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Duane, James, jurist, was born in New York city, Feb. 6, 1733; third son of
Anthony and Althea (Ketaltas) Duane. Anthony Duane, a native of County
Galway, Ireland, and an officer in the British navy, resigned after being stationed
in New York, and returned there to make the city his home. He married as his
second wife Althea Ketaltas, the daughter of a leading merchant of the city. She
died in 1736 and he was married in 1741 to the widow of Thomas Lynch of
Flushing, N.Y. He died Aug. 14, 1747. His son James was educated for the law in
the office of James Alexander and was admitted an attorney, Aug. 3, 1754. He
was married Oct. 21, 1759, to Mary, eldest daughter of Robert Livingston,
proprietor of the Livingston manor on the Hudson river. He inherited from his
father valuable property, including a tract of 6000 acres of land in the wilderness
west of Albany, N.Y., afterward Duanesburg, Schenectady county. He also
purchased 64,000 acres of land in the New Hampshire grant, now a part of
Vermont, which he supposed to be a portion of the province of New York, and of
which he could never gain possession. In 1774 he was a member of the active
committees organized in New York city to oppose British encroachments and he
was elected to the Continental congress of that year. In April, 1775, he was a
delegate to the New York provincial congress and again from June, 1776, to April,
1777. He was again chosen by that body to the Continental congress and
continued a delegate in regular attendance, 1774-84, meanwhile removing his
family from New York city to Livingston manor for safety. He at first favored the
uniting of the colonies under a president appointed by the king, with congress
bound by the acts of parliament. He also opposed the Declaration of
Independence, and sought to defer its adoption, hoping to avoid final separation.
With John Jay and Peter Van Schaeck he was in favor of conciliation. He however
signed the articles of confederation for New York with Francis Lewis, William
Duet and Gouverneur Morris in 1771. He took possession of his large estates in
New York city upon the evacuation of the place by the British troops, Nov. 25,
1783, and made his home on his farm of twenty acres, afterward Gramercy Park.
The same year he was elected a state senator, serving 1782-85, and again,
1789-90. On Feb. 5, 1784, he was appointed by Governor Clinton mayor of New
York and held the office for nearly six years. He was a member of the council and
of the convention of 1788. President Washington appointed him U.S. district
judge of New York in 1789 and he continued on the bench for five years. His
failing health compelled him to resign in 1794, and he erected a house at
Duanesburg, but did not live to see it completed. He died in Schenectady, N.Y.,
Feb. 1, 1797.
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