Stephen Van Rensselaer III

Stephen Van Rensselaer III was the last patroon, the ninth and final Dutch patroon descended directly from the first land baron, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, a wealthy Amsterdam jewel merchant who established the patroonship known as Rensselaerswyck, a vast tract of land that included all of present-day Albany and Rensselaer counties.

Van Rensselaer was born in New York City on November 1, 1764, as the firstborn of Stephen Van Rensselaer II and Catharina Livingston. He grew up in baronial splendor at the family manor just north of Albany. His father died when Stephen was 5 and the will designated him, literally, as "Lord of the Manor." He graduated from Harvard in 1782 and married Margarita Schuyler, daughter of Gen. Philip Schuyler, uniting the two most prominent Dutch families in Albany. He was 19 and she was 25. His father's will gave him ownership of Rensselaerswyck in 1784 at age 21 and the extraordinary wealth that flowed from it.

Van Rensselaer's wife died in 1801, leaving him with three young children. The following year, he married Cornelia Patterson and she bore the patroon 10 more children.

Van Rensselaer did not have to hold any job, but he filled his days with public service and philanthropy. He was elected to numerous offices, including state assemblyman, senator, lieutenant governor, general of the state militia during the War of 1812 and member of Congress. He served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and was chairman of the powerful Committee on Agriculture. He was a congressman when he cast the historic, deciding vote for John Quincy Adams for president in 1825, giving Adams the edge over Andrew Jackson as the sixth president of the United States.

Van Rensselaer provided financial support to Amos Eaton and is credited with being a founder in 1824 of the Rensselaer School (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute today), the first school of science and engineering in the country. He was the leading investor of the Mohawk & Hudson Railway and financed technological innovations in the industry. He also backed the planning of the Erie Canal and was the founder and first president of Albany Savings Bank.

Van Rensselaer oversaw more than 3,000 tenant farmers in Rensselaerswyck and he was widely regarded as a lenient landlord. Money was never a problem for Van Rensselaer, whose land holdings totaled more than half a million acres. When he died on January 26, 1839, his estate was valued at $10 million, which was calculated to be worth $68 billion in today's dollars. According to Fortune magazine, that figure placed Van Rensselaer as the 10th richest American and 22nd richest person worldwide of all time.

The last patroon was buried in the family cemetery behind the Van Rensselaer Manor House, overlooking the Hudson River at Patroon's Creek, north of Albany, in what is an industrial stretch of Menands today.