Augustus Van Cortlandt

Van Cortlandt was born in 1728 in British America. He was the second son of prominent New York merchant and landowner Frederick Van Cortlandt and Frances ({{nee}} Jay) Van Cortlandt (1701–1780).{{cite book|last1=Reynolds|first1=Cuyler|title=Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation|date=1914|publisher=Lewis Historical Publishing Company|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/genealogicalfami00reyn|page=[https://archive.org/details/genealogicalfami00reyn/page/1158 1158]|access-date=29 August 2016|language=en}} His elder brother was James Van Cortlandt (who also married a daughter of Mayor Cornelis Cuyler). His younger siblings were Frederick Van Cortlandt II (who did not marry), Anne Van Horne (who married Nathaniel Marston III and Augustus Valette Van Horne), Eva Van Cortlandt (who married Henry White).{{cite book|last1=Reynolds|first1=Cuyler|title=Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs: A Record of Achievements of the People of the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys in New York State, Included Within the Present Counties of Albany, Rensselaer, Washington, Saratoga, Montgomery, Fulton, Schenectady, Columbia and Greene|date=1911|publisher=Lewis Historical Publishing Company|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_b4k-AAAAYAAJ|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_b4k-AAAAYAAJ/page/n42 32]|access-date=8 September 2017|language=en}}

His maternal grandparents were Auguste Jay and Anne Marika (née Bayard) Jay. His father was the only surviving son of Jacobus Van Cortlandt, the 30th and 33rd Mayor of New York City, and the former Eva de Vries Philips.{{cite web |last1=Baeckelandt |first1=Dave |title=Annetje Loockermans - Flemish Mother of America |url=http://flemishamerican.blogspot.com/2011/03/anna-loockermans-flemish-mother-of.html |website=The Flemish American |access-date=11 September 2018 |date=17 March 2011}} Among his first cousins were James Jay, a New York State Assemblyman, and John Jay, a Governor of New York and the 1st Chief Justice of the United States.{{cite book |last1=Ricciardi |first1=Christopher |title=From Private To Public: The Changing Landscape Of Van Cortlandt Park; Bronx, New York In The Nineteenth Century |date=1997 |publisher=Syracuse University |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/arch_reports/95.pdf |access-date=31 July 2019}}

His father owned Van Cortlandt Manor, which had been in his family since 1691 and expanded under his grandfather's tenure. Upon his father's death in 1749, twenty-one year old Augustus inherited an enslaved person.{{cite web |title=Drama at the Van Cortlandt House |url=https://www.lehman.edu/vpadvance/artgallery/arch/ideas/PDFs/van%20cortlandt.pdf |website=www.lehman.edu |publisher=Lehman College |access-date=13 October 2022}} After his elder brother James died in 1781, Augustus inherited his father's fieldstone and brick Georgian style manor, the Van Cortlandt House.{{cite book |last1=Day |first1=Leslie |title=Field Guide to the Natural World of New York City |date=10 May 2013 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-1-4214-1149-1 |page=28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-BoOGYeaQ64C&pg=PT28 |access-date=13 October 2022 |language=en}} The estate remained in the family until 1889 when they sold the property to the City of New York as part of Van Cortlandt Park's creation.{{cite web |title=Van Cortlandt Park Highlights - Van Cortlandt House Museum |url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/VanCortlandtPark/highlights/6371 |website=www.nycgovparks.org |publisher=NYC Parks |access-date=13 October 2022}}

In 1751, he was admitted to the practice of law. In 1753, Van Cortlandt succeeded John Chambers to become Clerk of the City{{cite web |title=Gomez, Daniel (1695-1780) to Augustus Van Cortlandt |url=https://www.gilderlehrman.org/collection/glc01450511 |website=www.gilderlehrman.org |publisher=Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |access-date=13 October 2022}} and County of New York,{{cite book |last1=Council |first1=New York (N Y. ) Common |title=Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York |date=1860 |pages=609–611 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jhYAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA608-IA6 |access-date=13 October 2022 |language=en}} of which he was the last under British rule.{{cite web |title=Letters to Samuel Bayard, Jun., and Augustus Van Cortlandt, requesting them to find some place of security for the Publick Records |url=https://digital.lib.niu.edu/islandora/object/niu-amarch%3A80316 |website=digital.lib.niu.edu |publisher=Northern Illinois University Digital Library |access-date=13 October 2022}} During the Revolutionary War, Van Cortlandt "hid city records from the British by storing them in Vault Hill" on his family's estate in February 1776.{{cite news |last1=Pollak |first1=Michael |title=A Vault of History |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/nyregion/thecity/a-vault-of-history.html |access-date=13 October 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=30 October 2005}} They remained there until December but were returned to the city likely because the British were "apprised of their place of concealment."{{cite book |last1=Ferris |first1=Mrs Morris Patterson |title=Van Cortlandt Mansion: Erected 1748, Now in the Custody of the Colonial Dames of the State of New York |date=1897 |publisher=De Vinne Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wg1IAQAAMAAJ&pg=PT4 |access-date=13 October 2022 |language=en}} Van Cortlandt served as clerk until 1783,{{cite web |title=The History of the Van Cortlandt Family and their Plantation |url=http://www.vchm.org/the-history-of-van-cortlandt-house-and-family.html#:~:text=Before%20inheriting%20his%20family's%2C%20plantation,years%20between%201751%20and%201783. |website=www.vchm.org |publisher=Van Cortlandt House Museum |access-date=13 October 2022}} when he was succeeded by Robert Benson.

In 1760, Van Cortlandt married Elsie Cuyler (1737–1761), a daughter of Albany mayor Cornelis Cuyler. Elsie was a sister of Augustus' older brother's wife, Elizabeth Cuyler.{{cite book |last1=Robertson |first1=William R. |title=Biographical history of Westchester County, New York: Volume II |date=1899 |publisher=Dalcassian Publishing Company |pages=687–688 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MVTHDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA687 |access-date=13 October 2022 |language=en}} After Elise's death a year later in 1761, he married Catherine Barclay (1744–1808), daughter of Andrew Barclay and Helena (née Roosevelt) Barclay of Saint Croix in the West Indies.{{cite book |last1=Moffat |first1=R. Burnham |title=The Barclays of New York: who They are and who They are Not,-and Some Other Barclays |date=1904 |publisher=R. G. Cooke |page=[https://archive.org/details/barclaysnewyork00moffgoog/page/n115 103] |url=https://archive.org/details/barclaysnewyork00moffgoog |access-date=29 July 2019 |language=en}} Together, they were the parents of:

• Anne Van Cortlandt (1766–1814), who married her first cousin, Henry White Jr.
• Helen Van Cortlandt (1768–1812), who married James Morris, a son of Lewis Morris (a signer of the Declaration of Independence).{{cite book|last1=Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York|title=The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York: History, Customs, Record of Events, Constitution, Certain Genealogies, and Other Matters of Interest. V. 1-|date=1905|page=[https://archive.org/details/saintnicholassoc01sain/page/n87 84]|url=https://archive.org/details/saintnicholassoc01sain|access-date=January 14, 2018|language=en}}

Van Cortlandt died in 1823. As he had no male heirs, his house and lands passed to his grandson, Augustus White. Under his 1823 will, which stipulated that "all who inherited the house would take Van Cortlandt as their family name," his grandson assumed the Van Cortlandt name. Upon his death in 1839, the house went to his fellow unmarried brother Henry who also assumed the Van Cortlandt name. Upon his death six months later, the house passed to his nephew, the thirteen year old Augustus Bibby Van Cortlandt (1826–1912).{{cite news |title=Augustus Van Cortlandt |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/06/29/104898651.html?pageNumber=11 |access-date=13 October 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=June 29, 1912 |page=11 |language=en}} The New York City Parks Department took control of the house and grounds in 1888 following his deed of the mansion and sale of the land.{{cite web |last1=Ricciardi |first1=Christopher |title=From Private To Public: The Changing Landscape or vs» Cortlandt Park; Bronx, New York In The Nineteenth Century |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/arch_reports/95.pdf |website=s-media.nyc.gov |publisher=Syracuse University |access-date=13 October 2022 |date=Spring 1997}}

Through his daughter Anne, he was the grandfather of Helen Van Cortlandt White (1792–1881), Augustus White Van Cortlandt (1794–1839), Augusta White (1794–1871), and Henry White Van Cortlandt (1802–1839). Neither of his grandsons married. Augusta married Dr. Edward Newenham Bibby and Helen married merchant Abraham Schermerhorn and was the mother of Caroline Webster Schermerhorn (1830–1908), who was well known in New York society during the Gilded Age for her marriage to William Backhouse Astor Jr.{{cite news|title=William Astor Is Dead; Stricken Suddenly at the Hotel Liverpool, Paris. He Leaves a Fortune of Many Mill- Ions -- John Jacob Astor Will Inherit It -- the Body Will Be Brought Home for Burial.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/04/27/104125908.pdf|access-date=January 14, 2018|work=The New York Times|date=April 27, 1892}}

Through his daughter Helen, he was a grandfather of Augustus Frederick Morris (1797–1859), who also assumed the surname of Van Cortlandt to inherit a part of his grandfather's estate in Lower Yonkers.

{{reflist|30em}}

• [https://www.gilderlehrman.org/collection/glc01450511 Gomez, Daniel (1695-1780) to Augustus Van Cortlandt] at the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

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Category:1728 births

Category:1823 deaths

Augustus

Category:American people of Dutch descent

Category:People from colonial New York

Category:People from the Bronx

Category:Politicians from the Bronx

Category:18th-century American lawyers