three children had been christened in Albany.

This Van Zandt family made its home just outside the city in surrounding Watervliet. An age-approximate woman was included on the census of Van Zandt's Watervliet household in 1800 but that may have referred to Benjamin's second wife.

Perhaps Sara died following the birth of her last child in 1793. Thus, Benjamin Van Zandt may have married Hester Viele in 1797 and fathered more children.

Sources: The life of Sara Visscher Van Zandt is CAP biography number 4171. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.