Anthony Lispenard Bleecker

Anthony Lispenard Bleecker (June 13, 1741 – April 26, 1816) was a prominent banker, merchant and auctioneer, and one of the richest men in New York. He worked as well as a vestryman and churchwarden for Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan. He is the namesake for Bleecker Street and Lispenard Street in lower Manhattan. Early life Bleecker was born in the town of New Rochelle, in Westchester County, New York, to Jacobus Rutger Bleecker (b. 1716) and Abigail Lispenard (1718–1807). His mother was the daughter of Anthony Lispenard and granddaughter of Antoine L'Espinard aka Lispenard (1643–1696), La Rochelle-born prominent Huguenot resident of the early years of the English colony of New York. His brother was Major General Leonard Bleecker, a personal friend of George Washington, and one of the founders of the New York Stock Exchange, through the Buttonwood Agreement. His maternal uncle was the New York City merchant, politician and landowner Colonel Leonard Lispenard (1714–1790), whose family married with Benjamin Franklin's family (Bache), the Roosevelts and Van Cortlandts.