Barbara Groesbeck was born about 1660. She was the daughter of New Netherland pioneers Claes Jacobse and Elizabeth Stevens Groesbeck.

By 1682, she had become the wife of Albany shoemaker and businessman Gysbert Marselis. Over the next two decades, eight of her children were christened at the Albany Dutch church where she was a member and occasional baptism sponsor.

These Marselises lived on Pearl Street from where Gysbert's holdings grew and evolved into regional prominence.

Barbara's father's will filed in 1707 identified her as Gysbert Marselis's wife. However, whether she survived Marselis's death in 1740 is not known!

Sources: The life of Barbara Groesbeck Marselis is CAP biography number 3262 This profile is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources. Traditional sources fix her birth in 1657. We believe Barrington S. Havens has produced the most authoritative compilation on the family.