Abraham Ten Eyck

Abraham Ten Eyck was born in December 1743. He was the son of Albany leaders Jacob C. and Catharina Cuyler Ten Eyck.

In April 1769, he married Anna Lansing at the Albany Dutch church. By 1790, nine children were christened at the Albany church where he was a baptism sponsor, pewholder, and church officer.

In 1771, he was first elected assistant alderman. He held a seat on the city council and was an active member for more than a decade. In 1783, he was identified as the Albany treasurer. Later, he was elected alderman for the first ward.

In 1766, he joined with a number of Albany men in signing a document protesting the Stamp Act. In 1776, he signed the General Association and was elected to serve on the Albany Committee of Correspondence. Over the next years, he was active in committee business. In 1777, he was called "paymaster" and "treasurer" of the Albany militia regiment. He also may have served more actively as a militia officer.

After the War for Independence, he was involved in a number of civic and municipal ventures and in the development of a "Glass Works" located beyond Albany. Lottery manager, turnpike commissioner, and subscriber and investor are among his credits.

By the late 1770s, his holdings in the third and first wards were regularly found on city assessment rolls. The census in 1790 configured his riverside home. Subsequent city survey documents show that he was a slaveholder with additional lots on Quay Street, on Gallows Hill, and along Foxes Creek. After 1810, his name no longer appeared on Albany rolls. Perhaps, his household was absorbed under one of those of his children. During these years, he ran for the State Assembly and was among those who acted as pallbearers at the re-interrment of General Montgomery in 1818.

Abraham Ten Eyck lost his wife in January 1823. He died in October 1824 at the age of eighty. The following January, letters of administration were issued on his estate.

Sources: The life of Abraham Ten Eyck is CAP biography number 4808. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.