John Jay (1745-1829)

He was one of America's most distinguished statesmen, diplomats and abolitionists. He was a U.S. Founding Father; President of the Second Continental Congress (1778-1779); Negotiator and Signatory of the Treaty of Paris of 1783; 1st Chief Justice of the United States (1789-1795); Acting 1st Secretary of State (1789-1790); and, 2nd Governor of New York (1795-1801). He directed U.S. foreign policy for much of the 1780s and was an important leader of the Federalist Party. He married Sarah, daughter of William Livingston, 1st Governor of New Jersey. They were the parents of two sons and four daughters. Five of their six children survived to adulthood (Susan Jay was less than a month old when she died) and only one of their daughters married: Maria, became Mrs Goldsborough Banyer whose mother owned Richmond Hill.