Arrived in New Amsterdam in 1655.  Also dealt in tobacco and general merchandise.  Stokes.

Samuel Edsall was born in Reading, England, c. 1633. He died in 1702, a hatter, a trader in fish and tobacco, a real-estate speculator, and a political figure in East Jersey and in the Leisler period in New Netherland and in Europe. At age 14 he emigrated to Boston, where he was probably an apprentice to a hatter and beginning to be engaged in the fur trade. In dealing with the Indians, he may have learned the language of Indian tribes. This was a skill that was useful when he later turned to acquiring large tracts of land in Lenape territory, among them the huge area negotiated with the Tappaen Indians in 1681that became the Tappan Patent. In 1655 he settled in New Amsterdam, receiving a grant in 1656 from Director General Stuyvesant for a plot of land in Block F of the Castello Plan (identified as “Hatter’s shop of Samuel Edsal,” house #7, by John A. Kouwenhoven, The Columbia Historical Portrait of New York, p. 42).

Over the years, Samuel Edsall revealed that he was a man of many talents--in business, in land acquisition, and in politics. Descriptions of his various careers can be found in several accessible articles. The articles are: Thomas Henry Edsall, “Something about Fish, Fisheries, and Fishermen in New York in the Seventeenth Century,” NYG&B Record (October 1882), 181-200; George E. McCracken, “Samuel Edsall of Reading, Berks, and Some Early Descendants,” NYG&B Record (July 1958), 129-145, and continued in ibid., October 1958; and Firth Haring Fabend, “The Slote: Waterway to a Rustic Capital and to Protestant International,” South of the Mountains (October-December 2012), 3-18, which describes Edsall’s relations with the Tappan Patentees during the Leisler period. Additionally, in the Collections of the Leisler Institute for the Study of Early New York History, much documentary information about him can be found in a folder, contents not yet indexed, that can be inspected with permission.

Samuel Edsall had four wives and many daughters, several of whom married Jacob Leisler’s supporters, and two sons, John and Richard. Both sons produced numerous Edsall-named descendants still alive today. Samuel also has numerous descendants with other surnames (some of the best-known family names in New Amsterdam) through his married daughters and their female offspring.

Samuel Edsall was born in Reading, England, c. 1633. He died in 1702, a hatter, a trader in fish and tobacco, a real-estate speculator, and a political figure in East Jersey and in the Leisler period in New Netherland and in Europe. At age 14 he emigrated to Boston, where he was probably an apprentice to a hatter and beginning to be engaged in the fur trade. In dealing with the Indians, he may have learned the language of Indian tribes. This was a skill that was useful when he later turned to acquiring large tracts of land in Lenape territory, among them the huge area negotiated with the Tappaen Indians in 1681that became the Tappan Patent. In 1655 he settled in New Amsterdam, receiving a grant in 1656 from Director General Stuyvesant for a plot of land in Block F of the Castello Plan (identified as “Hatter’s shop of Samuel Edsal,” house #7, by John A. Kouwenhoven, The Columbia Historical Portrait of New York, p. 42).

Over the years, Samuel Edsall revealed that he was a man of many talents--in business, in land acquisition, and in politics. Descriptions of his various careers can be found in several accessible articles. The articles are: Thomas Henry Edsall, “Something about Fish, Fisheries, and Fishermen in New York in the Seventeenth Century,” NYG&B Record (October 1882), 181-200; George E. McCracken, “Samuel Edsall of Reading, Berks, and Some Early Descendants,” NYG&B Record (July 1958), 129-145, and continued in ibid., October 1958; and Firth Haring Fabend, “The Slote: Waterway to a Rustic Capital and to Protestant International,” South of the Mountains (October-December 2012), 3-18, which describes Edsall’s relations with the Tappan Patentees during the Leisler period. Additionally, in the Collections of the Leisler Institute for the Study of Early New York History, much documentary information about him can be found in a folder, contents not yet indexed, that can be inspected with permission.

Samuel Edsall had four wives and many daughters, several of whom married Jacob Leisler’s supporters, and two sons, John and Richard. Both sons produced numerous Edsall-named descendants still alive today. Samuel also has numerous descendants with other surnames (some of the best-known family names in New Amsterdam) through his married daughters and their female offspring.