John T. Visscher

John T. Visscher (or Fisher) was born in December 1746. He was the last child born to the marriage of Teunis and Machtelt Lansing Visscher. He grew up in the large family of a Market Street brewer. He was consistently known as "John T." to prevent confusion with his slightly older and same-named kinsman.

In October 1767, he married Schenectady native Anna Pearse at the Albany Dutch church. By 1783, seven children had been christened in Albany.

In 1766, he (John J. Fisher) was among the Albany men who signed the constitution of the Albany Sons of Liberty. In that year, his name first appeared on an Albany assessment roll. We seek documentation on where his family was living during the 1770s and early 80s. However, during those years, he was a member of the Albany Masonic lodge.

At the outbreak of hostilities in 1775, the twenty-nine-year-old John T. Visscher continued his support of the Patriot cause with financial and supply backing. He served in the commissary department and was said to have been a lieutenant in William Hun's militia regiment.

In May 1781, he posted a bond with the Albany Commissioners - guaranteeing his availability and residence within the county. At that time he was identified as a yeoman of Albany. Afterwards, he was accorded a land bounty right in conjunction with the Albany militia regiment. His pension application from 1832, fleshes out his service.

After the war, he re-located to his rented lands in the Albany tract at Fort Hunter where he lived for the remainder of his life.

In 1790, he was chosen to represent Montgomery County in the New York State Assembly.

In 1790, his household in the Montgomery County town of Mohawk included eight family members and three slaves.

It appears that he maintained a long term association with the militia. As late as 1809, he was identified as colonel and then brigadier general of a Montgomery County regiment.

In September 1832, John T. Visscher was deposed when applying for a pension for Revolutionary War service. He stated that he was 87 years-old and was living in Fort Hunter. This Albany native died sometime thereafter.

Sources: The life of John T. Visscher is CAP biography number 4144. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.

From DAR records: "John T. Visscher (1744-1834) was placed on the pension roll of New York, 1832, for two years' actual service as assistant- commissary, New York troops. He was born in Albany, New York ; died at Fort Hunter.

pension info: RWPA #S28929. He was age 87, when deposed on September 15, 1832. He served as a first lieutenant in Captain William Hun's Company of Colonel Abraham Cuyler'sRegiment. His file contains a copy of orders issued to him on frame 0629, on Microfilm Reel #2461. "