Goldsbrow Banyar
1724 - 1815
Goldsbrow Banyar was born in London, England
about 1724. A career British colonial official, he achieved
wealth and prominence in colonial New York, survived the
Revolution, and lived the last two decades of his long life
in Albany.
A young Banyar came to America during the
1730s. In 1767, he married the widow Elizabeth Mortier Appy
of New York City. He lived in New York City but was able
to acquire extensive acreage in the unsettled regions of
the province. At the onset of the Revolutionary War, he
retired to Rhinebeck and sought to avoid the conflict there.
Banyar had served as the Deputy Secretary
of the Colony of New York, Deputy Clerk of the Council and
of the Supreme Court, Register of the Court of Chancery
and Judge of Probate, all between 1746 and the opening of
the Revolution. His services ended with the end of British
rule, and he withdrew to Rhinebeck until the end of the
war, at which time he returned to Albany.
Shortly thereafter, he moved to Albany to
a house at 62 North Pearl Street where he lived for remainder
of his life. Approaching his seventieth birthday, Banyar
used savings to live comfortably in his new home. He owned
the substantial Pearl Street home, another house in the
first ward, and additional lots as well. Banyar's name was
included on the boards of a number of organizations including
the incorporators of the Bank of Albany in 1792.
In April 1801, his son, Goldsbrow Banyar,
Jr. married nineteen-year-old Maria Jay, the daughter of
governor John Jay. The marriage took place at St. Peter's
Anglican church in Albany. Their son and daughter were born
in 1804 and 1805. But both died in childhood.
Goldsbrow Banyar, Sr. died in Albany, New
York on November 3, 1815 at the age of ninety-one.
NOTE: Death notice for Banyar was published
in The Troy Post on November 21, 1815.