John Pintard (1759-1844)
Merchant, of New York City & Co-Founder of the New-York Historical Society
He was orphaned as infant and was brought up in the family of his uncle, Lewis Pintard. In 1804, he co-founded the New-York Historical Society with DeWitt Clinton, Egbert Benson, Rev. John M. Mason, Rev. Samuel Miller, Rev. William Linn, Rev. John Neilson Abeel, Dr. David Hosack, Anthony Bleecker, Samuel Bayard, and Peter G. Stuyvesant. However, perhaps his greatest contribution to American cultural society was his role in establishing the modern popular conception of "Santa Claus" based upon the Dutch legend of "Sinterklaas". He directed considerable energy towards constructing a renewed winter holiday involving Saint Nicholas. His publication in 1810 of a pamphlet proposing Saint Nicholas as the patron saint of New York City, and Patron Saint of his newly established New-York Historical Society became a theme just after his friend Washington Irving published A History of New York in 1809 - the first widely published record of Santa Claus as Saint Nicholas in New Amsterdam (New York City) with Pintard lending gravitas to the cause of Saint Nicholas for many years to follow.
