Kiliaen Van Rensselaer was a man of energy and executive ability, and strove to increase the growth, importance, and prosperity of Rensselaerwyck in accordance with the Patroon system. It has been said that he visited his estate in the New Netherlands in 1637, but no proof has been found and the report is discredited. A distant landlord frequently is in ignorance, and sometimes designedly kept so, of the actual state of affairs in his estate, which would be remedied if he were present. The Patroon was represented in New Netherlands, when absent, by agents, partners, or directors. Kiliaen admitted into a limited partnership in his estate three prominent members of the Amsterdam Chamber of the Dutch West India Company, namely, Samuel Godyn, Johannes de Laet, and Samuel Blommaert, in order the sooner and more effectively to present to the public the attractions of Rensselaerwyck, and, presumably, also to abate the ill feeling against him in the Netherlands for his having taken advantage of his position to secure such an immense estate. Van Rensselaer dominated that partnership and again became sole proprietor. Kiliaen died in 1646 and his son, Johannes, then a minor, under the right of primogeniture, became Patroon and continued to be until 1658, when he died. His interests in Rensselaerwyck were cared for at first by Van Slechtenhorst, or until 1652, and then by the Patroon’s half brother, Jan Baptiste. In 1658 Jeremias, the second son of Kiliaen, became director and subsequently proprietor of Rensselaerwyck and was the first of the Patroons to reside in, or even visit, the estate in New Netherlands. There were eight of the Van Rensselaers called Patroons, namely and in the order of primogeniture except in the case of Jeremias: First.—Kiliaen, from 1629 to 1646. Second.—Johannes, from 1646 to 1658. Third.—Jeremias, from 1658 to 1674. Fourth.—Kiliaen 2d, from 1674 to 1720. Fifth.—Stephen, from 1720 to 1747. Sixth.—Stephen 2d, from 1747 to 1769. Seventh.—Stephen 3d, from 1769 to 1839. Eighth.—Stephen 4th, from 1839 to 1868. Under the Constitution and laws of the United States in 1787 the Rensselaerwyck could no longer be entailed and it was divided by Stephen 3d (the seventh Patroon) between his sons Stephen 4th (called Patroon merely by courtesy) and William Patterson—the former getting the mansion, title, and the estate in Albany, and the latter the estate east of the Hudson.