Nicholas van Rensselaer (minister)

Nicholas van Rensselaer (born in Amsterdam in September 1636; died in Albany, New York, in November 1678) was a Reformed Dutch Church clergyman, and one time director of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck.

Biography

He was the fourth son of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the first patroon of Rensselaerswyck. He was liberally educated in Holland, and studied theology there. His studies were temporarily interrupted when the family sent him to apprentice with a spice merchant. In December 1657 he was with a cloth dealer, but returned to his studies six months later.[1] In Brussels he met Charles II of England, who was then in exile. Claiming to have had a premonition, Van Rensselaer predicted that Charles would be restored to the throne. Van Rensselaer's family thought him half mad. He subsequently went to England as chaplain to the Dutch embassy, and the king, recognizing him and recollecting his prediction, gave him a gold snuff box with his likeness in the lid. Van Rensselaer was appointed chaplain to the Dutch ambassador.[2] After the Dutch ambassador left Great Britain, Van Rensselaer was licensed by Charles to preach to the Dutch congregation at Westminster, was ordained a deacon in the English church, and appointed lecturer at St. Margaret's, Lothbury.

When Edmund Andros was commissioned governor of the New Netherland, in 1674, Van Rensselaer accompanied him to North America,[2] bearing a letter of recommendation from the Duke of York, in which he requested that Van Rensselaer be placed in charge of one of the Dutch churches in New York or Albany when there should be a vacancy.

When Jeremias died in October 1674, the new patroon, Kiliaen (son of Johannes) was a minor, residing in Holland. Nicholas was made director of Rensselaerwyck.[3] The Holland Rensselaer's hoped that their brother's connection with the British Royal Family would help secure the patent for the Rensselaerwyck holdings. Nonetheless this appointment caused some consternation among their American counterparts.[4] The widow of Jeremias, Maria van Cortland van Rensselaer, became treasurer, and her brother, Stephanus Van Cortlandt, bookkeeper. In 1675, at age thirty-nine, he married nineteen-year-old Alida Schuyler, daughter of Philip Pieterse Schuyler.[2] They had no children.

Ministry

He became colleague pastor of the church in Albany shortly after his arrival, and in September 1675, was invited by the governor to preach in the Dutch church in New York. However, the pastor, William Van Nieuwenhuysen, absented himself from the service, and forbade Van Rensselaer's baptizing any children that might be presented for that ordinance. Van Nieuwenhuysen rejected Van Rensselaer's ordination as not being in conformity with the order of the Dutch churches, nor with the terms of the treaty. The matter was resolved in October 1675 Van Rensselaer promised to conform as a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church of Albany and Rensselaerwyck to the liturgy and discipline of the Reformed church of Holland.[4]

On Sunday, August 13, 1676 Nicholas van Rensselaer preached a sermon in the meeting house of the Dutch Reformed Church in Albany. Jacob Leisler and Jacob Milburne took issue with the Dominie's remarks concerning original sin, and proceeded to criticize him for not being orthodox. Van Rensselaer complained to the Albany Court that in misrepresenting his sermons Leisler had alienate the congregation and that the preaching and talents of the Dominie had been brought into contempt.[4] The Dominie was ordered to post a bond, and when he refused was order confined to his house. He then sent Stephanus Van Cortlandt (his sister-in-law Maria's brother) to represent him before Governor Andros in New York. The Governor's Council order both sides to post bond. Leisler failed to furnish the bond that was required of him, a warrant was issued for his arrest, and the churches and people were thrown into a ferment. At last a court was held at Albany, before which Van Rensselaer and Nieuwenhuysen appeared with papers and witnesses. After a review of the whole case, they were told by order of the governor “to be reconciled according to Christian love and duty.” The court ordered the parties to “forgive and forget,” and that Leisler and Jacob Milburne pay the whole costs, since they gave occasion for the differences.

Van Rensselaer again resumed his charge, but a year later he was refused a seat among the elders. It was resolved that he have a suitable one behind the magistrates. In 1677 Nicholas van Rensselaer was removed from the ministry by Governor Andros.[3]

He died in November 1678, a month after the death of his older brother, Jan Baptist, in Amsterdam. Upon the death of Nicholas, Maria van Rensselaer managed the estate for her nephew, Kiliaen. Alida Schuyler van Rensselaer married her late husband's secretary, Robert Livingston.

Notes

  1. ↑ van der Waal, Ernestine G.E., "Prophecy and profit: Nicolaes van Rensselaer, Charles II and the conversion of the Jews", University of Leiden
  2. 1 2 3 Bielinski, Stefan. "Nicholas Van Rensselaer", New York State Museum
  3. 1 2 Hauck-Whealton, Joshua. "Nicholas the Prophet", Clermont State Historic Site, October 6, 2009
  4. 1 2 3 Schnurman, Claudia. "Merchants, Ministers and the Van Rensslaer - Leisler Controversy of 1676 as a Dress Rehearsal for 1689", in Jacob Leisler's Atlantic World in the Later Seventeenth Century, Hermann Wellenreuther, ed., LIT Verlag Münster, 2009

References

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