Kiliaen van Rensselaer (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈkɪlijaːɱ vɑn ˈrɛnsəlaːr] ; 1586 – buried 7 October 1643) was a Dutch diamond and pearl merchant from Amsterdam who was one of the founders and directors of the Dutch West India Company, being instrumental in the establishment of New Netherland.
He was one of the first patroons, but the only one to become successful. He founded the Manor of Rensselaerswyck in what is now mainly New York's Capital District. His estate remained throughout the Dutch and British colonial era and the American Revolution as a legal entity until the 1840s. Eventually, that came to an end during the Anti-Rent War.
Van Rensselaer was the son of Hendrick Wolter van Rensselaer, a soldier from Nijkerk in the States army of the duke of Upper Saxony, and Maria Pafraet, descendant of a well-known printers' dynasty. To keep from risking his life in the army like his father, he apprenticed under his uncle, a successful Amsterdam jeweler. He too became a successful jeweler and was one of the first subscribers to the Dutch West India Company upon its conception.
The concept of patroonships may have been Kiliaen van Rensselaer's; he was likely the leading proponent of the Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions, the document that established the patroon system.
His patroonship became the most successful to exist, making full use of his business tactics and advantages, such as his connection to the Director of New Netherland, his confidantes at the West India Company, and his extended family members who were eager to immigrate to a better place to farm. Van Rensselaer married twice and had at least eleven children. When he died some time after 1642, two succeeded him as patroons of Rensselaerswyck.
Van Rensselaer had a marked effect on the history of the United States. The American Van Rensselaers all descend from Kiliaen's son Jeremias and the subsequent Van Rensselaer family is noted for being a very powerful and wealthy influence in the history of New York and the Northeastern United States, producing multiple state legislators, congressmen, and two lieutenant governors in New York.
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Early years
Kiliaen van Rensselaer was born in Hasselt, Overijssel, Netherlands in 1586. The exact day of his birth is unknown. He was the son of Hendrick van Rensselaer and Maria Pafraet. His father was a captain in the Dutch army until his death at the siege of Ostend in early June 1602.
With his father usually not home (and eventually meeting his death) because of a military career, Van Rensselaer's mother sent him to apprentice with his uncle, Wolfert van Bijler, a jeweler and diamond merchant. At the time, the gem trade was a prosperous enterprise to join, being a well-developed craft. In those days, the diamond trade was nearly always combined with the trade in pearls, other articles of luxury, and rarities of every description. Dutch jewelers found a ready market for their valuable wares at the Dutch imperial court and the smaller German courts. This realm of work promoted Van Rensselaer to a life of economic success.
Much of Van Rensselaer's early life is unknown to today's historians, though in March 1608 it has been recorded that he was taking care of some business of Van Bijler in Prague. It seems Van Bijler gradually retired from his business, leaving it in the control of Van Rensselaer. During his tenure at the helm of his uncle's business, Van Rensselaer proposed a merger with the firm of Jan van Wely, son of one of Van Bijler's sisters, who had an equally successful jewelry business. The firms combined under the name of Jan van Wely & Co. in February 1614. Van Rensselaer's name was not included in the name of the new company, since he contributed only one eighth of the investment capital, whereas van Wely contributed half (192,000 guilders).
In 1616, van Wely was called on by Prince Maurice to meet at The Hague for a sale in jewels. He was murdered while waiting to meet with the Prince. The firm's contract stipulated that at the death of Jan van Wely, the remaining members of the firm should continue the partnership for another six years. Van Wely's murder, therefore, caused no change in the business, but it seems that at the expiration of that time, Van Rensselaer began again on his own account, founding Kiliaen van Rensselaer & Co. with partner Jacques I'Hermite.
Director of the Dutch West India Company
Some of Van Rensselaer's success as a jewel merchant came about due to trade made possible by the Dutch East India Company. The practical spirit of the Dutch merchant could not fail to recognize that the way to riches was through trade with the West Indies and Africa. During the Twelve Years' Truce, Dutch merchants had sailed unmolested to the West Indies but also received no letters of marque to take prizes from the enemy.
Before the Eighty Years' War began, people realized that the West Indies trade might bring great prosperity to the country and that more power might be developed against Spain. Rather than travel to the area singly on an armed ship or in the company of a few other vessels, traders could do business in the manner of the large and prosperous East India Company. A company for carrying on commerce in the West Indies and Africa could be organized, which might, like the sister company, act as the war-waging power in those parts and be supported by the treasury, ships, and troops of the United Netherlands.
After long years of preparation, the Charter of the Dutch West India Company was granted by the States General on 3 June 1621, and the subscription list was opened. It is known that subscriptions did not come in very rapidly at first due to the exclusion of the salt trade from the charter. This barrier was overcome in a later amendment to the Charter, and the subscription rate increased.
With a capital of seven million florins, the West India Company was granted exclusive authority and trade privileges in the Dutch possessions of the two Americas, as well as the coast of Africa from the Tropic of Cancer to the Cape of Good Hope. The objects of its creation were to establish an efficient and aggressive Atlantic maritime power in the struggle with Spain, as well as to colonize, develop, and rule the Dutch American dependencies — particularly New Netherland (the modern states of New York and New Jersey), discovered by Henry Hudson in 1609.
Van Rensselaer was one of the first subscribers to the West India Company. As with the other subscribers, he contributed 6000 guilders to be a member of one of its chambers. Having paid his way, he was welcomed to the Chamber of Amsterdam, one of five Chambers of the West India Company, each located in a principal Dutch city. The Chamber of Amsterdam was the largest with twenty members, mainly due to the city's population, and represented four ninths of the management of the West India Company.
Patroon
Unfortunately for the West India Company, the infant colony of New Netherland languished. The Dutch Republic was economically thriving, causing the cautious Dutch people to show very little inclination to emigrate to wild and uncultivated lands in which no substantial inducements were present. While the economic situation of the colony in the late 1620s could be considered a relatively good showing for a colony only newly started in a wilderness, its slow success was hardly sufficient to create much excitement among the directors of the West India Company. Within a few years, the Company realized that special measures which would afford a stimulus to colonization were indispensable.
It was for these reasons that the Company proposed the Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions, which the States General ratified on 7 June 1629. This document was created to encourage settlement of New Netherland through the establishment of feudal patroonships purchased and supplied by members of the West India Company. With a total of 31 articles, the document spells out many requirements of these patroons, primarily stating that each patroon was required to purchase the land from the local Indians, and inhabit the land with 50 adults within four years, with at least one quarter arriving within one year. In return, the patroons were able to own the land and pass it to succeeding generations as a perpetual fiefdom, as well as receive protection and free African slaves from the Company.
It is believed that the system of patroonships was originally suggested by Van Rensselaer himself. He was reportedly one of the first of the Company to perceive that the building up of New Netherland could not be carried on without labor, and that labor could not be procured without permanent settlers. "Open up the country with agriculture: that must be our first step," was his urgent advice. The Company was not inclined to involve itself in further expense for colonization, and matters threatened to come to a halt, when someone — very likely Van Rensselaer himself — evolved the plan of granting large estates to men willing to pay the cost of settling and operating them.
Van Rensselaer was quick to take part in the new endeavor: on 13 January 1629, he sent notification to the Directors of the Company that he, in conjunction with fellow Company members Samuel Godin and Samuel Blommaert, had sent Gillis Houset and Jacob Jansz Cuyper to determine satisfactory locations for settlement. This took place even before the Charter was ratified, but was done in accordance with a draft of the Charter from 28 March 1628.
Personal life
Van Rensselaer was married twice, first to his cousin Hillegonda van Bijler, on 23 July 1616. As the sole heir of her father Wolfert van Bijler (or Byllaer), she inherited 12,000 guilders. Hillegonda van Bijler was born around 1598, making her near the age of 18 at the time of her marriage to Van Rensselaer. The same year, the young husband purchased a couple of lots on the east side of the recently dug Keizersgracht in Amsterdam, between Marten and Wolven streets, where he built a house.
Van Rensselaer and Van Bijler had three children. The first was Hendrick, Kiliaen's first son, believed to have died in childhood. Johan, their second son, was baptized on 4 September 1625. Maria, their last child, was buried on 4 January 1627. She died as an infant.
Hillegonda van Bijler is presumed to have died in late December 1626, since she was buried on 1 January 1627, three days before her third child Maria. She was around the age of 28 and the couple had been married less than eleven years.
Van Rensselaer re-married on 14 December 1627, to Anna van Wely, daughter of Van Rensselaer's former business partner. Van Wely was born around 1601, making her about 26 at the time of the marriage. The couple had eight children between 1629 and 1639, four boys and four girls:
Van Wely outlived her husband, having died in Amsterdam in 1670.
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 7 October 1643.
Legacy
Van Rensselaer's son Jeremias was 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). Current (circa 1990 plus) family members have the surname of Begley.