12 Facts About Arent Schuyler

Arent Philipse Schuyler was a member of the influential Schuyler family.

Arent Schuyler was a surveyor, Native American trader, miner, merchant, and land speculator.

Arent Schuyler was the son of Philip Pieterse Schuyler and Margarita Van Slichtenhorst and the younger brother of Pieter Schuyler.

The many Arent Schuyler children established the family name and homes, including the Arent Schuyler Mansion in Albany.

Arent Schuyler participated in the military actions of an early French and Indian War in Canada in the 1690s.

In 1694, Arent Schuyler traveled into north-western New Jersey to investigate rumors that the French were trying to incite the local Lenape population to attack English colonial settlements.

Arent Schuyler found no evidence of such rumors, but discovered a rich fertile valley where the Lenape grew a variety of crops.

Arent Schuyler reported his findings to his superiors and then convinced Major Anthony Brockholst, Samuel Bayard, Samuel Berry, Hendrick and David Mandeville, George Ryerson and John Mead to invest in the purchase of the land he referred to as the Pompton Valley.

The seven chose Arent Schuyler to be negotiator with the Lenape for the rights to the area.

Arent Schuyler built the Schuyler-Colfax House along the Pompton River.

Arent Schuyler's grandson, Arent Schuyler DePeyster, was a British military officer.

Arent Schuyler's granddaughter, Katherine Schuyler, married Archibald Kennedy, Earl of Casselis, a Scottish peer who lived in the United States, and was the son of his widow, Maria Walter.