Anthony Duane was a Protestant Irishman from County Galway who first came to New York as an officer of the Royal Navy in 1698.

After his wife's death, Anthony married Althea Ketaltas (Hettletas), the daughter of a wealthy Dutch merchant.

[2] At the height of his success, Duane had a house in Manhattan, one in the country, and an estate near Schenectady, New York, of 36,000 acres (15,000 ha) and 253 tenants.

[7] In 1761, Duane acquired from Gerardus Stuyvesant a farm known as Krom Mesje ("little crooked knife") in reference to a small brook that flowed into the East River.

With his boyhood friend James De Lancey, Duane was one of the Socialborough Proprietors, holding an area obtained by grant in 1771 and located on both sides of Otter Creek in the present towns of Pittsford and Rutland, Vermont.

[2] Until his marriage to Mary Livingston, he had been a member of James De Lancey's political faction,[7] which opposed to the Crown's policies but did not endorse the use of mob violence to protest British measures.

The scope of the Provincial Convention did not extend beyond electing delegates, who dispersed on April 22, the day before news of the Battles of Lexington and Concord arrived.

Alexander Hamilton, an aide to General George Washington, wrote Duane to ask him to get Congress to expedite supplies.

[11] When the British occupied New York in late summer 1776, he withdrew his wife and family to the relative safety of her father's home at Livingston Manor.

[16] As mayor, one of Duane's first acts was to donate to the poor the money usually spent on entertainment for his inauguration, about 20 guineas.

[7] As head of the Mayor's Court, he heard the landmark case of Rutgers v. Waddington, handing down a Solomonic decision that pleased neither party.

[6] On October 21, 1759, Duane married Mary Livingston (1738–1821),[19] the eldest living daughter of his former guardian Robert.

[29] The town of Duanesburg, New York, in the western part of Schenectady County, is named for James Duane, who held most of it as an original land grant.

[30][31] The Northern District of New York Federal Court Bar Association presents the annual Judge James Duane Award upon "...a distinguished member of the bar who has carried on Judge Duane’s legacy of excellence in the practice of law, unwavering integrity, and a tireless commitment to the legal profession.

Ed Jewett portrayed Duane in the 2008 John Adams miniseries directed by Tom Hooper.