Nanning Harmanse Visscher
by
Stefan Bielinski

Nanning Harmanse was born during the 1660s. He was the Albany-born son of New Netherland pioneers Harmen Bastiaense and Hester Dircks. As time passed, their large family would be known more widely by the surname "Visscher."

In January 1686, he married fur trader's daughter Alida Vinhagen. By 1705, ten children had been baptized at the Albany Dutch church where both parents were members and frequent baptism sponsors.

As the son of a large Albany family, his ambition to trade for furs caused him to venture far into the Indian country as a member of the Mc Gregorie Expedition in 1687. Arrested and imprisoned by the French, after that he engaged in business from the safety of his second ward Albany home. In 1699, he joined his neighbors in swearing allegiance to the King of England and signed a number of other community-based petitions as well.

Over the next three decades, he was an Albany mainstay. Prominately established on Pearl Street near the home of his widowed mother, he was elected alderman in 1708. In 1698, the city council granted his petition to erect a sawmill. In 1711, he was called "master" of the sloop Mary. He also served in the militia and held land north of Albany in the Kayaderosseras Patent.

Living into his sixties, Nanning Harmanse Visscher died in April 1730 and was buried from the Albany church. His widow passed on in 1748.

biography in-progress


notes

the people of colonial Albany Sources: The life of Nanning Harmanse Visscher is CAP biography number 4160. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.




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first posted 7/15/04; updated 1/5/14