Photo: Dougtone, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Martin Van Buren was born in Kinderhook, Columbia County, in 1782. His father ran a tavern, and the family spoke Dutch at home. He was the first president born a citizen of the United States, after independence.
He studied law in Kinderhook and New York City and rose fast in state politics.
The Albany Regency
In Albany, Van Buren built a tight political organization known as the Albany Regency, which used party loyalty and patronage to control state government. He served as a U.S. senator and briefly as governor before joining Andrew Jackson’s administration as secretary of state and then vice president.
He was elected president in 1836. The Panic of 1837 hit early in his term, and he lost re-election in 1840.
Lindenwald
Van Buren had bought an estate in Kinderhook in 1839 and named it Lindenwald. He retired there, made a few more runs for president, including on the Free Soil ticket in 1848, and farmed the land. He died at Lindenwald in 1862 and is buried in the Kinderhook Cemetery.
The house is now the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site, run by the National Park Service.
