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SOUTHERN NEW YORK.
- Volume 1
VAN RENSSELAER.
This family
will ever stand in history as the
original owner of a very important
and large area of land in the New
World. Everyone in the United States,
either bearing that name or of the
blood, must turn to Albany in order
to trace his or her descent, which
leads to the single progenitor of
the family in America. For nearly
three centuries it has been a family
whose members have invariably maintained,
by culture and mode of living, an
undisputed prominence, yet with
a well-known reluctance to force
itself into public affairs, preferring
that retirement which refinement
usually seeks, avoiding notoriety
and the conflict concomitant with
affairs of business life and public
office.
The family,
however, has never suffered the
complaint of any lack of patriotism
not of failing to respond to a genuine
appeal to serve the government in
an official capacity. It can with
full right count its numbers who
have done both with a verdict of
fullest credit from the people.
The direct line has had its representation
in the congress of the nation, in
the state senate and assembly of
New York, and in the chair of the
lieutenant-governor of the Empire
State.
(I) Kiliaen
Van Rensselaer, son of Hendrick
Van Rensselaer and Maria Pafraet,
was born in Hasselt, Province of
Overyssel, in the Netherlands, about
1580, and died in Amsterdam, Holland,
in 1644. He was the first Patroon,
and the founder of the colony of
Rensselaerwyck in America, known
to be a dealer in pearls and precious
stones, to have had some reputation
as a banker and general merchant,
and owned large estates in Holland.
He exhibited sagacity in his stand
taken with regard to the policy
of the colony, as against the desires
of his associates who desired to
grow wealthy with rapidity. They
sought to have those sent out engage
in hunting for the purpose of immediate
and large shipments to foreign lands,
while he desired that the colonists
become settlers, owning their houses,
leading happy and contented lives,
so that they would be willing to
remain there, raise large families,
and continue to work on an ever
increasing scale as they prospered.
He not only had the to push the
work, once begun, and discouraging,
at time, until it prospered.
In January,
1631, he sent Marinus Adriaensz,
from Veere, with some assistants,
as tobacco planters, and in July,
he sent Laurens Laurensz, from Kopehaven,
with another Northman, to operate
the saw and gristmill, also a number
of laborers and some ten calves.
Knowing that they could not succeed
in their support for the first two
or three years, he allowed them
from 150 to 180 guilders per annum.
He also provided the farm hands
from forty to ninety guilders a
year. Between 1630 and 1632 he transported
on these terms ten persons in the
first year, and twelve in the next
two succeeding years.
On March 6,
1642, Patroon Kiliaen Van Rensselaer
requested the classis of Amsterdam
to send "a good, honest and
pure preacher" to his colony,
and that body selected Dominie Johannes
Megapolensis, Jr., pastor of Schorel
and berg of the Alkmaar classis,
who accepted the call of six years,
conditioned on a salary of one thousand
guilders ($400) that he need not
be required to work as a farmer,
the same to be paid in meat, drink
and whatever he might claim.
Authentic records
show that Kiliaen Van Rensselaer,
first Patroon, died in 1644, in
Amsterdam, Holland, although it
has been established that his death
took place in 1645 and also in 1646.
He was twice married. His first
wife was Hillegonda Van Bylaer (or
Bijler), daughter of Jan Van Bylaer,
member of a prominent family in
Holland. By her he had three children.
She died in Holland, and was buried
January 1, 1627, in the Oude Kerk.
His second wife was Anna Van Wely
(or Weely), whom he married December
14,
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1627, and by her he had seven children.
She was the daughter of Jan Van
Wely the younger, of Baneveldt,
( or Haeckens), of Antwerp. To Anna
Van Wely was presented in 1684,
the first thimble, made by a goldsmith
named Nicholas Van Benschoten, as
a protection for her dainty fingers.
She died June 12, 1670. The first
and second wives were apparently
cousins.
The children
of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer were:
1. Hendrick, died in childhood.
2. Johannes, baptized September
4, 1625, died in the latter part
of 1662, or early in 1663. He was
the second Patroon, but never came
to America. Being a minor, of about
nineteen years, when his father
died in 1644, the estates in Holland
and at Rensselaerwyck were placed
in charge of executors. They selected
Brant Arentse Van Slichtenhorst
to take charge of the colony, in
place of Arent Van Curler, resigned,
who arrived at Fort Orange, march
22, 1648. 3. Maria, died without
issue. 4. Hillegonda, buried august
23, 1664; without issue. 5. Eleanora,
died without issue. 6. Susanna,
lived and died in Holland; married
Jan de la court, august 5, 1664.
7. Jan Baptist, born in Holland;
was the first of the name to visit
America, coming as "Director"
of Rensselaerwyck colony in 1651,
returned to Holland in 1658. 8.
Jeremias, born in Amsterdam, Holland,
1632, became the third Patroon'
(see forward). 9. Rev. Nicolaas
(Nicholas), born in Holland, died
there about 1695. He came to America,
arriving at Rensselaerwyck, June
30, 1664, and in that year built
for himself a residence on the west
bank of the Hudson River, about
four miles north of Albany, called
the Flatts, which was long afterwards
known as Schuyler's Bouwerie, and
to this day is known as the Schuyler
Flatts, because he sold it, June
22, 1872, to Philip Pieterse Schuyler,
the father of Albany's first mayor,
Pieter Schuyler.
(II) colonel
Jeremias Van Rensselaer, son of
Kiliaen Van Rensselaer and Anna
Van Wely, was born in Amsterdam,
Holland in 1632, and was the third
Patroon. He died in Rensselaerwyck,
October 12, 1674. Because he was
the first patroon who resided in
the colony, he was considered the
fist lord of the manor of Rensselaerwyck.
It has constituted considerable
confusion to distinguish in the
series of proper numerical position
of the patroon and the lord of the
manor, many historians employing
the terms as though synonymous expressions,
in error. It fell to the lot of
Jeremias Van Rensselaer to witness
the overthrow of the Dutch rule
at Fort Orange, September 24, 1664,
and to find it again to revert tot
he Dutch government, august 1673,
when the fort at Albany became known
as Willemstadt.
He continued the work of his father
on much the same lines. His efforts
saw the completion of the Dutch
church edifice, a rude wooden affair,
in July, 1646. One may form an excellent
idea of the colony's aspects by
what Father Isaac Jogues, the Jesuit
missionary residing there, wrote
thereof on August 3, 1646:
"There
are two things in this settlement--first,
miserable little fort called Fort
Orange, built of logs, with four
or five pieces of Breteuil cannon
and as many swivels. This has been
reserved and is maintained by the
West India Company. This fort was
formerly on an island in the river.
It is now n the mainland toward
the Iroquois, a little above the
said island. Second, a colony sent
here by this Rensselaer, who is
the patroon. This colony is composed
of about a hundred persons, who
reside in some twenty-five or thirty
houses, built along the river and
each one found most convenient.
In the principal house lives the
patroon's agent; the minister has
his apart, in which service is performed.
There is also a kind of bailiff
here, whom they call the seneschal,
who administers justice. Their houses
are solely of boards and thatched,
with no mason-work except the chimneys.
The forest furnishes many find pines,
they make boards by means of their
mills, which they have for the purpose.
They found some pieces of cultivated
ground, which the savages has formerly
cleared, and in which they sow wheat
and oats for beer, and for their
horses, of which they have great
numbers. There is little land fit
for tillage, being hemmed in by
hills, which are poor soil. This
obliges them to separate, and they
already occupy two or three leagues
of the country. Trade is free to
all; this gives the Indians all
things cheap, each of the Hollanders
outbidding his neighbor, and being
satisfied, provided he can gain
some little profit."
Colonel Jeremias
Van Rensselaer, the Patroon, married,
at New Amsterdam, July 12, 1662,
Maria Van Cortlandt. She was born
July 20, 1645, died January 24,
1689, daughter of Oloff Stevenson
Van Cortlandt, who came to New Amsterdam
in 1637 from Wyck by Duurstede,
Province of Utrecht, Holland, and
died in New York City, April 4,
1684, having married Anna Loockermans,
who died in May, 1684.
Children of
Jeremias Van Rensselaer and
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Maria Van Cortlandt: 1. Kiliaen,
mentioned below. 2. Johannes, died
without issue. 3. Anna, born at
Rensselaerwyck, august 1, 1665;
married (first) Kiliaen Van Rensselaer,
son of Johannes Van Rensselaer and
Elizabeth Van Twiller, who died
in 1687; (second) William Nicoll.
4. Hendrick, born at Rensselaerwyck,
October 23, 1667; resided in Greenbush,
Rensselaer County, (Rensselaer,
N. Y.), where he died July 2, 1740.
5. Maria, born at Rensselaerwyck,
October 25, 1672; married, at that
place, September 14, 1691, Peter
Schuyler, son of Philip Pieterse
Schuyler and Margareta Van Slechtenhorst.
(III) Kiliaen
(2), son of Colonel Jeremias Van
Rensselaer and Maria Van Cortlandt,
being the fourth Patroon of Rensselaerwyck,
was born there August 24, 1663,
being "Friday morning towards
eight o'clock, and "was baptized
the next Sunday." He died at
Rensselaerwyck in 1719. He was left
in the management of the manor for
account of the heirs of the first
patroon until 1695. At this date,
all of the children of Kiliaen Van
Rensselaer, the projector of the
colony, were dead, except two, Eleanora
and Richard, and the latter was
the treasurer of Vianen, a legalized
asylum in Holland, for criminals.
The Van Rensselaer estate was not
yet divided among his heirs, but
for nearly fifty years had been
held in common. Besides the manor
there was a large estate in Holland
(the Crailo) and other property.
The time has now arrived for the
heirs to make a settlement.
Controversies
had arisen among them, and, to end
the disputes, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer
(son of Jan Baptist Van Rensselaer)
was delegated by the heirs in Holland
to visit American and if possible
make a complete settlement with
the children of Jeremiad, the third
Patroon, as the only heirs in this
country. Kiliaen, eldest son of
Jeremias, and the fourth Patroon,
was appointed, with power of attorney
to act for the family of which he
was a member. The cousins met, and
after a prolonged discussion in
which, as is usual, both lost their
temper, they at last came to an
amicable agreement to their mutual
satisfaction. The indenture is dated
New York, November 1, 1695. The
heirs in Holland released to the
heirs in Albany all right and title
in the manor, which was reciprocated
by the release of the latter to
the former of all right and title
to the land in Holland, known as
the Crailo, and another tract in
Guelderland. They also agreed to
deliver the titles to three farms
in the manor, reserving the tenths,
and to pay in addition seven hundred
pieces of eight. They also released
all claim on personal property in
Holland, as well as on certain expectations
from relatives on their decease.
Bonds were exchanged between the
cousins for the faithful performance
of the contract, and the work was
complete. At last, in 1695, the
vast estate of the old Patroon was
settled, and the colony he founded
in 1630, with its territory of practically
twenty-four by forty-eight miles,
was in possession of one family,
consisting of Kiliaen, Johannes,
Hendrick, Maria (wife of Mayor Pieter
Schuyler), and Anna (wife of William
Nicoll). Besides the manor they
owned another tract of land containing
62,000 acres, known as the Claverack
patent, and quite commonly called
the "Lower Manor." The
latter was on the eastern side of
the river, in the vicinity of what
is now Hudson, New York. At this
time the province was under the
English law, and the eldest son
was heir-at-law of the real estate
belonging to his father. To Kiliaen,
the eldest son of Jeremias Van Rensselaer,
deceased, a patent was granted May
20, 1704, for the entire manor,
including the Claverack patent.
His brother Johannes having died
without issue, there were only three
others interested. Kiliaen conveyed
to his brother Hendrick, on June
1, 1704, the Claverack patent and
some 1,500 acres on the east side
of the river, opposite Albany, later
known as Greenbush, and then as
Rensselaer, New York. to his sister
Maria or her heirs he gave a farm
of a few hundred acres adjoining
The Flatts, above Albany, and to
his sister Anna, or her heirs he
gave a farm larger in extent, but
at that time no more valuable, located
on the west bank of the river, in
the town of Bethlehem.
Kiliaen Van
Rensselaer devoted much of his lift
to the public service. He was an
officer of the militia, and one
of the magistrates, and represented
the manor in the assembly from 1693
to 1704, in which latter years he
was appointed to the council, remaining
a member until he died in 1719.
The settling of the manor was much
retarded by Indian wars. It was
a common practice for the tribes
to resell the lands to others after
they had sold to Van Rensselaer
in 1630. Kiliaen's grandfather's
old miller, Barent Pieterse Coeymans,
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who came out in 1636, purchased
from the Catskill Indians, in 1673,
a tract of land eight miles along
the river by twelve miles deep,
which was actually the manor lands.
He even procured a patent for it
from Governor Lovelace, April 1673,
and the legal contest over it was
not decided until 1706. Of his children,
two of the three sons, Jeremias
and Stephen, survived him, and these
were successively patroons. Two
of his daughters, Anna and Gertrude,
married brothers, sons of Arent
Schuyler, of Belleville, New Jersey.
It was while
Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, fourth patroon,
was alive and at the head of the
colony, that Albany became a city
by charter granted by Governor Thomas
Dongan, July 22, 1686. Naturally
it created a serious state of affairs,
for it meant the determination of
the prescribed areas of Rensselaerwyck
and Albany, which had been geographically
very closely connected, for the
legal security of which Van Rensselaer
had secured purchaser's rights from
the Indians. Dongan came to Albany
in May, 1686, and as requested by
the most prominent men to issue
a charter by which the village might
acquire larger boundaries and by
virtue of being a city would have
a higher guarantee of property titles
than that of magistrates. This forced
Dongan to obtain a relinquishment
of the Van Rensselaer claims to
the land the people would include
within the bounds, and his decision,
as reported February 22, 1687, to
the privy council of King James,
regarding the rights of each party,
is as follows:
"The
Town of Albany lyes within the Ranslaers
Colony. And to say the truth the
Ranslaers had the right to it, for
it was they settled the place, and
upon a petition of one of them to
our present King(James II), about
Albany the Petitioner was referred
to his Matys Council at Law, who
upon perusal of the Ranslaer Papers,
made their return that it was their
opinion that it did belong to them.
Upon which there was an order sent
over to Sir Edmund Andros that the
Ranslaers should be put in possession
of Albany, & that every house
should pays some two Beavers, some
more, some less, according to their
dimensions, Pr annum, for thirty
years and afterwards the Ranslaers
to put what rent upon them they
could agree for. What reason Sir
Edmund Andros has given for not
putting these orders into execution
I know not. The Ranslaers came and
brought mee the same orders which
I thought not convenient to execute,
judging it not for his Matys Interest
that the second Town of the government
& which brings his Matys soe
great a Revenue, should bee in the
hands of any particular man. The
town o itself is upon a barren sandy
spot of Land & the inhabitants
live wholly upon Trade with the
Indians. By the means of Mr. James
Graham, Judge(John) Palmer &
Mr. (Stephanus van) Cortlandt that
have great influence on the people,
I got the Ranslaers to release their
pretence to the Town and sixteen
miles into the Country for Commons
tot he King, with liberty to cut
firewood within the colony for one
& twenty years. After I had
obtained this release of the Ranslaers
I passed the patent for Albany,
wherein was included the aforementioned
Pasture to which the people apprehended
they had so good a right that experienced
expressed themselves discontented
at my reserving a small spot of
it for a garden for the use of the
Garrison. That the people of Albany
had given me seven hundred pounds
is untrue. I am but promised three
hundred pounds which is not near
my prquisits, viz., ten shillings
for every house & the like for
every hundred acres patented by
mee."
Kiliaen Van
Rensselaer, the fourth Patroon,
married Maria Van Cortlandt, in
New York City, October 15, 1701.
She was born on her father's extensive
estate, the Van Cortlandt Manor,
near Croton, New York, April 4,
1680. She wrote her name Maritje.
Her father was Stephanus Van Cortlandt
(born May 7, 1643, died November
25, 1700), son of Oloff Stevenson
Van Cortlandt and Anna Loockerman,
who had married, September 10, 1671,
Gertrude Schuyler (born February
4, 1654, died after October 7, 1719),
daughter of Philip Schuyler and
Margareta Van Slechtenhorst. Maria
Van Cortlandt, when Van Rensselaer's
widow, married Dominie John Miller,
or Meller. Children born at Albany:
1. Maria, July 31, 1702; married
Frederick Van Cortlandt. 2. Gertrude,
October 4, 1703; died May 9, 1705.
3. Jeremias, March 18, 1705; died
at Albany, and was buried may 8,
1745, without issue; he came of
legal age in 1726 and was made the
fifth Patroon, or third Lord of
the M<anor, and represented the
manor in the Assembly from September,
1726 to September , 1743. 4. Stephen,
mentioned below. 5. Johannes, December
10, 1708, died 1711, without issue.
6. Daughter, born August 28, 1710,
died September 2, 1710. 7. Johannes,
November 15, 1711; died December
9, 1711. 8. Jacobus (James), march
29, 1713; died 1713. 9. Gertrude,
October 1, 1714; married Adoniah
Schuyler, (born 1717,. Died 1763),
son of Arent Schuyler and Swantje
Dyckhuyse. 10. John Baptist, January
29, 1717; died 1763, without issue.
11, Anna, January 1, 1719, died
1791; married John Schuyler, son
of Arent Schuyler and Swantje Dyckhuyse.
(IV) Stephen,
son of Kiliaen Van Rens-
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selaer and Maria Van Cortlandt,
was born at Albany, New York march
17, 1707; was baptized march 23
by dominie Lydius, of the Dutch
Reformed Church, with General Philip
Schuyler, godfather, Marie Van Cortlandt
and Elizabeth Johanna Schuyler godmothers;
died at the Manor House in Albany,
and was buried "at the mills,"
on July 1, 1747. He was the sixth
patroon, and known as the fourth
Lord of the Manor. His elder brother,
Jeremias Van Rensselaer, had been
the fifth Patroon, but died unmarried
in 1745, as the oldest son of Kiliaen
Van Rensselaer. Stephen therefore
succeeded him in control. His constitution
was not robust, and he never took
a very active part in public affairs,
and only two years after his succession
died at the age of forty. The population
of the province of New York at that
time was 61,589. Colonel William
Johnson was at that period sending
bands of Indian allies into Canada,
for in September, 1746, he had been
appointed "chief manager of
the Indian War and colonel over
all the Indians by their own approbation."
The savages had burned the farms
at Saratoga (Schuylerville) November
7, 1745, and the French were expected
to move upon Albany at any time.
He married, at Albany, July 5, 1729,
Elizabeth Groesbeck, born at Albany,
baptized August 17, 1707, buried
December 31, 1756. Her father was
Stephanus Groesbeck, a trader (son
of Claas Jacobse Groesbeck, from
Rotterdam in 1662), buried July
17, 1744, who married, July 16,
1699, Elizabeth Lansing (born in
1679), daughter of Johannes Lansing(born
in Hassel and buried at Albany,
February 28, 1728) and Gertrude
Van Schaick. Children of sixth Patroon
Stephen Van Rensselaer and Elizabeth
Groesbeck: 1. Kiliaen, born at Albany,
baptized December 8, 1730; died
1730, without issue. 2. Marie, baptized
August 13, 1732; died 1734, without
issue. 3. Elizabeth, baptized July
12, 1734; married at Albany, November
1, 1763, General Abraham Ten Broeck
(son of Mayor Dirck Ten Broeck and
Margarita Cuyler ) , who was mayor
of Albany from April 9, 1779, to
June 26, 1783, and from October
15, 1796, to December 31, 1798;
born at Albany, May 13, 1734, died
there January 10, 1810. 4. Kiliaen,
baptized April 17, 1737; died without
issue. 5. Maria, baptized August
19, 1739; died without issue. 6.
Stephen, seventh Patroon, born at
Rensselaerwyck, baptized June 2,
1742, died October 19, 1769; married
Catherine Livingston (see forward).
7. Kiliaen, born 1743; died without
issue.
(V) Stephen
(2), son of Stephen Van Rensselaer
and Elizabeth Groesbeck, was born
at Rensselaerwyck, baptized June
2, 1742, and died at Watervliet,
Albany county, October 19, 1769.
He was the seventh Patroon. His
father had died when he was only
five years old and he estate had
to be managed for him. At about
that time (in 1749) the population
of Albany county was 10,634, and
of the colony of New York, 73,348.
The boundary between new York and
Massachusetts was in dispute in
1752 as the manor of Hendrick Van
Rensselaer and Robert Livingstone,
on the east side of the Hudson,
were being encroached upon. In 1753
the Albany council petitioned Governor
Clinton to levy a tax on the province
in order to raise $30,000 to erect
a stone wall about the city, claiming
it required such defense as a frontier
town. The various provinces sent
commissioners to the Colonel Congress
held in Albany, June, 1754, and
1755 marked the great conflict with
the French, with serious engagements
along Lakes Champlain and George,
which were of vital concern to Albany.
On September 17, 1755, General Philip
Schuyler married Catharine Van Rensselaer,
only daughter of Colonel John Van
Rensselaer, of the Claverack Manor,
and granddaughter of the original
owner of the vast tract on the east
side after the first division of
the Van Rensselaer patent. In 1756
the population of Albany county
had risen to 17, 524, and the Schuyler
Flatts were burned that year. So
serious was the Massachusetts boundary
dispute in July, 1757, that offers
were made to take Hendrick Van Rensselaer
dead or alive. Troops assembled
here in great numbers under General
James Abercrombie in 1758, and following
the death of Lord Howe at Ticonderoga,
July 6th, his body was brought here
for burial in St. Peter's Church.
The Van Rensselaer
Manor House, or the "Patroon's,"
as it was more commonly called,
was built by Stephen Van Rensselaer
in 1765. At the time of its erection
it was unquestionably the handsomest
house in the colonies, and as such
exerted a wide influence over the
architecture of the more ambitious
dwellings. One or two (possibly
three other edifices had been used
by the head of the family before
this, and likewise styled the Manor
House; but they
Page 6
were poor affairs compared with
this one or with the average residence
of these days in a country village.
The original house was built of
brick of unusual size (9 X 4-1/4
X 2 inches) and it was painted in
the colonial colors, cream and white.
A short flight of steps led up to
the Dutch "stoop," a small
porch whose roof was upheld by two
Doric columns, above which, in the
second story, was the great Palladian
window. The house was flanked at
either end with octagonal wings
on story in height. The walls were
of unusual solidity, and the entire
construction was the heaviest. The
floor beams were of hewn pine, ranging
from 3 X 12 to 9 X 11 inches. All
abut it were gardens and lawns,
surrounded by enormous elms, and
the gradual slope towards the Hudson
river, was beautified for acres
with floral effects, fountain and
statuary. Located one mile north
of state street, it stood directly
at the head of Broadway, which made
a turn to the west in order to continue
northward as the Troy road. Patroon's
creek was the southern demarcation
of the property, spanned by a massive
brownstone bridge, and at its edge
stood the lodge where the keeper
lived. It was to this handsome home
that Stephen Van Rensselaer brought
his bride, Catharine Livingston;
but he enjoyed it only a brief spell,
for within six years of his marriage
he died.
Stephen Van
Rensselaer, the seventh Patroon,
married, in New York City, January
23, 1764, Catharine Livingston,
born august 25, 1745, died April
17, 1810. Her father was Philip
Livingston, signer of the Declaration
of Independence for New York state,
born January 15, 1716, died at York,
Pennsylvania, June 12, 1778, who
married, April 14, 1740, Christina
Ten Broeck, born December 30, 1718,
died June 29, 1801. When a widow,
following the death of her husband,
October 19, 1769, Mrs. Van Rensselaer
married, at Albany, July 19, 1775,
Dominie Eilardus Westerlo, pastor
of the Dutch Reformed Church in
Albany, who was born in Groeningen,
came to Albany in 1760, and died
in Albany, December 26, 1790, by
whom she had Rensselaer Westerlo,
born in the Manor House, May 6,
1776, died April 18, 1851, married
May 5, 1805, Jane Lansing, daughter
of Chancellor John Lansing; and
a daughter, Catherine, born in the
Manor House, August 23, 1778, died
at Albania, September 27, 1846,
married Judge John Woodworth.
Children of
seventh Patroon Stephen Van Rensselaer
and Catherine Livingston: 1. Stephen,
born in New York City, November
1, 1764. (See forward). 2. Philip
Schuyler, born at the Manor House,
Albany, April 15, 1766l died at
No. 85 state street, Albany, September
25, 1824; was thirty-second mayor
of Albany, officiating longest of
any mayor, January 1, 1799, to July
7, 1816, and July 3, 1819, to February
18, 1821, and was president of the
Bank of Albany; married 1787, Anna
de Peyster Van Cortlandt, born 1766,
died January 10, 1855, and was daughter
of General Philip Van Cortlandt
and Catherine de Peyster; no issue.
3. Elizabeth, born at the Manor
House in Albany, August 15, 1768;
died in Albany, March 27, 1841;
married in Albany, September 18,
1787, John Bradstreet Schuyler,
born in Albany, and was baptized
July 23, 1765, died at Saratoga
(Schuylerville), August 19, 1795,
son of General Philip Schuyler and
Catherine Van Rensselaer, by whom
she had two sons--Philip, born in
Albany October 26, 1788, married
Grace Hunter; and Stephen Van Rensselaer,
born May 4, 1790, died young. After
the death of John B. Schuyler, Elizabeth,
his widow, married John Bleecker,
in 1800, by whom she had one daughter,
who married Cornelius Van Rensselaer,
and several sons who died unmarried,
among them Stephen Van Rensselaer
Bleecker, born January 5, 1803;
died April 16, 1827.
(V) General
Stephen Van Rensselaer, the eighth
Patroon, son of Stephen (2)
Van Rensselaer and Catherine Livingston,
was born in the house of his grandfather,
Philip Livingston, the Signer, in
New York City, November 1, 1764,
and died in the Manor house at Albany,
New York, January 26, 1839. The
new manor house of the Patroon was
not completed until he was one year
old, in 1765, and his father brought
him and his mother there so soon
as it was ready. His father died
October 19, 1769, at the age of
twenty-seven, when the son was less
than six years old, so the care
of the great landed and feudal estate,
which had fallen exclusively to
him by his uncle, General Abraham
Ten Broeck. It was managed by him
with rare ability throughout the
minority of his ward, despite the
disturbed condition of affairs during
the revolutionary period, when Albany
was the scene of serious preparation
for war in collecting men
Page 7
and supplies for the great conflict
at Bemis Heights and old Saratoga
or Schuylerville. General Ten Broeck
was a participant in this military
movement to the north, and was the
twenty-eighth mayor of Albany, officiating
from April 9, 1779, to June 26,
1783, and a second term, from October
15, 1796, to December 31, 1798.
He had married Elizabeth, daughter
of Patroon Stephen Van Rensselaer
and Elizabeth Groesbeck, November
1, 1763. Under his direction the
manor house was erected. Stephen
was given his earliest education
at Albany by John Waters, who was
what was then known as a professional
schoolmaster, and, being before
the days of printed spelling-books,
he was taught from a hornbook. A
little later, his grandfather. Philip
Livingston, took charge of his education,
placing him at a school in Elizabthtown,
New Jersey; but the troublous times
of the revolution drove Livingston
with his family from his home in
New York City, and they took refuge
in Kingston. Fortunately he established
a classical academy there under
John Addison, a fine Scotchman possessing
thorough scholarship and who was
later a state senator. It then became
necessary to supply the young man
with an advanced education, and
he was sent to Princeton, when the
celebrated Dr. Witherspoon, scholar,
divine, and patriot, was president.
Witherspoon abandoned education
for the pursuit of war, was a Signer
of the Declaration, and young Van
Rensselaer, to avoid the seat of
war, was sent to Cambridge, where
he became a Harvard graduate in
1782. In 1823 Yale conferred upon
him the degree of Doctor of Laws.
The year following his graduation
in 1782, peace had been restored
in the United States, and the new
nation firmly established. There
was no occasion for the young man,
when nineteen years of age, to fight.
Instead, he turned his attention
to matrimony, and married Margaret
Schuyler, at "Old" Saratoga
(Schuylerville), New York, in 1783.
She was third daughter of General
Philip Schuyler and Catherine Van
Rensselaer. Her next elder sister,
Elizabeth, had married Alexander
Hamilton, who were thus the uncle
and aunt of General Stephen Van
Rensselaer. Margaret Schuyler was
born in Albany, and baptized there
September 24, 1758, and she died
there on March 14, 1801. Her remains
repose in the center of the Van
Rensselaer lot in the Albany Rural
Cemetery. Her father was General
Philip Schuyler, commander of the
Army of the North in 1777, and trusted
friend of Washington, who was born
in Albany, November 11, 1733, married
September 17, 1755, and died in
Albany, November 18, 1804. Her mother
was Catherine Van Rensselaer, born
in "The Crailo," Greenbush
(Rensselaer, New York), November
4, 1734, died in the Schuyler Mansion,
Albany, March 7, 1803, and was daughter
of Johannes Van Rensselaer and Engeltie
(Angelica) Livingston, the latter
being the daughter of Robert Livingston,
Jun., twelfth mayor of Albany. John
Van Rensselaer became heir of the
Claverack patent, when his father,
Hendrick, died July 2, 1740, and
was thus the owner of "The
Crailo," in Greenbush, called
Rensselaer later. It will be remembered
that Hendrick Van Rensselaer was
a brother of the last patroon by
the name of Kiliaen, in other words,
the youngest brother of Stephen's
great-grandfather. Hendrick was
born in 1667, died in 1689, and
had married Catherina Van Brough
(or Verbrugge), whose share in the
property left by their father Jeremias
was the Claverack property. At this
time Stephen Van Rensselaer's mother
was the wife of dominie Eilardus
Westerlo, whom she had married in
Albany, July 19, 1775, and they
were residing in the Manor House,
which she had a right to do as the
Patroon's widow.
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