Henry Bell Van Rensselaer

Henry Bell Van Rensselaer (May 14, 1810 – March 23, 1864) was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and a politician who served in the United States Congress as a Representative from the state of New York.

Early life

Henry Van Rensselaer was born at the manor house in Albany, New York. He was the son of Stephen Van Rensselaer III (1764–1839), who was also a Representative and founder of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Cornelia Paterson, the daughter of William Paterson, the 2nd Governor of New Jersey, and later, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Henry graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1831.

Career

He was appointed a brevet Second Lieutenant of the Fifth Regiment, United States Infantry on July 1, 1831, and resigned January 27, 1832. He then engaged in agricultural pursuits near Ogdensburg, New York, and served as a military aide to Governor William H. Seward from 1839 to 1840.

Van Rensselaer was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-seventh United States Congress, and served from March 4, 1841 to March 3, 1843. He was subsequently president of several mining companies. He was a director of the Northern Railroad (later the Rutland Railroad), but resigned to help found the Ogdensburg, Clayton and Rome Railroad.

U.S. Civil War

Upon the outbreak of the American Civil War, he reentered the military service with the rank of colonel in the Union Army, and was appointed chief of staff to General Winfield Scott. He served as an inspector general of several corps and departments from March 1862 until his death.

Personal life

On August 22, 1833, Van Rensselaer married Elizabeth Ray King (1815–1900), daughter of John Alsop King, the Governor of New York, and Mary Ray. Elizabeth's maternal grandfather was U.S. Senator Rufus King. Together, they had:

• Mary Van Rensselaer (1834–1902), who married John Henry Screven (1823–1903) in 1874
• Cornelia Van Rensselaer (1836–1864), who married James Lenox Kennedy (d. 1864)
• Stephen Van Rensselaer (1838–1904), who married Mathilda Coster Heckscher (1838–1915)
• Henry Van Rensselaer, who died young
• Euphemia Van Rensselaer (1842–), who became a Sister of Charity and took the name Marie Dolores.
• Elizabeth Van Rensselaer (1845–1911), who married George Waddington
• John King Van Rensselaer (1847–1909), who married May Denning King (1848–1925), granddaughter of James Gore King.
• Katherine Van Rensselaer (1849–1901), who married Dr. Francis Delafield (1841–1915), son of Dr. Edward Delafied, in 1870.
• Henry Van Rensselaer (1851–), who joined the Society of Jesuits
• Westerlo Van Rensselaer (1853–1857), who died young.

Van Rensselaer died in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was interred in the Grace Episcopal Churchyard, in Jamaica, Queens in New York City.

Descendants

Through his granddaughter, Julia Floyd Delafield, Henry was the great-grandparents of Floyd Crosby (1899–1985), the father of David Crosby and Jane Wyatt.