William Duer

William Duer (March 18, 1743 – May 7, 1799)

Duer spent most of his life as a financial speculator. In 1792, following his involvement in one of the nation's first financial panics, Duer went bankrupt and was confined to debtors' prison, where he died seven years later.

Early life Duer was born in Devonshire, Great Britain, in 1743. He was the son of John Duer, a planter in Antigua in the West Indies, who kept a villa in Devon, and Frances Frye. She was the daughter of Sir Frederick Frye, who held a command in the West Indies, where she met and married Duer. upon which he inherited his father's estates in Dominica. While in Congress, he reportedly impressed future president John Adams and financier Robert Morris from Philadelphia, with whom he served on the finance committees as well as the "Board of War," the precursor to the War Department. His failure has been cited as a cause of the panic, reportedly the first in New York caused by speculation.

Personal life

In 1779, Duer married Lady Catherine Alexander (1755–1826), second daughter of Sarah (née Livingston) Alexander and Lord Stirling, a major general in the Continental Army. The marriage took place at Stirling's country seat, "The Buildings," near Basking Ridge, New Jersey. It was designed in the style of a residence of an English nobleman, with all the appointments of an English country seat. Catherine's paternal grandparents were New Jersey Attorney General James Alexander and merchant Mary Spratt Provoost Alexander, and her maternal grandparents were Catherine Van Brugh Livingston and Philip Livingston, 2nd Lord of Livingston Manor. John Duer (1782–1858), who was a noted lawyer and jurist of New York. Frances Duer (1786–1869), who was married to Beverley Robinson (1779–1857), grandson of merchant Beverley Robinson. Sarah Henrietta Duer (b. 1787), who married John Witherspoon Smith, son and grandson of Princeton Presidents Samuel Stanhope Smith and John Witherspoon. Henrietta Elizabeth Duer (1790–1839), who married Morris Robinson (1784–1849), brother of Beverley Robinson and founder of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York. Alexander Duer (1793–1819), who married Ann Maria Westcott (1808–1897), daughter of Col. and New York State Senator David M. Westcott, in 1815.

Duer died in New York City on April 18, 1799 at age 57. He was buried in the family vault under the old church of St. Thomas and was later reinterred in Jamaica, Long Island, New York. eldest daughter of U.S. Representative James Gore King (1791–1853). great-grandfather of James Gore King Duer, and the great-great-grandfather of Alice Duer Miller (1874–1942), the feminist poet and writer. Through his son John, he was the grandfather of William Duer (1805–1879) who served in the U.S. Congress representing New York.