Stephen Bayard

Stephanus Bayard or Stephen Bayard (May 31, 1700 [baptized] – 1757) was the 40th Mayor of New York City from 1744 to 1747. He was instrumental in the founding of Columbia University.

Early life Stephanus Bayard was born in May 1700 to Judge Samuel Bayard (1669–1746) and Margaretta Van Cortlandt (1674–1719). His paternal grandfather was Nicholas Bayard (c. 1644–1707), the 16th Mayor of New York City and a nephew of Peter Stuyvesant. His maternal grandparents were Stephen Van Cortlandt (1643–1700), the 17th Mayor of New York City, and Gertruj Schuyler, daughter of Philip Pieterse Schuyler.

His siblings included Judith Bayard, who married Rip Van Dam, Nicholas Bayard (1698–1765), who married Elizabeth Rynders, Gertruyd Bayard, who married Peter Kemble (1704–1789), Samuel Bayard, who married Catharine Van Horn, and Margaretta Bayard (b. 1719) who married James Van Horn.

Career In 1725, Bayard wrote to Robert Livingston stating that 30 slaves died on a voyage to the colony due to a shortage of food and that Moses Levy was awaiting the payment of Livingston's account.

On September 29, 1744, Bayard was appointed the 40th Mayor of New York City for three consecutive one-year terms until 1747. During his first year in office, he took steps to found a college in New York City, feeling that New Yorkers had neglected the interests of education. He initiated the raising of £2,250 for the foundation of a college, which was completed 10 years later and became King's College and then Columbia University.

Personal life

On March 12, 1724, Together, they were the parents of eight children, including:

Samuel Bayard Nicholas Bayard William Bayard (1729–1804), who married Catharine McEvers (1732–1814) in 1750, who was a delegate to the 1765 Stamp Act Congress and loyalist in the Revolutionary War Stephen Bayard Robert Bayard (1739–1819), who married Rebecca Apthorp (1746–1772), daughter of Charles Apthorp, in 1766. After her death, he married her sister, Elizabeth Apthorp (b. 1740), the widow of James McEvers, in 1773. Margaret Bayard

After his first wife's death, he married Eve Schuyler in New Barbadoes, New Jersey. They did not have any children.

Descendants

His grandchildren included: Samuel Vetch Bayard (1757–1832), William Bayard Jr. (1761–1826), Mary Bayard (1779–1849), and Elise Justine Bayard (1823–c.1852).

His great-granddaughter, Harriet Elizabeth Bayard (1799–1875), son of Stephen Van Rensselaer III, both distant cousins through the Van Cortlandt family. His great-grandson, William Bayard Cutting (1850–1912), was a merchant, developer, and factory owner.