Seth Meggs

Seth Meggs (Meigs) lived in the city of Albany at least during the 1790s. We seek defining information on his origins and path to Albany. A number of same-named contemporaries are at-risk in the region. However, this son of New England was among the hundreds of Yankees who settled over New York and beyond in the years following the American Revolution.

Family-based materials tell us that "Seth Meigs" was born in March 1746 and was the youngest child in the large family of Janna and Elizabeth Dudley Meigs of Salisbury, Connecticut.

Thus, he would have been in his early thirties at the outbreak of hostilities in 1775. Undated but during the war years, his name appeared on the roster of enlisted men in the first and then second regiment of the New York Line. He qualified for a land bounty right in conjunction with the Eighth Regiment of the Albany County militia. Afterwards, he was known as a soldier in the Continental army.

As the Eighth Regiment was drawn from the southern part of Albany County, perhaps he was living on the lower Manor often known as Claverack.

He is said to have married Jemima Van Boskerk, the widow of one William Van Loan. Their son "Major" John Meigs (born in 1784) cemented their ties to the Albany newcomer community (especially Germans) through marriage and was prominent businessman until his death in 1864. A third generation in Albany included scholar and cleric Matthew Meigs.

Seth and his wife had settled in Albany by January 1785 when their daughter was christened at the Albany Dutch church.

In 1790, his second ward household consisted of a man, a boy, and two females. Two years earlier, his house and property in the second ward were valued modestly. In 1799, his house and lot this time in the first ward received an equally modest assessment.

After 1799, his name appears to be absent from the community-based record. At this point, we have exhausted our patience perusing Internet-based resources. With important features of his life still unknown, we move on for now from the life of transplanted Yankee Seth Meggs.

Sources: The life of Seth Meggs has no CAP biography number. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.