Anna Van Santvoort Dole
by
Stefan Bielinski


Anna Van Santvoort was born in May 1749. She was the first child born to Albany gunsmith Staats Van Santvoort and his wife, the former Willemptie Bradt.

In July 1767, she married newcomer James Dole at the Albany Dutch church. The marriage produced a number of children - one of them baptized in 1768. She was a pewholder and occasional sponsor at the church. Her grandfather was the Reformed minister at Schenectady during the first half of the eighteenth century.

James Dole and his wife lived on Albany's Southside where he had a grocery and drygoods store opposite Richard Cartwright's inn and tavern. These Dole's prospered until the outbreak of hostilities in 1775. Dole was a loyalist and was arrested, imprisoned, and ultimately banished from Albany. Anna apparently followed him to New York as, in November 1778, the Governor denied her petition to return to Albany.

These Doles were among those who sought refuge in Shelburne, Nova Scotia immediately after the war. But, by the late 1780s, they did return to Albany where James advertized the sale of fish and groceries at his Green Street store in the Albany Gazette as he had in pre-war days.

Anna lost her husband in August 1803. In 1810, she was identified as the head of a household at 17 Beaver Street that also included a young family. The widow Ann Dole was listed in city directories at a number of Southside locations for many years.

Anna Van Santvoort Dole died in December 1833 at the age of eighty-five. She was buried from her residence then at 64 Lydius Street.

biography in-progress


notes

the people of colonial Albany Sources: The life of Anna Van Santvoort Dole is CAP biography number 6713. This profile is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.




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


first posted: 2/15/04