Jacobus McEvers (1729-1768)

He was a merchant on Hanover Square who specialized in importing European and Indian goods. When the Stamp Act was incorporated in 1765 he was appointed Stamp Distributor for New York but resigned that August in opposition to it. He was one of the earliest members of the New York Chamber of Commerce but illness prevented him from taking his seat. He and his brother, Charles, lived at 34 Wall Street (see images) next door to the Bank of New York, between which was a passageway that led into Pine Street. Though long since demolished, it was this house that Richard Henry Dana used as the model for the New York Headquarters of the Society of Colonial Dames at 215 East 71st Street. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Apthorp reckoned to be the richest man in Boston. After James died, his wife remarried Robert Bayard and his business was continued by his brother, Charles.