James Beekman

James Beekman (1732–1807) was a New York City merchant and a member of the prominent Beekman family.[1]

For the arts patron and politician from New York, see James William Beekman. For the American lawyer and philanthropist, see James William Beekman Jr.
James Beekman
Born1732
New York City, Province of New York
Died1807 (aged 75)
New York City, New York
Spouse
Jane Keteltas
​
​
(m. 1752)​
Children10
Parent(s)William Beekman
Catharine De Lanoy
RelativesGerardus Beekman (grandfather)
Wilhelmus Beekman (great-grandfather)
James William Beekman (grandson)

Early life
Coat of Arms of James Beekman

James Beekman was born in 1732, the son of William Beekman (1684–1770) and Catharine De Lanoy (1691–1765), niece of Peter Delanoy, the first elected Mayor of New York City after British rule.[2] His paternal grandparents were Gerardus Beekman (1653–1723), the acting Governor of the Province of New York in 1710, and Magdalena Abeel (1661–1731), sister of Johannes Abeel (1667–1711), the second mayor of Albany.[3] His great-grandfather was Wilhelmus Beekman (1623–1707),[4] a Dutch immigrant who came to New Amsterdam from the Netherlands on the same vessel as Peter Stuyvesant. Wilhelmus soon became Treasurer of the Dutch West India Company[5] and later became the Mayor of New York City,[6] Governor of Delaware from 1653 to 1664,[7] and Governor of Pennsylvania from 1658 to 1663.[8]

Mount Pleasant

He is best remembered for his mansion, known as Mount Pleasant, which he built in Manhattan on the East River in 1763, near the northwest corner of 1st Avenue and East 51st Street. This mansion served as the British military headquarters during the American Revolution, and was the site of the trial of Nathan Hale.[9]

Personal life
James' wife, Jane Ketaltas

In 1752, he was married to Janneke "Jane" Keteltas (1734–1817), daughter of Abraham Keteltas and Jeanne d'Honneur, and sister of Abraham Keteltas (1732–1798).[10] Together, they had:[4]

  • William Beekman (b. 1754)
  • Abraham Keteltas Beekman (1756–1816), who married his cousin, Johanna Beekman[11]
  • James Beekman, Jr. (1758–1837), who married Lydia Watkins Drew[12]
  • Jane Beekman (b. 1760), who married Stephen Van Cortlandt[13]
  • Catharine "Caty" Beekman (b. 1762), who married Elisha Boudinot, brother of Elias Boudinot, in 1805.[14]
  • Mary Beekman (b. 1765), who married Stephen N. Bayard.[15]
  • John Beekman (1768–1843), who married Mary Elizabeth Goad Bedlow (1771–1848)
  • Cornelia Beekman (b. 1770)
  • Elisabet Beekman (b. 1773)
  • Gerard Beekman (1774–1833), who married Catharine Saunders (1785-1835)[4]

Legacy

Beekman is known to have commissioned portraits of his children from the painter John Durand, and the entry for payment in his account book, dating to 1766, is the first record of the artist in New York.[16] On his death in 1807, Beekman left inherited the family's country estate and portraits to his son, James Beekman, Jr.[12] Upon his son's death in 1837, the estate was passed to James Beekman Jr.'s nephew, James William Beekman, the son of Gerard Beekman.

Exhibition

In 2004, the New-York Historical Society presented an exhibition based around a coach owned by Beekman, one of only three such coaches to survive in its original condition. Beekman had bought the coach in 1771 from Peter Burton, a London sea captain, for £138.[17]

Notes
  1. "James Beekman (1732-1807)". www.nyhistory.org. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  2. Burrows, Edwin G. and Wallace, Mike (1999). Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-195-11634-8. pp.99-100
  3. Henry Whittemore, The Abeel and Allied Families, 1899, pages 4 to 6
  4. York, Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New (1902). Genealogical Record of the Saint Nicholas Society: Advanced Sheets, First Series. Society. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  5. Acrelius, Israel; Collin, Nicholas (1841). "New Sweden, or The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware". Collections of the New York Historical Society. 2. 1: 421.
  6. Van Rensselaer, Mrs. Schuyler (1909). History of the City of New York in the Seventeenth Century. Vol 2. New York: Macmillan Company. pp. 247, 269.
  7. Bernstorf, Mrs. Philip W. (2003). Directory of the Hereditary Order of Colonial Governors Prior to 4 July 1776. Hereditary Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors. p. 24.
  8. Charles, Michael Harrison (2006). List of the Colonial Governors Prior to 4 July 1776. Hereditary Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors. p. 30.
  9. "Captain Nathan Hale (1755 - 1776)[Usurped!]", by Mary J. Ortner, The Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.
  10. "Mrs. James Beekman (1734–1817)". www.nyhistory.org. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  11. "Abraham Keteltas Beekman (1756-1816)". www.nyhistory.org. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  12. "James Beekman, Jr. (1758-1837)". www.nyhistory.org. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  13. "Jane Beekman". www.nyhistory.org. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  14. "Catharine Beekman". www.nyhistory.org. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  15. "Mary Beekman". www.nyhistory.org. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  16. "Artist Info: John Durand". nga.gov. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  17. "Arriving in Style: Treasures of 18th Century New York", The New-York Historical Society, November 23, 2004 - February 20, 2005.
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