Catharina Lansing Douw
by
Stefan Bielinski


Catharina Lansing was born in 1718. She was was the daughter of Albany baker Jacob G. Lansing and his wife Helena Glen.

Catharina was almost twenty-eight years old when she married her cousin, merchant Abraham Lansing, at the Schenectady Dutch church in 1746. This "spinster" was several years older than most early Albany brides but fourteen years younger than her widower husband. However, their four children were baptized in the Albany Dutch church before Abraham's death in 1759.

Widowed at forty-one, she married Albany widower Abraham Douw in 1761. Their combination family, now living in Douw's Market Street home, included children from both previous marriages.

Abraham Douw died at the end of 1787 - but not before providing for Catharina in his will. She continued to live in their home (as her son had become head of that household) until her death in February 1798 at age seventy-nine. Her son, Abraham A. Lansing, had her buried from the Albany Dutch church.

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notes

the people of colonial Albany The life of Catharina Lansing Douw is CAP biography number 3187. This profile is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.



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first posted: 01/25/02; revised 6/6/10