Historic Cherry Hill
A New Old Piece to the Puzzle
Historic Cherry Hill's collection is essentially comprised of the entire contents of the house when Emily Rankin died in 1963. Therefore, the museum's collection policy is very limited in scope. In the past forty years we have accepted a few gifts of furniture and other objects from family relatives and friends, if we find that the pieces were at one time in the house. However, we typically do not purchase acquisitions. Recently, the museum made its second-ever purchase of an object to add to the collection, and the first-ever purchase of a manuscript document.
Routinely, Curator Erin Crissman and Researcher Mary Doehla search E-Bay for the occasional Van Rensselaer-Rankin related object. This time they found a fascinating one. At the end of March, the museum was excited to acquire a document relating to Philip Van Rensselaer's estate. This document, dated April 7, 1799 from the Supreme Court of Indentures in Albany, seeks payment of debt and damages from Philip Van Rensselaer's estate. Maria Van Rensselaer was sued by the Reformed Dutch Church in Albany for non-payment of the debt as well as damages. Having still not paid the debt one year later, (presumably in 1800 although no date was recorded) John Given, Sheriff, seized property from Cherry Hill in lieu of cash. Property seized consisted of: "Two Negro Men and Two Negro Women slaves, four horses and four cows." This document is particularly important as we know very few details regarding Philip Van Rensselaer's estate and even less about the disposition of his property after his death. This is a significant addition to our manuscript collection and will help us piece together the beginning of the end of the family's wealth and property that culminated with public auction of the house in 1884.
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