Jacobus Davidse Schuyler was born in January 1675. He was the youngest son of Beverwyck pioneers Davidse Pieterse and Catharina Verplanck Schuyler. He not yet fifteen and living in the family home on Market Street when his father was killed in the raid on Schenectady in 1690.

He joined the Albany Dutch church in 1696 and was listed next to his mother but living alone on the census of 1697. Perhaps he spent time in the Indian country like his older brothers.

Beginning in 1697, he served the community as a constable for the third ward and as a firemaster and juror. In 1702, his third ward property was taxed at a rate comparable to a moderatly successful merchant.

In 1700, Jacobus Schuyler had married Albany native Catharina Wendell. But she was dead within a year. In June 1704, he married Susanna Wendell. That marriage produced but two children before his untimely death in March 1707 at age thirty-two!

first posted: 6/25/01; revised 8/5/03