- Creator
- Provoost family
- Call number
- MssCol NYGB 18064
- Physical description
- 1 v, 39 cm; 1 v, 39 cm
- Preferred Citation
- Provoost family papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library
- Repository
- Manuscripts and Archives Division
- Access to materials
- Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply
The Provoost (Provost) family, of French Huguenot descent, were early settlers of New Amsterdam. David Provoost (1670-1724) was a merchant and Mayor of the City of New York from 1699 to 1700. His nephew John Provoost (d. 1767) was the son of Samuel Provoost and Mary Spratt Provoost Alexander, prominent New York City merchants, and the stepson of James Alexander, a prominent New York lawyer and politician. The Provoost family papers include a manuscript copy of David Provoost's genealogy of the Provoost family of New Amsterdam (compiled 1724), made by John Provoost in 1742, as well as two letters from John Provoost at Curacao to his parents dated 18 May 1736 and 21 June 1736, concerning shipment and prices of goods, addressed to his stepfather, James Alexander, in New York. Also present are some genealogical notes dated 1785, and a letter from Lucy D. Akerly to a Mr. King, 6 Oct. 1897, loosely laid in, concerning the Provoost family.
Administrative information
Custodial history
Gift of Elizabeth Clarkson Jay to the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 1890.
Bibliography
The text of the 1742 manuscript, extensively annotated, is published in Andrew J. Provost, Jr.'s History of the Provoost family of New Amsterdam and Colonial New York from 1545 to 1724, New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, vol. 89, no. 4 (1958) pp. 193-205 and vol. 90, no. 1 (1959) pp. 31-41
Key terms
Names
- Provoost family
- Akerly, Lucy Dubois, 1857-
- Alexander, James, 1691-1756 (Recipient)
- Alexander, Mary, d. 1760 (Recipient)
- Provoost, David, 1670-1724
- Provoost, John
- Provost, Andrew J. (Andrew Jackson), b. 1867
- Prevost family
- New York Genealogical and Biographical Society Collection
Places
Occupations
Material types
Titles
Using the collection
Location
Manuscripts and Archives DivisionStephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Access restrictions
Printed materials must be used in lieu of originals when available.