[24] Van Ness introduced Van Buren to the intricacies of New York state politics, and Van Buren observed Burr's battles for control of the state Democratic-Republican party against George Clinton and Robert R. Livingston.[25] He returned to Kinderhook in 1803, after his admission to the New York bar.[26]

Hannah Van Buren
Van Buren married Hannah Hoes (or Goes) in Catskill, New York, on February 21, 1807. She was his childhood sweetheart, and a daughter of his maternal first cousin, Johannes Dircksen Hoes.[27] She grew up in Valatie, and like Van Buren her home life was primarily Dutch; she spoke Dutch as her first language, and spoke English with a marked accent.[28] The couple had six children, four of whom lived to adulthood: unnamed daughter (stillborn around 1807); Abraham (1807–1873), John (1810–1866), Martin Jr. (1812–1855), Winfield Scott (born and died in 1814), and Smith Thompson (1817–1876).[29] Hannah contracted tuberculosis, and died in Kinderhook on February 5, 1819, at age 35.[30] Van Buren never remarried.