Nicholas van Rensselaer (born in Amsterdam in September 1636 – died in Albany, New York, in November 1678) was a Reformed Dutch Church clergyman, and one time director of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck.
He subsequently went to England as chaplain to the Dutch embassy, and the king, recognizing him and recollecting his prediction, gave him a gold snuff box with his likeness in the lid.
[citation needed] In 1674, after the end of the Third Anglo-Dutch War when Edmund Andros was commissioned governor of New Netherland, Van Rensselaer accompanied him to North America,[2] bearing a letter of recommendation from the Duke of York, brother of Charles II who later became James II of England, in which he requested that Van Rensselaer be placed in charge of one of the Dutch churches in New York or Albany when there should be a vacancy.
[3] On Sunday, August 13, 1676, Nicholas van Rensselaer preached a sermon in the meeting house of the Dutch Reformed Church in Albany.
Van Rensselaer complained to the Albany Court that in misrepresenting his sermons, Leisler had alienated the congregation and that the preaching and talents of the Dominie had been brought into contempt.
Leisler failed to furnish the bond that was required of him, a warrant was issued for his arrest, and the churches and people were thrown into a ferment.
The court ordered the parties to "forgive and forget," and that Leisler and Milborne pay the whole costs, since they gave occasion for the differences.
[6] The Rensselaers in Holland hoped their brother's connections with the British royal family would help secure the patent for the Rensselaerwyck holdings.