Preceded by Ebenezer Wilson Preceded by John Johnstone Name Jacobus Cortlandt Siblings Stephanus Van Cortlandt | Succeeded by Caleb Heathcote Succeeded by Robert Walters Died 1739, Bergen Township | |
Jacobus Van Cortlandt was a wealthy merchant and the 30th and 33rd Mayor of New York City from 1710 to 1711 and again from 1719 to 1720. He was born in 1658 in New Amsterdam.
Van Cortlandt purchased a parcel of land in what is now Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York, from John Barrett after the death of John's father, Samuel Barrett, around 1691. At that time, the plantation was considered Yonkers.
He married Frederick Philipse's adopted daughter Eva de Vries. They had a son Frederick Van Cortlandt, who built the Van Cortlandt House.
He died in 1739.
Jacobus's grandson was John Jay, a founding father and first Chief Justice of the United States. Another grandson, Augustus Van Cortlandt, was last Clerk of the City and County of New York under British rule.