Pierre Fauconnier (1659-1746)

He came from a family of French Huguenots (Protestants) who fled to England, settling in London. He came to America as the private secretary to Edward Hyde, the cross-dressing Earl of Clarendon whose cousin, Queen Anne, had appointed him Governor of New York and New Jersey. In 1705, Fauconnier was given a patent of 10,000-acres in Dutchess County, New York, which he name for his employer: Hyde Park.