Stephen van Rensselaer II

Stephen Van Rensselaer II
8th Patroon and 5th Lord of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck
In office 1747 – 1769
Preceded by	Stephen Van Rensselaer I
Succeeded by	Stephen Van Rensselaer III
Personal details
Born	June 2, 1742 Manor of Rensselaerswyck, Province of New York
Died	October 19, 1769 (aged 27) Manor of Rensselaerswyck, Province of New York
Spouse(s)	Catherine Livingston (m. 1764; his death 1769)
Children	Stephen van Rensselaer III Philip S. Van Rensselaer Elizabeth Van Rensselaer
Parents	Stephen Van Rensselaer I Elizabeth Groesbeck
Relatives	See Van Rensselaer family
Occupation	Patroon

Rensselaerswyck series
Dutch West India Company
The Patroon System
Map of Rensselaerswyck
Patroons of Rensselaerswyck: Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1630–40s) Various (1640s–52) Jan Baptist van Rensselaer (1652–58) Jeremias van Rensselaer (1658–74) Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1674–87) Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1687–1719)[1] Jeremias van Rensselaer (1719–45) Stephen van Rensselaer I (1745–47) Stephen van Rensselaer II (1747–69) Abraham Ten Broeck (1769–84, de facto) Stephen van Rensselaer III (1784–1839)

Stephen van Rensselaer II (June 2, 1742 – October 19, 1769) was the six and youngest child of Stephen van Rensselaer I and Elizabeth Groesbeck.

Life

He was the eighth Patroon of Rensselaerwyck from 1747 to 1769. He was also the fifth Lord of the Manor.^[2]

As sole-surviving son, he inherited the Manor of Rensselaerwyck when he was 5 years old; the Manor was administered by his brother in law Abraham Ten Broeck until he came of age. At the age of twenty, Stephen II was commissioned a captain in the Albany County Militia.^[3] He built the new Manor House in 1765.

Family

In January 1764, he married Catherine Livingston (1745–1810), daughter of Philip Livingston, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his wife Christina Ten Broeck, and had the following children:

• Stephen van Rensselaer III (November 1, 1764 – January 26, 1839), sixth and last Patroon of Rensselaerwyck.
• Philip S. Van Rensselaer (April 15. 1767 - September 25, 1824), Mayor of the city of Albany, New York
• Elizabeth Van Rensselaer (1768–1841), first marriage to John Bradstreet Schuyler May 18, 1787, son of General Philip Schuyler and second marriage to John Bleeker in 1800.^[4]

Stephen Van Rensselaer II died in October 1769 at the age of twenty-seven.

See also

• Livingston family

References

1. Spooner 1907, p.17
2. Spooner, pp. 22, 23
3. Bielinski, Stefan. "Stephen Van Rensselaer II", New York State Museum
4. Reynolds, Cuyler (1914). Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. Retrieved 29 August 2016.