The family name of Cuyler is believed to have been derived from the German word "Keiler" — a wild boar of the forest — and would therefore signify a powerful man. "Keiler" is also spelled "Keuler," and both of these words have exactly the same sound as the Dutch "Cuyler." Had the name been adopted in what is understood as modern times, then it would correspond to the form "Kuiler" or "Kuilder," meaning a man who fishes with a "kuil," which is a bag-shaped fishnet, and the family name would accordingly signify one who was a fisherman when the name was originally applied. The Dutch word "Kuyl" signifies a pit or hole, and it is not so consistent to state that "Kuyler" meant one who digs a hole, or is a delver, or to follow the analogy by employing other synonymous terms.
The Cuyler arms, modified and by some considered more attractive than the earliest form known, both in design and coloring, and which has been in common use in America for probably a century or more, is described as follows: Shield: Per pale, embattled gules and azure, an arrow in bend, or, barbed and flighted, argent, point upwards. Crest: On a mural crown proper, a battleaxe erect, surmounted by two arrows in saltire, or, flighted argent, points downwards. Motto: (Dutch) Ik vertrouw op God, niet op pijlen; (Latin) Deo non sagittis fido; (English) I trust in God, not in arrows. When printing the motto in capital letters in Dutch, the word "pijlen" would be spelled "pylen," with the two small marks above the letter "y," a form not always accessible in printing books, consequently the equivalent "i j" is employed. Attention is here called to the fact that "God" is the Dutch word for "Gott" in the German, and the motto is in Dutch.
The impression in the wax, made when Annatje Schepmoes, widow of Hendrick Cuyler, the progenitor, sealed her will, about the year 1700, shows the single arrow in the field, pointing upwards, with the initial letter of his Christian name, "H," in the lower left corner, and the letter "C" in the upper right corner. This is the property of Mrs. De Lancey Nicoll, of New York City.
That the Cuyler family held eminent position in Holland long before the year 1600 has been demonstrated by the thorough research made among the archives in that country through the persistence of Mrs. Maud Churchill Nicoll to seek out the family's early history, and the interesting fact has been established by her that this family probably antedates any other in Holland in the use of a surname, which goes to show the advancement of the family at an early period.
In this country it was not long before the family was recognized in a distinctive manner, beyond all disputation, for the appointments of the chief officials in the colony were made by the English Crown, and the choice invariably fell to the man of eminence. Next after the position of governor, which office was filled by the English government sending an Englishman of prominence across the water to represent the king or queen, as the case might be, the selection of a mayor was the highest rank, and he was a man residing in the colony, hence the colonist could receive no greater recognition. New York and Albany were the principal cities in the colony.
The Cuyler family was the peer of all others, as the following facts will show, aside from what creditable estimates many historians have written respecting it, and it is here set forth that from the time Albany became a city, July 22, 1686, to the time of the revolution, some one of the Cuyler name and direct line was either mayor of Albany or closely related to one who was, such as a wife, brother or son. It is interesting to the general historian as an illustration of the intermarriage of leading families in founding a city.
Johannes Cuyler, son of Hendrick Cuyler, the progenitor, was appointed (14th) mayor of Albany by Gov. William Burnet, and officiated from October 14, 1725, until November 7, 1726.
Cornelis Cuyler, son of Mayor Johannes Cuyler and Elsje Ten Broeck, was appointed (20th) mayor by Lieut.-Gov. George Clarke, and officiated from October 14, 1742, until September 28, 1746.
Colonel Abraham Cornelis Cuyler, son of Mayor Cornelis Cuyler and Catalyntje Schuyler, was appointed (26th) mayor by Lieut.-Gov. Cadwallader Colden, and officiated from September 20, 1770, until April 16, 1778.
Mayor Johannes Cuyler married (1684) Elsje, daughter of (4th) Mayor Dirck Wesselse Ten Broeck.
Mayor Cornelis Cuyler married (1726) Catalyntje, daughter of (10th) Mayor Johannes Schuyler.
Abraham Cuyler, second child of Hendrick Cuyler, the progenitor, married (1689) Catherine, daughter of (7th) Mayor Jan Jansen Bleecker.
Sara Cuyler, third child of Hendrick Cuyler, the progenitor, married (6th) Mayor Pieter Van Brugh, in 1688.
Rachel Cuyler, fifth child of Hendrick Cuyler, the progenitor, married (13th) Mayor Myndert Schuyler, in 1693.
Maria Cuyler, sixth child of Hendrick Cuyler, the progenitor, married (1st) Mayor John Cruger, of New York City, in 1703, and John, son of Maria Cuyler and Mayor John Cruger, was mayor of New York, 1756-65.
Sara Cuyler, daughter of Mayor Johannes Cuyler, married (17th) Mayor Johannes Hansen, in 1723.
Sara Cuyler's husband, Mayor Johannes Hansen, had sister Debora, who was mother of (29th) Mayor Johannes Jacobse Beeckman, having married Jacob Beeckman.
Anna Cuyler, daughter of Mayor Johannes Cuyler, married (1712) the nephew of (1st) Mayor Pieter Schuyler, Anthony Van Schaick.
Sara Cuyler, daughter of Mayor Johannes Cuyler, married (1723) Johannes, son of (5th) Mayor Hendrick Hansen.
Elsje Cuyler, daughter of Mayor Johannes Cuyler, married (1724) Hendrick Roseboom, first cousin of the wife of (24th) Mayor Sybrant Gosen Van Schaick, Alida Roseboom.
Abraham Cuyler's wife, Caatje (or Catherine) Bleecker, was a sister of (8th) Mayor Johannes Bleecker, Jr., and also of (15th) Mayor Rutger Bleecker, both being sons of (7th) Mayor Jan Jansen Bleecker.
Abraham Cuyler's son, Johannes Abraham Cuyler, married (1727) Catharina Wendell, whose aunt, Maria Wendell, was wife of (23rd) Mayor Robert Sanders.
Abraham Cuyler's daughter, Catharina, married (22nd) Mayor Jacob Coenraedt Ten Eyck, in 1736.
Abraham Cuyler's daughter, Margarita, married (21st) Mayor Dirck Ten Broeck, in 1714.
Margarita Cuyler's daughter, Christina Ten Broeck, married (1740) Philip Livingston, signer of the declaration.
Margarita Cuyler's granddaughter, Catherine Livingston, married (32nd) Mayor Philip Stephen Van Rensselaer, in 1787.
Margarita Cuyler's son, Dirck Ten Broeck, married (25th) Mayor Volckert P. Douw's daughter, Anna, in 1761.
Margarita Cuyler's grandson was (28th) Mayor Abraham Ten Broeck.
Anna Cuyler, daughter of Rachel Cuyler and Mayor Myndert Schuyler, married (16th) Mayor Johannes De Peyster, in 1715.
A critical inspection of the above list shows that thirty of the earliest thirty-two mayors of Albany were of close Cuyler blood or else married into the family.
James Riker, in his "History of Harlem," says, in speaking of Mayor Johannes Cuyler, eldest son of the progenitor:
"From him and his brothers come the respectable family of Cuyler, allied from an early day to many others noted in the annals of New York."
(I) Hendrick Cuyler was progenitor of the entire family of that name in this country. His father was Isobrant Cuyler, whose wife bore the Christian name of Evertien, or Evertje.
He was born at Hasselt, a city in the province of Overyssel, Holland, a few miles north of Zolle, and he was baptized there August 11, 1637.* He died in New York, N. Y., in 1690. (* From the papers of Maud Churchill Nicoll.)
Hendrick Cuyler settled in Beverwyck in 1664, when the place was changing from the Dutch rule, known as Dorpe Beverwyck, to that of the English, when it became known for the first time (September 24, 1664) as Albany. He was a tailor, and was successful in accumulating considerable property. He bought a lot on the hill, on the east side of North Pearl street, near State street, and owned a lot in 1680 on the south side of State, west of Pearl street, "near ye Fort," which was located in the center of the former broad thoroughfare at its intersection with Lodge street. After his death this lot and house passed into the possession of his son-in-law, Mayor Pieter Van Brugh.
In 1675 he made his brother Reynier, then residing in Holland, "cnoopemaecker tot Amsterdam" (button-maker residing at Amsterdam), his attorney, in order to receive certain property from Pieter Nicolaas Gouverneur. He had a house built for him at Albany in 1680, evidently the one on the lot last described. It was erected from timber cut and prepared in New York City. Jan Nagel, Jan Dyckman, Arent Hermens Bussing, Adolph Meyer and Jan Delamater were kept busy in that year hewing timber to fill a contract made January 2, 1680, with Nicolaas de Meyer, as his agent, for whom they were to furnish timber, including "beams, posts, rafters, plates, sleepers, door-posts and casings, according to the plan thereof," to be delivered in the ensuing May, part at the waterside and part in New York City at the Burgher's Path, for which they were to receive "1,300 guilders, with a half-ancker of rum, to-wit: one-third in silver money or sewant, one-third in good winter wheat, and one-third in goods, at such price as he (De Meyer) sells the same at his store for current sewant."
He eventually returned to New York to live, where he and his wife united with the Dutch church by letter, November 29, 1688, two years before his death. He married, at New Amsterdam (New York City), Annatje Schepmoes, born in that city and died there, daughter of Jan Jansen Schepmoes and Sara Pieterse. Children: Johannes, Abraham, Sara, Delia, Rachel, Maria, Eva, Hendrick.
(II) Johannes Cuyler, first child of Hendrick Cuyler and Annatje Schepmoes, was born in Holland in 1661, and died at Albany, New York, July 20, 1740, where he was buried in the Dutch church.
He was one of the most prominent traders of the place, and acquired wealth; was admitted a freeman of New York City in 1696 where he resided for a time; attended the Dutch Reformed Church of Albany, whereof he was a deacon in 1695 and 1700, and in later years was elder. He was Commissioner of Indian Affairs for a number of years, beginning with 1706, and was also alderman. Gov. William Burnet appointed him fourteenth mayor of Albany, and he officiated from October 14, 1725, to November 7, 1726. His residence was on the east side of North Pearl, the second house south of Steuben street, with his extensive lot extending through the block to Yaugh (now James) street.
His son, Cornelis Cuyler, became the twentieth mayor of Albany by appointment of Lieut.-Gov. George Clarke, serving from October 14, 1742, to September 28, 1746, and, in turn, the son of Mayor Cornelis Cuyler, Colonel Abraham Cornelis Cuyler, became the twenty-sixth mayor of Albany by appointment of Lieut.-Gov. Cadwallader Colden, serving from September 10, 1770, to April 16, 1778. His daughter Sara married (Apr. 25, 1723) Johannes Hansen, seventeenth mayor, by appointment of President Rip Van Dam, and reappointed by Gov. James De Lancey, with terms from October 14, 1731, to October 22, 1732, and from 1754 to 1756. In this manner, it might be put, that Johannes Cuyler, his son, grandson and his daughter, occupied the municipal "White House" throughout fourteen years.
Mayor Johannes Cuyler married, Albany, November 2, 1684, Elsje Ten Broeck, born at Albany, died there June 29, 1752, and buried in the Dutch Church, July 2nd. She was the second child and eldest daughter of Mayor Dirck Wesselse Ten Broeck (born, Holland, Dec. 18, 1638; died, Clermont, Columbia county, N. Y., Sept. 18, 1717). who married (Albany, 1663) Christina Van Buren (born May 19, 1644; died Nov. 24, 1729). Johannes Curler and Elsje Ten Broeck had issue:
- Anna, born at Albany, November 26, 1685, died there; buried in Dutch Church, March 9, 1743; married, Albany, May 24, 1712, Anthony Van Schaick.
- Christina, baptized, Albany, September 25, 1687: died young.
- Christina, born at Albany; baptized December 4, 1689; buried, Albany, November 20, 1755.
- Hendrick, born at Albany: baptized January 10, 1692.
- Sara, born at Albany; baptized October 22, 1693; married, Albany, April 25, 1723, Mayor Johannes Hansen.
- Elsje, born at Albany; baptized August 25, 1695; married, Albany, October 25, 1724, Hendrick Roseboom.
- Cornelis, baptized at New York, N. Y., February 14, 1697; died at Albany, March 14, 1765; married, Albany, December 8, 1726, Catalyntje Schuyler.
- Johannes, born at Albany, February 12, 1699; baptized February 21; married Catharina Glen.
- Maria, born at New York; baptized there, November 25, 1702; married, Albany, October 11, 1733, Cornelis Ten Broeck.
- Elizabeth, born at Albany; baptized May 13, 1705; married, Albany, December 29, 1732, Jacob Sanderse Glen.
- Rachel, born at Albany; baptized there, September 21, 1707; died young.
- Rachel, born at Albany; baptized there, November 27, 1709.
(II) Abraham Cuyler, second child of Hendrick Cuyler and Annatje Schepmoes, died at Albany, New York, and was buried there in the Dutch Church, July 14, 1747. Through shrewdness as a trader he acquired much valuable property, both at Albany and elsewhere. He married, Albany, November 17, 1689, Caatje (or Catherine) Bleecker. She died at Albany, April 8, 1734. Her father was Mayor Jan Jansen Bleecker, born in Holland, 1641; came from Meppel, province of Overyssel, Holland, 1658, to Rensselaerswyck; appointed seventh mayor of Albany by Earl of Bellomont, officiating 1700-1701; died at Albany, November 21, 1732; buried in Dutch Church there, November 25; married (Albany, January 2, 1667) Margariet (daughter of Rutger Jacobsen Van Schoenderwoert), born 1647, died 1733. Abraham Cuyler and Caatje Bleecker had issue:
- Hendrick, born at New York, N. Y., December 22, 1690; married, Albany, New York, December 1, 1722, Margarita Van Deusen.
Born in Albany:
- Margarita, October 26, 1692; died there, May 24, 1783; married, Albany, November 26, 1714, Mayor Dirck Ten Broeck.
- Anna, baptized April 14, 1695; died November, 1709, unmarried.
- Johannes Abraham, June 21, 1698; died October 24, 1746; buried October 27; married, Albany, October 28, 1727, Catharina Wendell (see forward).
- Sara, baptized April 28, 1700; died young.
- Maria, March 30, 1703; died February 16, 1722.
- Sara, baptized October 6, 1706; died in Albany, buried there, August 28, 1746; married, Albany, July 6, 1729, Johannes Janse Beeckman.
- Catharina, baptized February 18, 1710; married, Albany, August 1, 1736, Judge Jacob Coenraedt Ten Eyck, mayor of Albany.
- Abraham, December 27, 1713; married, Albany, May 5, 1744, Jannetje Beeckman.
- Nicolaas, June 27, 1716; married, Albany, May 11, 1745, Maria Schuyler.
(II) Sara Cuyler, third child of Hendrick Cuyler and Annatje Schepmoes, resided in early life in New York City, later in Albany. She married, New York, November 2, 1688, Captain Pieter Van Brugh, born at New Amsterdam, July 14, 1666, died at Albany, and buried in the Dutch Church there, July 20, 1740. He was son of Johannes Pieterse Van Brugh, born in Holland, 1624; left Harlem for America, settling first in New Amsterdam, before 1657, for in that year he sent down the Hudson river from Beverwyck, three hundred beaver skins, and who married, at New Amsterdam, March 29, 1658, Catharina Roeloffse (widow of Lucas Rodenburgh), born before 1636, being daughter of Anneke Jans and her first husband, Roeloff Jansen. Johannes P. Van Brugh died in 1697, having made a will December 22, 1696.
Captain Pieter Van Brugh was appointed sixth mayor of Albany by Lieut.-Gov. John Nanfan, officiated 1699-1700, and served a second term, from November 9, 1720, to 1723, by appointment of Gov. William Burnet. He and his wife had a house lot on the south side of State street, in Albany, west of Pearl, near the stockades, the same having been the residence of his father-in-law, Hendrick Cuyler, the progenitor. His family name, Van Brugh, was also spelled Van Brug and Verbrugge, possibly derived from the fact that the family had residence in Bruges, Belgium, more likely than of the small town of Brugg, Switzerland, and yet the English equivalent of the Dutch word (which has been used) was Bridge, signifying a family from near a certain bridge.
Pieter Van Brugh and Sara Cuyler had issue:
- Catharina, born in New York, N. Y.; baptized there, November 10, 1689; died February 20, 1756; married, Albany, September 19, 1707, Philip Livingston.
(II) Delia Cuyler, fourth child of Hendrick Cuyler and Annatje Schepmoes, was a resident of Albany and latterly of Schenectady, New York. She married, New York, N. Y., September 19, 1694, Johannes, son of Pieter Groenendyk, progenitor of that family in America. He was born in New York; baptized there, March 24, 1675; died in Schenectady, and buried in the Dutch Church there, December, 1739. After his youth spent in New York he moved to Albany, where he was made sheriff of Albany county, 1698-99, and later removed to Schenectady, where he was a trader and continued to reside until his death. His wife conducted his business some years longer. Delia Cuyler and Johannes Groenendyk had issue, born in New York and baptized there:
- Mary, baptized September 16, 1696.
- Sara, baptized April 28, 1700; died at Albany, June 5, 1774; married, Albany, December 9, 1729, James Stevenson.
- Pieter, baptized September 7, 1701.
- Hendrick, baptized September 19, 1703.
- Anna.
(II) Rachel Cuyler, fifth child of Hendrick Cuyler and Annatje Schepmoes, resided all her life at Albany, New York. She married, Albany, October 26, 1693, Mayor Myndert Schuyler. He was born in Rensselaerswyck, January 16, 1672, and was buried in the Dutch Church at Albany, October 21, 1755. President Pieter Schuyler, of the province of New York, appointed him thirteenth mayor of Albany, officiating from 1719 to November 8, 1720; appointed for a second term by Gov. William Burnet, serving from 1723 to October 13, 1725. He was member of assembly, October 20, 1702-1710; 1713-1715; 1724; 1728-1737; church master, 1706; Indian commissioner, 1706-1720; captain of militia, 1710; alderman, first ward, 1718-1719; colonel before 1754; deacon of Dutch Church; bought land on the Norman's Kil, near Albany, and at Huntersfield (Schoharie, New York) Patent; in 1703, occupying in Albany a lot on the south side of State street, the third east from South Pearl, formerly Gerrit Bancker's. His father was David Pieterse Schuyler, one of two brothers of the name who came from Amsterdam, Holland, to Beverwyck, purchasing land there in 1672 from the Van Rensselaers. He died, Albany, February 9, 1690, and had married, at New Amsterdam, October 13, 1657, Catalyn Ver Planck, daughter of Abraham Isaacse Ver Planck and Maria Vigne.
Rachel Cuyler and Myndert Schuyler had issue:
- Anna, born at Albany, New York; baptized there, February 28, 1697; buried in Dutch Church there, September 16, 1750; married, Albany, November 24, 1715, Mayor Johannes De Peyster.
(II) Maria Cuyler, sixth child of Hendrick Cuyler and Annatje Schepmoes, was born in New York, N. Y., March 3, 1678; baptized there, March 13; died September 14, 1724. She married, March 5, 1703, John Cruger. He was the progenitor of the entire Cruger family in America. He came to New Amsterdam prior to 1700; settled there; became alderman, 1712-1733: was mayor of New York beginning with the year 1739 until his death in 1744; died in New York City, August 13, 1744, and was buried in the old Dutch Church.
During early history, and at different periods, the ancestral members of the Cruger family settled in Germany, Holland, Denmark and England. At the time of the Danish invasion of England, or possibly after the conquest of England, about 1016, it is probable that some of the members of this family went to England, as Sir Philip De Cruciger (from whom the English branch traces descent) subsequently accompanied King Richard on the Crusades. Other members of the family remaining in or returning to Germany, and they, as also those emigrating from there, trace their descent from the baronial house of Van Cruger. One of the translators of the Bible, with Luther, was named Cruciger (Cruger). At Bristol, England, within the old Cathedral walls and in the adjoining church yard, are many ancient monuments and slabs to the memory of members of the Cruger family, some of whom came from the continent in the reign of Henry VIII.
Regarding the name of Cruger, in the transmutations which this family name has undergone, the origin is found to be Cruciger, derived from the Latin Crux-Gero, to carry the cross, or cross-bearer. The Cruger Arms: Shield: Argent, a bend azure charged with three martlets or, between two greyhounds courant, proper. Crest: A demigreyhound statant, gorged or. Motto: Deo non fortuna; beneath the crest, Fides.
Maria Cuyler and John Cruger had issue, born in New York, N. Y.:
- Anna, born March 28, 1704; died there, before her father (1744), and was buried in the old Dutch Church.
- Tieleman, born November 11, 1705; died there, November 16, 1730; unmarried; buried in the old Dutch Church.
- Henry, born November 25, 1707; died at Bristol, England, February 5, 1780; buried in center aisle of old Cathedral; married (first), at Teganie, Jamaica, West Indies, September 28, 1734, Hannah Slaughter, widow of Patrick Montgomery; (second), at Linquanese, Jamaica, West Indies, December 21, 1736, Elizabeth Harris.
- John, born July 18, 1710, died at New York, December 27, 1791, unmarried; mayor of New York, 1756-1765; first speaker and president of the first Colonial assembly and member for seventeen years.
- Maria, born January 6, 1712; died at New York, July 20, 1715.
- Sarah, born December 5, 1714; died at New York, March 4, 1766; buried there in new Dutch Church; married ———— Gouverneur.
- Maria, born May 10, 1718; died at New York, April 14, 1787; buried there in the new Dutch Church.
- Rachel, born May 10, 1721; died at New York, March 25, 1775; buried there in old Dutch Church.
(II) Eva Cuyler, seventh child of Hendrick Cuyler and Annatje Schepmoes, resided at Albany, New York. She married, Albany, August 26, 1712, Dominie Petrus Henricus Van Driessen, Dominie Petrus Vas officiating.
He was the son of Petrus Van Driessen; matriculated at Groningen University, November 2, 1705, giving his residence then as Coevordiensis, and came to Albany, April, 1712. He was made seventh minister of the "Nether Dutch Reformed Congregation of the City and County of Albany," succeeding Dominie Johannes Lydius. He was the one who was energetic in erecting a new church edifice at the intersection of Broadway and State street, which was built of stone about the dilapidated one which had been constructed of wood in 1656, and no picture of any other subject in entire Albany is now regarded as more typical of the old Dutch days. He drew up a petition June 8, 1714, signed by himself, the elders and deacons, requesting the approval of Robert Hunter, captain-general and governor of the provinces of New York and New Jersey, for proceeding therewith, which was granted, and the building was first occupied October 30, 1715, consecrated November 13. He also had the church incorporated by petition of August 3; approved August 10, 1720, and this building endured until rebuilt on the south side of Beaver street, in 1806, from the same material, in order to facilitate traffic on State street, where it had stood in the middle of the principal thoroughfare. He also supplied Kinderhook, 1712-27; Linlithgow, 1722-37, and occasionally Schenectady, as well as being missionary to the neighboring Indians.
Dominie Van Driessen made a will, Albany, January 29, 1737-38, in which he bequeathed all his estate, real and personal, to his wife, Eva Cuyler, for use during lifetime, with power to sell and dispose of the same. She did sell, in conjunction with two of her children, Hendrick and Annatje, on July 21, 1748, and Philip Lansing bought it for a nominal sum, reconveying it to her in fee. Some time later her son, Petrus, conveyed his own interest to his brother, Hendrick, as he moved to Schenectady. Dominie Van Driessen died at Albany, January, 1738, and was buried in the Dutch church there, February 3, 1738.
Eva Cuyler and Petrus Henricus Van Driessen had issue, born in Albany:
- Petrus, baptized January 17, 1713; removed to Schenectady, New York; married, Schenectady, June, 1738, Engeltje Vrooman.
- Hendrick, baptized October 30, 1715; removed to New York City.
- Johannes, baptized September 29, 1717.
- Annatje, baptized November 15, 1719.
- Maria, baptized September 16, 1722; died at Albany; buried there, November 19, 1722.
(II) Hendrick Cuyler, eighth child of Hendrick Cuyler and Annatje Schepmoes, was a merchant residing in New York City. His will, bearing date New York, New York, July 23, 1763, was probated (liber 25, surrogate's court, county of New York) December 20, 1766.*
(* This line has been traced by Maud Churchill Nicoll.)
He married, in the Middle Dutch Church of New York City, license dated April 1, 1710, Maria Jacobs.
(III) Johannes Abraham Cuyler, fourth child of Abraham Cuyler and Caatje (or Catherine) Bleecker, was born at Albany, New York, June 21, 1698, and died there October 24, 1746; buried October 27. He had a house-lot in 1729 on the east corner of Broadway and Steuben street.
He married, at Albany, October 28, 1727, Catharina Wendell, born at Albany, baptized there January 10, 1705; died at Albany, April 12, 1746; was buried in the Dutch church, April 14th, and was the daughter of Harmanus Wendell (born Albany, 1678; died there; buried in Dutch Church, December 15, 1731), who married (about 1699) Annatje Glen (died, Albany; buried Sept. 19, 1756).
Johannes Abraham Cuyler and Catharina Wendell had issue, born at Albany:
- Elsje; baptized September 15, 1728.
- Harmanus, baptized May 3, 1730; married, Coxsackie, New York, 1771, Elizabeth Van Bergen.
- Johannes, baptized September 21, 1731; married, Schenectady, New York, July 5, 1763, Susanna Vedder.
- Abraham, baptized September 3, 1732.
- Catharina, baptized May 12, 1734.
- Cornelis, baptized October 19, 1735; married, Albany, March 16, 1763, Anna Wendell (see forward).
- Anna, baptized September 5, 1736.
- Margarita, baptized April 20, 1740.
- Jacob, baptized September 28, 1741, died June 5, 1804, aged sixty-two years, six months; married, Albany, March 5, 1764, Lydia Van Vechten.
- Jacob, baptized January 10, 1746; died at Coxsackie, New York, October 2, 1823. (This Jacob seems wrong; but so appears on records in Pearson).
(IV) Cornelis Johannes Cuyler, sixth child of Johannes Abraham Cuyler and Catharina Wendell, was born at Albany, New York; baptized there, October 19, 1735. He married, at Albany, March 16, 1763, Annatje Wendell, born at Albany, June 5, 1737, baptized there, June 12, 1737; died at Schenectady, New York, February 25, 1775, daughter of Jacob Wendell (born Albany, Nov. 22, 1702; buried at Greenbush, or later, Rensselaer, New York, Sept. 5. 1745), who married (Albany, Dec. 19, 1728) Helena Van Rensselaer (born, Albany, Oct. 4, 1702). Cornelis Johannes Cuyler and Annatje Wendell had issue:
- Catharina, born at Albany, January 4, 1764.
- Jacob Cornelis, born at Schenectady, June 9, 1765.
- Johannes Cornelis, born at Schenectady, December 7, 1766; died there, October 25, 1828; married Hannah Maley (see forward).
- Harmanus, born at Schenectady, October 9, 1768.
- Jannetje, born at Schenectady, June 10, 1770.
(V) Johannes Cornelis Cuyler, third child of Cornelis Johannes Cuyler and Annatje Wendell, was born at Schenectady, New York, December 5, 1766, and died there October 25, 1828. In later years he was known by the Anglicized form of his name, or John C. Cuyler. He was an incorporator of the proposed Clinton College in 1779, at Schenectady, which inaugurated the establishment of Union University.
He married, at Albany, Hannah Maley, born at Albany, October 12, 1769, daughter of John Maley, one of Albany's richest men, and Catherine Tremper, whose Huguenot family name on coming from France was Trompour, and they resided at Kingston, New York.
John Cornelius Cuyler and Hannah Maley had issue:
- Catherine (baptized Caty), born May 12, 1788, died in Albany, November 3, 1794.
- Ann, born October 2, 1794; died at Watervliet, New York, November 29, 1830; married, Albany, 1814, Capt. John Gansevoort.
- John Maley, born November 25, 1796; died in Albany, September, 1836; married Sarah Colton, of Fishkill, New York.
- Augustus, born January 7, 1799; died in Albany, October 12, 1825.
- William Tremper, born December 22, 1802; died at Cuylerville, New York, December 21, 1864; married (first), at Rochester, New York, Charlotte Hanford; (second), at Leicester, New York, Nancy Bancker Stewart; married (third), at Boston, Massachusetts, May 9, 1850, Anna De Peyster Douw, widow of Samuel Stringer Lush (see Douw family).
- Frederick, born June 22, 1804; died February 14, 1837; married, Hackensack, New Jersey, Caroline Romeyn.
- Catherine Maley, born February 6, 1807; died at Eastport, Maine, May 15, 1832; married, Albany, October 14, 1825, Captain Henry Donnell Hunter, U. S. N.
- Mary Magdalen, born February 3, 1810; died at Albany, October 4, 1847, married, Albany, April 5, 1827, George Dexter (see Dexter family).
The last named child was born in Fort Johnston, Johnstown, New York, the others in Albany.
(VI) Col. William Tremper Cuyler, fifth child of Johannes Cornelis Cuyler and Hannah Maley, was born at Albany, New York, December 22, 1802, and died at "Woodlands," Cuylerville, Livingston county, New York, December 21, 1864. He was buried in the Cuyler lot of Mount Hope cemetery at Rochester, New York, and his grave indicated by a granite monolith.
He received his education as one of the first students attending the Albany Academy, and resided in that city until about the time of his majority. The Erie canal was then nearing completion, and he was imbued with the idea that it was to open up the rich grain and grazing sections of the western part of the state, for up to that time very little of the population had settled to much of any extent farther westward than Schenectady, excepting in isolated cases, and such cities as Rochester, Buffalo and Detroit were hardly more than embryotic villages when he was a youth. Rochester was his choice, and he bought the "Crystal Building," on East Main street, establishing a large carriage manufactory, while his residence was on North St. Paul street. It was here that he married Charlotte Hanford, about 1823, probably on attaining his twenty-first year, and she a girl of seventeen years. He became a member of the Presbyterian church of Rochester, and this change of his religious views from the Dutch Reformed church of his ancestors for two centuries was probably due to the fact that his second wife, Nancy Bancker Stewart, came of a Scotch family; but the other members of his family turned instead to the Episcopalian faith. He received his title as colonel of the New York state militia.
About the year 1830, Colonel Cuyler decided to dispose of his property in Rochester so as to participate in the development of the country near Geneseo, New York. He turned his business over to his brother-in-law, George Hanford, who formed a partnership with Thomas Askin, both of whom had been his apprentices, and in 1843 they removed their manufactory to Cuylerville. The Genesee Valley canal was being dug at the time Colonel Cuyler decided on exchanging his Rochester property for a large tract of most admirable farming land in that beautiful valley. He seized the opportunity to lay out the town, some four miles southwest of Geneseo, which grew into a thriving village and was given his name — Cuylerville. His own property, on which he resided, he named "Woodlands," because at the rear of his handsome home was a dense forest of pines. The house stood at the top of a long and gradual incline leading to a wooded plateau; but before it lay the valley unobstructed to the view. Any number of letters of that time which were written by visitors to his home to friends at other places never failed to style it "a palace," and undoubtedly it was then one of the finest specimens of colonial style of architecture in the state, if people still living are to be believed. It was of wood, painted white, and an elaborate portico. We are told by those who have been there, that the view from his piazza across the valley was entrancing, for the landscape comprised miles of the richest verdure in the state, and much of it was owned by him. It was his pleasure, as was common with the Wadsworths and other wealthy neighbors with landed estates, to breed fine horses, as well as superior strains of sheep and cattle.
The property named "Woodlands," which Colonel Cuyler owned, had been bought in 1810 by Hon. Samuel Miles Hopkins, jointly with B. W. Rogers, "which tract of land had been reserved by the Indians as, above all others, choice and delightful," as is recorded in the autobiography of Mr. Hopkins [i.e., Sketch of the Public and Private Life of Samuel Miles Hopkins of Salem, Connecticut], a lawyer of standing, who lived in New York and Albany, before going West. Mr. Hopkins further said of the locality: "If the habitable globe contains any places more entirely excellent and desirable than these two adjoining tracts (Mount Morris and Leicester, in Livingston county, N. Y.) I know it not." Regarding the time when the house was built, he says:
"In 1811, I removed to Geneseo, the village of my old and excellent friends, James and William Wadsworth. From here I superintended my farm with unsparing diligence and care, until I could have a house prepared. In 1812, the war. In 1813-14, I was a member of the thirteenth congress, an election which was contrary to my expectation and wishes, and to the duties of which my farm and building forbade my giving much attention. * * * So I staid in Washington as little as I could. * * * In these same years I built my house. In August, 1814, I laid out the village of Moscow on a plain which far and wide was covered with a young growth of oak and hickory, so thick as to be almost impervious, and such as prevented me from getting any just knowledge of the extent and shape of the plain, except by actual mathematical survey. * * * From the Genesee river my operations extended back to the pine woods, near three miles."
Moscow is about one mile distant from Cuylerville, and the dense pine forest back of "Woodlands" had never been entered up to this time by any other man than the wild Indian.
The estate of Mr. Hopkins was valued in 1817 definitely at $75,000, but in 1822, because of hard times throughout the country, it had so depreciated that he "was glad to accept a check of $25,000 for the whole," and "in the spring of 1822, I sold off, paid off, broke up, and traced my course back to Albany." where he resumed his practice of the law. Colonel William T. Cuyler obtained the property by a deed of conveyance from Campbell H. Young, of Geneseo, and on his death it remained in control of his third wife, Anna De Peyster Douw (Cuyler) until it passed into the hands of Colonel Cuyler's son, George M. Cuyler, on the probate of her will at Albany, November 9, 1871, together with "all my horses, cattle, livestock and implements of husbandry upon the aforesaid property."
The home of Colonel Cuyler was constantly the scene of guests and of much entertaining. He was somewhat handsome in appearance, stately in bearing, standing erect, blue eyes and auburn-brown hair. About the homestead were a great many flower-beds, which were attended by the women of his family. The house was furnished with the beautiful furniture of the day when the carving of solid mahogany pieces was at its height in art treatment. There were many family portraits upon the wall, and the silver was of the quaint pattern of the Colonial period, which had been handed down for generations. Disaster overtook much of this valuable household property, for a fire broke out at noon on February 22, 1857, caused by a detective flue in Mrs. Cuyler's room, and the residence was burned to the ground quickly. One of the most serious losses was that of the old family Bible, with its entries in the Dutch language. The sideboard, which was saved, was offered for sale in 1910 for $500. Colonel Cuyler did not rebuild; but removed his family to Rochester, where he resided on South Washington street; but his only living son, George, remained at "Woodlands" for twenty years thereafter, occupying one of the other houses on the estate. Colonel Cuyler died there, while on a visit to his son. He was stricken with apoplexy while inspecting the stock; was carried into the house by his son, and died within a few hours, although the previous night he had been in unusually good spirits and enjoying apparently excellent health.
Colonel William T. Cuyler married (first) Charlotte Hanford, daughter nof Gershom Selleck Hanford and Sarah Hayes, in 1823, or January, 1824, as their first child was born in November, 1824. She died at "Woodlands," Cuylerville, April 12, 1831, "in her 26th year," and, when twenty-five years old, had borne four children. She was born, accordingly, in 1805 or 1806, and is buried in Mount Hope cemetery at Rochester, with all her children and her husband. Colonel Cuyler married (second), at the Clute homestead, between Moscow and Squawkie Hill, in 1837, Nancy Bancker Stewart, born at Leicester, New York, March, 1810, died at "Woodlands," Cuylerville, February 3, 1848, buried in Mount Hope cemetery, daughter of John Stewart (born June 15, 1783), of Leicester and Pike, Wyoming county, New York, who married Nancy Bancker Clute (born Schenectady, N. Y., Dec. 25, 1776; died, Moscow, N. Y., April 28, 1864; buried there). By his second wife he had three children. Colonel Cuyler married (third), at Boston, Massachusetts, May 9, 1850, Anna De Peyster Douw, born at Albany, New York, January 31, 1797; married (first) Samuel Stringer Lush (by whom she had two children who died young), and she died at No. 123 State street, Albany, August 15, 1871, daughter of Johannes De Peyster Douw (born in "Wolvenhoeck," Greenbush, later known as Rensselaer, N. Y., Jan. 20, 1756; died, Albany, Feb. 22, 1835), who married (Albany, Dec. 20, 1795) Margaret Livingston (born, Albany, June 3, 1768; died, Albany, Jan. 21, 1802). By his third wife he had no issue. (See Douw and Livingston Families.)
Colonel William Tremper Cuyler and Charlotte Hanford had issue:
- William Maley, born at Rochester, New York, November 1, 1824; died there, March 28, 1826.
- William Augustus, born at Rochester, November 1, 1826; died there by drowning, July 18, 1828.
- George Maley, born at Rochester, August 22, 1828; unmarried; died there, of pneumonia, March 11, 1910.
- Charlotte Hanford, born at Cuylerville, New York, March 9, 1831; died there, of scarlet fever, January 18, 1842.
Colonel William Tremper Cuyler and Nancy Bancker Stewart had issue:
- William Tremper, Jr., born at Cuylerville, May 11, 1838; died there, of scarlet fever, January 22, 1842.
- Annie Bancker, born at Cuylerville, July 6, 1842; married, Rochester, March 22, 1865, Henry Lyman Churchill, born at Curtisville, Massachusetts, September 29, 1839, son of Henry Churchill and Sarah Dewey; by whom:
- Alice Dewey, born at Rochester, March 12, 1867; she was residing at No. 8 Union street, Schenectady, New York, in 1911.
- Catherine Maley, born at Cuylerville, New York, December 2, 1844; died at Rochester, New York, October 23, 1875; married in St. Luke's Episcopal church, Rochester, by Rev. R. Bethel Claxton, April 19, 1865, Dexter Reynolds, born at Albany, New York, December 22, 1828, died there, August 19, 1906, and was a lawyer, son of Marcus T. Reynolds and Elizabeth Ann Dexter (see Reynolds and Dexter families). Issue:
- Cuyler Reynolds, born at Albany, August 14, 1866; married, at Albany, September 24, 1891, Janet Gray Gould, born at Albany, July 22, 1871, daughter of Capt. Charles Gould and Janet Gray; by whom:
- Kenneth Gray Reynolds, born at Albany, September 17, 1892.
- Marcus T. Reynolds, born at Great Barrington, Massachusetts, August 20, 1869, architect, resident of Albany, New York in 1911.
- Cuyler Reynolds, born at Albany, August 14, 1866; married, at Albany, September 24, 1891, Janet Gray Gould, born at Albany, July 22, 1871, daughter of Capt. Charles Gould and Janet Gray; by whom: