Cortlandt Van Rensselaer

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.
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).
Personal life.
He was married to Catherine Ledyard (1811–1882), sister of Henry Ledyard. Together Cortlandt and Catherine had:
Van Rensselaer died on July 25, 1860 in Burlington, New Jersey.