Pieter P. Schuyler, Jr.

Pieter P. Schuyler, Jr. was born in March 1748. He was the son of Pieter and Geertruy Schuyler. He was christened on March 20 at the Dutch church in New York City. He is often confused with a number of same-named, contemporary kin.

His father died in 1753 and his mother re-married eight years later. His step-father was Dr. John Cochran, a noted surgeon who later lived in New Jersey, New York, and finally in the Mohawk Valley - where Pieter P. Schuyler, Jr. eventually would settle as well.

In August 1762, he filed a document in the provincial chancery court asking that step-father, John Cochran, be appointed guardian of his older sister, Cornelia. At that time, the petition stated that Pieter was "upwards of fourteen" years old.

In January 1767, this Pieter was not yet nineteen when he married Albany native Geertruy Lansing at the Albany Dutch church. Their daughter was born in 1769 and christened in Albany. Perhaps the marriage produced another child.

In 1767, his name appeared on an Albany assessment roll for the third ward. In 1770, he was appointed firemaster for the second ward. However, he probably lived on family property located on the flats north of Albany. Following the outbreak of the war, he was elected to the Committee of Correspondence representing Rensselaerswyck.

He was an officer in the Revolutionary army, and participated in a number of post-war land patents. He also owned a house and property in Albany. He reached the rank of Major of the Second Regiment of the New York Line.

Ultimately, this individual would settle in the Mohawk Valley. The town of Palatine census for 1790 shows his household with four men, one female, and nine "other free persons."

He filed a will in January 1786. At that time, he was "of Palatine." "Major" Pieter P. Schuyler, Jr. died in January 1792 and was buried at the Flats but from the Albany church. His will passed probate in Montgomery County a few days later. His widow re-married. This "Peter Schuyler" had lived but forty-three years.

Sources: The life of Pieter P. Schuyler, Jr. is CAP biography number 3312. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources. See CSG, vol. 2, p. 2.