Peter Wraxall

Who was Peter Wraxall?

Peter Wraxall was a British official in the province of New York.

Born in Bristol, England, Wraxall was the son of John Wraxall, a merchant. Peter became a seaman after his family suffered financial hardship. He traveled to the Netherlands and Jamaica before finally settling in New York. In 1746, during King George's War, he raised a company for the expedition into Canada. The next year, he went back to England on private business.

While in England, Wraxall received two royal commissions in 1750: secretary for the New York government to the Indians and clerk of the common pleas in the county and city of Albany. When he returned to New York, however, he found that the governor had already appointed Harmon Gansevoort to the Albany clerk position. Wraxall attempted through the courts to have his clerk's commission honored, to no avail.

Wraxall did have his commission as New York's secretary of Indian affairs, which proved to be an important position as the French and Indian War approached. In 1754, Wraxall attended the Albany Congress, where British officials attempted to improve their relationship with the Iroquois and recruit native support for the coming conflict.