Jan Baptist van Rensselaer

His father was a successful diamond and pearl merchant from Amsterdam who was one of the founders and directors of the Dutch West India Company, instrumental in the establishment of New Netherland.

With him travelled twelve employees hired by the Patroon,[4] recruited from places where the Van Rensselaers had other interests.

[5] In May 1652, he was appointed Director of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck representing his brother Johan van Rensselaer (1625–1663), the second Patroon.

During his residence on the estate, he lived in a style befitting his position, having brought furniture, silverware, and other personal property of much value from Holland, including portraits of the members of the van Rensselaer family.

[6] In 1656, he provided the window pane representing the van Rensselaer coat of arms in the Dutch Church of Beverwyck .

A black, circular seal with a notched, outer border. The center contains a shield or crest with a crown atop it. In the shield is a beaver. Surrounding the shield are the words "SIGILLVM NOVI BELGII".
On a white background, three black glyphs appear, aligned vertically and connected along one vertical line which shares at least one line within each glyph except for the bottom one. On top is the number 4, written with the top closed. Its horizontal line extends to the right and is intercepted by a vertical line making a cross. Its vertical line continues below to form the vertical line of a letter R. That line continues down to connect to a letter W, which is written like two letters V crossing each other. The vertical line connects to this intersection point.