Jeremias van Rensselaer was born on May 16, 1632 in Amsterdam, the second son of Kiliaen van Rensselaer and Anna van Wely, his father's second wife. He grew up on Keizersgracht, and received a Calvinist education. Among his siblings was older half-brother Johan van Rensselaer, who eventually became the 2nd Patroon in 1643 upon their father's death. Another older brother, Jan Baptist van Rensselaer, became the 3rd Patroon in 1652.
New Netherlands
In 1654, he sailed from Amsterdam on the Gelderse Blom, to the Dutch colony of New Netherland. He returned to Holland by the Beaver, October 28, 1655, and sailed the second time from Amsterdam on the Gilded Otter, shortly after June 14, 1656. In 1658, his older brother Jan Baptist returned to Amsterdam and Jeremias succeeded him as Director of Rensselaerwyck on September 24, 1658. Jeremias was the first of his family to establish himself permanently in America, the remaining sixteen years of his life being devoted to the government of the colony.
Manor of Rensselaerswyck
Pursuing the policies begun under the vice-directors, he became a man of great influence among the Indians, and "so attached them to him that they guarded his estates as carefully as they did their own." To the French in Canada he was known as one of the representative and ablest men of the Dutch and English colonies. He had the good judgment to adjust the acute differences with Peter Stuyvesant which had troubled the administrations of his brother and van Slichtenhorst, and during the brief residue of the Dutch authority in New Netherland was on excellent terms with the governor. In 1661, eight chairs, a bed, a mirror and a cupboard were sent to him from the Dutch Republic. In 1664, Jan Baptist, Elisabeth van Twiller, the widow of Johan, Leonora and Susanna decided to sell all their property in and around Rensselaerswijck to Jeremias. His younger brother Rijckert went to the colony to assist him. On the occasion of the landtsdagh or diet summoned by Stuyvesant early in 1664 to deliberate on the critical condition of the province—this being the first general representative assembly held within the present state of New York—he served as presiding officer of that body.
After the surrender to the English in September 1664, he took the oath to the new government, and the rights and immunities enjoyed by his family in its colony were recognized, though the precise future status of the property was not settled in his time. He desired to obtain a new patent in the name of his family, and, failing in this, was privately advised to move in the matter as an individual, and so obtained a regrant of Rensselarswyck in his personal name. This counsel he rejected indignantly, saying he was but a coheir, and would not defraud his brothers and sisters. He finally obtained from Governor Andros a patent "to the heirs of Kiliaen van Rensselaer," which, while in a sense only provisional, served all necessary purposes until the manor grant of 1685.
Succession
As his nephew, Kiliaen van Rensselaer, was still a minor upon Jeremias' death in 1674, Jeremias' younger brother, Nicholas van Rensselaer, succeeded him as Director of Rensselaerwyck until his death in 1678 at which point Kiliaen became the 4th Patroon.
Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, who became the 5th patroon and 2nd Lord of Rensselaerswyck Manor in 1687. He married his first cousin, Maria Van Cortlandt, in 1701.
Jeremias died in Rensselaerswyck on October 12, 1674. He left a voluminous correspondence, together with a minute chronicle of events in America, under the title of the "New Netherland Mercury". His great industry and methodical habits have been remarked upon by many writers. His widow died in January 1689.
