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| Cornelius C. Schoonmaker | |
|---|---|
| Name | Cornelius C. Schoonmaker |
| Birth date | c. 1745 |
| Birth place | Marbletown, Ulster County, Province of New York |
| Death date | November 1796 |
| Death place | Shawangunk, Ulster County, New York |
| Occupation | Lawyer, Politician, Militia Officer |
| Spouse | Maria Vredenburg |
| Children | multiple |
| Nationality | American |
Cornelius C. Schoonmaker Cornelius C. Schoonmaker was an 18th-century New York lawyer, militia officer, and state legislator active during the American Revolutionary era and the early United States. He served in the New York State Assembly, participated in Ulster County civic affairs, and held militia rank during the Revolutionary War period. Schoonmaker's career intersected with figures and institutions across colonial New York, the Continental Congress, and the early Republic.
Schoonmaker was born circa 1745 in Marbletown, Ulster County, in the Province of New York, into a Dutch-descended family associated with early New Netherland settlements and Dutch Reformed Church communities. His father and forebears were part of the local landed gentry and tenant networks that connected to families prominent in Kingston, New York and Hurley, New York. Schoonmaker married Maria Vredenburg, linking him by marriage to the Vredenburg family, which had ties to other Ulster County families involved with the New York Provincial Congress and New York Assembly. His siblings and cousins included individuals who participated in county offices, land transactions, and ministerial affairs tied to the Reformed Church in America and regional patroonship legacies stemming from Rensselaerswyck.
Schoonmaker received an education typical of colonial New York gentry, influenced by legal traditions from English common law as administered in the Province of New York and by Dutch legal customs surviving from New Netherland. He trained in the law through apprenticeship and local magistrate mentorship common in the 18th century, aligning with legal practitioners who worked alongside judges of the Court of Common Pleas (New York) and the New York Supreme Court of Judicature. Schoonmaker established a practice in Ulster County, representing clients in boundary disputes, probate matters, and land conveyances that often referenced land patents issued under the Dongan Charter and colonial land grant systems. His legal work brought him into contact with attorneys and judges who later joined bodies such as the New York Convention of 1776, the New York State Assembly, and the judiciary of the early United States.
Schoonmaker served multiple terms in the New York State Assembly representing Ulster County, participating in legislative sessions that dealt with wartime requisitions, militia organization, and the transition from colonial institutions to state governance. His legislative tenure coincided with political actors such as George Clinton (1739–1812), Philip Schuyler, John Jay, and members of the Continental Congress who influenced New York politics. Schoonmaker took part in county committees and magistracies that interacted with the Committee of Safety, Committee of Correspondence, and local administrations responsible for implementing acts passed by the New York Legislature. In the Assembly he engaged with issues paralleling the debates of the New York Ratifying Convention period and with policies connected to fiscal measures advanced by state leaders, echoing the positions of Federalist and Anti-Federalist interlocutors like Alexander Hamilton and George Clinton. His legislative alliances and votes reflected the local priorities of Ulster County landowners, clergy of the Reformed Church in America, and merchants from nearby Kingston, New York and Newburgh, New York.
During the Revolutionary War era Schoonmaker held militia rank in Ulster County, serving alongside officers and units that coordinated with the New York Militia and the Continental Army. His military duties involved local defense, provisioning, and organizing militia musters in concert with county justices and commissaries who reported to generals such as Philip Schuyler and later George Washington. Schoonmaker's service intersected with wartime events in the Hudson Valley, including operations near Saratoga, Peekskill, and West Point, and with the logistical networks that supplied Continental forces during campaigns like the Saratoga campaign and the New York and New Jersey campaign. He worked with other Ulster County leaders on prisoner exchanges, quartermaster arrangements, and local responses to British raids and Loyalist activities tied to the Burning of Kingston and skirmishes in the Hudson Highlands.
After the Revolutionary War, Schoonmaker continued legal practice and public service in Ulster County, remaining involved in county courts, land settlements, and civic affairs as the new federal structures of the United States Constitution and state institutions took shape. He witnessed the presidencies of George Washington and John Adams and the political developments associated with the First Party System involving Federalists and Democratic-Republicans. Schoonmaker died in November 1796 and was buried in Ulster County near Shawangunk, closing a life that linked colonial Dutch-New York households, Revolutionary mobilization, and early New York state governance. His descendants and relations continued in local public roles and intermarried with families active in subsequent state and national affairs, contributing to records preserved in county archives, church registers, and land patent documents associated with Ulster County, New York.
Category:People from Ulster County, New York Category:Members of the New York State Assembly Category:18th-century American lawyers Category:American militiamen in the American Revolution