Philip Verplanck

Verplanck was born in June 1695 in Albany in the Province of New York. He was the son of Ariaantie "Harriet" (née Bayard) Verplanck and Samuel Verplanck (1669–1698), who was lost at sea in 1698.^[1] Reportedly, Pieter Schuyler and Johannes Schuyler were his godfathers.^[2]

His paternal grandparents were Gulian Verplanck and Hendrickje (née Wessels) Verplanck. His uncle, Jacobus Verplanck, married Margarita Schuyler (youngest daughter of Philip Pieterse Schuyler) and his aunt, Anna Verplanck, married Andrew Teller. His maternal grandparents were the Rev. Balthazar Bayard (son of Samuel Bayard and Ann Stuyvesant, sister of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Director-General of New Netherland) and Maritje Loockermans.^[3]

In 1722,^[4] Verplanck, a surveyor, was appointed Sheriff of Albany by the Governor William Burnet, holding office for a year until he was replaced by former sheriff Thomas Williams in September 1723.^[2]

By 1730, Verplanck controlled a manor estate and was the land agent for the Van Cortlandt family, ordering a survey of the manor in 1734.^[5] Reportedly, acting according to a directive established by Stephanus Van Cortlandt, he partitioned the manor into 40 tracts. Eight family estates were formed within the manor and individual Van Cortlandt family members sold or leased to farmers.^[5] According to the manor grant of 1697, the landlord could send a representative to the legislature, but that was not exercised until 1734 when Verplanck was elected to represent the Van Cortlandt Manor in the New York General Assembly.^[5] He served in that body until 1768 while living on the Manor, he was prominent in provincial affairs. In the 1750s, however, his wife's cousin, Pierre Van Cortlandt, superseded Verplanck and took charge of the manor lands.^[5] In March 1762, he was made co-executor of the estate of his cousin, David Verplanck of Beeren Island in the Manor of Rensselaerswyck.^[2]