Debora Van Schaick was born in May 1707. she was the daughter of Gosen and Catharina Staats Van Schaick. Her father was an Albany mainstay whose death in 1725 at age forty-eight left a void in her Market Street home. Her mother lived another three decades as a widow and called on maturing Debora to care for their large family.

In August 1734, she was twenty-seven when she married widower Gosen Van Schaick. Their son was born a year later. He died in 1736 - leaving her the bulk of her estate but also instructions on care of his soon-to-be fatherless children. Debora soon married again. Her second husband was John Beekman - another widower with several small children.

These Beekmans lived in the second ward where John was a trader and civic leader. She was named heir and co-executor in the will filed by her "sick" husband in May 1756. She was a widow again in 1759 when his will passed probate. Over her life she was left bequests in the wills of several relatives.

Debora Van Schaick was alive in 1765 when she was deposed in an inquiry concerning the will of one of her father's contemporaries.

Sources: The life of Debora Van Schaick is CAP biography number 4029. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.