flooring, so that I could not see it, but I am promised the inscription. In the orphan asylum at Nykerk there is a very fine picture of the first regents-1638. The picture is painted by Breecker in 1645. There are two noblemen in the picture Nicholaus Van Delen and Jan Van Rensselaer. Every one present, while I was looking at the picture, thought that I looked very much like the Van Rensselaer. Of the four others, one is of Rykert Van Twiller, a connection of the Van Rensselaer family. Among the orphans is one named Van Twiller, and we therefore contributed a small sum for him. It would be very easy to have a large photograph taken of this picture. I do not suppose it would cost over twenty dollars to have a number of copies. If it should be wanted by any of the Van Rensselaers I could easily arrange it. The notary at Nykerk was very kind and gave me a deed signed by Richard Van Rensselaer June 5, 1777. It conveys a small piece of land near Nykerk. The original manor of the family, from which the Van Rensselaers took their name, still is called "Rensselaer," and is about three miles south-east of Nykerk. It was originally a Reddergoed, the possession of which conferred nobility. Two other Van Rensselaers are named in the lists of regents of the orphan asylum-Richard in 1753, and Jeremias in 1803.

The last member of the family in Holland who bore the name was Jeremias Van Rensselaer. He died in Nykerk April 11, 1819. He married Judee Henrietta Duval, had no children, and in his will stated that, except his wife, he had no heirs except the Van Rensselaer family then living somewhere in America. My friend, Mr. Van Rensselaer Beusekom, married the daughter of a Van Bowier, related to Sir George Bowyer, a well-known Catholic member of the English Parliament. The wife of Van Bowier was a Miss Van Rensselaer, the last of that branch. Mrs. Van Beusekom's brothers have now the royal license to assume the name and arms of Van Rensselaer. The eldest and head of the family is now the commander of the Dutch naval forces off Atchin, and on his return this autumn will be promoted to Admiral.

Mrs. Van Bowier, the mother of Mrs. Van Beusekom, was born at the Crailo, then in the Van Rensselaer possession. I am told it is a large estate for Holland, and is near the town of Naarden, which is on the Zuider Zee, between Amsterdam and Amersfoort. It is now all divided and sold.

The estate of

It rained so hard that I could not go there. Rensselaer, near Nykerk, is now only a farm. All the old buildings have been taken down. A few years ago there were gables and weather-cocks, with the arms and crest, but all are now removed. There was scarcely a church that I visited in Guelderland that did not have, somewhere, the Van Rensselaer arms on tomb-stones, either alone or quartered with others. I am told that they married with all the best families, and at one time had much influence. I shall have inquires made about Richard Van Rensselaer, who was burgomaster or treasurer of Vianew in 1695. It seems that Vianew was a town which possessed to a late date the right of asylnm for criminals, and to prevent the privilege from being abused the burgomaster was appointed by the States General.

The exact arms of the Van Rensselaers are a white or silver cross on a red ground. The crest is a white basket, not castle, with yellow flames, above a closed helmet. The cross is exactly represented in Webster's Dictionary, under the word " "pomme."

Eugene Schuyler.

Richard, youngest son of the first Patroon, came to Albany, and was one of its magistrates for several years. He occupied the bouwery called the "flatts," four miles north of the city, which, on his return to Holland, about 1670, he sold to Philip Schuyler. After his return to Holland he was employed in public life, at one time treasurer of Vianew, and also burgomaster. He died after 1695, leaving five sons and three daughters, of whom four sons and one daughter were married. It will be seen that the first Patroon had five grandsons married and settled in Holland, and only two in America. The line in Holland is extinguished; none left to bear the name, not even an heir to Jeremias Van Rensselaer when he died in 1819. On the other hand, the American line has extended and is extending almost indefinitely. The heirs of the first patroon held his estates in common until 1695, nearly fifty years after his death. At that time all his children were dead except his youngest son, Richard, and his daughter, Leonora.

In 1695, Killian Van Rensselaer, of Holland (son of Jan Baptist Van Rensselaer, deceased), came to New York, and entered into negotiation with his cousin, Killian Van Rensselaer, of Albany (son of Jeremias Van Rensselaer,

deceased), for a settlement of their grandfather's estate. On the 25th November, 1695, the settlement was complete and the legal papers executed. The Hollander for himself, and as attorney for his uncle Richard, his aunt Leonora and the children of his aunt Susanna, deceased, released to the Albanian for himself, and as attorney for his brothers Johannes and Hendrick, and for his sisters Anna and Maria, all the manor of Rensselaerwyck, "containing 700,000 acres of tillable land," all the Claverack tract of 60,000 acres, except three farms, and all the personal property except "700 pieces of eight." ($700.) The Albanian released to the Hollander all the estate, real, personal and contingent, in Holland, of which the Crailo estate, and a tract of land in Guelderland formed a part.

Four of the nine children of the first Patroon had died without heirs. His widow was also dead. Consequently the estate was divided into five parts, one for the family in Albany and the other four for the heirs in Holland. Measuring the whole estate by our conceptions of the value of that in America we would be likely to form an erroneous judgment as to its amount. Lands at that time in the province of New York were cheap, very cheap. Hundreds of acres could be bought of the Indians for goods and trinkets which did not cost as many hundreds of cents. The whole estate measured by the sum which the Hollander stipulated to pay to his unmarried aunt, Leonora, 2,000 guilders ($800) "Holland money, in one payment," could not have been large in the modern sense. But then a guilder (forty cents) in solid cash at that time was equivalent to several of our gold dollars now, to say nothing of the fiat silver dollar. George W. Schuyler.

C., p. 14.

THE VAN RENSSELAER MOTTO AND CREST.

Holgate in his American Genealogy is the authority for "Niemand Zonder:" "The coat-of-arms of the family is remarkable for a cross bearing the motto, Niemand Zonder, 'no one without (a cross),'" p. 41. His sources of information were original "the family memorials; " he is very accurate and does not depend on mere tradition. The crusader's cross is said to have been granted for services