Peter Goelet

Peter Goelet (January 5, 1727 – October 11, 1811) was a merchant and real estate entrepreneur of New York City.

Peter Goelet
Born(1727-01-05)January 5, 1727
New York City, Province of New York, British America
DiedOctober 11, 1811(1811-10-11) (aged 84)
New York, United States
OccupationMerchant, real estate developer
Spouse(s)
Elizabeth Ratsey
​
​
(m. 1755; died 1769)​

Mary Ludlow
​
​
(m. 1770; died 1773)​

Elizabeth Farmer
​
​
(m. after 1775, died)​

Rachel Farmer
​
(m. 1792)​
Children12
RelativesSee Goelet family

Early life

Peter Goelet was born on January 5, 1727, in New York City. He was the fifth of thirteen children born to Jan "John" Goelet (1694–1753) and Jannetje (née Cannon) Goelet (1698–1778), who married in 1718. Among his siblings was Raphael, Jacobus, Frans, Maria, John, and Catharine Goelet (wife of Peter Theobaldus Curtenius).[1]

He was descended from a family of Huguenots of La Rochelle in France who, due to the Edict of Nantes, escaped in 1621 to Amsterdam.[2] His paternal grandfather, Jacobus Goelet, was ten years old when he arrived in New York in 1676 with his widowed father, François "Francis" Goelet. Francis returned to Amsterdam on business, and left Jacobus in the care of Frederick Philipse (who became 1st Lord of Philipsburg Manor in 1693), but was lost at sea before his return.[3] Peter's father was one of six children born to Jacobus Goelet and Jannetje (née Cossart) Goelet (daughter of Dutch-born Jacques Jacob Cossart).[4] His maternal grandparents were merchant Jan Cannon and Mary (née Le Grand) Cannon.[5]

Career

Goelet was at first in partnership as a hardware merchant with his brother-in-law, Peter Theobaldus Curtenius, but from 1763 his place of business was Hanover Square, at the sign of the Golden Key. After their partnership dissolved, he moved his business to his residence at 113-115 Pearl Street, where he sold musical instruments, brushes, hardware, and cutlery.[2]

In May 1775, he was elected a member of the Committee of One Hundred and the Committee of Correspondence in support of the American patriots.[6] He used his profits from his merchant business, and the Revolutionary War, to buy real estate in Manhattan, later acquiring a wharf and yard on Exchange Slip, and establishing the Goelet family fortune.[7][8]

In 1799, Goelet wrote to Alexander Hamilton regarding Gen. Philip Schuyler's purchase of lands from Robert Morris as a trustee of the American Iron Company.[9]

Personal life

In 1755, he married Elizabeth Ratsey (1734–1769) at Trinity Church in New York. Elizabeth was the daughter of another prominent New York merchant.[2] Elizabeth inherited extensive lands around 14th Street. They were the parents of six children (two sons married daughters of wealthy Scottish merchant Thomas Buchanan, at one time a director of the United States Bank):[10]

  • Alice Goelet (1756–1793)[11]
  • Jannetje Goelet (1758–1840), who married Lt. Colonel Robert Troup of the Continental Army.[12][13]
  • John Goelet (1759–1853), who married Eliza Taylor Buncombe (1766–1840), daughter of Edward Buncombe.[14]
  • Peter P. Goelet (1764–1828), who married Almy Buchanan (1768–1848) in 1799.[15]
  • Elizabeth Goelet (1766–1856), who married William Cornelius Bucknor.[16]
  • Robert Ratsey Goelet (1769–1824), who married Margaret Buchanan.[17]

After his first wife's death in 1769, Goelet remarried to Mary Ludlow (1734–1773), daughter of Henry Ludlow, Esq. of New York, on December 4, 1770.[18] Before Mary's death in 1773, they were the parents of Mary Goelet (1773–1774), who died in infancy.[3]

After the death of his second wife, Goelet remarried for a third time to Elizabeth Farmer, the daughter of Thomas Farmer and Sarah (née Billop) Farmer, who inherited the Bentley estate in Staten Island. Peter and Elizabeth, who married on October 26, 1775,[19] had five children, Sarah, Thomas Billop, Mary, Catherine, and Christopher Billop Goelet. Elizabeth also died and Peter married her sister, Rachel Farmer, on February 1, 1792.[20]

Goelet died in New York on October 11, 1811.[3]

Descendants
Main article: Goelet family

His son, Peter P. Goelet, added to his real estate holdings and had four children, Peter (1800–1879), Jean Buchanan (1802–1882), Hannah Green (1806–1895), who married Capt. Thomas Russell Gerry, USN (a son of U.S. Vice President Elbridge Gerry), and Robert Goelet (1809–1879).[2] Peter and for a time, his sister Hannah lived in a mansion on the northeast corner of Broadway and 19th Street, which grounds were known for peacocks, storks, and other exotic birds.[21][22] Robert was the father of Robert Goelet and Ogden Goelet, who were both prominent in New York and grew the Goelet wealth further.[3] Peter Goelet's great-grandson George Goelet Kip was also a prominent landowner in Manhattan and a business associate of his cousins Robert and Ogden.[23][24]

References
  1. Whittelsey, Charles Barney (1902). The Roosevelt Genealogy 1649-1902 (PDF). Hartford, Connecticut: J. B. Burr & Co. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  2. Weeks, Lyman Horace (1898). Prominent Families of New York: Being an Account in Biographical Form of Individuals and Families Distinguished as Representatives of the Social, Professional and Civic Life of New York City. New York: The Historical Company. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  3. Bergen, Tunis Garret (1915). Genealogies of the State of New York: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p. 509. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  4. Wheatley, Robert Evan (2011). The Cossart Chronicles: A Family History Narrative. Robert Evan Wheatley. ISBN 9781463768355. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  5. Barrett, Walter (1870). The Old Merchants of New York City: Vol. II--Part 1. New York: M. Doolady. pp. 34–36. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  6. N.Y.), Chemical Bank and Trust Company (New York (1913). History of the Chemical Bank, 1823-1913. Country Life Press. pp. 101–104. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  7. Myers, Gustavus (2002). History of the Great American Fortunes (Volume One). The Minerva Group, Inc. pp. 242–249. ISBN 9781410203403. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  8. Tully, Andrew (1947). Era of Elegance. eNet Press. pp. 56–57. ISBN 9781618867056. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  9. Hamilton, Alexander (1976). The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. Columbia University Press. p. 455. ISBN 9780231089227. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  10. The World Almanac and Encyclopedia. Press Publishing Company (The New York World). 1916. p. 626. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  11. Phillips, Alexander Van Cleve (1942). The Lott family in America, including the allied families: Cassell, Davis, Graybeal, Haring, Hegeman, Hogg, Kerley, Phillips, Thompson, Walter and others. Edwards Brothers sold by Traver's Book Store, Trenton, N. J. p. 30. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  12. Bielinski, Stefan. "Robert Troup". exhibitions.nysm.nysed.gov. New York State Museum. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  13. "Robert Troup Papers" (PDF). archives.nypl.org. New York Public Library. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  14. Wheeler, John Hill (1884). Reminiscences and Memoirs of North Carolina and Eminent North Carolinians. Columbus Print. Works. p. 422. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  15. Genealogical Record of the Saint Nicholas Society: Advanced Sheets, First Series. Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York. 1902. p. 27. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  16. Bayne, Howard Randolph (1907). The Buckners of Virginia and the Allied Families of Strother and Ashby. Genealogical Association. p. 299. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  17. Scoville, Joseph Alfred (1968). The Old Merchants of New York City. Greenwood Press. p. 46. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  18. York (State), New (1968). New York Marriages Previous to 1784. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 240. ISBN 9780806302591. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  19. Documents Relating to the Colonial, Revolutionary and Post-Revolutionary History of the State of New Jersey. Press printing and publishing Company. 1900. p. 621. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  20. Schneider, Jim (2013). Burnet - Ferguson - Schneider: A Family History. Boise, Idaho. pp. 144–145. ISBN 9781300853060. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  21. "An Eccentric Man Gone; Death of Peter Goelet, in His Eightieth Year. Yielding to the Advance of Old Age-- Peculiarities of Mr. Goelet's Career --Economy Without Meanness--Tenacious Hold of Real Estate" (PDF). The New York Times. 22 November 1879. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  22. "Miscellaneous City News; Peter Goelet's Funeral. the Interment in a Vault in St. Mark's Church-Yard" (PDF). The New York Times. 25 November 1879. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  23. "Society At Home and Abroad". The New York Times. April 8, 1906. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  24. Yearbook. New York City: Association of the Bar of the City of New York. 1900. p. 112. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
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