LEISLEB. Jacon, b. Frankfort, Germany; d. in New York, 1691; was in the mili tary service of the Dutch E. I. company. and in 1660 came to America, and went into business on his own account. He was for a time a resident of Albany, where he became concerned in some church troubles, out of which grew litigation and contention which affected both his moral and financial standing. He afterwards settled in New York, and in 1678 sailed for Europe, but was captured by pirates, and only regained his liberty on the payment of a heavy ransom for those days-2,050 pieces of eight, or Spanish dollars. He returned to New York, and five years later was appointed a commissioner of the court of admiralty. In 1688, Francis Nicholson being governor of the province, Leisler took advantage of the English revolution to attempt an overthrow of the local government and the seizure of the administration. He overcame the party favorable to king James, declared for the prince of Orange. and seized the fort and confiscated the public funds. He planted a battery of six guns within the fort—thus giving the name to that portion of the.island which it has borne ever since—and then proceeded to invest the northern part of the province. having been appointed commander-in-chief by the committee of safety. In Dec., 1689, he assumed the title of lieut.gov. under an
indefinite dispatch from William and Mary, and refused to acknowledge the authority of gov. Sloughter on the latter's appointment to that office. He was accordingly seized and imprisoned, and, on a trial for murder and high treason, was condemned to death,which sentence was executed in New York, May 16, 1691. Leisler's condemnation was con sidered to have been unjustly effected, and the act of attainder which was passed upon him was afterwards reversed, his heirs indemnified through the influence of gov. Bella mont, and his remains exhumed and honorably teinterred in the Dutch church in Gar den street, New York. In 1689 Leisler purchased for the Huguenots the tract called New Rochelle, in Westchester co., N. Y. The petition of his son, which, with other documents referring to this history, is to he found in the Documentary History N. Y., vol. xi, sets forth the nature of the labors of Jacob Leisler, sen., iu behalf of the,interests of William and Mary, and in behalf of the Protestant religion, and presents the case on which the act of attainder was eventually rescinded.