Margarita Radcliff Van Valkenburgh
by
Stefan Bielinski


Margarita Radcliff was born in 1706. She was the youngest daughter in the large family of former soldier John Radcliff and his wife, Rachel Van Valkenburgh Radcliff.

Margarita lost her father at an early age. Rachel Radcliff never re-married and the girl grew up in a crowded first ward home - helping out with her mother's numerous paying jobs.

In 1732, she married carpenter Jacobus Van Valkenburgh. By 1748, eight children were baptized in the Albany Dutch church where she was a frequent baptism sponsor. These Van Valkenburghs lived on Albany's Southside surrounded by kin and other working class families.

In 1766, she was named executor and heir in her husband's will. He was dead in 1778 when she wrote her own will - leaving her estate to her numerous children and grandchildren. She then moved in with one of her daughters. Margarita Radcliff Van Valkenburgh died in September 1791. She had lived in Albany for most of the eighteenth century!

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notes

the people of colonial Albany Sources: The life of Margarita Radcliff Van Valkenburgh is CAP biography number 1080. This profile is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.

Between 1723 and 1766, Margarita sponsored at least fifteen baptisms at the Albany Dutch church.


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first posted: 3/30/03