Peter Silvester (1734–1808)
Peter Silvester | |
---|---|
Theodorus Bailey | |
Member of the New York State Assembly from Columbia County | |
In office July 1, 1787 – June 30, 1788 | |
Preceded by | District Created |
Succeeded by | John Kortz |
Personal details | |
Born | 1734 Shelter Island, Province of New York, British America |
Died | October 15, 1808 Kinderhook, New York, U.S. | (aged 73–74)
Political party | Federalist |
Spouse | Jane Van Schaack |
Children | Francis Silvester |
Profession | Lawyer, Politician |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Battles/wars | Revolutionary War |
Peter Silvester (1734 – October 15, 1808) was an American politician who was a member of the
Early life
Peter Silvester was born in 1734 at Shelter Island in the Province of New York (just off the eastern coast of Long Island). Silvester was probably descended from Nathaniel Sylvester (1610-1680),[3] an Anglo-Dutch sugar merchant and the first European settler of Shelter Island.[4]
Silvester completed preparatory studies, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1763, and practiced in Albany, New York.[2] He owned slaves.[5]
Career
Legal practice
In 1763, he began employment as the attorney for
In 1767, he moved to the Van Schaack estate in Kinderhook, and began his practice of law as the first attorney in Kinderhook.
Van Buren began his legal training with Silvester and his son Francis in 1796, before Van Buren had reached the age of 14.[1] When Van Buren first began his legal studies, he often presented an unkempt appearance in rough, homespun clothing.[9] It was the Silvesters who suggested that Van Buren could improve his professional prospects by dressing fashionably and taking care in how he appeared in public; he heeded the advice and patterned his clothing, appearance, bearing and conduct after theirs.[10][11] After six years under the Silvesters, the elder Silvester and Democratic-Republican political figure John Peter Van Ness suggested that Van Buren's political leanings made it a good idea for him to complete his education with a Democratic-Republican attorney. Van Buren accepted their advice and spent a final year of apprenticeship in the New York City office of John Van Ness's brother William P. Van Ness, a political lieutenant of Aaron Burr.[12]
Revolutionary War
During the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), Silvester backed the patriot cause and held a variety of positions in New York including: member of the Albany Common Council in 1772, member of the Committee of Safety in 1774, and a member of the First and Second Provincial Congresses in 1775 and 1776.[2]
His wife's family, the Van Schaacks, were Loyalists, and some historians have suggested that Silvester's in-laws may have influenced him to take a reduced role as the Revolution progressed.
Government service
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Peter_Silvester_%28New_York_Congressman%29_2.jpg/125px-Peter_Silvester_%28New_York_Congressman%29_2.jpg)
He was appointed judge of the court of common pleas of Columbia County, New York in 1786, and served until 1789. He was a regent of the University of the State of New York from 1787 to 1808.[4]
From July 1, 1787 to June 30, 1788, Silvester served in the 11th New York State Legislature as a member of the New York State Assembly from Columbia County, the first year that Columbia County was represented.[2]
After serving in the New York State Assembly, Silvester was elected to the
After his time in Congress, Silvester was elected to a four-year term as a member of the New York State Senate, serving from 1796 to 1800 in the 20th, 21st, 22nd, and 23rd New York State Legislature. After his service in the Senate, he returned to serve again in the Assembly from 1803 (26th Legislature), and again in 1804 (28th Legislature), 1805 (29th Legislature) until June 30, 1806. He retired from public life after his last term in the Legislature.[2]
Personal life
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Coat_of_Arms_of_Peter_Silvester.svg/150px-Coat_of_Arms_of_Peter_Silvester.svg.png)
On August 16, 1764, he married Jannetje "Jane" Van Schaack, daughter of Cornelius Van Schaack (1705-1776) and Lydia Van Dyck. Cornelius Van Schaack owned a large estate in Kinderhook, New York. Jane was the elder sister of Peter van Schaack, who married the daughter of Henry Cruger, a wealthy New York merchant.[4] Together they had:
- Francis Silvester (July 22, 1767 - January 31, 1845), who married Lydia Van Vleck Van Schaack, a niece of Peter van Schaack and foster daughter of David Van Schaack[7]
Silvester was a warden of
Silvester resided in Kinderhook, where he died on October 15, 1808, aged about 74 years.[13] He was interred in the "Old Van Schaack Cemetery", over which the Kinderhook Reformed Dutch Church and Cemetery were built in 1814.[14] The exact location of his grave is not known.[15]
Memorials
The SS Peter Silvester, an American merchant marine ship built for the United States Maritime Commission in service from 1942 to 1945 was named for Peter Silvester.[16]
References
- ^ a b Brooke, p. 230
- ^ ISBN 9780160731761. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
- ^ Jennifer Schuessler, Confronting Slavery at Long Island’s Oldest Estates, The New York Times, August 12, 2015
- ^ a b c d e f g Collier, Edward Augustus (1914). A History of Old Kinderhook from Aboriginal Days to the Present Time: Including the Story of the Early Settlers, Their Homesteads, Their Traditions, and Their Descendants; with an Account of Their Civic, Social, Political, Educational, and Religious Life. Kinderhook, New York: G. P. Putnam's sons. p. 399. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
John L.B. Silvester.
- ^ "Congress slaveowners", The Washington Post, January 13, 2022, retrieved July 5, 2022
- ^ Hamilton, 120–21; O'Toole, 129.
- ^ a b c Miller, Peyton Farrell (1904). A Group of Great Lawyers of Columbia County, New York. Priv. print. p. 56. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
Peter Henry Silvester.
- ^ John L. Brooke, Columbia Rising: Civil Life on the Upper Hudson from the Revolution to the Age of Jackson, 2010, page 288
- ISBN 978-1-60456-773-1.
- ^ Koenig, Louis William (1960). The Invisible Presidency. New York, NY: Rinehart & Company. p. 89.
- ISBN 9780786423828.
- ISBN 9780465017362.
martin van buren studied law william van ness.
- ^ "Death notice, Peter Silvester". Albany Gazette. Albany, New York. October 24, 1808. p. 3.
- ^ Edward Augustus Collier, A History of Old Kinderhook from Aboriginal Days to the Present Time, 1911, page 397
- ^ Hendrick Hudson Chapter, National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution, Revolutionary War Veterans Buried in Columbia County, New York, 1978, Volume 2, page 243
- ^ "Van Buren I". History Central. MultiEducator, Inc. Retrieved November 13, 2014.
Bibliography
- Hamilton, Milton W. Sir William Johnson: Colonial American, 1715–1763. Port Washington, New York: Kennikat Press, 1976. ISBN 0-8046-9134-7. The first of what was intended to be a two-volume biography; Hamilton never completed the second.
- ISBN 0-374-28128-9.
External links
- United States Congress. "Peter Silvester (id: S000412)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress