Abraham Ten Broeck (May 13, 1734 – January 19, 1810) was a New York politician, businessman, and militia

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed t ...

of Dutch descent. He was twice Mayor of Albany, New York and built one of the largest mansions in the area, the

Ten Broeck Mansion The Ten Broeck Mansion in Albany, New York was built in 1797. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. A decade later it was included as a contributing property to the Arbor Hill Historic District–Ten Broeck Triangl ...

, that still stands more than 200 years later.

Early life

Abraham Ten Broeck was the son of Dirck Ten Broeck (1686–1751) and Margarita ( née Cuyler) (1682–1783). He was the brother of Catharine Ten Broeck Livingston, who was married to John Livingston (a son of Robert Livingston the Younger), Anna Ten Broeck, and Christina Ten Broeck, who was married to Philip Livingston, and New York State Senator

Dirck W. Ten Broeck Dirck Wessel Ten Broeck (July 26, 1738 – May 29, 1780) was an American landowner, soldier, politician who served in the 1st and 2nd New York State Legislatures. Early life Ten Broeck was born on July 26, 1738, in Albany, Province of New York ...

, who married Anna Douw (a daughter of Mayor Volkert P. Douw). His father was a prominent merchant and politician who served as Albany's mayor beginning in 1746. His paternal grandfather Wessel Ten Broeck, was the son of former Albany mayor Dirck Wesselse Ten Broeck. His maternal grandparents were Abraham Cuyler, the brother of former Albany mayor

Cornelis Cuyler Cornelis Cuyler or Cornelius Cuyler (baptized February 14, 1697 – March 14, 1765) was a prominent American of Dutch ancestry who served as the Mayor of Albany, New York, from 1742 to 1746. Early life and family Cuyler was born in 1697 and ba ...

, and Caatje ( née Bleecker) Cuyler, a daughter of former Albany mayor Jan Jansen Bleecker.

Career

Abraham was sent to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

to learn business with his sister Christina's husband, Philip Livingston. In 1751, at seventeen years old, he was sent to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

to learn international business after his father's death, returning to Albany in 1752. Ten Broeck increased his wealth via trade while in Albany. During the 1750s, he was involved in the provincial militia. In 1759, he was elected to the Albany City Council and in 1760, he was elected to the Province of New York Assembly while continuing to serve Albany. In 1769, his brother-in-law died at age 27 and Ten Broeck was named co-administrator of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, a position he held until 1784 when his nephew, Stephen Van Rensselaer III, came of age.

American Revolution

Ten Broeck continued his military involvement and was named colonel of the Albany County militia in 1775. He was Commander of Ten Broeck's Brigade ( New York Militia) at the Second Battle of Saratoga ( Battle of Bemis Heights) on October 7, 1777, as part of the Left wing of Major General Horatio Gates. On June 25, 1778, he was named Brigadier General of the Tryon and Albany Counties of Militia and then Albany County only. He resigned March 26, 1781. He was a member of the New York Provincial Congress from 1775 to 1777 and was its chairman of its Committee of Safety in 1777.

After war years

After the death of Mayor John Barclay, Ten Broeck was appointed Mayor of Albany in 1779, remaining in office until 1783. In March 1789, he ran for Congress but was defeated by Jeremiah Van Rensselaer. In 1796, Mayor Abraham Yates Jr. died and Ten Broeck was again appointed Mayor of Albany, remaining in office until 1798 when he was succeeded by another nephew, Philip Schuyler Van Rensselaer (1767–1824). Ten Broeck was a Federalist presidential elector in

1796 Events January–March * January 16 – The first Dutch (and general) elections are held for the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic. (The next Dutch general elections are held in 1888.) * February 1 – The capital ...

, and cast his votes for

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

and

Thomas Pinckney Thomas Pinckney (October 23, 1750November 2, 1828) was an early American statesman, diplomat, and soldier in both the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, achieving the rank of major general. He served as Governor of South Carolina an ...

Personal life

In November 1763, he married Elizabeth

van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across t ...

Rensselaer (1734–1813), a daughter of

Stephen van Rensselaer I Stephen van Rensselaer I (March 23, 1707 – June 1747), was the second son of Kiliaen van Rensselaer and Maria van Cortlandt, who served briefly as the 7th Patroon of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck and 4th Lord of the Manor. Life Stephen va ...

(the 7th

Patroon In the United States, a patroon (; from Dutch '' patroon'' ) was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland on the east coast of North America. Through the Charter of Freedom ...

and 4th Lord of the

Manor of Rensselaerswyck The Manor of Rensselaerswyck, Manor Rensselaerswyck, Van Rensselaer Manor, or just simply Rensselaerswyck ( nl, Rensselaerswijck ), was the name of a colonial estate—specifically, a Dutch patroonship and later an English manor—owned by the ...

) and a sister of

patroon In the United States, a patroon (; from Dutch '' patroon'' ) was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland on the east coast of North America. Through the Charter of Freedom ...

Stephen van Rensselaer II. Elizabeth and her brother were great-grandchildren of the first native-born

mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public proper ...

Stephanus van Cortlandt Stephanus van Cortlandt (May 7, 1643 – November 25, 1700) was the first native-born mayor of New York City, a position which he held from 1677 to 1678 and from 1686 to 1688. He was the patroon of Van Cortlandt Manor and was on the governor's ...

. Together, they were the parents of five children, including: *

Dirck Ten Broeck Dirck Ten Broeck (November 3, 1765 – January 30, 1833) was an American lawyer and politician. The first name is sometimes given as Derick. Early life He was the only son of Abraham Ten Broeck (1734–1810) and Elizabeth (née Van Rensselaer) ...

(1765–1833), who married Cornelia Stuyvesant (d. 1825), a daughter of Petrus and Margaret ( née Livingston) Stuyvesant. * Elizabeth ten Broeck (1772–1848), who married Rensselaer Schuyler (1773–1847), a son of

Philip Schuyler Philip John Schuyler (; November 18, 1804) was an American general in the Revolutionary War and a United States Senator from New York. He is usually known as Philip Schuyler, while his son is usually known as Philip J. Schuyler. Born in Alb ...

and

Catherine Van Rensselaer Catherine Van Rensselaer Schuyler ;, also known as "Kitty", (November 10, 1734 – March 7, 1803) was a Colonial and post-Colonial American socialite and the matriarch of the prominent colonial Schuyler family as wife of Philip Schuyler. Early l ...

, and the younger brother of

Angelica Schuyler Church Angelica Church (née Schuyler ; February 20, 1756 – March 6, 1814) was an American socialite. She was the eldest daughter of Continental Army General Philip Schuyler, and a sister of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton and sister-in-law of Alexan ...

Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton Elizabeth Hamilton (née Schuyler ; August 9, 1757 – November 9, 1854), also called Eliza or Betsey, was an American socialite and philanthropist. Married to American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, she was a defender of his works and co ...

, Peggy Schuyler Van Rensselaer, and

Philip Jeremiah Schuyler Philip Jeremiah Schuyler (January 21, 1768 – February 21, 1835) was an American politician from New York. His siblings included Angelica Schuyler, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, and Margarita Schuyler Van Rensselaer. Life He was the son of R ...

. * Margarita ten Broeck (1776–1812), who died unmarried. By the mid-1760s, Ten Broeck was one of Albany's wealthiest men. The Ten Broecks lived in a house that was assessed equally with the

Schuyler Mansion Schuyler Mansion is a historic house at 32 Catherine Street in Albany, New York. The brick mansion is now a museum and an official National Historic Landmark. It was constructed from 1761 to 1765 for Philip Schuyler, later a general in the Con ...

and Yates Mansion in 1788. In 1797, it was burned in a fire that destroyed several city blocks.Fire
at the

New York State Museum The New York State Museum is a research-backed institution in Albany, New York, United States. It is located on Madison Avenue, attached to the south side of the Empire State Plaza, facing onto the plaza and towards the New York State Capitol ...

web site. Construction was started on the new home soon after, and the family resided there beginning in 1798 calling the place "

Prospect Prospect may refer to: General * Prospect (marketing), a marketing term describing a potential customer * Prospect (sports), any player whose rights are owned by a professional team, but who has yet to play a game for the team * Prospect (minin ...

". The historic mansion still stands in Arbor Hill more than 200 years later. Ten Broeck died on Friday, January 19, 1810.

Legacy

The towns of Ten Broeck, Alabama and Ten Broeck, Kentucky as well as Tenbroeck Avenue in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

were named after him.

References

External links

*
Portrait of Abraham's wife, Elizabeth Van Rensselaer Ten Broeck
by

Thomas McIlworth Thomas McIlworth (17201769?) was a colonial American portraitist, mainly active in the area around Schenectady, New York. McIlworth was born in Scotland around 1720; his father was the painter Andrew McIlwraith, and his mother Anne was the dau ...

at the

Albany Institute of History & Art The Albany Institute of History & Art (AIHA) is a museum in Albany, New York, United States, "dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting and promoting interest in the history, art, and culture of Albany and the Upper Hudson Valley region". ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ten Broeck, Abraham 1734 births 1810 deaths American people of Dutch descent Mayors of Albany, New York Members of the New York General Assembly Members of the New York Provincial Assembly Members of the New York Provincial Congress Militia generals in the American Revolution New York (state) militiamen in the American Revolution New York (state) Federalists 1796 United States presidential electors 18th-century American politicians