William Paterson Van Rensselaer

William Paterson Van Rensselaer (March 6, 1805 – November 13, 1872) was an American attorney, landowner, and businessman from New York. Early life Van Rensselaer was born on March 6, 1805, at the Van Rensselaer Manor House in Albany, New York. He was the eldest son of Gen. Stephen Van Rensselaer and, his second wife, Cornelia Bell Paterson. Among his siblings were the Rev. Cortlandt Van Rensselaer (father of Alexander Van Rensselaer), and U.S. Representative Henry Bell Van Rensselaer, who was a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. His paternal grandparents were Stephen van Rensselaer II, the 9th patroon of Rensselaerswyck, and Catharina ( Livingston) Van Rensselaer (daughter of Philip Livingston, a signer of the Declaration of Independence). After his grandfather's death in 1769, his grandmother married the Rev. Eilardus Westerlo. His maternal grandparents were Cornelia ( Bell) Paterson and William Paterson, the 2nd Governor of New Jersey, U.S. Senator, and later, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States appointed by President George Washington. After a preparatory education, he attended Yale College, graduating in the class of 1824. Following his graduation, Van Rensselaer was appointed as aide-de-camp on the military staff of Governor DeWitt Clinton with the rank of colonel.