Van Rensselaer | |
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![]() Bookplate of Killian K. Van Rensselaer, showing the arms of the family | |
Country | United States |
Place of origin | Netherlands |
Connected families | Bayard family Livingston family Schuyler family Van Cortlandt family |
Estate(s) | Fort Crailo Manor of Rensselaerswyck Jacob Van Rensselaer House |
New Netherland series |
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Exploration |
Fortifications: |
Settlements: |
The Patroon System |
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People of New Netherland |
Flushing Remonstrance |
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Rensselaerswyck series | |
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Dutch West India Company | |
The Patroon System | |
Map of Rensselaerswyck | |
Patroons of Rensselaerswyck: Kiliaen van Rensselaer | |
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The Van Rensselaer family (/ˈrɛnslər, -slɪər/) 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 United States and served as leaders in business, politics and society.
The Van Rensselaers were of Dutch origin,[2] and the family originally migrated from the Netherlands to a large area along the Hudson River in the present-day area of Albany, New York. The Van Rensselaers and other patroons named this young colony New Netherland. Many members of the family were active in politics and in the military.[3][4] They are best known for the Rensselaerswyck estate of roughly a million acres, which although broken up by the Anti-Rent Revolt in the 1840s, had long cemented the Van Rensselaer family as one of the wealthiest in early America.
Herman Melville, a descendant of the Van Rensselaer family, mentioned them in the first chapter of his novel Moby-Dick: "It touches one's sense of honor, particularly if you come of an old established family in the land, the Van Rensselaers, or Randolphs, or Hardicanutes." Edith Wharton, a Van Rensselaer cousin, is said to have based the Van der Luydens in The Age of Innocence on the Van Rensselaers.
For an alphabetical list of people with the surname Van Rensselaer, see Van Rensselaer (surname). |