Historic Cherry Hill

Solomon Van Rensselaer was born August 6, 1774 and was baptized in the Albany (N.Y.) Reformed Dutch Church. He joined the U.S. Army in 1792 as cornet of cavalry and was discharged in 1800. He served as Adjutant General of New York (State) from 1801 to 1809, 1810 to 1811, and 1813 to 1821. Van Rensselaer served in the War of 1812 as aide-de-camp to Major General Stephen Van Rensselaer. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1818 and re-elected in 1820. He opposed the Missouri Compromise. In 1822 he resigned his seat in the U.S. Congress to accept a postmastership in Albany, N.Y. where he served as postmaster until 1839. In 1839 he was a delegate to the Whig Convention at Harrisburg. Van Rensselaer died April 23, 1852.