New York State History

The Douws were an old Dutch family, whose name is closely associated with the early settlement of Albany. The first of the name was Volckert Janszen Douw, van Friedrichstadt, who fled, with oth­ers, to the Netherlands in 1638 to escape the persecutions waged against the Mennonites. His birth-place was Leeuwarden, in the province of Friesland, Holland. His grandson, Petrus Douw, married Anna, daughter of Hendrick Van Rensselaer and Catrina Van Brugh, who was a granddaughter of Anneke Jans, and built, in 1724, the old Douw mansion at Wolvenhoeck, about a mile -and a half below Albany, on the oppo­site bank of the river. In this
home­stead lived his son, Volckert P. Douw, a man prominent in civil and religious

affairs. He was Recorder and Mayor of Albany for many years, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Vice-President of the first Provincial Congress, as well as the first judge of Albany County. His wife was a daughter of Johannes De Peyster.

 On one occasion Bed Jacket and sev­eral Indian chiefs, with their retainers, went to the " Hoeck" to have a talk with the heer and his friends, and smoke the "pipe of peace." It was evening, and after a convivial supper the guests grew merry, and General Schuyler offered to bet a large amount that the horse he rode in coming to the feast could beat a fa­mous race-horse named Sturgeon, owned by Mr. Douw, which in his day had won many a purse. It was in midwinter, the ice very slushy, and raining fast. But the Indians and negroes, under Peter Van Loan, the overseer, entered into the sport, cleared the ice, and stationed themselves with lanterns across and down the river. The race was run, old Sturgeon coming in first, amid the shouts and yells of white men, Indians, and negroes, his rider be­ing King Charles, of Pinkster fame.

Still another ancient family were the Gansevoorts, descendants of John Wessel Gansevoort (known in his day as Wessel, and "Lux Mundi''). He was an intimate friend of Thomas a Kempis, as well as of Sixtus IV. Soon after the latter was made Pope he asked Gansevoort what he could do for him, whereupon Wessel ask­ed for a Greek and Hebrew Bible from the Vatican Library.

"You shall have it," said the Pope. '' But what a simpleton you are! why did you not ask me for a bishopric?"

"'Because I do not want it," was the simple reply.

His descendant, Harmen Harmense Van Gansevoort, was a brewer in Beverwyck in 1660. In 1677 he purchased the lot on the south corner of Broadway and Maiden Lane, which is still owned by his descendants. He married Maritie Leendertse Conyn. A son by this marriage was Leendert (Leonard) Gansevoort, known by all as the eerlijk mensch* Early in life young Gansevoort, de pronker van Beverwyck,** won the heart and hand of Catryna de Wandelaer, and they settled on the lot where Stanwix Hall now stands; and from that homestead went forth a goodly family, whose names have been illustrious for honesty, bravery, and all those generous qualities of the now called "old school." Their son, Harmen, married a daughter of Captain Petrus. Douw, of Wolvenhoeck, whose son, Brigadier-General Peter Gansevoort, was the hero of Fort Stanwix.*** General Ganse­voort married Catherine Van Schaick. He was a man of noble presence, of a fearless and magnanimous spirit, un­daunted courage, and inflexible integrity. His son, General Peter Gansevoort, was for some time private secretary to De Witt Clinton. His grandson, Guert Ganse­voort, commanded the John Adams during the Mexican War, and subsequently the Roanoke.

Judge Leonard Gansevoort was a neph­ew of Harnien Gansevoort. § He was, president of the Convention which adopt ed the first Constitution of the State, April, 1777, and was the first Judge of Probate. His granddaughter is the widow of the late Hon. Alexander S. Johnson, Judge of the Court of Appeals.

* Honest man.         ** The beau of Beverwjck.

*** Afterward Fort Schuyler, now Rome.

§ A granddaughter married Judge Elisha P. Hurlburt, of the Supreme Court. A great-great-grandson, John Graham Storm, was the first presi­dent of the Lenox Fire-Insurance Company, and married a daughter of Rear Admiral Jacob Walton_, of the British navy.