Representative Henry Glen - Contact Information

Henry Glen (July 13, 1739 – January 6, 1814) was a merchant, military officer, and politician who served as a Federalist in the United States House of Representatives during the years immediately following the adoption of the United States Constitution. An early supporter of what became the Federalist Party, he represented New York in Congress for four terms at a formative moment in the nation’s political development, participating in the legislative process and representing the interests of his constituents in the new federal government.

Glen was born in Albany in the Province of New York on July 13, 1739, the son of Jacob Glen and Elizabeth Cuyler. He grew up within the Dutch culture that predominated in Albany and nearby Schenectady, and his name appears in contemporary records in both English and Dutch forms. His middle name was Jacob, and in Dutch his names were rendered as “Hendrick” (the Dutch version of Henry) and “Jacobse” or “Jacobus.” Variants of his name in public and private documents include “Hendrik,” “Hendrick,” and the surname “Glenn.” Glen was part of a prominent regional family: his sister Janet (Jannetje) married Abraham Cuyler, who served as Mayor of Albany from 1770 until 1776, when he was banished for Loyalist (Tory) sympathies and later settled in Canada. His brothers included Johannes (John) Glen and Jacobus (Jacob) Teller Glen. The nearby community of Glens Falls was named for his brother Johannes, and the town of Glenville derived its name from their ancestor Sander Leendertse Glen, also known as Alexander Lindsay Glen.

In his early adulthood, Glen established himself as a merchant and became successful in the Indian trade and in land speculation. He operated a commercial enterprise in partnership with his brother Johannes and Jacobus Teller, engaging in trade with Indigenous nations and in the acquisition and development of land in upstate New York. Glen was among the early white settlers of Schenectady, where his economic interests were centered. In 1767 he was appointed town clerk of Schenectady, a position he held for more than four decades, until 1809, reflecting his standing in the community and his experience in local administration. Like many merchants and landholders of his era in New York, Glen was a slaveowner. According to the 1790 United States Census, he owned seven enslaved people; the 1800 Census recorded him as possessing five enslaved individuals, and by the time of the 1810 Census he was listed as owning none.

Glen’s public service began before the American Revolution with his involvement in the colonial militia. In the 1760s he was appointed a second lieutenant in his brother’s militia company, gaining early military experience. With the outbreak of the Revolution, he took a more active role on the Patriot side. At the start of the conflict he was appointed commander of the 2nd Company of Schenectady Militia with the rank of captain, responsible for local defense in a strategically important region of the Mohawk Valley. He also served on Schenectady’s Committee of Safety, which oversaw security, loyalty, and wartime governance at the local level, and he was elected to the New York Provincial Congress, the revolutionary body that helped guide the colony’s transition from British rule.

During the Revolutionary War, Glen entered Continental service in the quartermaster department, which was critical to sustaining the Continental Army. He was appointed an Assistant Deputy Quartermaster General with the rank of major and later advanced to deputy quartermaster general, attaining the rank of colonel. In these roles he was responsible for procuring and arranging the distribution of food, horses, wagons, weapons, ammunition, uniforms, tents, and other materiel to infantry, cavalry, and artillery units. His work contributed to the logistical support of American forces in a theater where supply lines were often tenuous. Concurrently, Glen served as one of New York’s three Commissioners of Indian Affairs and acted as one of the commission’s executive agents. The commissioners were charged with negotiating with the Indigenous nations of upstate New York, seeking to diminish their support for the British and, where possible, to secure their neutrality or assistance for the Patriot cause.

After the Revolution, Glen resumed his business activities in Schenectady while expanding his role in public life. An early adherent of the political tendencies that coalesced into the Federalist Party, he was elected to the New York State Assembly, serving from 1786 to 1787. His legislative work at the state level coincided with the critical years leading to the drafting and ratification of the United States Constitution, and his alignment with Federalist principles later shaped his service in the national legislature. In addition to his state legislative duties, he continued to hold local office as Schenectady’s town clerk, maintaining a long-standing connection to municipal affairs.

In 1792, Glen was elected as a Federalist to the United States House of Representatives from New York. He took his seat in the Third Congress on March 4, 1793, and served continuously through the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Congresses, concluding his service on March 3, 1801. During these four terms in office, he participated in the work of the early federal government as it implemented the Constitution, organized executive departments, addressed fiscal policy, and navigated foreign and domestic challenges in the 1790s. As a member of the Federalist Party representing New York, he contributed to the legislative process during a significant period in American history, taking part in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents in the House of Representatives. He did not stand for reelection in 1800 and was succeeded by Killian K. Van Rensselaer. Glen later returned to state politics, serving another term in the New York State Assembly in 1810.

Glen married Elizabeth (Elisabet) Vischer in 1762, further linking him to established Dutch families of the region. The couple had several children, including Elisabeth Glen, who married Willem Van Ingen; Catarina Glen, who married the Reverend Jacob Sickles; and their children Jannetje, Jacob, Johannes, and Cornelius Glen. Through these family connections, Glen was tied into the social and economic networks that shaped the political and commercial life of Albany and Schenectady in the late colonial and early national periods.

Henry Glen died in Schenectady, New York, on January 6, 1814. He is presumed to have been originally interred in the First Dutch Churchyard in Schenectady. When remains from the city’s early burial grounds were later moved to Vale Cemetery, his remains were presumably among those transferred. However, not all gravestones from Schenectady’s first cemeteries were transported to Vale Cemetery, and the exact location of his grave is not known.