Jacobus Van Cortlandt

Who was Jacobus Van Cortlandt?

Jacobus Van Cortlandt was a wealthy merchant and the 30th and 33rd Mayor of New York City from 1710 to 1711 and again from 1719 to 1720.

He was born in 1658.

Van Cortlandt purchased a parcel of land in what is now Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York, from John Barrett after his father, Samuel Barrett, died around 1691. At that time, the plantation was considered Yonkers. Jacobus's son Frederick Van Cortlandt built the Van Cortlandt House.

He died in 1739.

Jacobus's grandson was John Jay, a founding father and first Chief Justice of the United States. Another grandson, Augustus Van Cortlandt, was a city clerk.