Mary Alexander was an influential colonial era merchant in New York City.
Background
Alexander was born in New York City to John Spratt and Maria Shrick (née Maria de Peyster), who were both from prominent families of colonial era New New York Her father, John Spratt, was born near Glasgow, Scotland, and became a merchant in New York and a speaker for the irregular assembly during the Leisler Rebellion in 1689. Her mother, Maria Shrick, was from a respected Dutch family of goldsmiths, and had first married Paulus Schrick, and then remarried to John Spratt in 1687.
Career
In 1711 Mary Spratt married Samuel Provoost, a younger brother of her mother’s third husband. He was also a merchant as a haberdasher, dry goods importer and real estate agent. She invested her inheritance in his trading venture.
She had three children with Provost before his death in about 1720.
During the next 39 years, Mary Alexander’s life was divided between caring for her growing family, continuing the Provoost mercantine enterprises, and supporting her husband’s political career. Under her leadership, the Provoost business grew extensively.
She imported goods on such a large scale that it was said that hardly a ship docked in New York City without a consignment of goods for her. She sold these goods in her own store and, during the French and Indian Wars, supplied William Shirley’s Fort Niagara expedition with food, tools, cannon, and boats.
In 1743 her fortune was estimated at 100,000 pounds, and she and her family lived in a mansion on Broad Street.
The Alexander Papers at the New-York Historical Society Library contain the records of the mercantile business.