Johannes Visscher, Jr.
by
Stefan Bielinski

Johannes Visscher was born in August 1698. He was the son of Albany residents Nanning and Alida Vinhagen Visscher. He was a middle child in the large family of a frontier trader and then second ward mainstay who died in 1730. This individual sometimes was referred to as "Johannes Visscher, Jr" - perhaps to distinguish him from an older and more well established Albany resident.

In 1720, he probably was the "Johannis Visser" who was listed as a freeholder in the second ward (the Visscher family home was on Pearl Street).

Like his father, he sought to follow the fur trade out to the frontier. In September 1721, he was a member of a company of young Albany men who were instructed to establish a trading settlement on Lake Erie by the royal governor. The group returned to Albany in September 1722.

Shy of his thirtieth birthday, he married twenty-four-year-old Anna Staats in February 1728. By 1743, ten children had been baptized at the Albany Dutch church.

These Visschers set up their home in Albany's third ward where Johannes served as assistant and, in 1734, as alderman. He was a contractor and represented Albany's interests in the Mohawk Valley. He also owned property along Foxes Creek which he sold to the city in 1743. In 1742, he was counted among the freeholders in the third ward.

Johannes Visscher Jr. filed a will in September 1744. It named his wife and seven living children as heirs. The will passed probate in June 1753. He died in April 1749 and his widow remarried. He had lived just fifty years!

biography in-progress


notes

the people of colonial Albany Sources: The life of Johannes Visscher is CAP biography number 4142. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.




Home | Site Index | Navigation | Email | New York State Museum


first posted 6/20/04; last revised 6/18/14