Colonel Kiliaen van Rensselaer (December 27, 1717 – December 28, 1781) was a colonial American soldier and politician who was a member of the prominent

Van Rensselaer family The Van Rensselaer family () is a family of Dutch descent that was prominent during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries in the area now known as the state of New York. Members of this family played a critical role in the formation of the Unit ...

Early life

Kiliaen was born on December 27, 1717, around Albany in the

Province of New York The Province of New York was a British proprietary colony and later a royal colony on the northeast coast of North America from 1664 to 1783. It extended from Long Island on the Atlantic, up the Hudson River and Mohawk River valleys to ...

. He was the youngest of eleven children born to Hendrick van Rensselaer of

Fort Crailo The Crailo State Historic Site (also known as Fort Crailo and Yankee Doodle House) is a historic, fortified brick manor house in Rensselaer, New York which was built in 1707. The word ''Crailo'' is derived from ''kraaien bos'' (Dutch for "crow's w ...

by Catharina (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Van Brugh) Van Rensselaer. Among his older siblings were Johannes Van Rensselaer. His father was director of the Eastern patent of the

Manor of Rensselaerswyck Rensselaerswyck was a Dutch colonial patroonship and later an England, English Proprietary colony, manor owned by the Van Rensselaer (family), van Rensselaer family located in the present-day Capital District, New York, Capital District of New Yor ...

which covered roughly 62,000 acres of land in what is now Columbia County. His paternal grandparents were Maria van Cortlandt van Rensselaer (sister of New York City mayors Stephanus and Jacobus Van Cortlandt) and

Jeremias van Rensselaer Jeremias van Rensselaer (Amsterdam, 16 May 1632 – October 12, 1674) was the third son of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, one of the founders and directors of the Dutch West India Company who was instrumental in the establishment of New Netherland a ...

, the acting

Patroon In the United States, a patroon (; from Dutch '' patroon'' ) was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th-century Dutch colony of New Netherland on the east coast of North America. Through the Charter of Free ...

of Rensselaerswyck from 1658 to 1674 (who was a son of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, one of the founders and directors of the

Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company () was a Dutch chartered company that was founded in 1621 and went defunct in 1792. Among its founders were Reynier Pauw, Willem Usselincx (1567–1647), and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was gra ...

). Among his nephews were Brig. Gen. Robert Van Rensselaer. In describing the

, historian author William L. Stone stated: "They consisted of eighteen males in 1776. During the war every adult, except two old men, and all minors, except four boys, bore arms in one or more battles during the Revolutionary struggle." George W. Schuyler later wrote in his ''Colonial New York'', "... of the eighteen males, sixteen belonged to Hendrick Van Rensselaer's branch, and of these, five were of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer's family." His maternal grandparents were the former Catharine Roeloffe Jans and merchant Johannes Pieterse Van Brugh. His uncle, Pieter Van Brugh, served as the

mayor of Albany In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

from 1699 to 1700 and from 1721 to 1723.

Career

Van Rensselaer was a gentleman farmer and landlord. Through inheritances and marriages, he received additional landholdings on the east side of the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

American Revolution

He was commissioned as a colonel in his brother's 4th Regiment, Albany County Militia,

Rensselaerswyck Rensselaerswyck was a Dutch colonial patroonship and later an English manor owned by the van Rensselaer family located in the present-day Capital District of New York in the United States. The estate was originally deeded by the Dutch West In ...

battalion on October 20, 1775, during the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

. He was the representative for Rensselaerswyck on the

Committee of Correspondence The committees of correspondence were a collection of American political organizations that sought to coordinate opposition to British Parliament and, later, support for American independence during the American Revolution. The brainchild of S ...

as hostilities broke out in 1775. Van Rensselaer was seriously wounded by a shot in the hip during the

Battles of Saratoga The Battles of Saratoga (September 19 and October 7, 1777) were two battles between the American Continental Army and the British Army fought near Saratoga, New York, concluding the Saratoga campaign in the American Revolutionary War. The seco ...

that forced him to discontinue further service. General

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

paid the highest of compliments about his courage.

Personal life

On January 1, 1742, he was married to Ariantje "Harriet" Schuyler (1720–1763), a daughter of Nicolas Schuyler and Elsie (née Wendell) Schuyler and granddaughter of

Philip Pieterse Schuyler Colonel Philip Pieterse Schuyler or Philip Pieterse (1628 – 9 May 1683) was a Dutch-born landowner in New Netherlands and progenitor of the senior line of the American Schuyler family. Early life Philip Pieterse Schuyler was born in Amsterda ...

(grandfather of General and

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

Philip Schuyler Philip John Schuyler (; November 20, 1733 - November 18, 1804) was an American general in the American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War and a United States Senate, United States Senator from New York (state), New York. He is usually known as ...

and Mayor Abraham Cuyler). Her uncle was Albany mayor Johannes Schuyler and her first cousin was Johannes Schuyler Jr. Together, they lived on the east side of Rensselaerswyck, overlooking Papsknee Island, and were the parents of nine children, including: * Hendrick Kiliaen Van Rensselaer (1744–1816), a general in the Revolution who married Alida Bradt, a daughter Hendrick Bradt and Rebecca Van Vechten. * Philip Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1747–1798), a colonel in the Revolution who married Maria Sanders (1749–1830), daughter of Robert Sanders and granddaughter of

Pieter Schuyler Pieter Schuyler (17 September 1657 – 19 February 1724) was the first mayor of Albany, New York. A long-serving member of the executive council of the Province of New York, he acted as governor of the Province of New York on three occasions ...

, in 1768. * Nicholas Van Rensselaer (1754-1848), a Colonel and '' aide-de-camp'' under General

, who married Elsie Van Buren (1759–1844), a daughter of Cornelis Van Buren, in 1780. * Catharine Van Rensselaer (d. 1778), who married William Henry Ludlow in 1771. * Elsie Van Rensselaer (1758–1796), who married Abraham Lansing (1752–1822) in 1774. * Maria Van Rensselaer (1760–1841), who married Leonard Gansevoort Jr. (1754–1834) (a first cousin of New York State Senator

Leonard Gansevoort Leendert "Leonard" Gansevoort (July 14, 1751 – August 26, 1810) was an American political leader from New York who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1788. Early life He was born in 1751 in Albany County, New York to Harmen Ga ...

) in 1777. *

Killian K. Van Rensselaer Killian Killian Van Rensselaer (June 9, 1763 – June 18, 1845) was an American lawyer and United States Federalist Party, Federalist politician who served in the United States Congress as a United States House of Representatives, Represen ...

(1763–1845),

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

who married Margaret Sanders (1764–1830), a daughter of John Sanders and cousin to Philip's wife, in 1791. His wife died October 17, 1763, four months after the birth of their last child. On September 18, 1769, he remarried to Maria Low of John Low of

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

. Her father died in 1774 and Van Rensselaer was one of the executors of his estate. Van Rensselaer died on December 28, 1781.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Rensselaer, Kiliaen 1717 births 1781 deaths Van Rensselaer family Van Cortlandt family Van Rensselaer's Regiment People from Albany County, New York Albany militia New York (state) militiamen in the American Revolution American Revolution spies Van Brugh family