Hudson-Mohawk genealogical and family memoirs, Volume I, Part 4

Author: Reynolds, Cuyler, 1866-1934, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 656

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Stephen Van Rensselaer, the seventh Pa- troon, married, in New York City, January 23, 1764, Catherine Livingston, born August 25, 1745, died April 17, 1810. Her father was Philip Livingston, signer of the Declara- tion of Independence for New York state; born January 15, 1716; died at York, Penn- sylvania, June 12, 1778; who married, April 14, 1740, Christina Ten Broeck, born Decem- ber 30, 1718; died June 29, 1801. When a widow, following the death of her husband, October 19, 1769, Mrs. Van Rensselaer mar- ried, at Albany, July 19, 1775. Dominie Eilar- dus Westerlo, pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church in Albany, who was born in Groenin- gen, 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, daugh- ter of Chancellor John Lansing ; and a daugh-

ter, Catherine, born in the Manor House, August 23, 1778, died at Albany, September 27, 1846, married Judge John Woodworth.

Children of seventh Patroon Stephen Van Rensselaer and Catherine Livingston :

I. Stephen, born in New York City, No- vember 1, 1764; married (first) Margaret Schuyler, at Schuylerville, New York, June 6, 1783; (second) Cornelia Paterson, at New. Brunswick, New Jersey, May 17, 1802. Died at Albany, January 26, 1839. (Sce forward). 2. Philip Schuyler, born at the Manor House, Albany, April 15, 1766; died at No. 85 State street, Albany, September 25, 1824; was thirty-second mayor of Albany, officiating the 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, Anne de Peyster Van Cortlandt, born, 1766, dicd 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, Septem- ber 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 Glen 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 Van Rens- selaer and Catherine Livingston, was born in the house of his grandfather, Philip Living- ston, the Signer, in New York City, Novem- ber 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 the rule of primogeniture, was com- mitted to 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 dur- ing the Revolutionary period, when Albany was the scene of serious preparation for war in collecting men 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 Oc- tober 15, 1796, to December 31, 1798. He had married Elizabeth Van Rensselaer, daugh- ter of Patroon Stephen Van Rensselaer and Elizabeth Groesbeck, November I, 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 schoolmas- ter, and, being before the days of printed spelling-books, he was taught from a horn- book. A little later, his grandfather, Philip Livingston, took charge of his education, plac- ing him at a school in Elizabethtown, New Jersey ; but the troublous times of the Revolu- tion drove Livingston with his family from his home in New York City, and they took refuge in Kingston. Fortunately he estab-

15.

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lished a classical academy there under John Addison, a fine Scotchman possessing thor- ough 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 cele- brated Dr. Witherspoon, scholar, divine and patriot, was president. Witherspoon aban- doned 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 1825 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, then nineteen years of age, to fight. Instead, he turned his attention to matrimony, and mar- ried Margaret Schuyler, at "Old" Saratoga (Schuylerville), New York, in 1783. She was third daughter of General Philip Schuy- ler 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. Mar- garet Schuyler was born in Albany, and bap- tized there September 24, 1758, and she died there on March 14, 1801. Her remains re- pose 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 Al- bany, November 11, 1733, married September 17, 1755, and died in Albany, November 18, 1804. Her mother was Catherine Van Rens- selaer, born in The Crailo, Greenbush (Rens- selaer, N. Y.), November 4, 1734, died in the Schuyler Mansion, Albany, March 7, 1803, and was daughter of Johannes Van Rens- selaer and Engeltie (Angelica) Livingston, the latter being the daughter of Robert Liv- ingston, 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 younger brother of Stephen's great-grand- father. Hendrick was born in 1667, died in 1689, and had married Catharina Van Brough (or Verbrugge), whose share in the property left by their father, Jeremias, was the Claver- ack 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. He was an original Dutchman, born in Groeningen, known widely as a fine scholar, an eminent divine, and as the pastor for a long period of the Dutch Re- formed Church in Albany, preaching in the- Dutch language for the first fifteen or twenty years of his charge. As Dominie Westerlo- and his wife, the mother of Stephen, were occupying the Manor House, consequently the- young man brought his bride to the mansion. at the southeast corner of North Market street (Broadway) and North Ferry street, which had served as an ample parsonage. When,. however, Stephen reached his majority, Dr .. Westerlo and his wife exchanged residences with the young Patroon and his bride, the latter couple leaving the parsonage to occupy the Manor House. The day of his attaining his majority was made one of great celebra- tion, and from miles around the tenantry and the social set of the city flocked to participate in his hospitality.

Mr. Van Rensselaer found it necessary to look critically after the interests of his Manor, for in order to secure good returns it was essential that the lands should be cultivated, and while speculators would buy lands, the farmers, or laborious tillers of the soil, were unwilling to contract for the fee. By offering leases in fee or for long terms at a moder- ate rental, he readily succeeded in bringing a large proportion of his lands, comprising the greater portion of the counties of Albany and Rensselaer, into cultivation, thus acquiring a goodly income, yet those who knew him have said "he had none of that morbid appetite for wealth which grows ravenous by what it feeds on.”

He received his first military commission, as a major of infantry, in 1786, when twenty- two years old, and two years later was pro- moted to colonel and given command of a regiment. In 1801, Governor John Jay di- rected the cavalry of New York to be divided from the infantry, and the cavalry formed a single division, with two brigades, and the. command of the whole was conferred upon Stephen Van Rensselaer. He bore the com- mission of major-general of cavalry to his death.

In 1787, he took an important step in his career as a man of character, when twenty- three years of age and on the threshold of a life which might have been one pampered with wanton and luxurious excesses, he de- liberately chose, by a formal profession of religious faith and a personal vow of religi-

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ons obedience, according to the doctrines and discipline of the Christian church as adopted by the Dutch reformers, to pledge himself to a life of temperance, simplicity, truth and purity. How well he kept his vow is known to all who are intimately acquainted with the manner of his life, for his domestic relations were the most tender, and his character before the world harmonious and beautiful, as well as replete with deeds of public service.

Towards the close of 1787, the convention sitting in Philadelphia to frame a constitution, terminated its labors and submitted its work for the judgment of the people. Mr. Van Rensselaer took ground promptly. and was pronouncedly in favor of the constitution. The next spring delegates to the state convention were to be chosen from Albany county, and both Yates and Lansing, who had left the Philadelphia convention before its labors were completed, were residents of the same county and held great power as anti-Federalists. It was to be expected that their views would prevail, yet Mr. Van Rensselaer, urged by his party to uphold their moral force in the con- troversy, consented to stand as a candidate for the assembly, and despite his popularity was beaten. In the spring of the next year, 1789, however. Mr. Van Rensselaer was again a candidate, and, with the previous question settled, was elected by an enormous majority. In the spring of 1790 he was elected to the state senate, and was re-elected, serving con- tinuously until 1795, as a faithful, vigilant and influential member. On standing com- mittees, of which there were few then, he was always an important member. At the next gubernatorial election, 1795, he was chosen lieutenant-governor. with Hon. John Jay as executive, Messrs. Yates and Floyd heading the opposition ticket. In 1798 both were renominated and elected by handsome majorities. This time Chancellor Livingston was Mr. Jay's opponent, while Mr. Van Rens- selaer was the candidate of both Federalists and the antis, so universally popular had he become. At the same time, the plan was to attract votes for Livingston away from Jay. In January, 1801, a convention was held at the Tontine Coffee House in Albany, and Mr. Van Rensselaer was unanimously named the candidate for governor. His nomination was enthusiastically seconded in New York City and at public meetings all over the state. His purity, reliable judgment and competent ac- quaintance with interests and business of the state commended him; but the parties were at such great odds, the rancor so fearful, that it poisoned even whole families with hatred one for another. De Witt Clinton was named

as his opponent. He was also deservedly pop- ular and a man of great energy in affairs of moment. In the midst of the state campaign announcement of the election of Thomas Jef- ferson was announced. It helped in large measure to turn the tide, and Mr. Van Rens- selaer was defeated by a majority of less than four thousand votes.

In October, 1801, a state convention met at Albany to revise the constitution, and Mr. V'an Rensselaer was a member, presiding dur- ing much of the deliberations as chairman, although Aaron Burr was its president. In 1807 he was elected to the assembly, with his friend, Abraham Van Vechten, as col- league. In March, 1810, a commission was chosen by the legislature, consisting of seven persons-Gouverneur Morris, DeWitt Clinton and Stephen Van Rensselaer among the more important-for exploring a route for a pro- posed western canal. In the summer of that year, accompanied by a surveyor, he traveled by horseback inspecting a route for the pro- jected undertaking which resulted in the Erie canal, and they gave their findings in Febru- ary, 1811. With all his enormous energy he advocated the measure in the assembly, thus giving the plan an impetus very needful be- cause of considerable opposition.

War against Great Britain was declared in June, 1812. This was another crisis in his life. A requisition was made on Governor Tompkins, of New York, and the patriotic governor promptly obeyed, selecting Major- General Stephen Van Rensselaer for the com- mand. They were then regarded as rival can- didates for the chief magistracy. The lines of party were distinctly drawn, and the Fed- eralists were charged with being hostile to the war as being premature and unnecessary. General Van Rensselaer was a Federalist. The appointment placed him in a position of embarrassment, for, should he decline, it would tell against his party, and, on the other hand, he was expected to defend both the northern and western frontier, with no ex- perience in warfare and dealing with decided- ly impracticable material in the make-up of fighters. He did not hesitate an instant, but accepted the service. His country had sum- moned him to the field, and he was ready. He was not a loiterer, for in an incredibly short time he had thrown off the citizen surrounded by political advisers, and had formed his mili- tary family. In ten days he arrived at Og- densburgh. having inspected Sackett's Har- bor on the way. On August 13th he was in camp at Lewiston, just one month from his call, and just two months later, on October 13th, he was engaged in one of the most gal-

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lant and brilliant affairs of the whole war. He carried his American arms into the ene- iny's territory, and planted the flag of the United States triumphantly on the Heights of Queenstown. Although gaining a complete victory, unfortunately it was of brief dura- tion, on account of the deflection of his troops. Had they remained by him, he could have re- tained the peninsula of the upper province of Canada for the winter, for it was originally planned that Fort George should also be stormed by regular troops. Very valuable to him had been the services of his aide, Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer, who was wounded a number of times when in the thickest of the fight. By the shameful refusal of his yeoman soldiery, under the plea of constitutional scru- ples, to march into the camp which had been won for them, he should have felt wroth; but he reported it as an unvarnished relation of facts, telling the truth plainly, but without complaints or reproaches, for he had done his full duty. The British had lost their General Brock by the engagement, and during the cessation of hostilities agreed upon for six days, both sides proceeded to humanitarian duties of burying the dead and caring for the wounded. General Van Rensselaer informed his antagonist that he should order a salute to be fired at his camp and also at Fort Ni- agara on the occasion of the funeral solemni- ties of the brave and lamented Brock, to which the stern General Sheaffe replied: "I feel too strongly the generous tribute which you propose to pay for my departed friend and chief, to be able to express the sense I entertain of it."

General Van Rensselaer entered the guber- natorial campaign against Daniel D. Tomp- kins in the spring of 1813, but his party was in the minority, even though giving him a united support, and he was defeated in the state by 3,600 votes out of the 83,000 cast in the election. In 1816 he was again elected to the assembly, and in March the canal com- missioners, with Mr. Van Rensselaer at their head and acting as chairman, presented their report to the legislature, requesting that body to adopt immediate measures for prosecuting the enterprise. In April this great work was authorized, the management committed to a board of canal commissioners, with General Van Rensselaer as a member. He was presi- dent of that board for fifteen years, succeed- ing DeWitt Clinton in April, 1824, and serv- ing until his death in 1839.

In 1819 the legislature was induced to pass an act for the encouragement and improve- ment of agriculture, appropriating money to be divided ratably among the counties, which

were to form county societies, with presidents, who should form a central board. The dele- gates from twenty-six county societies met at the Capitol in January, 1820, and elected Gen- eral Van Rensselaer president. In 1819 he was elected regent of the University of the State of New York, and was subsequently the chancellor until his death.

In December, 1823, General Van Rensselaer took his seat in congress for the first time, and was continued in his place by re-election for three successive terms, retiring on March 4. 1829. He held the position of chairman of the committee on agriculture. His report on tariff laws affecting agriculture, made in March, 1824, was a valuable one. His ballot on the presidency, in February, 1825, deter- mined the vote of his state's delegation in favor of Mr. Adams.

On May 5, 1824, the Albany Institute was organized for the purpose of engaging in fields of observation of the natural sciences, for study of new theories and discoveries, and the preparation of learned papers. General Van Rensselaer was elected its first president, having the local prestige of being the presi- dent of the Albany Lyceum of Natural His- tory. This society elected him annually through fifteen years, until his death. He perceived the advantage of placing knowledge before the people, and his first movement was to employ Professor Eaton, with several com- petent assistants, to traverse the state near the route of the Erie canal, taking apparatus and specimens to aid the delivery of lectures before business men and farmers in all the villages along the line. These were given on chemistry, natural philosophy and various branches of natural history, and were given in the summer of 1824 at his expense. The experiment was a success. He had also been accustomed to send his schoolmaster among his tenants in the same capacity, and this led him, on November 5, 1824, to provide a suit- able building in Troy, New York, for the conduct of a school under Rev. Dr. Blatch- ford, to whom he delivered a set of rules for its government. He endowed it with pro- fessors, and it was incorporated in 1826 as the Rensselaer Institute. Through the next two years, he paid one-half of its current ex- penses, and at his death he endowed it. Not alone did he institute the Rensselaer Poly- technic, but to two colleges he gave $5,000 each, and to a single agent for the prosecu- tion of scientific research and advancement of education, no less than $30,000. His bene- factions were not only most liberal, but wisely devoted, and in those days these sums were considered fortunes in themselves.

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He was connected with the institution of Masonry, having been initiated in 1786, when twenty-two years old, and was placed in official station, becoming successively junior and senior warden. and then master. In 1793 he declined further election in Master's Lodge, but in 1825 was installed in the highest office of Masonry, that of grand master, which act was conducted by Governor DeWitt Clinton.

The funeral of General Van Rensselaer was a most impressive one, perhaps more so than any other at Albany before or afterwards. The religious service was held at the North Dutch Church, and the body, in a simple, unadorned casket, was borne nearly a mile to the family vault, upon men's shoulders, the bearers frequently relieving each other, for no hearse was permitted to receive the hal- lowed burthen. The mourners, composed of the family, civic officials, Masonic bodies, school societies, the chief magistrate and other executive officers of the state, members of the legislature, all on foot, not a carriage being in use. The military were in citizens' dress ; all badges of office were laid aside ; no plumes nodded; no helmets glistened; no music murmured-solemn, slow and silent the vast throng moved through the highway to the north.

It is of interest to note the manner in which in those days the intelligence of his death was sent to New York City, where he was well known, and it being necessary to transmit the news because of his prominence in the state's public life. It is recorded in Mun- sell's "Notes from the Newspapers," as an item of news on that day, January 26, 1839 :

"An express was started by Messrs. Baker & Walker, to carry the intelligence of the Patroon's death to New York. A Mr. Dimmick left Albany 14 minutes before 6 p. m. in a sulkey. At Redhook, he found a bridge gone, but mounted his horse and swam the stream, drawing the sulkey after him. At Fishkill, the obstruction was much more formidable. The bridge was gone, and the road for more than half a mile inundated. He again mounted his horse, who pushed gallantly into the flood and swam. with his rider and sulkey, over a quarter of a mile, bring- ing both safely to the opposite shore. Notwith- standing these and other obstructions the express arrived at the Carlton House at 20 minutes past 8 o'clock in the morning. having rode over the distance of about 150 miles in 14 h. 31 m."

General Stephen Van Rensselaer, the eighth Patroon, married Margaret Schuyler, daugh- ter of General Philip Schuyler and Catherine Van Rensselaer, at Schuylerville, New York, June 6, 1783; and married (second) Cornelia Paterson, at New Brunswick, New Jersey, on May 17, 1802. She was born June 4. 1780, and died in New York City, August 6, 1844. Her father was Chief Justice William Pater-

son, a resident of New Brunswick, New Jer- sey, born at sea December 24, 1745, and died September 9, 1806, while on a visit at the Manor House in Albany. He was U. S. senator in 1789; in 1791 chosen second gov- ernor of New Jersey, and General Washing- ton appointed him in 1793 a justice of the U. S. supreme court, which position he held up to the time of his death. He married Cor- nelia Bell, daughter of John Bell, in 1779. Three children were the result of the first marriage, and nine by the latter.

Children of General Stephen Van Rensse- laer and Margaret Schuyler :

I. Catherine Schuyler, born in July. 1784, baptized August 9; died at Albany, April 26, 1797, without issue.

2. Stephen, born at Albany, June 6, 1786; died in 1787.

3. Stephen, born at Albany, March 29, 1789 ; died at the Manor House, Albany, May 25, 1868; married, in New York City, January 2, 1817, Harriet Elizabeth Bayard (see for- ward).

Children of Gen. Stephen Van Rensselaer and Cornelia Paterson :

4. Catherine, born at Albany, October 17, 1803; died in New York City, November, 1874; married, 1830, Gouverneur Morris Wilkins.

5. William Paterson, born at Albany, New York, March 6, 1805; died at New York City, November 13, 1872; married (first) in New York, March, 1833, Eliza Rogers, (born New York, 1812, died in Cuba, March, 1836), by whom one child; married (second), at New York City, April 4, 1839, Sarah Rogers (born New York, October 29, 1810; died Rye, N. Y .. Nov. 19, 1887), daughters of Benjamin Woolsey Rogers and Susan Bayard ; by whom eight children, as follows: William Paterson, born in New York, January, 1835, died in Rye. New York, July, 1854; Susan Bayard, born in New York. January 31, 1840, died in Rye, New York, July 19, 1863; Cornelia, born in Albany, September 22, 1841, married John Erving of New York, April 22, 1862; Walter Stephen, born in Albany, November 2, 1843, died in Rye, New York. May 14, 1865; Captain Kiliaen, born in Albany, Feb- ruary 14, 1845, married Olivia Phelps Atterbury, in New York, December 13, 1870; died in New York, November 26, 1905: Sarah Elizabeth, born in New York, January 18, 1847, died in Rye, New York, June 29, 1859: Arthur, born in New York. September 28, 1848, died in New York, March 4, 1869; Catherine Goodhue, born in Norwalk, Connecticut, 1850, married, June II, 1891, Rev. Anson Phelps Atterbury ; Eleanor

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Hudson-Mohawk genealogical and family memoirs, Volume I, Part 4

Author: Reynolds, Cuyler, 1866-1934, ed Publication date: 1911 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 656

Author: Reynolds, Cuyler, 1866-1934, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 656