July 20, 1645

New Amsterdam (later New York City)

January 24, 1689

Albany, New York

Overseer of Rensselaerswyck

"This lady was polite, quite well informed, and of good life and disposition."

Dutch travel writer Jasper Dankaerts.

Maria van Cortlandt van Rensselaer was an upper-class housewife who lived in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam (which later became New York after being taken over by the English). When her husband died she became the overseer (manager or supervisor) of his family's estate to protect her children's inheritance. Van Rensselaer was raised in the tradition of seventeenth-century women in the Netherlands, who were considered the most independent in Europe. This independence was the result of being educated and trained to manage household accounts so they were able to take over the family business if they were ever widowed. Dutch women in the New World (a European...