Albert Terhune (1715-1806) was the great grandson of Albert Albertson Terhune, a Huguenot ribbon weaver from Holland who died in Flatlands, Long Island in 1685, having founded a family which spread through New Amsterdam, Long Island and Bergen County, New Jersey. The great grandson was a supervisor of the town of Gravesend, a member of the Gravesend Dutch Reformed Church (circa 1766) and an elder of that church (circa 1795). At his death in 1806, Albert left an apparently sizeable estate to his six surviving children: Abraham (1759-1840), Isaac (1762-1837), John (1767-1842), Anna (1750-circa 1826; m. Stryker), Margaret (1764-1840; m. John Wyckoff), and Maria (dates unknown; survived siblings and married twice: Emmons, Lott). A son, Roelef (b.1752) predeceased his father by a short time.
John Terhune was a judge in Gravesend and a supervisor of that town during the 1810s and 1820s. A founder of the Gravesend and Coney Island Road and Bridge Company, John fostered the development of Coney Island as a resort and recreation area for tired New Yorkers, to which end he and his brother Abraham backed the building of the first hotel there, the Coney Island House, in the 1820s. As an entrepreneur and financier, John does not appear to have always exercised the best judgment. In the 1810s and 1820s he was accused of having failed to account for public funds; he appears to have exonerated himself. At the time of his death in 1842, he had recently been served with notice of a sheriff's levy on his household goods for the benefit of creditors; he died insolvent and perhaps incompetent.
Shortly before his death in 1842, John wrote but failed to execute a will. The estate was beset with two major difficulties: the deceased's insolvency, which resulted in an estate sale of his furnishings and household goods, and, of greater significance, the fact of his intestacy, which resulted in a long litigation among relatives claiming rights to his real estate. His estate was administered by the sons of his sister Margaret, Albert Wyckoff and Jacob V. D. Wyckoff (1805-1857), a New York hardware merchant, and their brother-in-law, Abraham Van Siclen (m. Phebe Wyckoff, b. 179?).
Rights to the estate were litigated on the basis of Albert Terhune's will; the question was whether or not the terms could be construed to include the children of Albert's daughters as heirs, or whether the estate's distribution ended with Albert's children. The Wyckoff nephews and nieces were of the view that the first question should be answered in affirmative; the opposing view was taken by Marie Lott, Albert's last surviving child, and her husband. The affair was settled in 1852, apparently not greatly to the Wyckoff's favor. In 1878-1879, title to the lands once owned by John and Isaac Terhune was again questioned, and Albert T. Wyckoff, son of Jacob V. D. Wyckoff, was summoned to appear before the court.
From the guide to the Terhune and Wyckoff families papers, Bulk, 1800-1852, 1747-1932, (Brooklyn Historical Society)
