Jeremiah Van Rensselaer 1738-1810
Jeremiah Van Rensselaer (1738–1810) was an early American politician, merchant, and banker who served in the First U.S. Congress and later as Lieutenant Governor of New York. A member of the prominent Van Rensselaer family, he was also active in Revolutionary War service and Albany civic life.
- Jeremiah Van Rensselaer
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Jeremiah Van Rensselaer was a Representative from New York to the U. S. House of Representatives from 1789 to 1791 in the first United States Congress. He was not re-elected but ten years later served as Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1801 to 1804.
Van Rensselaer became a land agent, merchant and surveyor. He was a member of the first board of directors of the Bank of Albany. From 1789 through 1806 he served as the president of the bank. In 1804 he was a curator of the Evangelical Lutheran Seminary in Albany.
In addition to his above political positions Van Rensselaer was also a member of the New York State Assembly in 1789. He was a presidential elector in 1800 and voted for Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.
Van Rensselaer had a good education especially for that time. He was tutored at the manor house, attended private school in Albany, NY, and attended the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University from where he graduated in 1758.
Other local politics involved being a signer of the constitution of the Albany Sons of Liberty, and becoming a member of the Albany Committee of Safety.
During the American Revolutionary War Van Rensselaer was commissioned as an ensign and became a paymaster in the third regiment of the New York Line.
Van Rensselaer was born on his family’s manor, Rensselaerswyck, in what is now Watervliet, New York. His parents were John Van Renselaer [1708-1793] and Engeltie Livingston Van Rensselaer. His mother passed away before he was 10 years old.
Van Rensselaer passed away in 1810 and was buried in the Dutch Reformed Cemetery, and later re-interred at Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, New York.
See the appendix at the end of the bio profile for Kiliaen Van Rensselaer [1595-1644] to see the relationship between the ten Van Rensselaers in this listing.
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