Arent Schuyler was born in Rensselaerswyck (now Albany, New York) on June 25, 1662 and died in Belleville, New Jersey on November 26, 1730. A member of the influential Schuyler family (among the first settlers to New Netherland), during his lifetime he was a surveyor, "Indian agent", miner, merchant, and land speculator. In 1710, he bought a large tract on New Barbadoes Neck. The new purchase (present-day Kearny, North Arlington, and Lyndhurst and Kingsland) had a significant deposit of copper, and the family became wealthy as they started to mine the metal at the Schuyler Copper Mine.