Stephen van Rensselaer I

Rensselaerswyck series
Dutch West India Company
The Patroon System
Map of Rensselaerswyck
Patroons of Rensselaerswyck: Various Jan Baptist van Rensselaer Jeremias van Rensselaer Kiliaen van Rensselaer Kiliaen van Rensselaer Jeremias van Rensselaer Stephen van Rensselaer I Stephen van Rensselaer II Abraham Ten Broeck Stephen van Rensselaer III

Stephen van Rensselaer I (March 23, 1707 – June 1747), was the second son of Kiliaen van Rensselaer and Maria van Cortlandt, who served briefly as the 7th Patroon of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck and 4th Lord of the Manor.

Stephen van Rensselaer was born on March 23, 1707 and was the second son of Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1663–1719) and Maria van Cortlandt.He grew up in the family manor house, just north of Albany, New York.

After the death of his brother, who did not marry and had no children, he became the seventh patroon of Rensselaerwyck and the fourth Lord of the Manor, serving from 1745 until his death in 1747.

He married Elizabeth Groesbeck on July 25, 1729 and had the following children:

• Elizabeth van Rensselaer (b. 1734), who married General Abraham Ten Broeck (1734–1810)
• Stephen van Rensselaer II (1742–1769), fifth Lord of Rensselaerwyck, who married Catherine Livingston (1745–1810)
• 4 other children

Upon his death in 1747, his brother-in-law, Abraham Ten Broeck was named co-administrator of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck until 1784 when his son, Stephen Van Rensselaer II, came of age.