Dirck Ten Broeck

by


Dirck Ten Broeck was born in July 1738. He was the last child born to the marriage of Dirck and Margarita Cuyler Ten Broeck. Dirck grew up in the third ward home of a prominent businessman who was named mayor of Albany in 1748. That year, his father filed a will that devised several pieces of Albany real estate to his youngest son. He was the younger brother of Albany leader Abraham Ten Broeck.

In November 1761, Dirck married Anna Douw at the Albany Dutch church where he was a member and pewholder. No children were christened there before Anna's untimely death in February 1774.

This Ten Broeck family lived in the third ward home he had inherited from his father. His holdings included lots elsewhere in Albany and beyond and were taxed comparably to those of other emerging merchants. He served as firemaster in 1769 and was a lottery manager in 1772.

At the outbreak of hostilities in 1775, he pledged support for the American cause and diverted his business stock of tools, weaponry, and supplies to the army. During the war he served in leadershop positions as Lieutenant Colonel of the Albany militia regiment, member of the Committee of Correspondence, United States Lottery Agent, and Continental Loan Officer. In September 1777, he was selected to serve in the first New York State Senate and seemed to remain a Senator for the rest of his life. Earlier, he had been identified as a justice of the peace.

A substantial landholder before the war, he served as surveyor of bounty rights and was accorded a number of land bounties for service to the American cause.

Dirck Ten Broeck stated that he was "in good health" when he filed a will in October 1765. However, in 1779, he resigned from the Loan Office because of ill health. He died in May 1780 at the age of forty-two. He was buried from his church.


biography in-progress


notes

the people of colonial Albany Sources: The life of Dirck Ten Broeck is CAP biography number 35. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.




first posted: 5/30/06