Jacob Rutsen Schuyler

Jacob Rutsen Schuyler

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Rutsen_Schuyler
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/134389659/jacob-rutsen-schuyler

Schuyler was born in Belleville, Essex County, New Jersey, the son of John Arent Schuyler (1780-1817) and Catherine Van Rennselaer (1781-1867).

His father owned a copper mine in Belleville. He was a lineal descendant, on his father’s side, of a Dutch immigrant Philip Pieterus Van Schuler, who left Amsterdam, Holland, in 1653 and settled at Fort Orange, New Netherland, which is now Albany, New York.

• American Revolutionary War General Philip Schuyler, whose daughter Elizabeth Schuyler married Alexander Hamilton, was also a lineal descendant of that first Dutch settler but via another son.
Jacob Rutsen Schuyler married Susannah Haigh Edwards (1825-1870), a great-granddaughter of Christian preacher and theologian Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), who is widely acknowledged to be America's most important and original philosophical theologian, and one of America's greatest intellectuals
• Jacob Rutsen and Susannah Edwards Schuyler are listed with their children in the 1860 U.S. Census as living in the First Ward of Jersey City. They moved to the Township of Bayonne in the early 1860s.
• Jacob Rutsen Schuyler was a junior member of the firm Smith, Young, and Company, which sold “Military & Fancy goods” in Manhattan. He became the senior member of the firm Schuyler, Hartley & Graham founded in 1854 (Figures 4, 5, and 6), which sold similar merchandise from two shops at 19 Maiden Lane and 22 John Street near Wall Street. The company was called upon to provide arms and military goods for the North at the outbreak of the Civil War. Much like Abercrombie & Fitch during the Spanish-American War, Schuyler’s firm emerged from the Civil War as a great financial success. He retired from this business in 1876
• When the City of Bayonne was incorporated in 1869, Schuyler was elected by the voters to serve as a council member and then elected by the council members to serve as the first council president for two terms from 1869-1870 and 1871-1872. During those years, he developed a working relationship and lasting friendship with the first mayor of Bayonne – Henry Meigs, Jr.;
• In early 1871, J.R. Schuyler built a large, brick three-story multi-use public building called the Schuyler Building at the northwest corner of Avenue C and West 8th Street. It featured a large room called Schuyler Hall that became a popular meeting place for educational, fraternal, social, and religious organizations in Bayonne, Bayonne Herald, Greenville Register and The Bayonne Times show that J.R. Schuyler continued to build houses on his surrounding property up until 1884 when serious health issues began to impact his ability to continue his real estate projects
• After his death in 1887, his children maintained the East 33rd Street row houses as rental properties for many years only selling them in 1896. The sale may have been triggered by the news reported in the Bayonne Herald earlier that year on January 11, 1896, that their neighbor William L. Morris had sold his Newark Bay estate to Jersey City lawyer E.K. Seguine, who was expected to resell the property to a business that would erect a factory on the site. The Schuyler children sold 20 East 33rd Street to Rienzi and Emilia Cadugan in September 1896.
• Bayonne Herald and Greenville Register show that J.R. Schuyler continued to build houses on his property up until 1884 when health issues began to affect him. Schuyler suffered strokes in 1884 and in 1887 and never fully recovered after the last stroke. He later fell, injuring his head and causing his death at age seventy years old. Schuyler died leaving an estate that owned property at nine different locations in Bayonne, including the row houses on East 33rd Street. His real estate investments resulted in streets such as Schuyler Place and more recently Schuyler Place West that are named in his honor, as well as Edwards Court where his son, Edwards Ogden Schuyler, owned a house designed by architect Charles Edwards. Hartley Place is thought to be named after Schuyler’s business partner, the philanthropist Marcellus Hartley
• After Schuyler died, the Schuyler Building served first as a Masonic Hall and then temporarily as a Bayonne High School, but it eventually fell to the wrecker’s ball.

Schuyler founded Schuyler, Hartley and Graham, the firearms retail business. (b. February 23, 1816; Belleville, Essex, New Jersey, United States - d. February 4, 1887; Bergen Point, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States)
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Ancestry: His migrant ancestor was Philip Pieterus Van Schuler, who left Amsterdam, Holland, in 1653 and settled at Fort Orange, New York. His mother was a member of the Van Rensselaer family of New York.

Parents: John Arent Schuyler (1780-1817) and Catherine Van Rensselaer (1781-1867).
Birth: February 23, 1816 in Belleville, Essex, New Jersey, United States.

Marriage: He married Susannah Haigh Edwards (1825-1870), a descendant of Princeton College President Jonathan Edwards. Edwards son-in-law, Aaron Burr, Sr. was Princeton's prior president.

Schuyler, Hartley and Graham:

Raymond Rast wrote in 2000: "The firm of Schuyler, Hartley and Graham was organized on March 1, 1854. On that day three men, Jacob Rutsen Schuyler, Marcellus Hartley and Malcolm Graham, met in a restaurant in New York and agreed to leave their present employers and enter into the firearms retail business for themselves. Schuyler had been with the firm of Smith, Young and Company for eighteen years and was a junior partner, Graham had been with the same firm for eight years, and Hartley had worked for Francis Tomes and Sons for seven years. The new firm of Schuyler, Hartley and Graham, located at 13 Maiden Lane, New York City, would become one of the largest and most successful businesses of its kind. Soon after the firm was organized, Schuyler and Hartley went to Europe aboard the Baltic to purchase supplies for their new store. During four months of travel in England and on the Continent, the two men visited firearms dealers and manufacturers, bought a substantial amount of stock and arranged for future purchases. After their return the men had no difficulty selling their European goods at a large profit and the new firm's financial stability was assured. Over the next five years the company's business grew in importance and extent and by 1860 Schuyler, Hartley and Graham had become the largest firearms dealer in the United States. By 1861 the firm operated out of two stores in New York City, one at 19 Maiden Lane and another at 22 John Street. ..."

Death: February 4, 1887 in Bergen Point, Hudson County, New Jersey.

Obituary: New York Herald on February 5, 1887: "Mr. Jacob Rutsen Schuyler, who was the senior member of the firm of Schuyler, Hartley & Graham, died at his home at Bergen Point, yesterday. He was stricken with paralysis several months ago and never recovered. Last week he fell, injuring his head, and the shock caused his death. The deceased, who was seventy years old, amassed a fortune during the war by furnishing military equipment. When the city of Bayonne was incorporated in 1869 he was selected as one of the Town Council and was first president of the Board of Council. He resigned two years later. The deceased was a lineal descendant of Philip Pieterus Van Schuler, who left Amsterdam, Holland, in 1653 and settled at Fort Orange. His mother was a member of the Van Rensselaer family. Mr. Schuyler married a Miss Sarah Edwards, a descendant of Jonathan Edwards. She died about ten years ago. Mr. Schuyler never married again. He leaves two sons and four daughters, all of whom except two are married. One daughter, the youngest but one, was to have been married next Tuesday. Mr. Schuyler was one of a large family, but only one sister survives him. The widow of his oldest brother is living in the old family homestead at Belleville, N.J."

Schuyler married Susannah Haigh Edwards (1825-1870), a great-granddaughter of Christian preacher and theologian Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), who is widely acknowledged to be America's most important and original philosophical theologian, President of Princeton and one of America's greatest intellectuals; Susannah Edwards Schuyler died at Bergen Point in 1870 at age 44 shortly after the birth of her tenth child, a daughter Angelica Van Rensselaer Schuyler. The other Schuyler children were: Sarah Edwards, Jacob Rutsen, Rutsen Van Rensselaer, Katherine Van Rensselaer, Robert Edwards, Charles Haigh, John Arent, Susanna Edwards, and Edwards Ogden.

Only six of the ten Schuyler children survived to adulthood.