[1] Killian Killian Van Rensselaer was born on June 9, 1763, at the old family mansion owned by his uncle Johannes in Greenbush in the Province of New York[2][3] to Kiliaen Van Rensselaer (1717–1781) and his first wife, Ariantje "Harriet" Schuyler (1720–1763), who died four months after his birth.

[2] His father was commissioned as a Colonel of the 4th Regiment, Albany County Militia on October 20, 1775,[4] and was wounded during the Battles of Saratoga and received the highest compliments about his courage from General George Washington.

[10] The start of seventh Congress immediately followed the election of Thomas Jefferson over Aaron Burr by the preceding United States House of Representatives.

Van Rensselaer died on June 18, 1845, in Albany, New York, aged 82, and was interred in a private cemetery at East Greenbush.

[14] Killian's grandson was Charles van Rensselaer (1823–1857), the first officer on the SS Central America, when it was lost during a hurricane in September 1857.