William Hamersley (1687-1752)
William Hamersley, Merchant, of New York City
He was born at Oxfordshire, England, a great-grandson of Sir Hugh Hamersley, East Indies Merchant & Lord Mayor of London. He was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1700. He served with the Dunkirk Squadron and escorted convoys to Turkey. His ships were the Betty, Swiftsure, Dreadnought, Burford, and Valeur. In 1714, he came to New York on HMS Valeur. In 1716, he quit the Navy and settled there to become a merchant. In about 1722, he married Lucretia Grevenraet, a New York native from a Dutch family. He was as a vestryman at Trinity Church from 1731 until his death in 1752. They had two sons: Andrew became a wealthy merchant and Hamersley Street was named for him; and, Thomas became a well-known silversmith.
