James I. Van Alen

James I. Van Alen
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 8th district
In office March 4, 1807 – March 3, 1809
Preceded by	Henry W. Livingston
Succeeded by	John Thompson
Personal details
Born	December 31, 1772 Kinderhook, New York
Died	May 18, 1822 (aged 49) Kinderhook, New York
Political party	Democratic-Republican

Baptism record, James I. Van Alen. "James" is the Anglicized version of the Dutch "Jacobus."

James Isaac Van Alen (December 31, 1772 – May 18, 1822) was a United States Representative from New York and a half brother of U.S. President Martin Van Buren.

Biography

James I. Van Alen was born in Kinderhook, New York on December 31, 1772,^[1] the son of Johannes Van Alen and Marytje Goes (or Hoes) Van Alen.^[2] On January 1, 1773 he was christened Jacobus Van Alen at Kinderhook's Dutch Reformed Church.^[3]

Van Alen attended the common schools, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced in Kinderhook, later practicing in partnership with Martin Van Buren.^[4] From 1797 to 1801 he was Kinderhook's Town Clerk.^[5]

New York Evening Post note on Van Alen's successor as surrogate. September 19, 1822.

He was a member of the State constitutional convention of 1801,^[6] and was a justice of the peace from 1801 to 1804.^[7] He was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1804.^[8] Van Alen was surrogate judge of Columbia County from 1804 to 1808.^[9]

Van Alen was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Tenth Congress, holding office from March 4, 1807 to March 3, 1809.^[10][11] He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1808.

He later returned to the surrogate judge's position, serving from 1815 until his death.^[12] (He was succeeded by Abraham A. Van Buren (1788-1836), brother of Martin Van Buren and Van Alen's half-brother.)^[13][14]

He died in Kinderhook on May 18, 1822,^[15] and was buried at Kinderhook Cemetery.^[16] He was not married and had no children.^[17]

References

1. The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. Vols. 82-83. New York, NY: New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. 1951. p. 148.
2. Irelan, John Robert (1887). History of the Life, Administration and Times of Martin Van Buren. Chicago, IL: Fairbanks and Palmer Publishing Company. pp. 10–11.
3. "Jacobus Van Alen Baptism, U.S. Dutch Reformed Church Vital Records, 1660-1926". Ancestry.com. Dutch Reformed Church, Kinderhook, NY. January 1, 1773. Note: His name appears in records variously as Jacobus Van Alen, James I. Van Alen and James J. Van Alen. Variations on given names were not unusual in upstate New York in the 1700s and 1800s, as Dutch names were Anglicized. For example, Martin Van Buren was baptized as Maarten.
4. Mackenzie, William Lyon (1846). The Life and Times of Martin Van Buren: The Correspondence of His Friends, Family and Pupils. Boston, MA: Cooke & Co. p. 21.
5. Terry, R. M. (1885). Civil list of Columbia County and Official Handbook, 1786-1886. Hudson, NY: J. W. Prentiss, printer. p. 113.
6. Lincoln, Charles Zebina (1906). The Constitutional History of New York, Volume 1. Rochester, NY: Lawyers Co-Operative Publishing Company. p. 608.
7. Mosley, Charles; Brogan, Hugh (1993). American Presidential Families. Gloucestershire, UK: Alan Sutton. p. 314. ISBN 978-0-02-897305-0.
8. Journal of the Assembly of the State of New York. Albany, NY: New York State Legislature. 1804. p. 3.
9. Terry, R. M. (1885). Civil List of Columbia County and Official Handbook, 1786-1886. Hudson, NY: J. W. Prentiss. p. 48.
10. Columbia County at the End of the Century. Hudson, NY: Record Printing and Publishing. 1900. p. 122.
11. Collier, Edward Augustus (1914). A History of Old Kinderhook from Aboriginal Days to the Present Time. New York, NY: G. P. Putnam's Sons. p. 414.
12. Terry, R. M. (1885). Civil List of Columbia County and Official Handbook, 1786-1886. Hudson, NY: J. W. Prentiss. p. 48.
13. Columbia County at the End of the Century. Hudson, NY: Record Printing and Publishing. 1900. p. 169.
14. Waite, Harriet C.; Van Peckham, Buren (1913). History of Cornelis Maessen Van Buren. New York, NY: Tobias A. Wright. p. 89.
15. The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. Vols. 82-83. New York, NY: New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. 1951. p. 148.
16. Irelan, John Robert (1887). History of the Life, Administration and Times of Martin Van Buren. Chicago, IL: Fairbanks and Palmer Publishing Company. p. 605.
17. The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. Vols. 82-83. New York, NY: New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. 1951. p. 148.

External links

• James I. Van Alen at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• James I. Van Alen at Find a Grave