Stephen Van Rensselaer III (1764-1839)

US Congressman, Lieutenant Governor of New York, New York State Senator, Educator. He was the fifth and last Dutch Patroon in direct descent from the first Patroon Kiliaen Van Rensselaer. He inherited a vast landed estate in Rensselaer and Albany counties when he was only five years old. His marriage to Cornelia Bell Paterson, daughter of politician William Paterson, helped form a transition from the old order to the politics of the young nation. After graduating from Harvard, he served the New York state assembly from Albany County followed by the state senate and Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1795-1801. He was in the US Army during the War of 1812. Following the war he was elected in 1821 as the US Representative from New York and would serve in Congress until 1929. His vision and support enabled Amos Eaton to found the Rensselaer School in 1824 which later became Rensselaer Polytechinic Institute. It was "...the first school of science and school of civil engineering, which has had a continuous existence, to be established in any English-speaking country" according to Palmer Chamberlaine Ricketts in his preface to the second edition of his History of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1914). He was known to be a lenient landlord for over 3000 tenants. His son Henry Bell Van Rensselaer followed him to also become a US Congressman. He was first buried in the family vault at the Van Rensselaer Manor House, but was later reinterred in the family lot at Menands when that home was demolished.

Bio by: D C McJonathan-Swarm