Display Patriot - P-309839 - Henry J VAN RENSSELAER/VANRENSSELAER
Henry J VAN RENSSELAER/VANRENSSELAER
SAR Patriot #:
P-309839
The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
Henry J. (Hendrick) Van Rensselaer was baptized 24 October 1742, a son of Johannes Van Rensselaer and Engeltje (Angelica) Livingston, at Albany, Albany County, New York. He married Rachel Douw, a daughter of Volkert Petrus Douw and Anna DePeyster, 17 November 1765, at Albany. She was baptized 17 February 1744/45, at Albany. They were the parents of seven known children: John, Engeltje (Angelica), Anna (also known as Nancy), Magdalena, Volkert, Jeremiah and Robert Hendrick.
Before the Revolutionary War, Van Rensselaer was a captain in a company of the British Army, of which his father was a colonel. By the time of the war, Van Rensselaer switched his allegiance. In 1777, Van Rensselaer was commissioned as a colonel for the patriots. Van Rensselaer served as a lieutenant colonel in the Eighth Regiment of the Albany County Militia, under his brother, Robert Van Rensselaer. In the 1780s, he was ordered to acquire supplies for the militia by Governor George Clinton. In 1786, Van Rensselaer requested and received repayment for monies that he had spent during the war.
In the 1790 U.S. Census, Van Rensselaer was enumerated at Claverack, with eleven slaves. In 1800 and 1810, he was enumerated at nearby Hudson, Columbia County, New York, with five slaves. In the 1800 and 1801 tax assessment of Hudson, Columbia County, New York, Van Rensselaer’s real estate was valued at $7,450.
Rachel Douw Van Rensselaer died 27 August 1799. She was buried at the Albany Rural Cemetery of Albany. Henry J. Van Rensselaer died 22 March 1813, at Columbia County, New York. He was buried at the Claverack Dutch Reformed Churchyard of Claverack, Columbia County, New York.
Sources:
Fernow, Berthold.: New York in the Revolution: Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York, Vol. 15, Pg. 267-268.
Ferris, Mary L. D.: “Colonel Henry T. Van Rensselaer, Master of Millburn.” The Quarterly Journal of the New York State Historical Association Vol. 5, No. 4 (October 1924) : Pg. 305-310.
Roberts, James A.: New York in the Revolution as Colony and State, Pg. 98.
Van Rensselaer, Florence: The Van Rensselaers in Holland and in America.
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