Stephen Van Rensselaer IV

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Stephen Van Rensselaer IV (1789–1868), known as the “Young Patroon” and sometimes called the last of the patroons, was the last patroon of Rensselaerswyck in upstate New York. He became the 10th Patroon and 7th Lord of the Manor after his father, Stephen Van Rensselaer III, died in 1839.

He was born on March 29, 1789, in Albany, New York, the son of Stephen Van Rensselaer III and Margarita Schuyler. His father was New York’s Lieutenant Governor from 1795 to 1801. He was the only one of his parents’ children to reach adulthood. Through his father’s second marriage, he gained two notable half-brothers, Cortlandt Van Rensselaer and Henry Bell Van Rensselaer.

Van Rensselaer graduated from Princeton University in 1808. After his father’s death, he inherited the West Manor of Rensselaerswyck and moved to the manor house in 1840, making improvements to the estate.

Under his father’s will, he and his brothers were to collect back rents to help pay debts. When tenants learned of the rent demands, they organized a widespread anti-rent movement against landlord power. Van Rensselaer refused to compromise, leading to evictions and ongoing conflict. The movement influenced state politics and helped push reforms between 1845 and 1851 that limited how land could be leased and how rents could be collected. Over time, the family sold many of its rights in the estate, and by the 1850s the remaining leases were transferred to external buyers.

He married Harriet Elizabeth Bayard on January 2, 1813. They had several children who survived to adulthood. After his wife’s death, the manor house and much of the estate were managed as part of the family holdings.

Stephen Van Rensselaer IV died on May 28, 1868, in Albany, New York. In his will, he left the manor house and grounds to his widow and provided for other parts of the estate to be distributed among his children and heirs. The overall estate was valued at about $1.5 million at the time. His legacy includes the end of the patroon system on Rensselaerswyck and the many changes in land law and property rights that followed.