(VI) Gerrit Yates, son of Abraham Gerrit Lansing (q. v.) and Susanna (Yates) Lansing, was born in Albany, August 4, 1783, died January 3, 1862. He held a number of positions of honor and trust in Albany. In early life he was private secretary to Governor Morgan Lewis, clerk of the assembly, judge of probate, represented the county in the twenty-second, twenty-third and twenty-fourth congresses, was elected regent of the University in place of ex-President Martin Van Buren, and at the time of his death was chancellor of the regents. He was a man of genial nature, kind, frank, honest and most open-hearted, respected and beloved by all, and affectionate and benevolent, with the peculiar habit of attracting the young people. He was respected as a gentleman of polish and refinement, in fact, a true representative of the school in which were Clay, Webster, Wright, Marcy and Van Buren. He married May 31, 1808, Helen, born June 13, 1787, died June 25, 1838, daughter of Abraham Ten Eyck, (son of Jacob C. and Catharina (Cuyler) Ten Eyck, who was born in Albany, November 29, 1743, died November 7, 1824), and Annetje (Lansing) Ten Eyck. Children:
- Charles Bridgen, see forward;
- Jane Ann, married, 1841, Robert Hewson Pruyn;
- Susan Yates, born Albany, August 5, 1816, died there, January 15, 1911, unmarried;
- Abraham Gerrit, died single.
(VII) Charles Bridgen, son of Gerrit Yates and Helen (Ten Eyck) Lansing, was born at Albany, New York, July 4, 1809, died at his home, No. 146 State street, in that city, of acute pneumonia, on December 1, 1890. He resided throughout his entire life in Albany. Although more than eighty years of age when he died, up to the time of his final sickness he was energetically engaged in looking after his business interests, which were considerable, as he was a large real estate owner in the city, and also in Syracuse. His natural qualities of mind were strengthened and matured by a liberal education and the study of a learned profession. He was of decided practical ideas, and although he favored a college education, he considered that it should be for the purpose of serious study to fit one for the activities of affairs later on. His judgment was thus well developed at an early age, and it was natural that success for him was assured from the start. He was a man of marked characteristics, genial to a friend, prompt in his business dealings, possessed a progressive and enterprising spirit, and yet was appreciated largely for his conservatism. For these reasons he was not only well liked, but his courteous counsel was much sought. The simple life of his ancestors was more to his liking than the hum and bustle, the conventionalities and inconsistencies of modern life in its search for happiness. Although rural pursuits would have furnished him greater pleasures than those of society, yet he did not withdraw himself from the duties and responsibilities which pressed around him, discharging all faithfully and well. He was a director of the Commerce Insurance Company, and one of the oldest directors of the Albany Insurance Company, having served continuously from January, 1864, until his death, or twenty-six years. He was one of the oldest trustees of the Albany Savings Bank, chosen in 1868, and was one of the early promoters and most liberal supporters of the Thomson Pulp & Paper Company, of Thomson, New York, to whom it owed much for his intelligent grasp of its advantages and the courageous aid by which this manufacturing enterprise gained success. He became a director of the New York State National Bank on May 1, 1865, and the board of directors of that institution met on the day of his death, and acknowledged by resolution that he was the oldest member of the board in length of service, that his confrères had always found him "active and enterprising, his life has been an open book to all our citizens, and especially so to those who were brought into business or social relations with him: always constant to his duties, and serviceable in counsel to his associates."
Charles B. Lansing, married (first) Catherine Clinton, daughter of Mayor John and Abby (Spencer) Townsend, in 1842, by whom he had two children. He married (second) in 1854 Abby Townsend, sister of his first wife. The father of Abby Spencer was Judge Ambrose Spencer, who was the thirty-fifth mayor of Albany, officiating from March 10, 1824, to January 1, 1825, and serving a second term, from January 1, 1825, to January 1, 1826. He was a man of much learning and highly respected. Mrs. Charles B. Lansing died at her home, No. 146 State street, Albany, May 18, 1909. Children:
- John Townsend. see forward.
- Charles Abraham, born at Albany, died at Colorado Springs, Colorado, December 8, 1890; married Sarah Macklin; children: Abby Townsend and Charles Bridgen Lansing.
- Abby Spencer, born at Albany; married at Albany, June 1, 1900, Rev. Edward Griffin Selden, pastor of the Second Reformed Dutch Church, (Madison Avenue) Albany, who died at Saratoga, June 2, 1904.
- Edward Yates, born at Albany, died unmarried.
- Gerrit Yates, born at Albany, married Sarah Rathbone, daughter of General Frederick and Sarah (Rathbone) Townsend.
(VIII) John Townsend, eldest son of Charles Bridgen and Catherine Clinton (Townsend) Lansing, was born at Sachem's Head, Connecticut. He received his education at Albany Academy, Luther's Classical Academy of Albany and at Sedgwick Institute, Great Barrington, Massachusetts. In 1863 he was employed as a clerk in the office of Pruyn & Lansing, Albany Iron and Saw Works. In 1867 he became a partner in Albany Saw Works, under the same firm name. Later with Mr. Pruyn they organized the Sheffield File Works for the manufacture of files; also the Embossing Company for the manufacturing of dominoes and wooden articles. Mr Lansing continued in the business until 1880, and since that time has been actively engaged as trustee of several large estates and officially connected with many charitable and financial institutions. His interest in art and historical matters has always affected his life, but was given definite form when he was elected president of the Albany Historical and Art Society, organized in the fall of 1886, following the historical loan exhibition given in connection with the Albany Bi-Centennial celebration commemorating the charter of July 22, 1686. From that time his interest in these matters has never ceased. It was only natural, therefore, that on the death of Mr. James Ten Eyck, he was chosen president of the Albany Institute and Historical and Art Society at a special meeting, October 25, 1910. Mr. Lansing was elected president of the board of governors of the Albany Hospital and continues as such, giving much time and thought to the interests of that institution. He is president of the Public Market Company of Albany, the Lansing Syracuse Realty Company, vice-president of the Albany Insurance Company, the Wheeler Rent and Power Company, the Albany Rural Cemetery, the Young Men's Christian Association board of trustees, trustee of Dudley Observatory, of Albany Medical College, director of the Albany Girls' Academy, and director of the New York State National Bank and Albany City Mission. He is an official member of the Madison Avenue Reformed Church, the Holland Society of New York, the Fort Orange and Country clubs of Albany.
Mr. Lansing married (first) in Albany, October 27, 1870, Helen Franchot, born March 31, 1846, died at Albany, January 28, 1898. daughter of Volckert Petrus Douw (born April 10, 1790, died at Albany, June 16, 1869) who married, June 2, 1834, Helen, daughter of Paschal Franchot, of Butternuts, New York. Volckert P. Douw was the son of John de Peyster Douw (born January 20, 1756, died February 22, 1835), who married, December 22, 1787, Deborah Beeckman (born November 26, 1763, died July 23, 1791), daughter of Johannes Jacobse Beeckman (born at Albany, August 8, 1733, died December 17, 1802), married November 22, 1759, Maria Sanders (born November 26, 1763, died November 2, 1784), daughter of John and Debora (Glen) Sanders. Mr. Lansing married (second) at Paris, France, October 1900, Leontine de Kay, daughter of John Fondey Townsend, M.D., son of Charles de Kay and Maria (Hun) Townsend, who resided for many years in Albany, practicing medicine, and removed to New York City, where he died January 8, 1874. Dr. John Fondey Townsend married, September 10, 1836. Catherine Louise Douw, born September 10, 1817, daughter of John de Peyster Douw, by his third marriage, January 22, 1811, to Catherine Douw Gansevoort (born May 9, 1782), daughter of Leonard Gansevoort, died December 16, 1834, and Maria Van Rensselaer (born May 11, 1782, died April 2, 1842), daughter of Colonel Kiliaen Van Rensselaer. John de Peyster Down (born January 20, 1756, died February 22, 1835) was the son of Volckert Petrus Douw (born March 23, 1720, died March 20, 1801), married, May 20, 1742, Anna de Peyster (born March 28, 1723, died June 14, 1794), daughter of Mayor Johannes de Peyster (born January 10, 1694, died February 27, 1789), married, November 24, 1715, Anna Schuyler (born February 28, 1698, died 1750). Mayor Volckert Petrus Douw was the son of Petrus Douw (born March 24, 1692, died August 21, 1775), married, October 8, 1717, Anna Van Rensselaer (died March 29, 1756), daughter of Hendrick and Catharina (Berbrugge) (or Van Brough) Van Rensselaer. Petrus Douw built the homestead on the shore of the Hudson river, opposite Albany, in 1724, named Wolvenhoeck.