Jeremiah Van Rensselaer (August 27, 1738 – February 19, 1810), from the prominent Van Rensselaer family, was the lieutenant governor of New York and a member of Congress in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New York in the 1st United States Congress.

Jeremiah Van Rensselaer was born on August 27, 1738, at the main home of his family's manor, "Rensselaerswyck" in the Province of New York, in what is now the city of Watervliet.

His older sister was Catherine van Rensselaer (1734–1803) who in 1755 married Philip Schuyler (1733–1804), a Revolutionary general and United States Senator from New York.

[8] He had many noteworthy cousins, including Killian K. Van Rensselaer (1763–1845), who was also a U.S. Representative that served in Congress from 1803 until 1811.

His maternal great-grandparents were Pieter Schuyler (1657–1724), the first Mayor of Albany, and Engeltie Van Schaick (d. 1689).

During the American Revolutionary War he was commissioned as an ensign in the third regiment of the New York Line where he served as a paymaster.

Together, they had one son:[14] In February 1764, after his first wife's death of Yellow Fever,[13] he married Helena "Lena" Lansing.