Peter Mesier Sr.

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Peter Mesier Sr. was an American merchant and politician who served as alderman of New York City's West ward from 1759 to 1763. [1]

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Peter was a merchant active in the East Indies trade, who owned several properties in the city, including a brewery. In 1776 a fire on the west side of Broadway consumed 15 of his properties. [2] [3] A loyalist during the American Revolution, he moved with his family to Wappingers Falls in Dutchess County after the fire. [4] Mesier married Catherine Sleight; they had eight children:

Family

His paternal grandfather, Pieter Jansen Mesier, was born around 1631. [6] He was a ship's carpenter and resided in New Amsterdam by 1659. [7] He and his family lived near Fort Willem Hendrick until in 1673 Governor Anthony Colve ordered the land cleared in the course of renovations at the fort. He built a windmill west of Broadway on land purchased from the Van Cortlandts around 1682. Located on a bluff above the North River, it served as a landmark for navigation. The path leading to the mill from Broadway was called "Pieter Jansen's Lane". [8]

In 1701, Pieter Jansen Mesier received a grant for a water lot at the end of Cortlandt Street. In 1760, his grandson, Abraham Mesier, obtained a second lot, extending the first. Abraham developed both lots, creating "Mesier's Slip" and built a wharf alongside it. [9] The Paulus Hook ferry, began in July 1764 [10] and operated from Paulus Hook to Mesier's dock at the foot of Courtland Street. [11] [12] The Mesiers held a financial interest in the ferry. In 1767 merchant Jacob Van Voorhis obtained the lease of the ferry operation. His partners were Abraham Mesier, Peter Mesier, and Abraham Bussing. [13] In 1771, Abraham Mesier took over the lease. Abraham died around 1774 and his wife, Elizabeth, continued to operate the ferry until 1789. [14]

Pieter Jansen Mesier married Marritje Willems; they had two sons: Abraham Pieters and Peter Pieters, and a daughter, Jannetje. Members of the First Reformed Dutch Church, they lived on "The Strand". [6]

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References

  1. ↑ Suydam, p. 7
  2. ↑ Suydam, pp. 8–9
  3. ↑ Lamb, Martha Joanna. History of the City of New York, A.S. Barnes, 1896, p. 207
  4. ↑ Suydam, p. 9
  5. ↑ Suydam, p. 11
  6. 1 2 Genealogical Record, Vol. 1, Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York, 1905, p. 237 PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  7. ↑ Goodfriend, Joyce D., Before the Melting Pot: Society and Culture in Colonial New York City, 1664-1730, Princeton University Press, 2021, p. 23 ISBN   9780691222981
  8. ↑ Stokes, I.N. Phelps, The Iconography of Manhattan, vol. 1, New York. Robert H. Dodd, 1915, p. 233 PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  9. ↑ Annual Report of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society to the Legislature of the State of New York', 1914, p. 682 PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  10. ↑ History of the County of Hudson, New Jersey: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Charles Hardenburg Winfield, pg. 243-246, Kennard & Hay Stationery M'fg and Print. Company, 1874
  11. ↑ Railroad Ferries of the Hudson: And Stories of a Deckhand, by Raymond J. Baxter, Arthur G. Adams, pg. 64 ,1999, Fordham University Press, 978-0823219544
  12. ↑ Stokes, I.N. Phelps, vol. 4, New York. Robert H. Dodd, 1922, p. 773 PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  13. ↑ Mott, Hopper Striker. "The Windmills of Manhattan", Americana, Vol. 9, 1914, p. 566
  14. ↑ Winfield, Charles Hardenburg. "The Jersey City Ferry", History of the county of Hudson, New Jersey, from its earliest settlement to the present time, New York: Kennard & Hay, 1874. p. 242 et seq PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

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