Will of Stephen Van Rensselaer - 1747



In the name of God, Amen. I, STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER, of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck, in the County of Albany, Gentleman, being very sick. My body is to be buried in the new burying place, nigh the Manor House, a little above the middlemost Grist mill, to the south of the Fifth kill, where I desire a vault to be made for my corpse to be laid in. I dispose of my temporal estate as follows:

I leave to my only son, Stephen, all that my Manor of Rensselaerwyck, with all my stock of negroes, horses, and cattle, and implements of husbandry, to the said Manor belonging. I leave to my wife, Elizabeth, the use and profits of my whole estate during her widowhood, and the minority of my son and heir. If my wife should re-marry or die during the minority of my son, then my executors are to receive the property and use it till he be of age, and they are to provide for the maintainance and education of my children. All my plate, jewels, bills, bonds, and goods are to be inventoried and appraised by my executors, and 1/2 of them to be given to my wife, and 1/2 to my daughter Elizabeth, when she is of age or married. I leave to my daughter Elizabeth all my share of a certain tract of land in Albany County, called Watoms-patch, and also a lot of land in the Manor of Rensselaerwyck, fronting the road that leads to the Manor house, lying between the lot of Volkert Vanderberg and Abraham De Freest; Also a lot behind the lot of Jeremiah Schuyler, where he now lives, running up westerly, ranging with the street from the northwest corner of said Schuyler's house, 35 feet, and so southward, keeping the same breadth as far as the vacant ground goes, not as yet given or granted to any other person; Also 1/2 of a stream and saw mill where Christian Scham used to live on it formerly, on the east side of Hudson river, in the said Manor; And also 150 acres of land convenient to said mill, with the privilege of cutting and carrying away logs for the saw mill; Also free liberty of Commonage of pasture in the Manor; Also 300 acres of land at Hosick, lying upon Hosick creek, being the land that was given to me by the will of my father, Killian Van Rensselaer. If she or her heirs shall sell the said mill and land, then the purchaser shall pay yearly, forever, the tenths to the heir at law in possession of said Manor; But if she or her heirs retain the said lands, they shall only pay for each tract the sum of 3 shillings yearly in lieu of all rents.

If my wife should marry she shall have the use of the Island and the pasture over against it, now in possession of my mother, after the decease of my said mother; I also leave to my wife, Elizabeth, the Bowery on Conagone, now in possession of Hendrick Jong, during her life. But if she should be in want for her maintainance, she may sell it. Otherwise, the said farm shall return to my son, Stephen, and my daughter Elizabeth. I also leave to my daughter Elizabeth a lot of ground adjoining to the north of the lot of Isaac Fiele, lying on the west side of the road that leads from the Town to the Manor house, being 40 feet in breadth, and as long as the said Fiele's lot. I make my wife Elizabeth and my brother Jacobus, and John Baptist Van Rensselaer and my brother in law, Gerardus Groesbeck, executors of this will.

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notes

Will downloaded from online posting.

Transformed by SB

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first posted: 1/10/07