Jeremiah Van Rensselaer ( 1738-1810 ): [Section 49 Lot 1]
First US Congressman from New York elected immediately after adoption of the US Constitution, voted to adopt the Bill of Rights, Lieutenant Governor of NY, New York Assemblyman, member of the Albany Committee of Safety, Director and later President of the Bank of Albany.
Born in August 1738, Jeremiah Van Rensselaer was the son of John and Engeltie Livingston Van Rensselaer. Losing his mother before his tenth birthday, the boy grew up at Crailo, the home built on the Hudson River in Rensselaer by his Grandfather Hendrick, as well as at his father's city house in the first ward of Albany. (The house in Crailo is a State Historic site at 9 ½ Riverside Avenue, about ½ mile SW of todays’ Albany Rensselaer Amtrack Station.)
Jeremiah was educated by tutors and then sent to Nassau Hall at the College of New Jersey, now known as Princeton University, where he graduated in 1758. After some time in New York, he returned to Albany to settle down and raise a family.
In 1760, he married Judith Bayard, daughter of a notable New York business family. Their son was born in December 1762. Following her death of Yellow Fever, he wed Helena Lansing in February 1764. His marriages produced two surviving sons, one of whom became a Congressman. Jeremiah Van Rensselaer was a member, pewholder, and frequent baptism sponsor at the Albany Dutch church where a number of children were named for him.
In 1764, his name was listed as an Albany vendor engaging in importing to supply the Indian trade. In 1771, he was a land agent advertising in the newly formed Albany Gazette, the city’s first newspaper. He also was known as a surveyor.
He lived in the Van Rensselaer family house on the East side of Pearl Street and owned other lots in the city as well. In 1774, he became proprietor of the so-called "Van Rensselaer Patent" of more than 28,000 acres in what is today Fulton County.
He was first elected to the city council as assistant alderman for the second ward in 1770, re-elected each year until the war caused the Albany corporation to suspend its operations. He was active in committee work and was reimbursed frequently for expenses.
Jeremiah Van Rensselaer was an early supporter of the crusade for American liberties. In 1766, he was a leading signatory of the constitution of the Albany Sons of Liberty. Known beyond Albany as a patriot leader, he represented the second ward on the Albany Committee of Correspondence, then served on the Albany County Board of the Commissioners for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies, and later was appointed to the Commissioners of Forfeitures for New York State.
At the outbreak of hostilities, Jeremiah Van Rensselaer was in his late thirties and was commissioned an ensign in the third regiment of the New York Line. He served in the Revolutionary army, primarily as paymaster.
During the late 1780s, he emerged as a leader of Albany's opposition to the proposed Federal Constitution - perhaps being the only Antifederalist member of the Van Rensselaer family He corresponded with Republican notables including Thomas Jefferson.
He served in the first Federal Congress 1789-91. He was a presidential elector in 1800, voting for Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.
In 1790 and in 1800, his home was an Albany landmark that was attended by three slaves.
One of the first directors of the Bank of Albany in 1792 and later president of the bank. In 1795, he was appointed one of the commissioners for building a state hall in Albany. In 1796, he was a partner in a window factory in Hamilton, New York. He belonged to a number of civic organizations including the Albany Mechanics Society.
He was chosen Lieutenant Governor of New York State in 1801 and served during Governor George Clinton's last term ending in 1804.
Jeremiah Van Rensselaer died on February 19, 1810 in Albany and was buried in the Dutch Reformed cemetery there. His body was later moved to the Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, New York.