He came to America in 1660 as a private soldier in the service of the Dutch West India Company. Leaving the army, he engaged in the Indian trade, with great success, and acquired a considerable fortune. Under Dougan's administration, in 1683, he was appointed one of the commissioners of the Admiralty Court, and, when Dougan was succeeded by Lieutenant-Governor Nicholson, Leisler, as captain of the militia, intimidated Nicholson so that he left the province and went to England.

A committee of safety appointed Leisler "Commander-in-Chief of the Province," and when, in December, 1689, a communication was received from the English crown, addressed "to such as, for the time being, takes care for preserving the peace and administering the laws in his majesty's province of New York," Leisler construed it as an appointment of himself as the King's Lieutenant-Governor. He assumed the dignity and authority of this position, and when, in the spring, Slaughter arrived with a commission as Governor, Leisler questioned his identity and refused him recognition. He was arrested and imprisoned, tried for treason, and most unjustly condemned, and was executed on the 17th of May, 1691.

On the 20th of September, while Leisler was exercising the full power of a Governor in all civil and mrlitary matters, John Pell, lord of the manor of Pelham, conveyed to him for the consideration of sixteen hundred and seventy-five pounds and five shillings sterling, "all that tract of land lying and being within said manor of Pelham, containing six thousand acres of land, and also one hundred acres of land more, which the said John Pell and Rachel, his wife, do freely give and grant for the French church erected, or to be erected," etc. This tract constitutes the present township of New Rochelle.