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Stephen Bayard

Mayor of New York City

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 23, 2026
Entity authorityQ7608680
Source-derived summary

Stephanus Bayard or Stephen Bayard (May 31, 1700 [baptized] – 1757) was the 40th Mayor of New York City from 1744 to 1747. He was instrumental in the founding of Columbia University.

Early life

Stephanus Bayard was born in May 1700 to Judge Samuel Bayard (1669–1746) and Margaretta Van Cortlandt (1674–1719). His paternal grandfather was Nicholas Bayard (c. 1644–1707), the 16th Mayor of New York City and a nephew of Peter Stuyvesant. His maternal grandparents were Stephen Van Cortlandt (1643–1700), the 17th Mayor of New York City, and Gertruj Schuyler, daughter of Philip Pieterse Schuyler.

His siblings included Judith Bayard, who married Rip Van Dam, Nicholas Bayard (1698–1765), who married Elizabeth Rynders, Gertruyd Bayard, who married Peter Kemble (1704–1789), Samuel Bayard, who married Catharine Van Horn, and Margaretta Bayard (b. 1719) who married James Van Horn.

Career

In 1725, Bayard wrote to Robert Livingston stating that 30 slaves died on a voyage to the colony due to a shortage of food and that Moses Levy was awaiting the payment of Livingston's account.

On September 29, 1744, Bayard was appointed the 40th Mayor of New York City for three consecutive one-year terms until 1747.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Stephen Bayard” as mayor of New York City. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA strong orientation record where physical form, institutional use and historical geography need to be read together. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1700, 1757, 1744, 1747—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1700-05-31. The account is most persuasive where Stephen, Bayard and Mayor can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as mayor of New York City. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7608680. VIAF identifies the subject as 13854081. The Library of Congress control number is n88057231. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1700, 1757, 1744 and 1747.

Critical limits

Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Stephen Bayard”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Stephen Bayard primary sources, Stephen Bayard archive and Stephen research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Stephen Bayard”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Stephen Bayard” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.