Johannes Abeel (March 23, 1667 – January 28, 1711) was an

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

and public official. He was the second and thirteenth

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Albany.

Early life

Johannes (sometimes written John) was born on March 23, 1667, in Albany, New York, the son of Christopher Janse Abeel (1621–1684), a prosperous merchant and landowner, and Neiltje Jans Croom. He was the third of four children and the only boy born to his parents, who emigrated to New York from Holland in 1647. Johannes was born shortly after Great Britain assumed control of the former Dutch colony of New Netherland and renamed it as New York in 1664.

Career

After his father died when Abeel was 13, Abeel became a successful trader and merchant in Albany and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, establishing relationships with Native American tribes in

Western New York Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all so ...

that enabled him to acquire furs for resale in Albany. He exported the furs to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and received rum,

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

, dry goods, and other items, some of which were for British soldiers garrisoned in Albany and

Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...

, and most of which he resold at a profit. Abeel used some of his profits to take part in land purchase, resale and development, including the 1705 Westenhook Patent.

Public career

Abeel served as assistant alderman for the Third Ward in 1688, and was

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

from 1691 to 1693 and again in 1700. From 1694 to 1695 and 1709 to 1710 Abeel served as mayor of Albany, appointed by the royal governor of New York, per the provisions of the original city charter, issued by Governor Thomas Dongan. In 1695, 1701, and 1702 Abeel served as a member of the New York Assembly. In 1702 he was appointed

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

of the Albany County

Court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

and Albany city recorder (deputy mayor), and in 1705 he accepted appointment as a master in chancery.

Personal life

On April 10, 1694, Abeel married Catalina Schuyler (1678–1747). She was the daughter of David Pieterse Schuyler (1636–1690) and Catharina Verplanck (1639–1690), who both died during the Schenectady massacre of 1690, and the sister of Albany mayors, David Davidse Schuyler (1669–1715) and Myndert Schuyler (1672–1755). They had five children: * Christoffel Abeel (1696–1771), who married Margueritta Breese (1701–1758) in 1720. * Catalina Abeel (b. 1698), who married Vincent Matthews. * Neiltje Abeel (b. 1700) * David Abeel (1705–1777), who married Mary Duyckinck (1702–1780) * Jannette Abeel (b. 1705) Abeel died in Albany on January 28, 1711. He was originally buried in the Second Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery on Beaver Street, one of several downtown burial grounds that had their remains removed to Albany Rural Cemetery in the 1830s. According to a contemporary newspaper account, workmen moving remains at Second Church uncovered his tombstone, which was inscribed "Here lies the body of John Abeel who departed this life ye 28 day of Jan'y. 1711, and in the 44 year of his age." It is not known what subsequently happened to the grave marker.Stefan Bielinski
Johannes Abeel page
, New York State Museum, accessed September 5, 2012 After his death, his widow remarried to Rutger Janse Bleecker (1675–1756), a son of Jan Jansen Bleecker, both of whom served as mayor of Albany.

Descendants

Abeel had several descendants serve in prominent clergy roles, including David Abeel and Gustavus Abeel. Through his eldest daughter Catalina, he was the grandfather of David Mathews (1739–1800), the

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 Mayoralty in the United States, mayor's office administers all ...

under the British during the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

. Through his son Christoffel, he was the grandfather of Johannes Abeel (1722–1794), who lived with the Native Americans and had a child with Gah-hon-no-neh, John "Cornplanter" Abeel (1732/6–1836), who became the chief of the Seneca Indians. Other descendants of Johannes Abeel through his daughter include Murray Dodd (1843–1905) and Lewis Wilkieson Johnstone (1862–1936), both members of the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

. Through Cornplanter, Abeel's descendants also include Chief Edward Cornplanter (1856–1918) and artists Carrie Cornplanter (1887–1918) and Jesse Cornplanter (1889–1957).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abeel, Johannes 1667 births 1711 deaths Schuyler family Mayors of Albany, New York Members of the New York General Assembly Politicians from Albany, New York Burials at Albany Rural Cemetery Merchants from colonial New York 17th-century American merchants 17th-century mayors of places in New York (state) 18th-century mayors of places in New York (state)