Arent van Curler was born at Nykerk, in the Netherlands, and was baptized February 6, 1620. According to one account he was the son of Hendrik, and according to another, of Joachim van Curler; he was a grand-nephew of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the first patroon of Rensselaerswyck on the upper Hudson in New Netherland.
In his eighteenth year, Van Curler came to New Netherland as assistant to the commissary of Rensselaerswyck; later he was secretary and bookkeeper. In 1641, he received the title of commis and assumed full representative authority in government and trade, with some judicial powers. The tenant farmers of Rensselaerswyck, unskilled in New World agriculture, were supplied by the patroon with houses, capital and all the facilities of production.
In addition to duties connected with these allotments, the commis had responsibilities relating to the breeding of horses and cattle, the care of a growing fur trade, and the fostering of an export trade along the Atlantic coast. Exact accounts of all transactions were to be sent to the patroons. A sharp reminder from Amsterdam that reports were deficient and in arrears brought from Van Curler the letter of June 16, 1643, in which some of the difficulties attending the experiment of absentee farming in the wilds of New Netherland were pointed out.
Van Curler complained that Adriaen van der Donck, an officer of justice and schout, labored to undermine him, and betrayed the patroon's interests. Relief came when Van der Donck removed to his estate by the Harlem River. In 1645, he visited Holland. From the second patroon, Johannes van Rensselaer, he obtained the lease of a farm four miles north of the present Albany. Desiring a more congenial field for his ambitions, Van Curler in 1661, procured from Director Petrus Stuyvesant a license to purchase the Indian flat, Schonowe, on the Mohawk, to which in the following year he removed. The settlement planted there became Schenectady.
Van Curler gained an enduring influence over the neighboring Indian tribes. He interposed with success to save Father Isaac Jogues and his companions from death at the hands of the Mohawks. In 1660, he took part in the treaty which terminated the first Esopus war. At this period the relations of the French in Canada with their southern neighbors did not forbid exchanges of goodwill.
In the winter of 1666, when Governor De Courcelle, in an ill-considered expedition into the Mohawk country, faced starvation with his force, Van Curler headed a movement to supply them with provisions. A year later, De Tracy, the Canadian lieutenant-general, sent Van Curler an invitation to visit him in Canada. Accompanied by several Indians, Van Curler set forth by the way of Lake Champlain. Embarking in a small boat, he was overtaken by a sudden gale and was drowned.
Perou Bay, the scene of the disaster, was long known as Corlaer's Bay. A more impressive memorial was the name, Corlaer, which the Indians thereafter bestowed on the English governors of New York in commemoration of Van Curler's courage and human understanding. A memorial tablet was dedicated in Schenectady in 1909.
In 1644, Van Curler married Anthonia Slachboom, widow of Jonas Bronck.
