Van Cortlandt House by George W. Harvey (American, 1855-1930)
History of the Van Cortlandts
The Van Cortlandt House Museum, also known as Frederick Van Cortlandt House or Van Cortlandt House, is the oldest surviving building in New York City's borough of The Bronx. The Georgian style house, begun in 1748, was built of fieldstone by Frederick Van Cortlandt (1699 – 1749) on the plantation that had been owned and farmed by his family since 1691. Frederick intended the house to be a home for him and his wife Francis Jay and daughters Anna Maria, 14 and Eve, 13. His sons James, 22, Augustus 21, and Frederick, 19 were not intended to be permanent residents of the house. Sadly, Frederick died before his new house was completed. In his will written in 1759, Frederick left the house to his son, James Van Cortlandt (1727 – 1781) and a life-time tenancy to his widow, Frances Jay Van Cortlandt (1701-1780).
The Van Cortlandts were a mercantile family prominent in New York affairs. Frederick's father Jacobus established a thriving wheat growing and processing business on the plantation including a grist mill for processing the wheat into flour and a fleet of shallow draft boats to carry the flour from the south end of his lake down Tibbet's Brook and out to the Harlem and Hudson Rivers to market. During the Revolutionary War, the house was used by Rochambeau, Lafayette, and Washington.
The Van Cortlandts were a mercantile family prominent in New York affairs. Frederick's father Jacobus established a thriving wheat growing and processing business on the plantation including a grist mill for processing the wheat into flour and a fleet of shallow draft boats to carry the flour from the south end of his lake down Tibbet's Brook and out to the Harlem and Hudson Rivers to market. During the Revolutionary War, the house was used by Rochambeau, Lafayette, and Washington.
Mrs. Frances Jay Van Cortlandt (1701-1780) mother of James, Frederick and Augustus Van Cortlandt after John Wesley Jarvis (1781-1839)
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Augustus Van Cortlandt (1728-1823)
by John Wesley Jarvis (1781 - 1839)
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