Johan van Rensselaer also Johannes van Rensselaer (Amsterdam, 4 September 1625 –

Nijkerk Nijkerk (; Dutch Low Saxon: ''Niekark'') is a municipality and a city located in the middle of the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_ ...

, 6 May 1663), second

patroon In the United States, a patroon (; from Dutch '' patroon'' ) was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland on the east coast of North America. Through the Charter of Freedoms ...

of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, was the eldest son of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, and his only son by his first wife, Hillegonda van Bylaer.

Life

Being a minor of about nineteen years when his father died in 1643, the estates in Holland and at Rensselaerswyck were placed in charge of executors, Johan's first cousin

Wouter van Twiller Wouter van Twiller (May 22, 1606 – buried August 29, 1654) was an employee of the Dutch West India Company and the fourth Director of New Netherland. He governed from 1632 until 1638, succeeding Peter Minuit, who was recalled by the Dutch ...

and Johan van Wely. The executors attempted to have Johannes confirmed as Patroon, but the partners prevented it. Van Twiller and Van Wely then appointed Brant Aertsz van Slichtenhorst as Director of Rensselaerwyck.Roper, Louis H. and Van Ruymbeke, Bertrand. ''Constructing Early Modern Empires: Proprietary Ventures in the Atlantic World, 1500-1750'', Brill, 2007
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Samuel Blommaert Samuel Blommaert (''Bloemaert'', ''Blommaerts'', ''Blommaart'', ''Blomert'', etc.) (11 or 21 August 1583, in Antwerp – 23 December 1651, in Amsterdam) was a Flemish/Dutch merchant and director of the Dutch West India Company from 1622 to 1629 ...

and

Joannes de Laet Joannes or Johannes De Laet (Latinized as ''Ioannes Latius'') (1581 in Antwerp – buried 15 December 1649, in Leiden) was a Dutch geographer and director of the Dutch West India Company. Philip Burden called his ''History of the New World'' ...

tried to get more influence in the

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

, as both owned one fifth and opened a legal case.

Patroon

In 1650, when he was 25 years old, Johannes became head of the family. The

States-General of the Netherlands The States General of the Netherlands ( nl, Staten-Generaal ) is the supreme bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate () and the House of Representatives (). Both chambers meet at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The States ...

decided in the same year that he was allowed to keep his title and call himself "patron" of Rensselaerswyck, and that the Patroon be more accountable to the shareholders. Among the papers of the New York Public Library is a letter from Johan Rensselaer, Patroon of Rensselaerwyck and his partners to the Burgomasters of Amsterdam seeking intervention to correct abuses by Governor Stuyvesant against the liberties of the colony, an apparent reference to the Governor's 1648 dispute with Van Slechtenhorst at

Fort Orange Fort Orange ( nl, Fort Oranje) was the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Netherland; the present-day city of Albany, New York developed at this site. It was built in 1624 as a replacement for Fort Nassau, which had been built on nearb ...

. Johannes never visited Rensselaerswyck. His brother Jan Baptist van Rensselaer and their 19-year-old brother Jeremias sailed from Amsterdam sometime after March 20, 1651 on the ''Gelderse Blom'' (Gelderland Flower) to organize the estate. With them travelled a dozen employees hired by the Patroon,Nieuwenhuis, Pim. "Abstracts from Notarial Documents in the Amsterdam Archives", New Netherland Connections recruited from places where the Van Rensselaers had other interests. In 1656, the director general and council in New Amsterdam announced plans to begin collecting tithes, which heretofore had been collected by the patroonship for the support of the Dutch Reformed minister. Jan Baptist, as Director, submitted a remonstrance in which he pointed out that under the 1629 charter, Rensselaerwyck was exempt. The patron and his partners in Amsterdam lodged a protest, but the West India Company procrastinated until the English seized control in 1664.

Personal life

In 1655 Johannes married his cousin Elizabeth van Twiller and they had two children: * Kiliaen van Rensselaer, who became the fourth Patroon. *Nella van Rensselaer, who married Johan de Swardt Johan died on May 6, 1663 and his children went under the guardianship of their uncle Jan Baptist.

References

;Notes ;Sources :This article incorporates text from an article in
American Historical Magazine
'' by W. W. Spooner (1907), a publication now in the

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.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Rensselaer, Johan Van 1625 births 1663 deaths Johan Nobility from Amsterdam Dutch West India Company people from Amsterdam