Abraham Ten Broeck

Abraham Ten Broeck (May 13, 1734 – January 19, 1810) was a New York politician, businessman, and militia Brigadier General of Dutch descent. He was twice Mayor of Albany, New York and built one of the largest mansions in the area, the Ten Broeck Mansion, that still stands more than 200 years later.

Early life Abraham Ten Broeck was the son of Dirck Ten Broeck (1686–1751) and Margarita (née Cuyler) (1682–1783). He was the brother of Catharine Ten Broeck Livingston, who was married to John Livingston (a son of Robert Livingston the Younger), Anna Ten Broeck, and Christina Ten Broeck, who was married to Philip Livingston, and New York State Senator Dirck W. Ten Broeck, who married Anna Douw (a daughter of Mayor Volkert P. Douw).

Career Abraham was sent to New York City to learn business with his sister Christina's husband, Philip Livingston. In 1751, at seventeen years old,

Personal life

In November 1763, he married Elizabeth van Rensselaer (1734–1813), a daughter of Stephen van Rensselaer I (the 7th Patroon and 4th Lord of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck) and a sister of patroon Stephen van Rensselaer II. Elizabeth and her brother were great-grandchildren of the first native-born mayor of New York City, Stephanus van Cortlandt. Together, they were the parents of five children, including: Dirck Ten Broeck (1765–1833), who married Cornelia Stuyvesant (d. 1825), a daughter of Petrus and Margaret (née Livingston) Stuyvesant. Elizabeth ten Broeck (1772–1848), who married Rensselaer Schuyler (1773–1847), a son of Philip Schuyler and Catherine Van Rensselaer, and the younger brother of Angelica Schuyler Church, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, Peggy Schuyler Van Rensselaer, and Philip Jeremiah Schuyler. Margarita ten Broeck (1776–1812), who died unmarried.

By the mid-1760s, Ten Broeck was one of Albany's wealthiest men. The Ten Broecks lived in a house that was assessed equally with the Schuyler Mansion and Yates Mansion in 1788. In 1797, it was burned in a fire that destroyed several city blocks. Construction was started on the new home soon after, and the family resided there beginning in 1798 calling the place "Prospect". The historic mansion still stands in Arbor Hill more than 200 years later.

Ten Broeck died on Friday, January 19, 1810.

Legacy The towns of Ten Broeck, Alabama and Ten Broeck, Kentucky as well as Tenbroeck Avenue in the Bronx, New York City were named after him.