CONTENTS. CHAP. 1.-Early Family History, and the Settlement of CHAP. 2.-Jeremias, son of Kiliaen, succeeds his brother Jan Baptiste as Directeur of Rensselaerwyck. --- His marriage with Maria Van Cortlandt.-- CHAP. 5.-Col. Kiliaen Van Rensselaer.-Birth and early CHAP. 6.-Marriage and Professional life. REMINISCENCES OF BOYHOOD.- "Scotia."—" Cherry Hill." Visit of La Fayette.-Veterans of the Revo- lution. ANNALS. CHAPTER FIRST. EARLY FAMILY HISTORY AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE COLONIE. Their patronymic proves that our ancestors were landowners in the province of Guelderland, in the Netherlands, where it is found to-day attached to three places. (Notitia B.) It signifies "Deer's lair." We are apt to complain at the almost universal ignorance of the orthography of the name even among the best educated; and it is strange, considering the large place it occupies in the history of the nation, and its conspicuous position on every map of New York and even of the coast of Greenland. But it is reassuring to know that one of the marks that has distinguished it from common patronymics from the first, has been the great variety of spelling, of which we find the following specimens in ancient documents: Ranslaer; Renzelaer; Rentzelaer; Renselaer; Renselare; Rinselart; Renslaer; Rinzelar; Renzluer; Rensalaer; usually without the "Van," except in signatures, under their own hands. Kiliaen, first patroon of Rensselaerswyck, was born in Nykerk, in the province of Guelderland, and settled in Amsterdam, where he was engaged in the diamond and pearl trade carried on by the East India Company. He was fourth in descent from Hendrick Wolter Van Rensselaer. He had five sons and four daughters, all of them under age when he died in 1645, in the flower of his age. His sons were Johannes, son of Hillegonda Van Bylant; Jan Baptist, Jeremias, Nicolas and Rickert or Richard, by Anna Van Weely. We are descended from Jeremias, who married Maria Van Cortlandt, April 27, 1662. * They had two sons and two daughters. Kiliaen and Hendrick were the sons. We are descended from Hendrick, who married Catharine Van Bruggen, granddaughter of Anneke Janse Bogardus. They had three sons and six daughters. The sons were Johannes, Henry and Kiliaen. We are descended from their youngest son Kiliaen, who married Ariantje, daughter of Nicholas Schuyler, son of Philip and grandson of Philip Pietersen Schuyler and Margaretta Van Schlectenhorst. They had four sons and three daughters. The sons were Hendrick, Philip, Nicholas and Kiliaen. We are descended from Kiliaen, who married Margaretta Sanders. They had four sons, John Sanders, William, Richard and Barent or Bernard Sanders, and one daughter, Deborah, who died in infancy. John Sanders was my father. (Notitia A.) From Catharine, the second daughter, who married Johannes Ten Broeck, came Major John C. Ten Broeck, their grandson; and from Maria, the eldest, who married Samuel Ten Broeck, came his wife, Anna Van Schaick Ten Broeck, their granddaughter; the grandparents of General Thomas Hillhouse. Thus, my children are seventh in descent from Kiliaen, the Patroon, and eleventh from the founder, Hendrick Wolter. Four hundred years embraces twelve generations. My father was descended on both his father's and his mother's side, without an exception, from the families who had been in the New Netherlands from its first settlement-Schuylers, Van Cortlandts, Van Schlectenhorsts, Schlectenhorsts, Jansens, Bogardus, Van Bruggens, Wendells, De Meyers, Glens, Sanders-a striking proof of the care taken in making family alliances among our forefathers. The Patroonship of Rensselaerswyck was acquired, as all were, at command of the States General of Holland, by purchase from the Indians. It ran twenty-four miles along the Hudson river and twentyfour miles from it on either side. Subsequently it was increased by a purchase of land at Claverack, now in Columbia county. This immense tract of land was the home of savages, who lived and roamed unchecked through its boundless forests, and of whose ignorance mingled with cunning, and filthiness mixed with ferocity, the early records give vivid descriptions. Yet there is no evidence of any serious breach of the peace between them and the people of Rensselaerswyck, a marvelous contrast to the terrible experience of the lower Dutch settlements and the New England colonies. On the contrary, the Indians proved themselves many times most reliable allies to the settlers at Albany when threatened with attack by the French and Indians from Canada. "A Popular History of the United States," to which the honored name of Bryant is attached, gives the following version of the transactions of the |