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Peter Jay Munro (January 10, 1767 – September 22, 1833) was an American lawyer and Federalist politician from New York.

Early life

Munro was born on January 10, 1767, in Rye in the Province of New York in what was then British America. He was the only child of the Rev. Harry Munro (1730–1801) and Eva (née Jay) Munro (1728–1810), who later became estranged. His father was the rector of St. Peter's Church in Albany who was forced to flee America in 1778 and return to his native land, Scotland (where he died in 1801), because he was considered a loyalist.

His mother was the eldest child of Peter Jay (a wealthy trader in furs, wheat, timber, and other commodities) and Mary (née Van Cortlandt) Jay (a daughter of Jacobus Van Cortlandt, a New York Assemblyman who was twice elected mayor of New York City, and sister to Frederick Van Cortlandt). His maternal uncle was Founding Father John Jay, who was the second governor of New York and the first chief justice of the United States.

Munro's uncle, John Jay, took him with him on his diplomatic mission to Europe from 1779 to 1784.

Career

After returning to the United States, Munro studied law in New York City with Aaron Burr before representing Westchester as a Federalist in the New York State Assembly from 1814 to 1815 during the 38th New York State Legislature and in the Constitutional Convention in 1821.

He later established his own law practice with his cousin Peter Augustus Jay (eldest son of John Jay). With his cousin's assistance, he persuaded his father to sign over his American landholdings to him in 1794.

Personal life

On January 1, 1790, Munro was married to Margaret White (1774–1857), the second daughter of Eva (née Van Cortlandt) White and the Hon. Henry White of the Governor's Council of the Province of New York. Among her siblings were Gen. Frederick Van Cortlandt White and Vice-Admiral Sir John Chambers White. Together, they were the parents of four sons (of whom only one had issue) and eight daughters, including:

• Frances Jay Munro (1797–1869), who married the Rt. Rev. William H. DeLancey, Bishop of Western New York, in 1820.
• Harriet Munro (1798–1836), who married Augustus Frederick Morris (who later took the surname Van Cortlandt to comply with the will of his grandfather, Augustus Van Cortlandt), a son of James Morris and Helena (née Van Cortlandt) Morris.
• Peter Jay Munro (1800–1835), who died unmarried.
• Henry White Munro (1802–1862), who married Anne Margaret Bayley.
• Anna Maria Munro (1806–1865), who married Elias Desbrosses Hunter, only child of New York State Senator John Hunter, in 1832.
• Sarah Jay Munro (d. 1840), who married Asa Whitney, a successful dry-goods merchant.
• John White Munro (1814–1898), who married Frances Augusta Bibby (a great-granddaughter of Augustus Van Cortlandt).

Around 1800, Munro commissioned Gilbert Stuart to paint a portrait of George Washington, which is today known as the Munro-Lenox Portrait as it was donated to the Lenox Library in 1870. The portrait was later sold by the Library (which by then had consolidated into the New York Public Library), and was sold to New York collectors Judy and Michael Steinhardt.

Around 1797, Munro built a country house known as the Manor House in present day Larchmont, New York. "The house faced Boston Post Road, so Munro's Scottish gardener imported some larch seeds from Scotland and planted them to screen the property from the dusty road." The estate was sold to shipping magnate Edward Knight Collins in 1845 who called it Larchmont.

Munro died on September 22, 1833, in New York City. He was buried in the Jay Cemetery in Rye, of which he was one of the original three trustees.

Descendants

Through his daughter Frances, he was a grandfather of five grandsons and three granddaughters, including Edward Floyd DeLancey, president of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.

Through his daughter Anna, he was a grandfather of Elizabeth Desbrosses Hunter (who married her cousin William Heathcote DeLancey Jr.), Anna Maria Hunter (who married Peter Jay Munro Van Cortlandt), and John Hunter III (1833–1914), who inherited Hunter's Island and sold it to former mayor Ambrose Kingsland in 1866. John Hunter III married Annie Manigault Middleton of Middleton Place, Charleston, South Carolina.

References

1. ^ Jay, John (1905). Memorials of Peter A. Jay. The De Vinne Press. p. 175. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
2. Bielinski, Stefan. "Harry Munro". exhibitions.nysm.nysed.gov. New York State Museum. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
3. ^ Nuxoll, Elizabeth M. "A Founding Family Confronts Multiple Disabilities" (PDF). johnjayhomestead.org/. The Papers of John Jay; Columbia University. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
4. Stahr, Walter (2006). John Jay: Founding Father. Continuum Publishing Group. pp. 1–5. ISBN 978-0-8264-1879-1. Archived from the original on September 15, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
5. ^ "A Brief Biography of John Jay". The Papers of John Jay. Columbia University. 2002. Archived from the original on November 27, 2015. Retrieved August 20, 2008.
6. ^ Reynolds, Cuyler (1911). Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs: A Record of Achievements of the People of the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys in New York State, Included Within the Present Counties of Albany, Rensselaer, Washington, Saratoga, Montgomery, Fulton, Schenectady, Columbia and Greene. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p. 32. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
7. Lipinsky de Orlov, Lino S. (1984). The Jay Genealogy. Katonah, New York: John Jay Homestead State Historic Site. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
8. ^ Wilson, James Grant (July 1905). "President Edward F. DeLancey". The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. XXXVI (3): 169–172. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
9. ^ Moffat, R. Burnham (1904). The Barclays of New York: who They are and who They are Not,-and Some Other Barclays (PDF). R. G. Cooke. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
10. ^ Barbour, Oliver Lorenzo; Court, New York (State) Supreme (1855). Reports of Cases in Law and Equity in the Supreme Court of the State of New York. Gould, Banks & Gould. p. 57. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
11. Bain, David Haward (1 September 2000). Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad. Penguin. pp. 4–5, 940. ISBN 978-1-101-65804-8. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
12. Vogel, Carol (December 1, 2005). "Library's Art Auction Fails to Meet Expectations". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
13. Vogel, Carol (January 5, 2007). "A Pair of New Owners for Old President". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
14. Clements, Janine (13 January 2021). "Larchmont, N.Y.: An Affluent Suburb on Long Island Sound". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
15. Twomey, Bill (2007). The Bronx, in Bits and Pieces. Rooftop Publishing. p. 107. ISBN 978-1-60008-062-3. Retrieved October 6, 2017.
16. "Pelham Bay Park Highlights - Hunter Island : NYC Parks". www.nycgovparks.org. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
17. "JOHN HUNTER". The New York Times. 5 January 1914. Retrieved 20 October 2022.

External links

• Letter from Peter Jay Munro to John Jay, December 4, 1783 at the MCNY
• Letter from John Jay to Peter Jay Munro, November 16, 1802 at the MCNY

• 1767 births
• 1833 deaths
• People from colonial New York
• People from Rye, New York
• New York (state) lawyers
• Jay family
• 19th-century members of the New York State Legislature