[Some of you liked to read about men whose identity was hidden until the end, so maybe I will do a few more.]
Call our man Jakob, for that was his given name. He was baptized as a Calvinist (i.e., Reformed) in the Palatinate in 1640 (some say he was born in Frankfurt am Main). His father was a Calvinist minister and had to leave the Palatinate after the Thirty Years' War. Jakob came to New Amsterdam as a 20-year old corporal in the service of Holland. He turned to fur trading, became rich, and was wealthy when he married the widow of Pieter van der Veens in 1663 (when he was only 23 years old). He was soon regarded as one of the highly affluent people in New York and became a Deacon of the Dutch Reformed Church. In civic affairs he became a captain in the militia.
Though his wife was well placed socially, Jakob was not readily accepted by her friends. The poorer people accepted him readily and regarded him as their champion against the wealthy merchants and landowners. He became Lt. Governor and, when the Governor left the scene, he became the acting Governor.
Relations with France had gone from bad to worse and the people in New York were worried about the French in Canada. Jakob issued a call for the Colonies in America to unite in common defense. This upset the British, who did not want a union government in North America. Within two years, a new governor, Henry Sloughter, came from England to replace Jakob. Jakob did not question the right of the British to name the governor and yielded up the post to Sloughter.
By then there were two political parties, one of the lower and middle classes, and one of the upper classes, the politicians, the merchants and the large landowners. Jakob was associated with the former. Under the new governor, Jakob was charged with high treason for daring to consult with the other Colonies. High treason carried a death sentence and the party of the aristocrats pressed for this. They got Sloughter drunk at a banquet and obtained his approval for Jakob's execution.
The actual execution led to a near riot between the adherents of the political parties but it was carried through. In 1695, Parliament rescinded the judgement and restored Jakob's wealth to his family. The town of New Rochelle erected a monument to him. In 1974, Pace University, whose campus includes the site of the execution, dedicated a plaque to him in the presence of his American descendants. The name on the plaque is Jakob Leisler. Another German had contributed to the making of America.
(17 Jun 03)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.