Herman LeRoy (1758-1841)

He was born in New York City. In 1786, he was Consul-General for Holland. In 1788, he went into business with his wife's brother-in-law, William Bayard, and founded LeRoy, Bayard & Co. which afterwards became LeRoy, Bayard & McEvers when he introduced his brother-in-law, Julian McEvers, but after he died it returned to LeRoy, Bayard & Co. Their firm soon became the largest commercial house in New York, shipping and trading to and with all corners of the world. It is said that many of the next generation of leading merchants received their business education with this firm. By 1792, he and Bayard represented the Holland Land Co., which owned some 3-million acres in western New York, and he and Bayard owned 300,000-acres between them. In 1813, he founded the town of LeRoy in Genesee County (incorporated in 1834). He was a director of the Bank of the United States and President of the Bank of New York.

In 1786, he married Hannah Cornell and they had ten children who survived to adulthood: (1) Cornelia, married William Edgar (2) Catharine, married Thomas Newbold, of Philadelphia (3) Herman LeRoy Jr., married Juliet Edgar (4) Susan, married Judge David Samuel Jones (5) Jacob LeRoy, of LeRoy House, Genesee Co., N.Y. (6) William H. LeRoy, married Elizabeth Emmet (7) Caroline, married U.S. Secretary of State, Daniel Webster, of Boston (8) Daniel LeRoy, married Susan, daughter of Nicholas Fish, Adjutant-General of New York (9) Mary LeRoy, died unmarried (10) Edward Augustus LeRoy, married Sarah, daughter of James Morris of "Morrisania" High Sheriff of New York.

He lived at 4 Bowling Green before moving to 7 Broadway where he built, "a white marble house" which had the same design as the one he built for his daughter, Mrs Cornelia Edgar. He also owned a country home in Pelham, New York, where his daughter, Caroline, married Daniel Webster. He was one of only 15-New Yorkers who then owned a carriage