Gilbert Van Mater, descendant of early Dutch settlers, was born in Middletown, Monmouth County, New Jersey, June 7, 1762, and died in Brooklyn, New York, July 6, 1832. He married Margaret Sprague, a Brooklyn native (1763-1798) about 1785, the couple had three children before her death.

         Van Mater was a farmer and merchant in Brooklyn and was active in the business, civic and religious life of Brooklyn. He served as Overseer of the Poor for the town of Brooklyn, he was an investor in, and supervisor of the Brooklyn, Jamaica & Flatbush Turnpike, he served as a fireman in Brooklyn beginning in 1788 and was a member and vestryman of St. Ann’s Episcopal church.

              The book records receipts for a variety of transactions covering many aspects of Van Mater’s life and includes many prominent New York names: Vanderbilt, Stuyvesant, Bogardus, Wyckoff, Crolius, Roosevelt, Rapelye, Remsen, Boerum, amongst others, neighborhoods in Brooklyn are also mentioned, Bushwick, Newtown, etc.

      This receipt book is in two sections, the first carrying Van Mater’s receipts from 1798-1830, the second shorter section, ten pages, plus two inlaid items, at rear carries the receipts of Van Mater and Theodorus Polhemus trustees of the estate of John J. Johnson, of Brooklyn, New York.