David Provoost (Provost), Mayor 1699-1700: Provoost (1670 – 1724) married Maria De Peyster (1659–1700) in January 1699, the sister of mayors Abraham and Johannes De Peyster. Provoost was an investor in the slave trade and a dry goods merchant.[1] In the c.1703 census, Provoost had three enslaved persons in his household in New York City, in the Dock Ward.[2]

Provoost invested in two ships that transported enslaved people from the Caribbean to New York City between 1719 and 1723. In July 1723, he sued the captain of the slave ship Expedition, which he was an investor in, for fifty pounds of damages to goods and the death of an enslaved girl from the shipment from Barbados that arrived between June 22 and June 27. The shipment was to be delivered to his daughter Belia, and Provoost charged that Captain Samuel Lawrence allowed Jenny to drown. She was from Barbados along with Joa, a boy.

The court judged Lawrence not guilty and Provoost had to pay his attorney costs of three pounds, nine shillings, nine pence, and three farthings. The cargo of the ship included “… Seventy one Hogsheads two Tieres & Eight Barrett of Rum three bail of Cotton , five – Large bag of Cocoa one Negro girl slave named Jenny & a Negro boy Slave named Joa…” Provoost alleged that:

Paid unto him the said Samuel freight for the goods and merchandises aforesaid, nevertheless the said Samuel his promise, an assumption aforesaid in form aforesaid made little regarding but imagining and fraudulently intending him the said David in his behalf craftily, and subtly to deceive and defraud the or aforesaid negro girl called Jenny part of the goods and merchandises aforesaid in such good order and well-conditioned as the same negro girl slave was at the time of the delivery and loading the same in and upon the brigantine unto the said Belia Provoost of her assigns hath not delivered but the same negro girl slave so negligently and improvidently kept carried and disposed that the said negro girl slave of the value of forty pounds through the negligence and carelessness of him the said Samuel and his mariners in landing her at the port of New York the 27^th day of June in the year aforesaid into the water did fall and into the water for a long time remained. By means whereof the said negro girl slave in four hours after died to wit…[3]

In his October 10, 1723 will, Provoost left his daughter Belia (Belitje) an enslaved woman named Jane. He wrote:

I give and bequeath to my Eldest Daughter Belia Provoost before any division or dividend shall be made I give her the sum of one hundred pounds Currant money of New York and the three Lots of Land by me some time ago Bought from Johannes Beekman Lying In the Suburbs of the City of New York as may at Large appear by the writings thereof to me made. I also I give to her all my houshold stuff as wrought Silver plate pewter pictures Bedding Chairs Looking Glasses Clock Chest of Drawers Jane the Negro wench Copper Brass Iron and all and every Thing Else belonging to me in my houshold at present all what is above Exprest to be given to my daughter I give to her my said Eldest daughter…[4]

Investments in Ships that Transported Enslaved

Ship	Dates of Voyage or in NY Port	Ports of Call	Enslaved Purchased	Cargo	Co-Investors
Mary	6/18/1719	Barbados	6	Rum	Abraham Van Horne (his brother-in-law)
Expedition	4/4/1720	Barbados	5	138 casks rum, lime juice, four casks iron, European goods	Col. William Provost (his brother) and Abraham Van Horne (their brother-in law)
Expedition	8/8/1720	Barbados	5	Rum, sugar, molasses, iron, European goods	Col. William Provost (his brother) and Abraham Van Horne (their brother-in law)
Expedition	4/18/1721	Barbados	5	European goods, rum, sugar, soap, iron	Col. William Provost (his brother) and Abraham Van Horne (their brother-in law)
Expedition	7/31/1721	Barbados	15	Rum	Col. William Provost (his brother) and Abraham Van Horne (their brother-in law)
Expedition	10/21/1721	Barbados	9	None listed	Col. William Provost (his brother) and Abraham Van Horne (their brother-in law)
Expedition	6/22/1723	Barbados	5	Sugar, three bags cotton wool, five bags of coconuts, one horse	Col. William Provost (his brother) and Abraham Van Horne (their brother-in law)

[1] Merchants & Empire, p.421

[2] Enumerations of Population in North America Prior to 1790, U.S. Census,p.31

[3] New York City Transcripts of Mayor’s Court 1723-1728, image 324; and Select cases of the Mayor’s court of New York City, 1674-1784, Vol. II, Page viewer 375, both in FamilySearch; also in dataset of Douma, Michael. “Prices of Enslaved Persons in New York and New Jersey.” Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 4, no. 5 (2023): 67-75

[4] New York County Wills 1724–1728, image 45 of 272, FamilySearch; also in an estate inventory taken in 1725, New York County Guardianship Inventories, image 29 of 718, FamilySearch; will was in probate on January 27, 1724

Ship investments: #107376, Donnan p.469, CO 5/1222_05, 208; #107383, p.470, CO 5/1222_05, 221; #107398; p.471, CO 5/1222_05, 228; #107410, p.472, CO 5/1222_06, 254; #107436, CO 5/1222_06, 259; #107440, p.473; CO 5/1222_06, 262; #107464, p.474; CO 5/1223_02, 33

Copyright 2025 Paul Hortenstine