{{about||the arts patron and politician from New York|James William Beekman|the American lawyer and philanthropist|James William Beekman Jr.}} {{Infobox person | name = James Beekman | image = James Beekman (NYPL b13512822-423227) (cropped).jpg | caption = | birth_date = 1732 | birth_place = New York City, Province of New York | death_date = 1807 (aged 75) | death_place = New York City, New York | alma_mater = | political_party = | parents = William Beekman<br>Catharine De Lanoy | spouse = {{marriage|Jane Keteltas<br>|1752}} | relatives = Gerardus Beekman (grandfather)<br>Wilhelmus Beekman (great-grandfather)<br>James William Beekman (grandson) | children = 10 | awards = }} '''James Beekman''' (1732–1807) was a New York City merchant and a member of the prominent Beekman family.<ref>{{cite web|title=James Beekman (1732-1807)|url=http://www.nyhistory.org/exhibit/james-beekman-1732-1807|website=www.nyhistory.org|publisher=New-York Historical Society|accessdate=3 February 2017|language=en}}</ref>
==Early life== 150px|thumb|left|Coat of Arms of James Beekman James Beekman was born in 1732, the son of William Beekman (1684–1770) and Catharine De Lanoy (1691–1765), niece of Peter Delanoy, the first elected Mayor of New York City after British rule.<ref>{{cite gotham}} pp.99-100</ref> His paternal grandparents were Gerardus Beekman (1653–1723), the acting Governor of the province of New York in 1710, and Magdalena Abeel (1661–1731), sister of Johannes Abeel (1667–1711), the second mayor of Albany.<ref name="Abeel&Allied">Henry Whittemore, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hzAxAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22johannes+abeel%22+schuyler+cornplanter&pg=PA4 The Abeel and Allied Families], 1899, pages 4 to 6</ref> His great-grandfather was Wilhelmus Beekman (1623–1707),<ref name="GeneRecordofStNicholas"/> a Dutch immigrant who came to New Amsterdam from the Netherlands on the same vessel as Peter Stuyvesant. Wilhelmus soon became Treasurer of the Dutch West India Company<ref name="acrelius421">{{cite journal|last=Acrelius|first=Israel|author2=Collin, Nicholas |title=New Sweden, or The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware|journal=Collections of the New York Historical Society|year=1841|volume=1|series=2|page=421|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IEjjAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> and later became the Mayor of New York City,<ref name="Van Rensselaer 1909 247, 269">{{cite book|last=Van Rensselaer|first=Mrs. Schuyler|title=History of the City of New York in the Seventeenth Century. Vol 2.|year=1909|publisher=Macmillan Company|location=New York|pages=247, 269|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y6sBAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> Governor of Delaware from 1653 to 1664,<ref>{{cite book|last=Bernstorf|first=Mrs. Philip W.|title=Directory of the Hereditary Order of Colonial Governors Prior to 4 July 1776|year=2003|publisher=Hereditary Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors|page=24}}</ref> and Governor of Pennsylvania from 1658 to 1663.<ref name="Charles 2006 30">{{cite book|last=Charles|first=Michael Harrison|title=List of the Colonial Governors Prior to 4 July 1776|year=2006|publisher=Hereditary Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors|page=30}}</ref>
==Mount Pleasant== He is best remembered for his mansion, known as Mount Pleasant, which he built in Manhattan on the East River in 1763, near the northwest corner of 1st Avenue and East 51st Street. This mansion served as the British military headquarters during the American Revolution, and was the site of the trial of Nathan Hale.<ref>"{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080705134759/http://www.connecticutsar.org/patriots/hale_nathan_2.htm Captain Nathan Hale (1755 - 1776)]}}", by Mary J. Ortner, The Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.</ref>
==Personal life== thumb|right|James' wife, Jane Ketaltas In 1752, he was married to Janneke "Jane" Keteltas (1734–1817), daughter of Abraham Keteltas and Jeanne d'Honneur, and sister of Abraham Keteltas (1732–1798).<ref>{{cite web|title=Mrs. James Beekman (1734–1817)|url=http://www.nyhistory.org/exhibit/mrs-james-beekman-1734-1817|website=www.nyhistory.org|publisher=New-York Historical Society|accessdate=3 February 2017|language=en}}</ref> Together, they had:<ref name="GeneRecordofStNicholas">{{cite book|last1=York|first1=Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New|title=Genealogical Record of the Saint Nicholas Society: Advanced Sheets, First Series|date=1902|publisher=Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_6Q-AAAAYAAJ&q=James+William+Beekman+%281815-1877%29&pg=PA9|accessdate=3 February 2017|language=en}}</ref> *William Beekman (b. 1754) *Abraham Keteltas Beekman (1756–1816), who married his cousin, Johanna Beekman<ref>{{cite web|title=Abraham Keteltas Beekman (1756-1816)|url=http://www.nyhistory.org/exhibit/abraham-keteltas-beekman-1756-1816|website=www.nyhistory.org|publisher=New-York Historical Society|accessdate=3 February 2017|language=en}}</ref> *James Beekman Jr. (1758–1837), who married Lydia Watkins Drew<ref name="JBJr">{{cite web|title=James Beekman, Jr. (1758-1837)|url=http://www.nyhistory.org/exhibit/james-beekman-jr-1758-1837|website=www.nyhistory.org|publisher=New-York Historical Society|accessdate=3 February 2017|language=en}}</ref> *Jane Beekman (b. 1760), who married Stephen Van Cortlandt<ref>{{cite web|title=Jane Beekman|url=http://www.nyhistory.org/exhibit/jane-beekman|website=www.nyhistory.org|publisher=New-York Historical Society|accessdate=3 February 2017|language=en}}</ref> *Catharine "Caty" Beekman (b. 1762), who married Elisha Boudinot, brother of Elias Boudinot, in 1805.<ref>{{cite web|title=Catharine Beekman|url=http://www.nyhistory.org/exhibit/catharine-beekman|website=www.nyhistory.org|publisher=New-York Historical Society|accessdate=3 February 2017|language=en}}</ref> *Mary Beekman (b. 1765), who married Stephen N. Bayard.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mary Beekman|url=http://www.nyhistory.org/exhibit/mary-beekman|website=www.nyhistory.org|publisher=New-York Historical Society|accessdate=3 February 2017|language=en}}</ref> *John Beekman (1768–1843), who married Mary Elizabeth Goad Bedlow (1771–1848) *Cornelia Beekman (b. 1770) *Elisabet Beekman (b. 1773) *Gerard Beekman (1774–1833), who married Catharine Saunders (1785–1835)<ref name="GeneRecordofStNicholas"/>
===Legacy=== Beekman is known to have commissioned portraits of his children from the painter John Durand, and the entry for payment in his account book, dating to 1766, is the first record of the artist in New York.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/artist-info.1255.html?artobj_artistId=1255&pageNumber=1|title=Artist Info: John Durand|work=nga.gov|accessdate=9 May 2015}}</ref> On his death in 1807, Beekman left inherited the family's country estate and portraits to his son, James Beekman Jr.<ref name="JBJr"/> Upon his son's death in 1837, the estate was passed to James Beekman Jr.'s nephew, James William Beekman, the son of Gerard Beekman.
===Exhibition=== In 2004, the New-York Historical Society presented an exhibition based around a coach owned by Beekman, one of only three such coaches to survive in its original condition. Beekman had bought the coach in 1771 from Peter Burton, a London sea captain, for £138.<ref>"[https://www.nyhistory.org/web/default.php?section=exhibits_collections&page=exhibit_detail&id=6945501 Arriving in Style: Treasures of 18th Century New York]", The New-York Historical Society, November 23, 2004 - February 20, 2005.</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist|30em}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beekman, James}} Category:1732 births Category:1807 deaths Category:Businesspeople from New York City Category:Merchants from the Province of New York Category:18th-century American merchants James Category:19th-century American merchants