Edward Holland (mayor)

American politician (1702–1756)
other people of this name

Edward Holland (baptized September 6, 1702 – November 10, 1756) was the first English Mayor of Albany, New York, from 1733 to 1740. He was the 40th Mayor of New York City from 1747 to 1756, becoming the only man to serve as mayor of both Albany and New York City. His father was a commissioned officer of the garrison company in Albany. Over thirty years, he became a lieutenant, captain, and then Commander of the Albany fort. His mother was a widow who met his father when he was stationed in Ireland and the two them married and emigrated to the American Colonies. His brother was Henry Holland Jr. (b. 1704) who received royal appointments as Justice of the Peace, Master of the Chancery Court, and Sheriff of Albany County, and who married Alida Beekman (b. 1702), daughter of Johannes Martense Beekman.

During his youth, Holland was a part time soldier at a time of peace on the northern frontier and, therefore, focused on his father's business, running errands between the frontier outposts and down the Hudson River to New York City. In 1733, he was appointed the first English Mayor of Albany, and presiding over the city until 1741. During his long tenure as mayor, he negotiated a deed with the Indians for the tract of land at the junction of the Mohawk River and the Schoharie Creek that was included in the 1686 Albany City Charter but was not yet incorporated. In 1748, he was named to Gov. George Clinton's Advisory Council and was appointed to the Provincial Chancery Court, serving from 1748 to 1750.

On June 24, 1726, he married Magdalena Bayeux (1706–1737), the daughter of Thomas and Magdalene (née Boudinot) Bayeux, a prominent business family. Magdalena's older sister, Susanna Bayeux (1704–1747), married Jeremias Schuyler (b. 1698), son of Pieter Schuyler, the first mayor of Albany. They had several children, four of whom survived to maturity, including:

Mary Magdalen Holland, who married Benjamin Nicolls Jr. (1718–1760), a Yale lawyer who became an incorporator, trustee, and governor of Kings College in New York. Nicolls was a grandson of William Nicoll and, therefore, a nephew of his mother in law, Frances Nicoll Holland. Holland died on November 10, 1756, in New York City, New York.