Peter Schuyler was a wealthy Dutch

Dutch people

The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...

 farmer

Farmer

A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...

 from New Barbadoes Neck

New Barbadoes Neck

New Barbadoes Neck is the name given in the colonial era for the peninsula in northeastern New Jersey, USA between the lower Hackensack and Passaic Rivers, in what is now western Hudson County and southern Bergen County...

 (now western Hudson County

Hudson County, New Jersey

Hudson County is the smallest county in New Jersey and one of the most densely populated in United States. It takes its name from the Hudson River, which creates part of its eastern border. Part of the New York metropolitan area, its county seat and largest city is Jersey City.- Municipalities...

), New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

.

Schuyler was descended from Arent Schuyler

Arent Schuyler

Arent Schuyler was born in Rensselaerswyck , New York on June 25, 1662 and died in Belleville, New Jersey on November 26, 1730. A member of the influential Schuyler family , during his life-time he was a surveyor, "Indian agent", miner, merchant, and land speculator.Schuyler participated in the...

 of Rensselaerswyck, now (Albany

Albany, New York

Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

), New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. His father purchased a large tract of land along the shores of the Passaic River

Passaic River

The Passaic River is a mature surface river, approximately 80 mi long, in northern New Jersey in the United States. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey,...

 where large amounts of copper were discovered and mined. In order to pump out mines which would fill with water, Schuyler arranged for the first steam engine

Steam engine

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...

 in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 to be built. Schuyler Avenue

County Route 507 (New Jersey)

County Route 507 is a county highway in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The highway extends from Harrison Avenue on the Kearny-Harrison town line to the New York state line in Mahwah. Between Ho-Ho-Kus and Mahwah, this highway is known as Franklin Turnpike...

, which runs along the eastern edge of the ridge honors the early settlement.

During the French and Indian Wars

French and Indian Wars

The French and Indian Wars is a name used in the United States for a series of conflicts lasting 74 years in North America that represented colonial events related to the European dynastic wars...

, Schuyler, a colonel of militia, raised a detachment of volunteer soldiers to fight in the Jersey Blues

1st New Jersey Regiment

The 1st New Jersey Regiment was the first organized militia regiment in New Jersey, formed in 1673 in Piscataway "to repel foreign Indians who come down from upper Pennsylvania and western New York to our shores and fill with fishes and clams and on the way back make a general nuisance of...

. Schuyler and his detachment were captured when Fort Oswego

Fort Oswego

Fort Oswego was an important frontier post for British traders in the 18th century. A trading post was established in 1722 with a log palisade, and New York governor William Burnet ordered a fort built at the site in 1727. The log palisade fort established a British presence on the Great Lakes....

 surrendered to the French under the command of General Marquis de Montcalm. Schuyler remained a captive in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 until he was released. Schuyler later returned to service and ransomed around 114 of his former men from captivity in Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

with his own money.