Kiliaen van Rensselaer (merchant)

Kiliaen van Rensselaer
1st Patroon of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck
In office 1630–1643
Preceded by	Created
Succeeded by	Johan van Rensselaer
Personal details
Born	1586[a] Hasselt, Netherlands
Died	October 1643[b] Amsterdam, Netherlands
Spouses	Hillegonda van Bijler ​ ​ (m. 1616; died 1626)​ Anna van Wely ​ (m. 1627)​
Children	11, including Johan, Jan, Jeremias and Nicholas
Parent	Hendrick van Rensselaer Maria Pafraet
Occupation	Diamond and pearl merchant, patroon
Known for	An original director of the Dutch West India Company, founding patroon of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck
Signature
No portrait of Kiliaen van Rensselaer is known to exist.[1]

Kiliaen van Rensselaer (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈkɪlijaːn vɑn ˈrɛnsəlaːr] ^ⓘ; 1586^[a] – buried 7 October 1643^[b])^[2] 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,^[3] a soldier from Nijkerk in the States army of the duke of Upper Saxony, and Maria Pafraet, descendant of a well-known printers' dynasty.^[2] 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,^[b] 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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