Frederick Van Cortlandt

Frederick Van Cortlandt (1699 – February 2, 1749) was an American merchant and landowner.

Early life

Van Cortlandt was born in 1699 and christened on April 23, 1699. He was the only surviving son born to Jacobus Van Cortlandt (1658–1739) and the former Eva de Vries Philipse (b. 1660). His older sister, Margaret Van Cortlandt, was married to Abraham de Peyster, a son of Abraham de Peyster, and his younger sister, Mary Van Cortlandt, was married to Peter Jay (the brother of Van Cortlandt's wife). Mary and Peter were parents of New York State Assemblyman James Jay, and John Jay, a Governor of New York and the 1st Chief Justice of the United States. His father served as the 30th and 33rd Mayor of New York City.

His paternal grandparents were Flemish born Annetje "Anna" (née Loockermans) Van Cortlandt, and Dutch born Captain Olof Stevense van Cortlandt, who arrived in New Amsterdam in 1637, a soldier and bookkeeper that rose to high colonial ranks through his work with the Dutch West India Company, eventually serving many terms as burgomaster and alderman. Among his extended family was uncle Stephanus van Cortlandt (who married Gertruy van Schuyler) and aunt Maria van Cortlandt (who married Jeremias van Rensselaer). After his maternal grandmother's death , his adopted grandfather married his paternal aunt, Catherine (née van Cortlandt) Derval, the widow of Johannes Derval.

Career Upon his father's death in 1739, Frederick inherited all of his father's lands, known as Van Cortlandt Manor, which had been owned by his family since 1691 and expanded under his father's ownership.

Personal life

On January 19, 1724, Van Cortlandt was married to Frances Jay (1701–1780), a daughter of Auguste Jay and Anne Marika (née Bayard) Jay. Together, they were the parents of: Augustus, a Loyalist, was the last Clerk of the City and County of New York under British rule. Frederick Van Cortlandt II (1730–1800), After James' death in 1781, the house passed to Frederick's second son, Augustus. Through his granddaughter Anne, he was the great-grandfather of Helen Van Cortlandt White, the wife of Abraham Schermerhorn and mother of Caroline Webster Schermerhorn, who was well known in New York society during the Gilded Age for her marriage to William Backhouse Astor Jr.

Through his youngest daughter Eva, he was the grandfather of Margaret White (1774–1857), who married Peter Jay Munro (1767–1833), owner of Manor Park, Larchmont and a cousin and law partner of Peter Augustus Jay (eldest son of Frederick's nephew John Jay). Frances (née Marston) Mongan-Warburton (wife of Terence Charles Mongan-Warburton), and Elizabeth (née van Horne) Clarkson (grandmother of Thomas Streatfeild Clarkson).