Peter Silvester

Peter Silvester (1734 – October 15, 1808) was an American politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives from New York, and a prominent Federalist attorney in Kinderhook. He was a mentor to Martin Van Buren, the 8th President of the United States and was the grandfather of New York Representative Peter Henry Silvester. an English sugar merchant and the first European settler of Shelter Island.

Silvester completed preparatory studies, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1763, and practiced in Albany, New York. He owned slaves.

Career

Legal practice In 1763, he began employment as the attorney for Sir William Johnson (1715–1774) in Albany. In letters to Johnson, Silvester wrote that he met with Witham Marsh concerning wrongs committed by Indians. Silvester was subsequently appointed "clerk of the peace." Among the students who began the study of law in his office were: Peter van Schaack (1747-1832); Francis Silvester (1767-1845), his son; and Martin Van Buren (1782–1862), who later became the 8th President of the United States.

Van Buren began his legal training with Silvester and his son Francis in 1796, before Van Buren had reached the age of 14. It was the Silvesters who suggested that Van Buren could improve his professional prospects by dressing fashionably and taking care in how he appeared in public; he heeded the advice and patterned his clothing, appearance, bearing and conduct after theirs. After six years under the Silvesters, the elder Silvester and Democratic-Republican political figure John Peter Van Ness suggested that Van Buren's political leanings made it a good idea for him to complete his education with a Democratic-Republican attorney. Van Buren accepted their advice and spent a final year of apprenticeship in the New York City office of John Van Ness's brother William P. Van Ness, a political lieutenant of Aaron Burr.

Revolutionary War During the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), Silvester backed the patriot cause and held a variety of positions in New York including: member of the Albany Common Council in 1772, member of the Committee of Safety in 1774, and a member of the First and Second Provincial Congresses in 1775 and 1776. He was interred in the "Old Van Schaack Cemetery", over which the Kinderhook Reformed Dutch Church and Cemetery were built in 1814. The exact location of his grave is not known.

Memorials The SS Peter Silvester, an American merchant marine ship built for the United States Maritime Commission in service from 1942 to 1945 was named for Peter Silvester.