Pieter Van Brugh

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Pieter Van Brugh (1666–July 1740) was the Mayor of Albany, New York from 1699 to 1700 and from 1721 to 1723. He was a member of the Dutch aristocracy of Albany. His sister, Catharina, was the daughter-in-law of Rensselaerwyck director, Jeremias van Rensselaer, and Pieter was the great-granduncle of American Revolutionary War soldier, Peter Gansevoort. Van Brugh was also the father-in-law of the second lord of Livingston Manor, Philip Livingston.

Van Brugh was the oldest son of Johannes Pieterse Van Brugh and Catharina Roeloffs (sometimes shown as Trijntje Roeloffs). Johannes made a fortune by migrating from the Netherlands to New Netherland and exporting furs and other natural resources from Manhattan. Pieter's maternal grandparents were from Norway.

Van Brugh married Sara Cuyler in November 1688. Uncharacteristic for the era, the couple had only one child, Catharina, who was born in 1689. After serving time as a militia lieutenant in New York City, Van Brugh entered the family business and lived with his wife's family in Albany. He became a constable in 1692 followed by several other public duties in the following years. In 1697, he inherited the Cuyler's home.

In 1699, Van Brugh's prominence led to his appointment as Mayor of Albany which he held until the following year. In the following decades, he became one of the wealthiest businessmen in Albany and was named mayor for a second time from 1721 to 1723.

When he died in 1740, Van Brugh and his wife had twelve grandchildren and had raised several orphaned nieces but had no sons thereby ending the Van Brugh family name in Albany. Van Brugh was one of the last to be interred beneath Albany Dutch Reformed church.

[edit] References

Pieter Van Brugh - Biography written by Stefan Bielinski at New York State Museum web site.
Sara Cuyler Van Brugh - Biography written by Stefan Bielinski at New York State Museum web site.
Johannes Pieterse Van Brugh and Trijntje Roeloffs - The Genealogy of Walter Gilbert