Jacob J. Pruyn

by


Jacob J. Pruyn was born in January 1749. He was the son of Johannes and Jannetie Van Alstyne Pruyn. He grew up in a shoemaker's home in the third ward. This individual seems to have been known as "Jacob J. Pruyn."

In March 1786, he would have been in his mid-thirties when he married Neeltie (Cornelia or Eleanor) De Foreest at the Albany Dutch church. By 1796, five children had been christened at the Albany church where he was a member.

We believe that Jacob J. Pruyn was an Albany resident - possibly the individual identified as a "mariner" in 1784. Perhaps he lived in the third ward near the waterfront and owned a house and storehouse on lower Maiden Lane. He is said to have owned a blacksmith shop on or near the middle dock during the mid-1780s. In 1788, his budding family was living in the household of his father-in-law.

Although not on any wartime rolls, Jacob J. Pruyn was accorded a land bounty right in conjunction with the Albany militia regiment.

His wife, "Eleanor," freed a number of slaves during the early 1800s. That would have been consistent with his household configuration on the third ward census in 1800 - which identified four slaves.

Perhaps this Jacob J. Pruyn died after 1810!


biography in-progress


notes

the people of colonial Albany Sources: The life of Jacob J. Pruyn is CAP biography number 3550. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.




first posted: 7/30/06