General Notes

Occupation: 1681 Fire Commissioner of Albany
Occupation: 1682 Assessor for Albany
Note: First Mayor of Albany, NY
Pieter Schuyler was born in Beverwyck in 1657. He was the eldest son of N
ew Netherland pioneer Philip Pieterse Schuyler and Margarita Van Slichtenh
orst - daughter of the director of Rensselaerswyck. In 1686, he was appoin
ted first mayor of the new city of Albany.
Pieter Schuyler grew up in the family home on State Street. He followed h
is father to success in the fur trade and beyond to acquire extensive lan
ds in and around Albany and elsewhere in New York province. Emergence as A
lbany's most prominent native son brought him into contact with future bro
ther-in-law, Robert Livingston, and helped set the stage for his ascendan
cy at the provincial level.
In July 1686, he was appointed first mayor of the city of Albany under t
he Dongan Charter. At age twenty-nine, he was Albany's active leader who b
rought the city government through Leisler's Rebellion and served in the m
ayor's office until 1694. In 1692, he was the first Albany man appoint
ed to the provincial governor's advisory Council.
By 1681, Pieter Schuyler had married Albany native Engeltie Van Schaick. S
he died following the birth of their fourth child in 1689. Their daughte
r, Margarita, further cemented ties to the Livingstons when she married Ro
bert Livingston, Jr. in 1697. In 1691, Pieter Schuyler re-married. Maria V
an Rensselaer - daughter of the patroonship and Van Cortlandt Manor as wel
l, bore him five more children. These Schuylers settled into their own riv
erside home on Court Street near the Ruttenkill. Both were pillars of t
he nearby Dutch church where Pieter was a church officer.
As mayor of Albany, Pieter Schuyler headed the Albany Commissioners for In
dian Affairs. The city charter had invested these city fathers with the ex
clusive right to negotiate with the Indians. Schuyler's trading backgrou
nd and facility with native dialect brought him to the front of frontier d
iplomacy. A long time active member, as colonel of the Albany militi
a, he led the attack on La Prarie in 1691. By the end of the century, he w
as a reknowned field leader who travelled to New England, New France, a
nd New York. In 1710, he sailed across the Atlantic - accompanying the "Fo
ur Iroquois Kings" to the court of Queen Anne. Respected by neighbors, oth
er colonials, and adversaries, he was known to native peoples as "Quido
r" or "brother."
Returning from England to an Albany County about to begin three decad
es of peace and growth, Colonel Schuyler settled in as the dean of nati
ve Albanians - beyond an active role in city affairs, but managing still e
xpanding real estate holdings, continuing to sit with the Albany Indian co
mmissioners, serving on the Council and as a royal emmisary, and presidi
ng over Albany's most important traditional family while transitioning h
is base of operations more to the family farm on the flats north of the V
an Rensselaer manor house.
Pieter Schuyler's portrait painted by Nehemiah Partridge between 1710 a
nd 1718 is now in the collection of the City of Albany.