John Cruger

Template:Short description Template:For Template:Citation style Template:Infobox Officeholder John Cruger (1678/1680 – August 13, 1744)<ref name="Caliendo2010">Template:Cite book</ref> was an immigrant to colonial New York with an uncertain place of birth, but his family was originally Danish. In New York from at least 1696, he became a prosperous merchant and established a successful family. He served as an alderman for twenty-two years and as 38th Mayor of New York City from 1739 until his death in 1744.<ref>De Lancey, Edward F. "Original Cruger Family Records" from The New York genealogical and biographical record Quote: "1744. On ye 13th of August 1744, father John Cruger then Mayor of this City dyed and (.he next day his corps was deposited in the Old Dutch Church."</ref>

Early life

Cruger was likely born in early 1678 in Germany,<ref name="Jackson2010">Template:Cite book</ref> although the family is supposed to be of Danish origin<ref name="Lamb1896"/> (or German).<ref name="Hanks2003">Template:Cite book</ref> In 1698, Cruger came to America from Bristol, England, when New York was officially an English colony,<ref name="Jackson2010"/> but still very much marked by the remains of the Dutch influence of New Netherland.<ref name="Caliendo2010"/>

Career

After moving to the Province of New York, he entered the mercantile firm of Onziel Van Swieden and Valentine Cruger as a shipmaster, slave-trader,<ref name="Jackson2010"/> and factor and, by 1702, he had become a junior partner, owning ships of his own.<ref name="Wilder2014"/> The following year he gained citizenship, being recognized as a Freeholder of the Province on March 2, 1703.

In 1712, he was elected Alderman for the Dock Ward, a post he would hold until 1735, when he became assistant to the Mayor Paul Richard.<ref name="Jackson2010"/> He had sent his older sons overseas to run parts of the business; Tileman to the West Indies, and Henry to Bristol in England, while he kept John at home to take charge in New York.<ref name="Wilder2014">Template:Cite book</ref>

By 1739, he and his family had even abandoned his Dutch Reformed Church, becoming members of the Anglican Communion at the politically important Trinity Church. As mayor, he is remembered for the ruthless suppression of what became known as the Negro Plot of 1741.<ref name="Jackson2010"/><ref name="Davis1985">Template:Cite book</ref> In October of that year,<ref name="Lamb1896">Template:Cite book</ref> he was appointed as Mayor of New York, serving five one year terms.<ref name="Caliendo2010"/> While Cruger was mayor, the Recorder of New York City (essentially the deputy mayor of the City), was Daniel Horsmanden.<ref name="Valentine1843">Template:Cite book</ref>

Personal life

On March 5, 1703,<ref name="Reynolds1914">Template:Cite book</ref> he married heiress Maria Cuyler (1678–1724) of New York.<ref name="nyhistory">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Maria was the sister of Albany Mayor Johannes Cuyler (himself the father of mayor Cornelis Cuyler and uncle of mayor Dirck Ten Broeck), who married Elsje Ten Broeck, and Sarah Cuyler, who married Albany Mayor Pieter Van Brugh. The family would eventually include three sons and four daughters who survived infancy. Their children included:<ref name="Reynolds1914"/>

• Anna Cruger (1704–1744)
• Tileman Cruger (1705–1730), who died in New York.<ref name="Reynolds1914"/>
• Henry Cruger (1707–1780), who served in the New York Assembly.<ref name="Lamb1896"/> He married Hannah Slaughter in 1734. After her death, he married Elizabeth Harris in 1736.<ref name="Reynolds1914"/>
• John Cruger Jr. (1710–1791), who also served as mayor and Speaker of the Provincial Assembly.<ref name="Clark2005">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Sarah Cruger (1714–1766), who married Nicholas Gouverneur (grandparents of Samuel Gouverneur)<ref name="Reynolds1914"/> in 1745.<ref name="Stevens1867">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Maria Cruger (1715–1787)
• Rachel Cruger (1721–1775).

Cruger died in New York City on August 13, 1744.<ref name="Caliendo2010"/> When he died, his will left his thriving commercial empire to his surviving sons, John and Henry. He also returned in his will to his religious roots. He was buried in the churchyard of the Low Dutch Reformed Church in Harlem. The graveyard is long gone, but the church is now the Elmendorf Reformed Church in East Harlem.

Descendants

Through his son Henry, he was the grandfather of Henry Cruger Jr. (1739–1827), who was a Member of Parliament in Great Britain and, later, a New York State senator.<ref name="StNick1905">Template:Cite book</ref> Henry Cruger Sr. was also the father of Nicholas Cruger whose Beekman and Cruger was the employer of Alexander Hamilton as a young teen in Saint Croix, Danish West Indies.

See also

• Abraham Samuel, a pirate turned Malagasy king whom he encountered while on a trip to Madagascar.

References

Notes

Sources

• "Burghers and Freemen of New York 1675-1699," New York Historical Society Collections, 1885.
• "John Cruger", Dictionary of American Biography, vol II, p 581- 582.
• "Tax Lists of the City of New York, 1695-1699," New York Historical Society Collections, 1910.