Cortlandt Van Rensselaer
{{Short description|American clergyman (1808–1860)}}
{{Infobox clergy
| name = Rev. Cortlandt Van Rensselaer
| image = Cortlandt Van Rensselaer (cropped).jpg
| signature = Appletons' Van Rensselaer Killian - Cortlandt signature.png
| birth_date = May 26, 1808
| birth_place = Albany, New York, US
| death_date = {{death date and age|1860|07|25|1808|5|26}}
| death_place = Burlington, New Jersey, US
| parents = Stephen Van Rensselaer III
Cornelia Paterson
| spouse = Catherine Ledyard
| children = 6, including Alexander
| relatives = See Van Rensselaer family
| alma_mater = Yale University
Union Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary
}}
Cortlandt Van Rensselaer (26 May 1808, in Albany, New York – 25 July 1860, in Burlington, New Jersey) was a Presbyterian clergyman from the United States.
Early life
He was a son of General Stephen Van Rensselaer and Cornelia Bell Paterson, his father's second wife. He graduated from Yale in 1827, and then studied at Union Theological Seminary, Prince Edward County, Virginia, (now Union Presbyterian Seminary) and at Princeton Theological Seminary.{{cite web|title=A sermon having some reference to the character of the late Rev. Cortlandt van Rensselaer, D.D., preached in the Second Presbyterian Church, Albany, Sabbath morning, September 16, 1860 [electronic resource] / by William B. Sprague.|url=http://lib.utep.edu:2082/search/d?Van+Rensselaer%2C+Cortlandt%2C+1808-1860&search_code=a|website=lib.utep.edu|publisher=University of Texas at El Paso Library|accessdate=31 October 2016}}
Career
He was a missionary to the slaves in Virginia 1833–1835. He was ordained in 1835, and became pastor of the Presbyterian church in Burlington, New Jersey, in 1837, of the 2nd Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C., in 1841, and agent of Princeton Theological Seminary in 1844, raising $100,000 for its endowment. He was secretary of the Presbyterian board of education 1846–1860, and founded and edited the Presbyterian Magazine and The Home, the School, and the Church.
The New York University gave him the degree of D.D. in 1845. Much of his large fortune was devoted to benevolent objects and to the religious enterprises of the Presbyterian church. After his death, selections from his published writings appeared under the title of Miscellaneous Sermons, Essays, and Addresses, edited by his son, Cortlandt Van Rensselaer (Philadelphia, 1861).{{cite web|title=Van Rensselaer, Cortlandt, 1808-1860 {{!}} The Online Books Page|url=http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Van%20Rensselaer%2C%20Cortlandt%2C%201808-1860|website=onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu|publisher=University of Pennsylvania|accessdate=31 October 2016}}
Personal life
He was married to Catherine Ledyard (1811–1882), sister of Henry Ledyard. They were children of New York lawyer Benjamin Ledyard and Susan French ({{nee}} Livingston) Ledyard (herself the daughter of Supreme Court Justice Henry Brockholst Livingston and granddaughter of New Jersey governor William Livingston).{{citation|title = THE HISTORY OF DETROIT AND MICHIGAN |author = Silas Farmer| year = 1889 |pages = 1041–1043|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yl06VbZ-RfwC&pg=1041}}). Together Cortlandt and Catherine had:
- Cortlandt Van Rensselaer (1838–1864), a captain in the U.S. Army,{{cite news|title=Capt. Cortlandt Van Rensselaer.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1863/05/16/news/capt-cortlandt-van-rensselaer.html|accessdate=22 February 2017|work=The New York Times|date=16 May 1863}} who died in Nashville, Tennessee with the 13th United States Infantry, aged 27.{{cite news|title=DIED.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1864/10/11/news/died.html|accessdate=22 February 2017|work=The New York Times|date=11 October 1864}}
- Philip Ledyard Van Rensselaer (1839–1873), who died at Vevey, Switzerland, aged 34.{{cite news|title=DIED.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1873/03/13/archives/died.html|accessdate=22 February 2017|work=The New York Times|date=13 March 1873}}
- Ledyard Van Rensselaer (1843–1892), who died unmarried{{cite news|title=OBITUARY {{!}} DR. LEDYARD VAN RENSSELAER|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1892/03/26/archives/obituary.html|accessdate=22 February 2017|work=The New York Times|date=26 March 1892}}
- Alice Cogswell Van Rensselaer (1846–1878), who married Edward Blanchard Hodge (1841–1906) in 1868.{{cite news|title=DEATH LIST OF A DAY.; The Rev. Edward B. Hodge.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1906/06/16/archives/death-list-of-a-day-the-rev-edward-b-hodge.html|accessdate=22 February 2017|work=The New York Times|date=16 June 1906}}
- Elizabeth Wadsworth Van Rensselaer (1848–1886)
- Alexander Van Rensselaer (1850–1933), who married Sarah Rozet Drexel Fell (1860–1929), daughter of Anthony Joseph Drexel (1826–1893){{cite news|last1=Times|first1=Special To The New York|title=VAN RENSSELAER KIN HEIRS; Stepchildren to Get Bulk of Millions Left by Philadelphia.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1933/07/23/archives/van-rensselaer-kin-heirs-stepchildren-to-get-bulk-of-millions-left.html|accessdate=22 February 2017|work=The New York Times|date=23 July 1933}}
Van Rensselaer died on July 25, 1860, in Burlington, New Jersey.{{cite news|title=DIED.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1860/07/28/news/died.html|accessdate=22 February 2017|work=The New York Times|date=28 July 1860}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
References
- {{Appletons' |last=Cabell |first=Isa Carrington |wstitle=Van Rensselaer, Killian|year=1889}}
{{PCUSA General Assembly moderators}}
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Category:Presbyterian Church in the United States of America ministers
Category:Yale University alumni