Peter Wraxall

John Wraxall of Bristol, England was from a significant business family. His son, Peter Wraxall, was born about 1720. Peter became a seaman in 1745 after his family suffered financial hardship. While the ship was anchored at New York anchorage in 1746, he began to raise a company for the expedition into Canada. The next year, he went back to England to secure a commission.

Peter Wraxall received two royal commissions in 1750, Secretary for the New York Government to the Indians and Clerk of the Common Pleas in the county and city of Albany. He had to seek legal recoarse for the New York governor had appointed Harmon Gansevoort to the Albany clerk position. He ended up as Commissioner of Indian Affairs under Sir William Johnson.

The efforts up to 1749 by Robert and Philip Livingston had kept Indian records before Peter's appointment and assignment to account for all New York Indian Trade from about 1678 to 1751. These accounts allowed him to compile a half century's of Indian diplomacy in an abridged work. Peter Wraxall was considered an expert on these matters although his abridged work was little known. The work is called, "Abridgment of the New York Indian affairs".

In 1755, he was commissioned a Captain under Sir Johnson during the American French and Indian War. Poor health kept him from command duties, but in 1756 he married Elizabeth Stilwell. Before his death on July 10 1759, Peter Wraxall was able to attend some Indian conferences as Johnson's aide. (Ref: New York State Museum)