10/02/2026
in 1749, Frederick Van Cortlandt was settling his affairs...
The son of Jacobus Van Cortlandt, a wealthy merchant and twice the mayor of New York City, it was Frederick who commissioned the construction of what is now Van Cortlandt House Museum. In his will, signed October 2, 1749, and pictured here, he notes: “...I am now about finishing a large stone dwelling House on the Plantation on which I now live.”
The house, however, is only part of the history recorded in this will. Among the 'property' distributed to Frederick Van Cortlandt's heirs were numerous enslaved people. These include Levellie the boatman; Piero the miller, his wife Hester, and their son, Little Pieter; an indigenous man named Caesar and his wife Kate; two girls named Hannah and Saro; and a boy called Little Franke. Van Cortlandt also bequeathed two enslaved girls, Mary and Hester, to his wife Frances; and a boy named Claus to his son Augustus.
The language of the will provides stark testimony to the dehumanization inherent to American chattel slavery. People appear here alongside inanimate objects such as wagons, carts, ploughs, tools, and boats, assigned by Van Cortlandt to different members of his family. Families could likewise be divided; whereas Piero, his wife, and son were bequeathed together to James Van Cortlandt, other enslaved people were individually assigned to Frederick's wife, sons, and daughter.
While this document makes for difficult reading, it preserves something very important, even if it has often been obscured or indeed rendered invisible in the historical record: the names of the people enslaved by the Van Cortlandts. Just as significantly, it offers the reader a small glimpse into their lives — lives shaped by families, skills, relationships, and stories all their own.
Nearly three centuries later, Frederick Van Cortlandt's house is still standing. In an ironic twist of fate, his will — penned in exacting prose so as to ensure the wealth and standing of his descendants — serves to remind us that the history of this house cannot be understood through the Van Cortlandt family alone.
Learn more at VCHM.
