Kiliaen Van Rensselaer (merchant) - Death and Legacy

Death and Legacy

Little is known about van Rensselaer's death, and sources even disagree on the year. Van Rensselaer was interred in the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam. His memorial stone states he was buried in the church on October 7, 1643.

Van Rensselaer's son Jeremias is the sole ancestor of the entire van Rensselaer family in America, and only because of Kiliaen's purchase and development of the land in New Netherland. Included in the subsequent family tree is a very powerful and wealthy group of individuals over the course of American history. Within the paternal (van Rensselaer) lineage, the family has produced numerous New York State Assemblymen and Senators, two Lieutenant Governors of New York, and five Congressmen from New York between 1789 and 1842.

Van Rensselaer is also the source of the names of the town of Rensselaerville, city of Rensselaer, and county of Rensselaer in upstate New York. Additionally, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy was founded in 1824 by Stephen Van Rensselaer III as the Rensselaer School. It is now a world-renowned technical and engineering school. Notably, at the time of his death, Stephen III was worth about $10 million (about $88 billion in 2007 dollars) and is noted as being the tenth-richest American in history.

Rensselaerswyck continued as a legal entity until the mid 1840s, having survived Dutch and British colonial times, even being given a special patent by Queen Anne to confirm the patroon's fiefdom upon British takeover of the area. The end of the manor came with the Anti-Rent War, when many tenants rose against the successors of Stephen Van Rensselaer III (who had died in 1839), having much influence on the Legislature elections of the time, and eventually intimidating the Van Rensselaer family enough to sell off most of its holdings.

The family records, many of which were translated and published in the Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, reveal the personality of the man who figures prominently in the history of colonization as the founder of the only successful patroonship that ever existed in New Netherland. But beyond the fact that he managed this patroonship and that he was a merchant and director of the West India Company, practically nothing was known until the organization and translation of the family records in the early 1900s (decade).