74
 

DE MEYER—DE MEYERT.
 

sively in trade, and in less than twenty years became next to Fredrick
Philipse, the wealthiest inhabitant of the city, his fortune being equalled only
by that of one other person—Cornelius Steenwyck, from Haerlem. He
was admitted to the rights of a small burgher April 14, 1657; Schepen,
1664 ; Alderman, 1669-1670 and 1675, ^"'^ appointed Mayor of the 'city
in 1676.* He was also an Assistant Alderman for the South Ward in 1686.
He belonged to the anti-Leislerian party, and appears to have been more
moderate and conservative in his politics than the majority of his political
associates. Ii'i' 1689-90 he was appointed a member of Gov. Sloughter's
Council,! but had deceased before Sloughter's arrival, in March, 1691.

1.   Nicholas De Meyer^, the ancestor of the De Meyer family, of
New York, m. first, June 6, 1655, Lydia, dau. of Hendrick Van Dvck.
His name appears in the record of his marriage, and also in the list of
members of the Dutch Church, without the prefix De, but it is always at¬
tached in the record of the baptism of his children. He joined the Church in
New Amsterdam, in April, 1660 ; his wife was a member for some time prior
to her marriage. She died about 1687. He m. second, Sara Kellenaer,
of Kingston, who was, says Mr. Valentine, the widow of John Wicksteen.
She joined the Dutch Church, in New York, Sept. i, 1689, and was then
the wife of De Meyer. He died in 1690, and had bap. in the Dutch
Church in New York, 3 sons, and 3 daus., all by his first wife, viz.:

2.   i. Johannes^, bap. Jan. 26, 1656. On the 13"" August, 1680, John
and William De Meyer and Mathias Mathisen, obtained a grant of about
60 acres of l?.nd at the fall of the Platte Kill, in Ulster County.J He is
not mentioned in his brother Henry's will, dated Nov., 1692, but is prob¬
ably the Jan De Meyer, who by wife Eva Mathyse, had son Mathys',
bap. March 10, 1697, in New York.

3.   ii. Wilhelmus^, bap. Nov, 21, 1657 ; m. Oct. 23, 1678, Catharina
Bayard, from Bergen op Zoom, an old and strongly fortified town near
the sea coast, in Holland, She was a near relative of Balthazar and Anna
(Stuyvesant) Bayard, probably a dau. of the latter and sister of the former.
Soon after his marriage he removed to Ulster County, N. Y., having pur¬
chased, April II, 1679, a parcel of land, with house and lot at Kingston.
He was a witness at Kingston, Jan. 19, 1681, at a renewal of the treaty
of peace with the Esopus Indians,§ In 1684, he returned to New York,
rejoining with his wife the Dutch Church here, on the 5''' Sept. of that
year. He again removed a few years after to Kingston, where he was
engaged in trade, as a merchant, and represented the county of Ulster in
the Colonial General Assembly during the years 1691-1693 and 1695-98,
In 1692, he bore the title of Captain, and some years later that of Colonel,
He was Clerk of Ulster County, 1704, and living at Kingston as late as
May, 1709, and probably died there. He and his wife Catharina Bayard
had bap. in the Dutch Church in New York, one dau. Anna', bap. Nov. i,
1685. They probably had son Nicholas', a freeholder and inhabitant of
the County of Ulster, in 1701-2 ; also a dau. Lydia', who became the
second wife of Andries Douw, of Manor Rensselaerswick, and had dau.
Catharina, bap. at Albany, Nov. 26, 1704.I
 

- * Valentine's Manuals.
+ Doc. Rel, to Col, HisL ofN. Y., Vol. 3, pp. 685-756.
X Calendar of Land Papers, p. 20.
§ Coll. Ulster Hist. Society, 1-64-
II Pearson's First Settlers of Albany, p. 43.