de Peyster, Abraham

  • Wiki Biography:
    • Captain Abraham de Peyster (18 February 1753 – 19 February 1798) was an American-born military officer who was a Loyalist during the American Revolutionary War. He is best known for leading a Loyalist force during the Battle of Kings Mountain and for helping to settle United Empire Loyalist refugees in New Brunswick.
    • Born in 1753 into an upper-class Dutch-American family long settled in New York City, Abraham was the great-grandson and namesake of former city mayor Abraham de Peyster. Upon the outbreak of war in 1775–1776 between Patriots who rebelled against the colonial administration and Loyalists who continued to support British government, de Peyster chose the Monarchist side. He served in the King’s American Regiment, a regiment of Loyalists who were ordered to serve in the interior of the American colonies to re-awaken loyal sentiment and hearten those opposed to the rebels, and was commissioned in December 1776 as a captain.
    • Following the decisive defeat of the British and Loyalist forces at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, de Peyster was allowed to return to the royal garrison in his home city of New York. There, on 2 August 1783, he married Catharine Augusta Livingston. He and Catharine evacuated New York in November 1783, bound for British North America. In 1785, the couple began a new life in the recently organized Colony of New Brunswick.[1]
    • In consideration of his services to the Crown, de Peyster was granted lands and appointed to a variety of official posts. In 1792, he was appointed by royal Lieutenant Governor Thomas Carleton to be Treasurer of the new colony. While serving in office as Treasurer, however, de Peyster died in Saint John in February 1798. Although honored by his superiors and his neighbors, colonial records indicate that de Peyster died intestate and insolvent.
  • United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=2115
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/138184079/abraham-depeyster