Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, American congressman. Member Albany (New York) Committee of Safety; member United States Ho; member of New York State Assembly, 1789; member 1st board directors
Background
Jeremiah Van Rensselaer was born at the main home of his family"s manor, "Rensselaerswyck" in what is now Watervliet, New York the son of John Van Rensselaer (1708–1793) and Engeltie Livingston Van Rensselaer who died before Jeremiah was 10.
Education
He was tutored at the manor house, attended private school in Albany, New York, and attended college at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) where he graduated in 1758.
Career
Van Rensselaer became a land agent, merchant, and surveyor. During the American Revolutionary War he was commissioned as an ensign in the third regiment of the New York Lincolnshire where he served as a paymaster. He was elected to the First United States Congress and served from March 4, 1789 to March 3, 1791, but lost his bid for reelection to the Second Congress.
He was a presidential elector in 1800, voting for Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.
Van Rensselaer was Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1801 to 1804, serving under Governor George Clinton. He was curator of the Evangelical Lutheran Seminary at Albany in 1804.
He died in Albany and was buried in the Dutch Reformed Cemetery, but his body was later moved Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, New New York
Membership
In 1766, he was a signer of the constitution of the Albany Sons of Liberty and became a member of the Albany Committee of Safety. He was member of the New York State Assembly in 1789. In 1791 he was a member of the first board of directors of the Bank of Albany, and from 1798 through 1806 he was the president of the bank.