Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. I, Part 37

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed; Jordan, Wilfred, b. 1884, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York, NY : Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 710


USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. I > Part 37


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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Issue of John and Anna Catharine (Rubenkam) Wister :-


DANIEL, b. Feb. 4, 1738-9, d. Feb. 15, 1804, m. May 5, 1760, Lowry Jones; of whom pres- ently;


Catharine, b. Jan. 2, 1742-3, m. Samuel Miles ;


William, b. March 29, 1746, d. 1800, unm., was a wholesale merchant of Phila.


DANIEL WISTER, eldest son of John and Anna Catharine (Rubenkam) Wister, born in Philadelphia, February 4, 1739 (N. S.), on coming of age became asso- ciated with his father in the mercantile business, residing during the earlier days of his married life in the old homestead at 325 Market street, where all his chil- dren were born; spending the summer months at the Germantown house. After the death of his father, however, he made Germantown his permanent residence. He became one of the prominent merchants of Philadelphia. Both he and his father were signers of the Non-importation Agreement, but like his father, Daniel Wister took no part in the active struggle.


Daniel Wister, married, by Friends' ceremony, 5mo. 5, 1760, Lowry Jones, born in Lower Merion, Iomo. 30, 1742, daughter of Owen and Susanna (Evans) Jones, of Lower Merion, later of the city of Philadelphia. She was a grand- daughter of Jonathan and Gainor (Owen) Jones, and great-granddaughter of Dr. Edward Jones, the pioneer of the colony of Welsh settlers in Merion and Haver- ford townships, who came from the neighborhood of Bala, Merionethshire, Wales, 1682. The wife of Dr. Edward Jones was Mary Wynne, daughter of Dr. Thomas Wynne, of Caerways, Flintshire, Wales, an early minister among Friends, who with his second wife Elizabeth Mode, came to Pennsylvania with William Penn, in the "Welcome," 1682, and was Speaker of the first Pennsylvania Assembly. While Daniel Wister was of pure German descent, his wife Lowry Jones was of pure Welsh stock, and descended through a long line of worthy ancestors from the ancient princes of Britain. Her grandmother Gainor Owen, was a daughter of Robert Owen, and Rebecca Humphrey, of Merion, who came from Fron Goch, Merionethshire, to Pennsylvania, 1690, and whose descent from the Twelfth Cen- tury chieftain, Rhirid Flaid, is given elsewhere in this volume. Her mother Sus- anna Evans, born 1719, died 1811, was a daughter of Hugh and Lowry (Will- iams) Evans, and a granddaughter of Rees John Williams, who with his wife Hannah Price (ap Rhys), a descendant of Owen Glendower Tudor, and of Ed- ward I., came to Pennsylvania 1684, and settled near Gwynedd. Hugh Evans, maternal grandfather of Mrs. Wister, born 1682, died 1772, many years a repre- sentative in the Provincial Assembly, was a son of Thomas and Ann Evans, who emigrated from Wales, 1698, and settled at Gwynedd; and a descendant of Owen, Prince of Gwynedd and of Bleddyn, Prince of Wales.


In the autumn of 1776, Daniel Wister removed his family to the Foulke home- stead near the present Pennlynn station on the North Pennsylvania Railroad, then occupied by Hannah, the widow of William Foulke, and her three unmarried chil- dren, Jesse, Priscilla and Lydia. An elder son Amos, had married Hannah Jones, sister to Mrs. Wister, which may account for the selection of the Foulke home- stead for a place of refuge during the period when Philadelphia was threatened and occupied by an armed force of the enemy. The family of Daniel Wister then consisted of his wife Lowry, and five children-his eldest daughter Sarah, aged fifteen, the "Sallie Wister" whose delightful "Journal," written at the Foulke


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homestead, during her exile from her girl friends in the city, to one of whom, "Debby Norris," later Mrs. George Logan, it was addressed, has been printed; Elizabeth ("Sister Betsy" of the Journal), then in her thirteenth year; Hannah, aged nine years ; Susannah, in her fourth year ; and John, a toddler of ten months. Their residence at Pennlynn covered the period of the battles of Germantown and Brandywine, and the encampment of Washington and his army at White Marsh, but a few miles away, and the "Journal" covers the period from September 24, 1777, to the return of the family to Philadelphia, August, 1778, after its evacu- ation by the British, during a great portion of which time the Foulke house was the headquarters of Gen. Smallwood of the Maryland Troop and his staff, with whom and many other officers of the Continental army, "Sally Wister" was closely associated and on intimate terms. Sally Wister was a bright, intellectual girl, just budding into womanhood, and her journal, somewhat in the nature of a series of letters to her girl friend, recorded her everyday impressions of the scenes and happenings of that eventful period, and its reference to her friends and acquaint- ances gives us delightful glimpses of the social life of that period. Both Sally and her sister Elizabeth, developed into fine types of womanhood, they both wrote poetry of more than ordinary merit and were contributors to the Portfolio, Sally, under the nom-de-plume of "Laura" and Elizabeth under that of "Elvira." Neither ever married. Sally was ardently devoted to her accomplished and charm- ing mother and at the latter's death, 2mo. 15, 1804, was so broken hearted over her loss that she did not long survive her, dying 4mo. 21, 1804. Daniel Wister died Iomo. 27, 1805, at his Germantown residence, where the family had perma- nently resided after the death of his father, 1789.


Issue of Daniel and Lowry (Jones) Wister :-


Sarah (Sally Wister), b. 7mo. 30, 1761, d. unm. 4mo. 21, 1804; Elizabeth, b. 2mo. 27, 1764, d. unm. in 1812;


Hannah, b. IImo. 19, 1767, d. unm. in 1827;


Susannah, b. 2mo. 24, 1773, d. IImo. 27, 1862, m. 3mo. 10, 1796, John Morgan Price; JOHN, b. 3mo. 20, 1776, d. 12mo. 12, 1862, m. 1798, Elizabeth Harvey, of whom presently; CHARLES JONES, b. 4mo. 12, 1782, d. 7mo. 23, 1865, m. (first) Rebecca Bullock, and (sec- ond) Sarah Whitesides; of whom later;


William Wynne, b. 4mo. 16, 1784, d. IImo. 16, 1896, unm. He was an accomplished scholar, an intimate friend of Dr. Darlington, of West Chester, the eminent botanist.


JOHN WISTER, eldest son of Daniel and Lowry (Jones) Wister, became asso- ciated with his uncle William Wister in the wholesale mercantile trade in Phila- delphia, and at his uncle's death formed a partnership with his brother Charles under firm name of John & Charles Wister and continued the business until 1819, their brother-in-law, John Morgan Price, becoming a member of the firm also, a short time after its organization. In 1819, the firm closed out the business and both brothers retired to their Germantown homes, John to "Vernon" and Charles J. to "Grumblethorpe," both in the same immediate neighborhood. The brothers were devotedly attached to each other and kept up the closest associations through- out their long life. Both had retired with ample fortunes, and devoted much of their time to literary and scientific pursuits. John, in early life, was convivially inclined and took much delight in fox-hunting, belonging to an aristocratic fox- hunting club, and also to the celebrated "Denny Club," founded by Joseph Denny, the accomplished editor of the Portfolio. The club was composed of a number of


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literary gentlemen of Philadelphia, who were in the habit of entertaining each other and foreigners, and others of distinction, when visiting the city. Thomas Moore, while in Philadelphia in 1804, was entertained by this congenial club, and to its members addressed the lines in the Letter to Spencer, beginning, --


"Yet ye forgive me, O you sacred few, Whom late by Delaware's green banks I knew : Whom known and loved thro' many a social eve, 'Twas bliss to live with and 'twas pain to leave."


In a note to the poem he states that it was in the society of Mr. Denny and his friends, that he passed the few agreeable moments of his tour.


John Wister, however, later became a member of the Society of Friends, adopted the plain dress and address common to that sect, and was extremely do- mestic and retired in his habits, seldom seeking society beyond his own fireside and the circle of his closest and immediate friends, by whom he was greatly be- loved. The obituary notice of him at the time of his death most happily and truly portrays the estimation he was held in by his acquaintances. "Mr. John Wister was the head of a large, influential and wealthy family; and his name and posi- tion were as familiar to this community for half a century, though living in close retirement, as if his life had been the most ostentatious and prominent. Few of our citizens can remember when, more than forty years ago, he retired with a very large fortune to his late residence in Germantown, where he found, during that long period, those enjoyments, in the midst of a devoted fireside, which few so fondly appreciated, and with which fewer have been blessed to the same extent. His peace appeared to be round his own hearth. His home was his paradise, and all were made happy who came within its gates. Mr. Wister affected no display ; there was not a grain of factitious pride in his nature. He possessed a firm and manly will, and had a decided opinion upon all questions ; but in it all there was an ever-flowing spring of geniality, extremely pleasing and at once putting everybody at ease. If the acts of Mr. Wister are to be received as the best evidence of char- acter, then there was no better Christian than he. Indeed his whole life was a beautiful model for example. To an austere uprightness he added an unchange- able consistency, and a religious affluence that pervaded his well balanced mind, and illustrated his daily practices. No charity passed under his eye unassisted; and no one deserving pity left him empty handed. Thus while he shut himself up, technically, from 'society' and the 'world,' no one fulfilled his allotted duty more studiously, more usefully, and more in accordance with the truest dictates of a discriminating wisdom and humanity. From our personal knowledge of the de- ceased, we are warranted in thus speaking of him. His memory requires no eulogium at the hands of any one. Sufficient be it to say no man passed through life more scatheless, so entirely unaffected with its worldliness and heresies; or, when laid in the receptacle of all living, was more devoutly regretted than John Wister." He died at "Vernon," his Germantown seat, 12mo. 27, 1862, in his eighty-seventh year, after a residence there of half a century.


John Wister married, 1798, Elizabeth Harvey, of Bordentown, New Jersey.


Issue of John and Elizabeth (Harvey) Wister :-


Sarah Wister, b. April 4, 1800, d. March 9, 1848; m. 1821, John Stevenson and had issue : Elizabeth Wister Stevenson;


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Susan Stevenson ; William Crook Stevenson; Anna Wister Stevenson.


WILLIAM WISTER, b. Feb. 2, 1803, d. Nov. 10, 1891; m. Sept. 26, 1826, Sarah Logan Fisher; of whom presently;


John Wister, b. Dec. 2, 1804, d. at "Vernon," Jan. 28, 1893; unm .;


Anne Wister, b. Dec. 29, 1808, d. Jan. 3, 1888, unm.


Charles Wister, b. 1810, d. Aug. 9, 1893, unm .;


Jones Wister, b. 1813, d. at Paris, France, Nov. 14, 1857, unm .;


Mary Wister, b. 1815, d. Oct. 24, 1886, unm .;


Louis Wister, b. 1818, d. May 5, 1902; m. July 3, 1850, Elizabeth Randolph, and had issue: Elizabeth Harvey Wister, mn. Dec. 13, 1883, Charles P. Keith;


Sara Edythe Wister, m. Dec. 3, 1901, Gershom Chichester.


Susan Wister, b. May 23, 1820, d. Nov. 14, 1884; m. April 28, 1846, Dr. John Dickinson Logan, of "Stenton," and had issue :


Algernon Sydney Logan, m. Mary Wynne, dau. of William Wynne and Hannah (Lewis) Wister, and granddaughter of Charles Jones Wister.


WILLIAM WISTER, eldest son of John and Elizabeth (Harvey) Wister, born in Germantown, February 2, 1803, married, August 26, 1826, Sarah Logan Fisher, born at New Bedford, Massachusetts, May 18, 1806, daughter of William Logan and Mary (Rodman) Fisher, and granddaughter of Thomas and Sarah (Logan) Fisher, whose ancestry on both paternal and maternal lines is given elsewhere in these volumes. She was to an eminent degree an estimable woman, and exercised through life a potent influence for good in the community in which she lived. A testimony to her worth, written after her death, December 26, 1891, says, among other things, "Her power of making others happy came from a strong spring of happiness in herself, and its source was goodness. *


* * No word or deed of hers had a double motive, and she never said anything for effect. * *


She was religious, but her strong, unspoken piety found no other expression than in acts of love and devotion to those around her, and in lifelong regular attendance at Friends' Meeting, to which she belonged from birth. *


* She helped to build up a home with a tradition of popularity beyond any we have ever known."


Issue of William and Sarah Logan (Fisher) Wister :-


WILLIAM ROTCH WISTER, b. Dec. 7, 1827; m. Mary Eustis; of whom presently : JOHN WISTER, b. July 15, 1829; m. 1864, Sarah Tyler Boas; of whom later; Harvey Langhorne Wister, b. July 17, 1831, d. Aug. 24, 1852;


Col. Langhorne Wister, b. Sept. 20, 1834, d. March 19, 1891; commissioned, June 4, 1861, Capt. of Co. B, Forty-second Regiment, Pa. Volunteers ; promoted Col. of One Hun- dred and Fiftieth Regiment, Pa. Volunteers, Sept. 5, 1862; wounded at the battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 1863; brevetted Brigadier-General for gallant and meritorious service; resigned Feb. 22, 1864;


Elizabeth Harvey Wister, b. July 20, 1836, d. Feb. 16, 1838;


JONES WISTER, b. Feb. 9, 1839; m. (first) Caroline de Tousard Stocker; (second) Sabine (d'Villiers) Weightman; of whom later;


FRANCIS WISTER, b. June 2, 1841, d. Nov. 23, 1905; m. Mary Tiers; of whom later ; RODMAN WISTER, b. Aug. 10, 1844; m. Betty Black; of whom later.


WILLIAM ROTCH WISTER, eldest son of William and Sarah Logan (Fisher) Wister, born at "Belfield," Germantown, December 7, 1827, was educated at Ger- mantown Academy and University of Pennsylvania; entering the University in the sophomore class 1846, and graduating 1848. He was admitted to the Phila- delphia Bar, October 6, 1849, and has since practiced his profession in Philadel-


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phia. He was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Twentieth Regiment, Pennsylvania Cavalry, June, 1863-January, 1864.


He married, March 4, 1868, Mary, daughter of Frederick A. and Mary (Chan- ning) Eustis, of Massachusetts, granddaughter of Rev. William Ellery Channing, D. D.


Issue of William Rotch and Mary (Eustis) Wister :--


Mary Channing Wister, b. March 30, 1870; m. April 21, 1898, Owen Wister, author of "The Virginian" and other popular stories, son of Dr. Owen Wister, of Germantown, hereafter mentioned, by his wife Sarah Butler; had issue :


Mary Channing Wister, b. Sept. 20, 1899;


Frances Kemble Wister, b. Sept. 20, 1901 ;


Owen Jones Wister, b. Sept. 20, 1901 ; William Rotch Wister, b. Feb. 18, 1904.


William Rotch Wister, Jr., b. Oct. 22, 1871, d. July 23, 1872;


Frances Anne Wister, b. Nov. 26, 1874;


Ella Eustis Wister, b. Aug. 30, 1879; m. Oct. 20, 1904, Diedrich Jansen Haines, b. April 4, 1871, son Eobert Bowne Haines, by his wife Margaret Vaux, dau. of Dr. Caspar and Lydia (Jones) Wistar, and descendant of Caspar Wistar, emigrant brother of John Wister, as shown in the earlier part of this sketch; they had issue:


Caspar Wistar Haines, b. Oct. 18, 1905.


JOHN WISTER, second son of William and Sarah Logan (Fisher) Wister, born at "Belfield," Germantown, July 15, 1829, was for many years interested in iron mines and furnaces in Pennsylvania. He married, October 19, 1864, Sarah Tyler, daughter of Daniel D. and Margaret ( Bates) Boas.


Issue of John and Sarah Tyler (Boas ) Wister :-


John Boas Wister, b. March 28, 1866, d. Jan. 12, 1869; Elizabeth Wister, b. Sept. 1, 1870; Sarah Logan Wister, b. Dec. 7, 1873; Margaret Wister, b. Jan. 13, 1882;


John Caspar Wister, b. March 19, 1887, is a student at Harv.


JONES WISTER, fifth son of William and Sarah Logan (Fisher) Wister, born at "Belfield," Germantown, February 9, 1839, is an iron merchant in Philadelphia and largely interested in the family iron furnaces and forges. He was a member of First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry, and served with it at Gettysburg, July, 1863. He is a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers ; a charter member of the Germantown Cricket Club; president of Belfield Country Club; vice-president of the Egypt Mills Club ; president of the Colonial Club, etc.


Jones Wister married (first), October 6, 1868, Caroline de Tousard Stocker, daughter of Anthony B. and Jane (Randolph) Stocker. She died June 18, 1884, and he married (second), June 20, 1895, Sabine (d'Villiers) Weightman, widow of William Weightman, of Philadelphia, and daughter of Charles and Mary (Baursock) d'Villiers.


Issue of Jones and Caroline de Tousard (Stocker) Wister :-


Ella Middleton Maxwell Wister, b. July 13, 1870, d. Feb. 15, 1871;


Alice Logan Wister, b. Dec. 9, 1871, d. Dec. 1, 1881 ;


Anna Wister, b. Aug. 28, 1875; m. Oct. 19, 1897, William Littleton Barclay, of N. Y., and had issue :


Caroline Stocker Barclay, b. Sept. 12, 1898;


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William Littleton Barclay, Jr., b. Dec. 30, 1899; Anne Wister Barclay, b. Aug. 30, 1901 ; Charles Walter Barclay, b. Dec. 29, 1905. Ethel Langhorne Wister, b. July 12, 1881.


FRANCIS WISTER, fifth son of William and Sarah Logan (Fisher) Wister, born at the old family mansion, "Belfield," Germantown, June 2, 1841, was educated at Germantown Academy and University of Pennsylvania, graduating at the latter institution, class of 1860. He responded to the first call for volunteers to put down the Rebellion, and was commissioned Captain, in the Twelfth Regiment, U. S. Infantry, August 5, 1861. He was promoted to Colonel of the Two Hun- dred and Fifteenth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers April 21, 1865, was mus- tered out of the volunteer service August 28, 1865, and resigned from the regular army service April 5, 1866. While serving with the Twelfth U. S. Infantry, he was brevetted Major for gallant and meritorious service at the battle of Chan- cellorsville, May 3, 1863, and on July 2, 1863, was brevetted Lieutenant Colonel, for gallant and meritorious service, at the battle of Gettysburg. After resigning from the army at the conclusion of peace, he returned to Philadelphia and en- gaged in the coal and coke business there until attacked with an incurable disease a few months before his death. He died November 25, 1905. He married, Feb- ruary 29, 1880, Mary Chancellor, daughter of Joseph and Hannah Chancellor (Twells) Tiers, who survives him. They had no children.


RODMAN WISTER, youngest son of William and Sarah Logan (Fisher ) Wister, born at "Belfield," August 10, 1844, is an iron merchant in Philadelphia, identified with family iron industries. He was a member of Capt. Marks Biddle's Company, "Home Guards," of Germantown, saw active service in the Antietam campaign of the Civil War, in 1863 was a member of Capt. Harry Landis' Battery, U. S. Vols., and participated in the battle of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He was discharged, 1863, on account of illness. He is first Vice-president of Germantown Cricket Club; member of Art Club and Belfield Country Club. He married, April 17, 1872, Eliza Irwin, daughter of Col. Samuel Wiley and Eliza Ann (Irwin) Black, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.


Issue of Rodman and Eliza Irwin (Black) Wister :-


Emily Wister, b. Dec. 10, 1885, d. April 30, 1886;


Langhorne Harvey Wister, b. April 12, 1887; Rodman Mifflin Wister, b. June 20, 1890.


CHARLES JONES WISTER, second son of Daniel and Lowry (Jones) Wister, born at the old Wister house, 325 Market street, Philadelphia, April 12, 1782, in the house upon which Benjamin Franklin erected his first lightning rod-still in possession of the Wister family-connecting it with a bell which gave an alarm whenever the atmosphere was surcharged with electricity. The bell so annoyed Mrs. Daniel Wister, that it was removed at her request. Charles Jones Wister's first educational effort was in a private school on Arch street, and at the age of nine years he entered the "Quaker Academy" on Fourth street, below Walnut, then under the charge of Jeremiah Paul, and when, during the summer months, the family were domiciled at the Germantown residence, he attended Germantown Academy, at that time presided over by Col. Thomas Dungan. He continued at


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school until his seventeenth year, when he was apprenticed to his uncle William Wister, who had succeeded his father John Wister, the pioneer, as a merchant at the old store, now 325 Market street, and after a year's experience in the store was sent on collecting tours for the firm, his trips extending as far west as Pitts- burg, and south to Winchester, Virginia. Many novel experiences in these jour- neys, made on horseback through a sparsely settled country, are narrated in letters exchanged between him and his sisters and mother at Germantown, still in posses- sion of his son, Charles J. Wister, Jr., of Germantown. Many of those written to him by his talented sisters, Sally and Elizabeth, were couched in rhyme, and pos- sess real merit, both for poesy and humor. In the winter of 1801 he attended a course of lectures on chemistry at University of Pennsylvania, delivered by Pro- fessor James Woodhouse, and thought seriously of preparing himself for the prac- tice of medicine. He later associated himself with Dr. Seybert, apothecary and protegé of his distinguished cousin Dr. Caspar Wistar, who was an enthusiastic chemist, and they conducted a number of experiments for their mutua! enlighten- ment. Seybert was also an expert mineralogist, having studied that science in his native country, Germany, with Werner and Blumenbach, of Freiberg, and had brought with him to America the first mineralogical specimens ever introduced into this country. Through him Mr. Wister became greatly interested in that science, and in his collecting tours, and many solitary rambles among his native hills, with specimen box and hammer, laid the foundation of a mineralogical cabinet of which he might be justly proud. In 1814 Mr. Wister further advanced his knowledge of chemistry and mineralogy, by attending a course of lectures delivered by the distinguished Professor Parker Cleveland, of Bowdoin College, Maine, with whom he formed an intimacy that lasted many years, and Mr. Wister gave him material assistance in the preparation of his work on mineralogy, first on the subject ever published in America, and is profusely quoted therein.


In 1803 Charles J. Wister, having attained his majority, and his uncle William being deceased, became a partner in the firm, with his brother John, under title of John & Charles Wister, and later their brother-in-law John Morgan Price, was admitted and the firm name changed to Wister, Price & Wister. He likewise inherited from his uncle and his grandfather John Wister, considerable landed property, including the old mansion, woods and farm at Germantown, where he ever after made his home. He had a birthright in the Society of Friends, but was disowned for paying a militia tax, IImo. 25, 1803. He married, December 15, 1803, Rebecca, daughter of Joseph and Hester (Baynton) Bullock, of Philadel- phia. Her mother, Hester, was a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Chevelier) Baynton, who were married December 17, 1747, and granddaughter of Peter Baynton (son of Benjamin Baynton, of England), born December 27, 1695, who came to Philadelphia and engaged in the business of a shipping merchant about 1720, and was drowned in the Delaware, 1723. Mr. Wister continued to reside with his family in Philadelphia during the winter months until 1812, when he re- moved permanently to Germantown. In 1819, the firm of Wister, Price & Wister dissolved, and the mercantile business so successfully conducted in Philadelphia by the family for three generations and covering nearly a century, passed into other hands. Mr. Wister was one of the little coterie of young business men calling themselves the "Twilight Club," who formed the habit of gathering at the store of a mutual friend, J. Pemberton Parke, after the close of their daily labor


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and discussing questions of the day, as well as science and literature, from which gatherings, it is said, sprang the foundation of Academy of Natural Science, insti- tuted August 1, 1815. He was also a frequent visitor at the "Debby Club." Charles J. Wister became a member of Philadelphia Library Company, 1806; of Library Company of Germantown, December 1, 1808, of which he was a director and many years secretary and treasurer. He was also a member of the "Linnæan Society of Philadelphia," instituted in 1806, "for the cultivation of natural sciences ;" of the "Humane Society of Philadelphia," "for the recovery of per- sons from suspended animation," 1806; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, May, 1809; "Philadelphia Society for Promotion of Agriculture;" "American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia," trustee of Germantown Academy, May 7, 1810; member of Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Imo. 11, 1814. He was elected secretary of first board of directors of Bank of Germantown, instituted 1814, and served as a director for half a century. He was likewise one of the most active trustees of Germantown Academy, from his election, 1810, until the revocation of its charter, 1837. In 1820 and again in 1821, he delivered a course of lectures for its benefit on mineralogy and geology. He kept in close touch with the institutions of Philadelphia and vicinity, and enjoyed a wide ac- quaintance with the learned men and scholars of his day. He was an ardent student of botany and an authority on local flora. The plant named in his honor, Coralerhiza Wisteriana, by Professor Nuttal, was a discovery of Mr. Wister's.




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