Hendrick Bleecker

Hendrick Bleecker was born in April 1686. He was a younger son in the large family of Albany stalwarts Jan Janse and Maragrita Van Woert Bleecker. He grew up in the Pearl Street home of a prominent fur trader and probably spent considerable time in his younger days representing Bleecker family interests in the Indian country.

Like a number of other Albany-born frontier traders, Hendrick may not have married but was a long time member and pewholder of the Albany Dutch church.

In 1715, he was identified as a member of an Albany militia company. In 1720, he was appointed firemaster for the second ward. In 1723, and on several occasions over the next four decades, he was identified as an Albany merchant. In 1756, he was listed on the census of Albany householders as an "Indian Trader" - even though he would have been about seventy-years- old. He may have been the partner of John Glen and was identified with Glen as the occupants of a house in the second ward in 1767. Over the years, he owned other pieces of real estate as well. In 1742 and 1763, he was listed as a freeholder living in the city of Albany. In 1742, the royal governor appointed him to the Commissioners of Indian Affairs.

Hendrick Bleecker died in January 1768 and was buried from his church. The burial bill was paid by his partner.

Sources: The life of Hendrick Bleecker is CAP biography number 184. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.