Jean de Neufville
Jean de Neufville | |
|---|---|
| Born | Error: Invalid birth date for calculating age Amsterdam, Dutch Republic |
| Died | 1796 Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Banker, merchant |
| Years active | 1761–1783 |
| Known for | Financing American Revolutionary War; negotiating loans to the United States; involvement in Fourth Anglo-Dutch War |
Jean de Neufville, also known as John de Neufville (born in Amsterdam on May 25, 1729 – died December 1796 in Cambridge, Massachusetts), was a banker from Amsterdam who encountered the American diplomat William Lee in Aachen on September 4, 1778.
Biography
Jean was the offspring of Leendert de Neufville Jansz (1698–1762) and Agneta de Wolff (1703–1750), inheriting a fortune of 350,000 guilders. A member of the Mennonite faith, he wed Cornelia de Neufville from Haarlem in 1753. Their child Leendert arrived in 1755. In 1765, Jean acquired and renovated the canal residence at Keizersgracht 224; later, in 1776, he purchased the Wester-Amstel estate.
From as early as 1761, De Neufville engaged in substantial trade with the West Indies and America. He established a cotton printing enterprise in 1768 and held coffee and sugar plantations in Suriname until divesting his interests in 1778. Beginning in 1779, he managed shipping operations—including arms shipments—to the United States, coinciding with French assistance initiated two years prior. Among his notable guests was American Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones. He owned 7,326 acres in South Carolina, while his son possessed property in Albany County, New York.
In September 1780, British forces captured the ship Mercury en route to the Dutch Republic; aboard was a draft treaty that Henry Laurens discarded while attempting to secure a loan of ten million guilders from the Republic. This episode involved a covert agreement between De Neufville and William Lee, sanctioned by Amsterdam official Engelbert François van Berckel, and played a role in triggering the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War on December 20.
On March 1, 1781, authorization from John Adams empowered De Neufville to negotiate a loan of ƒ1,000,000 for Congress. By 1782, a banking syndicate had provided a five million guilder loan to the United States, followed later by an additional four million.
De Neufville maintained correspondence with Benjamin Franklin. In that year he sold his residence Saxenburg along with an adjoining warehouse on Prinsengracht. Confronted with financial setbacks, he declared bankruptcy in April 1783. That same year he remarried Anna Margaretha Langma(r)k; they reportedly settled in Bonn. His son Leendert relocated to Boston to rebuild his life and initially operated business ventures in Newburyport. In 1786 Leendert founded a glass manufacturing facility in Guilderland, New York, utilizing local sand deposits; despite efforts to secure funding by 1788, the enterprise ceased operations by 1791. Leendert corresponded with George Washington but experienced mental health decline during the mid-1790s and passed away around 1812 in a Pennsylvania asylum.
Following Jean de Neufville's death in 1796, his widow received a pension granted by Congress. The glass factory was subsequently revived under the name Albany Glass Works.
Further reading
- Schulte Nordholt, Jan Willem. The Dutch Republic and American Independence, translated by Herbert H. Rowen. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982