Leendert "Leonard" Gansevoort (July 14, 1751 – August 26, 1810) was an American political leader from New York who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1788.

Gansevoort's ancestors had been in Albany since 1660, when it was the Dutch colony of Fort Orange, and Harmen Harmense Gansevoort (ca. 1634–1709) owned a brewery and farms. His brother's son, Peter Gansevoort, Herman Gansevoort (1779–1862) built the Gansevoort Mansion in 1813 on his father's tract at Gansevoort in Saratoga County, New York. His father was the third of his family's generation in America, who were prominent brewers and merchants in Albany. an Albany lawyer and alderman, was married to Maria Van Rensselaer (1760–1841), the daughter of Col. Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1717–1781), the granddaughter of Hendrick van Rensselaer and the sister of Henry K. Van Rensselaer (1744–1816), Philip Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1747–1798), and Killian K. Van Rensselaer (1763–1845).

Career

After the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, he became a member of the Albany Committee of Correspondence serving as treasurer until November 1775. When the 2nd New York Provincial Congress convened in New York City on December 6, 1775, he was one of the twelve deputies elected by the Albany Committee.

He wrote to his brother, Peter on October 31, 1775, stating: From April 18, 1777, to May 14, 1777, he was the president of the New York Provincial Congress committee of safety.

Following the end of Revolution in 1789, he bought a country house and estate known as Whitehall, which was located a mile and a half from Albany, from John Bradstreet Schuyler, the son of Philip Schuyler. Gansevoort was known for his entertainment of many prominent state and national political figures. where he was chairman of the committee, the daughter of Abraham Cuyler Jr. (1713–1749), a cousin of Abraham Cuyler, and Jannetje Beekman (1719–1798), a descendant of Wilhelmus Beekman (1623–1707). Together, they had:

  • Magdalena Gansevoort (b. 1771) on March 6, 1795, the son of Abraham Ten Eyck and grandson of Mayor Jacob Coenraedt Ten Eyck.
  • Catharine Cuyler Gansevoort (1789–1853), who married Teunis Van Vechten (1785–1859), nephew of Abraham Van Vechten

He died in 1810 at home in Albany and was buried in Albany Rural Cemetery.

Descendants

Through his daughter, Magdalena, he was the grandfather of Hester Gansevoort Ten Eyck (1796–1861), Abraham Gansevoort Ten Eyck (1798–1830), Leonard Gansevoort Ten Eyck (1801–1881), Jacob L. Ten Eyck (1804–1875), and Herman Gansevoort Ten Eyck (1806–1881), and Peter Gansevoort Ten Eyck (1810–1891).

References

;Notes

;Sources

  • Kenney, Alice P.; The Gansevoorts of Albany: Dutch Patricians in the Upper Hudson Valley; 1969, Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, New York, .
  • Kenney, Alice P.; Stubborn for Liberty: The Dutch in New York; 1975, Syracuse University Press, . (1989 Paperback: )
  • Launitz-Schurer, Leopold, Loyal Whigs and Revolutionaries, The making of the revolution in New York, 1765-1776, 1980,
  • Leonard Gansevoort Congressional Biography
  • Finding Aid to Leonard Gansevoort Papers, 1778-1799 at the New York State Library, accessed May 16, 2016.