USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. III > Part 8
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After practicing law in Philadelphia for a time, Thomas Leaming relinquished the legal profession and engaged in mercantile pursuits as a member of the firm of Bunner, Murray & Company, a firm that was prominently identified with the prosecution of the War for Independence, having contributed large sums of money toward the fitting out of privateers, the fleet equipped by them captur- ing at least thirty British vessels. They also subscribed the sum of six thou-
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sand pounds to finance the Pennsylvania Bank, organized in 1780 by Robert Morris, being one of the schemes of the great financier of the Revolution for rehabilitating the demoralized finances of the national government to enable it to continue the war, this being the second largest contribution to the stock of this historic banking institution. The firm became later A. Bunner & Company, the senior member being Andrew Bunner, and the junior Thomas Leaming, who was Bunner's brother-in-law, they having married sisters. Thomas Leam- ing Philadelphia's residence was a large mansion on the east side of Front Street with gardens running back to the Delaware, where he entertained exten- sively, his home being renowned for its comprehensive hospitality. He died of yellow fever, October 29, 1797, during the period when Philadelphia suffered severely from that scourge. Of him a biographer writes, "his memory is de- servedly cherished in connection with the Revolution he so ardently assisted." He was buried at Christ Church burying ground.
Thomas Leaming, Jr., married, August 19, 1779, Rebecca Fisher, born Oc- tober 31, 1751, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Coleman) Fisher, who sur- vived him thirty-six years, dying September 19, 1823. The four children of Thomas and Rebecca (Fisher) Leaming, who survived childhood were :
Elizabeth Leaming, b. Aug. 12, 1780, m. Jan. 3, 1799, Dr. Charles Caldwell, of Cincinnati, and left issue;
Thomas Fisher Leaming, b. July 14, 1786, d. June 23, 1839; was prominent in the social and public life of his native city ; joined the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry, Dec. 14, 1807, and served with it throughout the War of 1812, and until May 1, 1815, was a member of Penn. Assembly, 1822-33, and for some years previously a member of Common Council of Phila .; m. Susan P. Murgatroyd, and had one child :
Stevenson Murgatroyd Leaming, b. Feb. 16, 1822, who graduated from the Univ. of Penn. in 1840; he d. Aug. 8, 1890, without issue.
Lydia Leaming, b. Aug. 28, 1789, d. Oct. 26, 1869; m. James Somers Smith, of a promi- nent Phila. family, and among her present representatives are, J. Somers Smith, of 1232 Spruce St .; J. Rundle Smith, of 202 South Thirteenth St .; T. Leaming Smith, of 209 South Hicks St., and W. Horner Smith, of 2210 Pine St., Phila. JEREMIAH FISHER LEAMING, of whom below.
JEREMIAH FISHER LEAMING, youngest child of the Revolutionary patriot, Thomas Leaming, Jr., and his wife, Rebecca (Fisher) Leaming, was born at the family mansion on Front Street, Philadelphia, October 8, 1795, and was therefore but two years of age at the death of his distinguished father. He was reared and received his early education in Philadelphia, afterward gradu- ating from Dickinson, and throughout his long life took an active part in the business and social life of his native city, though taking little part in public af- fairs. A recent biographer says of him, "Throughout his long life, which term- inated February 5, 1888, he being then 92 years of age, he ever maintained the traditions of the Leaming family for high integrity and conspicuous fidelity to all the obligations of citizenship. While evincing an antipathy to public ap- plause, he nevertheless neglected no call to duty as a member of society, and his lifework, in all domestic, business and civic relations, was well performed".
Jeremiah Fisher Leaming married, December 6, 1821, Rebecca Waln, born in Philadelphia, January 5, 1802, died August 18, 1846, daughter of Hon. Rob- ert Waln, and his wife, Phebe Lewis, and of one of the most distinguished and prominent families of Philadelphia, since its founding.
Nicholas Waln, the great-great-grandfather of Rebecca (Waln) Leaming came to Pennsylvania in the "Welcome" with William Penn in 1682, from the
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little rural village of Burholme, parish of Slaidburn, district of Bolland, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, where he was born about the year 1650. He was a son of Richard and Jane (Rudd) Waln, early converts to the teachings of George Fox, and who suffered persecutions for their faith.
Nicholas Waln, married, in England, in 1673, Jane Turner and four children were born to them in Yorkshire. They were members of Settle Monthly Meet- ing of Friends in Yorkshire, which meeting, on June 7, 1682, issued a certificate of removal to Pennsylvania, for Nicholas Waln and his family, jointly with a number of other families all or nearly all more or less related to them, including the Hayhursts, Walmsleys, Wiggelsworths, Cowgills, Stackhouses and Croa- dales, all of whom accompanied the great founder of Pennsylvania in the "Wel- come", on his first visit to his Province, and settled in his county of Bucks, where they and their descendants were the most prominent residents for many generations, some even to the present day.
Nicholas Waln had purchased, before his departure from England, of Wil- liam Penn, one thousand acres of land to be laid out in Pennsylvania. Five hundred acres of this land was laid out to him on the Neshaminy creek in Bucks county, on which he resided until 1696, when he removed to the Northern Lib- erties of Philadelphia, where he built "Waln Grove" one of the finest colonial mansions of Philadelphia, which still stands near the Frankford station of the Pennsylvania Railroad and where he resided until his death in 1721. He was the undoubted leader of the important colony of Friends who were practically the first settlers in Bucks county, and their representative in all that pertained to their relations with the proprietor and his government. The earliest meetings of the Friends were held at his house, prior to the erection of Middletown Meeting House, and he was the most prominent figure in their councils during his residence in Bucks, and held a like prominence in Philadelphia Monthly Meeting after his removal within their bounds, where he was also a large land- holder.
Nicholas Waln was a representative in the first Provincial Assembly of Penn- sylvania, which met in Philadelphia, March 12, 1682-83, and represented Bucks county in the same body in 1687-88-89-92-95; was a member of its first grand jury ; sheriff of Bucks county, May 4, 1685, to May 4, 1686, and prominently associated with the administration of its affairs in various other capacities. On his removal to Philadelphia in 1696, he retained his seat in the Assembly, for that year ; was elected the following year; was again returned in 1700-01-12-13-14-15- 17. He was also one of the directors of the public school of Philadelphia in 171I. He was a minister of the Society of Friends and travelled much in "the ser- vice of Truth" not only in Pennsylvania and New Jersey but in Maryland, Vir- ginia and New England.
Nicholas and Jane (Turner) Waln had twelve children, nine of whom lived to mature years; they intermarried with the prominent families of Allen, Sim- cock, Mifflin, and others and have left numerous descendants, many of whom have been prominent in the affairs of their county and state.
Richard Waln, eldest son and third child of Nicholas and Jane Waln, was born at Burholme, parish of Slaidburn, Yorkshire, England, June 6, 1678, and came to Pennsylvania with his parents in the "Welcome" in 1682. Though not as prominent in public affairs as his father, he, however, took an active part
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in the affairs of that portion of Philadelphia known as "Northern Liberties," (though not as clearly defined as later) then being rapidly cut up into smaller lots, and opened up with streets. He was appointed by the Provincial Council in 1734, one of a commission to re-lay Germantown Road, and served on other important commissions. He removed to Norriton township, now Montgomery county, some years prior to his death which occurred in the spring of 1756. He married, in 1706, Ann, daughter of Robert Heath, of a family prominent in the affairs of Philadelphia, and extensive landholders in Bucks county and else- where. They had six children who lived to mature years: Nicholas; Ann, married Jonathan Maris; Richard; Susanna, married Joseph Levis; Robert and Joseph.
Of the three sons of Richard Waln, Nicholas (1710-44), married Mary Shoe- maker, and was the father of Nicholas Waln (1748-1813), the brilliant and distinguished lawyer, who renounced the legal profession in the zenith of a bril- liant career to become an equally distinguished Quaker preacher. Among the grandchildren of the first Nicholas was Jacob Shoemaker Waln (1776-1850), an eminent and successful merchant of Philadelphia, and active in public affairs as a member of City Councils, Assemblyman, etc .; and Joseph Waln, the father of Robert Wood Waln, the eminent lawyer and philanthropist, who died in Philadelphia in January, 1908. Other descendants were the late Richard Vaux, mayor of Philadelphia, member of congress, etc., and his wife, Mary Morris Waln; one branch of the prominent Drinker family; and also a branch of the Wistar family including General Isaac Jones Wistar.
Richard Waln (1717-64), second son of Richard and Ann (Heath) Waln, married Ann Thomas, and was the father of Jesse Waln (1750-1808), the busi- ness partner of Hon. Robert Waln; and of Mary Waln, who married Charles Mifflin, and the ancestor of a number of families now prominent in the social and business life of Philadelphia.
Robert Waln, third surviving son of Richard and Ann (Heath) Waln, was the direct ancestor of the subject of this sketch. He was born on the Waln plantation in Northern Liberties, Philadelphia, March 21, 1720-21, died in the city of Philadelphia, July 18, 1784. He established the large and successful mercantile business later conducted by his son and nephew, Robert and Jesse Waln, and was the owner of quite a fleet of merchant vessels that carried his goods from foreign ports. He was a signer of the non-importation resolutions of 1765, which had so much influence in precipitating the Revolutionary strug- gle. He married, about 1750, Rebecca, daughter of Jacob Coffin, of Philadel- phia, who died in 1736, by his wife, Rachel Rakestraw, daughter of William Rakestraw, of Philadelphia, and his wife Anne. Mrs. Waln died in 1799.
Robert and Rebecca (Coffin) Waln had eight children, six of whom lived to mature age, viz: Susanna, married Pattison Hartshorne; Richard; Ann, mar- ried Thomas Morgan, and has left a number of descendants, among whom are William Moore Wharton, of 1616 Pine Street, Philadelphia, and Colonel Thomas Waln Morgan Draper, an officer of the Second Regiment, United States Vol- unteers, stationed at Honolulu, during the Spanish American war; Rebecca, married Ezra Jones; Hannah, married Gideon Hill Wells, a distinguished Phil- adelphia merchant, and was grandmother of the late Francis Wells, many years editor of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin; and Hon. Robert Waln.
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Hon. Robert Waln, youngest child of Robert and Rebecca (Coffin) Waln, born in Philadelphia, February 22, 1765, attained the highest distinction of any of a family long distinguished in the annals of Philadelphia. He entered the counting house of his father at an early age, and after the latter's death was as- sociated with his cousin, Jesse Waln, in carrying on the large importing business established by his father. Their business as importers and merchants was an extensive one, and ranked in prominence with that of Girard, Ridgway, Willing, and others, known as the most prominent merchants of Philadelphia in her days of mercantile supremacy. Robert Waln became, later in life, interested in vari- ous important business enterprises ; in 1812 he erected a cotton factory at Tren- ton, New Jersey, one of the earliest in America, as well as one of the largest of its time; he was also actively interested in the iron industries in and about Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.
Robert Waln was one of the most active of the Philadelphians in the stirring period between 1790 and 1820, in formulating policies and carrying them into execution for the advancement of the interest of Philadelphia and the nation at large. We find him in attendance at many conferences at the old State House, the Coffee House and elsewhere, and serving upon various committees to carry out the resolves of these public conferences. He was for several terms a mem- ber of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, and in 1796 was nominated by the Federalist party for representative in the United States Congress, but was defeated, but being again nominated two years later was elected. He was later a member for several years of both branches of City Council and served as president of Select Council, 1816-19. He also filled, at various times, the posi- tions of president of the Chamber of Commerce, the Philadelphia Insurance Company, Mercantile Library Company, and Atlantic Insurance Company, and was a director of the Pennsylvania Hospital, the Bank of North America, the Philadelphia Library Company, and a number of other prominent institutions ; and was a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, 1811, to his death in 1836, and a trustee under the will of Stephen Girard. He died January 25, 1836.
Robert Waln married, at Pine Street Friends Meeting, October 10, 1797, Phebe Lewis, born May 17, 1768, died April 16, 1845, daughter of Ellis and Mary (Deshler) Lewis, and on the paternal side a granddaughter of Ellis Lewis, who came to Pennsylvania in 1698, and settled in the Welsh Tract, by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Nathaniel Newlin, many years a member of Colonial Assembly from Chester county.
Robert and Phebe (Lewis) Waln had their city residence on Second Street above Spruce, the site of "Shippen's Great House", and their summer residence at "Waln Grove," Frankford. They had six children who lived to mature years, viz: Robert Waln, an author of considerable notoriety ; Lewis, a prominent bus- iness man of Philadelphia, one of the founders of the Philadelphia Board of Trade, trustee of the Philadelphia Library and the University of Pennsylvania, etc .; Rebecca, wife of Jeremiah Fisher Leaming; William, who died unmarried in 1864; Susan, married her cousin, Joseph Waln Ryerrs; Phebe, who died un- married late in life; Ann, who became the second wife of Joseph Waln Ryerrs.
Jeremiah Fisher and Rebecca (Waln) Leaming had five children :
ROBERT WALN LEAMING, b. Nov. 12, 1824, of whom presently;
Thomas Leaming, d. inf. in 1827;
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Francis Waln Leaming, b. Nov. I, 1828, d. unm., April 29, 1872;
Fisher Leaming, d. in 1837;
Rebecca Leaming, b. Jan. 26, 1835, d. March 13, 1888; m. Charles Pendleton Tutt, M. D., of Vir., b. Nov. 2, 1828, d. May II, 1866; they had issue :
Charles Pendleton Tutt, Jr .;
Rebecca Tutt, m. Francis Wood, both living in the West.
ROBERT WALN LEAMING, eldest son of Jeremiah Fisher and Rebecca (Waln) Leaming, was born in Philadelphia, November 12, 1824. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1844, and was engaged in mercantile pursuits in Philadelphia until his death which occurred November 8, 1884. He was buried in the churchyard of the Church of the Redeemer at Bryn Mawr.
Robert Waln Leaming married, in 1849, Julia, daughter of John Morin and Mary (Emlen) Scott, of Philadelphia, of an ancient Scottish family, founded in America by John Scott, third son of Sir John Scott, first Baronet of Ancrum, county Roxburg, Scotland, whose ancestry has been traced back sixteen gener- ations to Richard Scot, (son of Uchtred, the Scot, who was a witness to the charter of the abbey of Holyrood, in A. D. 1128) ancestor of the Dukes of Buc- cleugh, Earls of Coleraine, Barons of Montague, etc., whose great-grandson, Sir Michael Scott, who in the reign of King Alexander of Scotland, ( 1214-49) married the daughter and sole heiress of Sir Richard Balweary, with whom he got the lands and Barony of Balweary, county Fife, which was held by his eld- est male descendants, the direct ancestors of John Scott, the emigrant, for sev- eral generations, and was knighted by Alexander II. The celebrated scholar, Michael Scott, "The Wizard" was of this family, and generally accredited an uncle of the above named Sir Michael Scott. Patrick Scott, the grandfather of John Scott, the emigrant, a grandson of Andrew Scott, second son of Sir William Scott, ninth Baron of Balweary, acquired the lands and barony of Ancrum, which has ever since been the chief seat and title of this ancient fam- ily ; by the failure of male issue in the direct line the ancient titles of the Bal- weary family reverted to the descendants of Andrew, the second son of Sir William, above mentioned, though the lands of Balweary had become alienated.
The exact date of the arrival of John Scott in America has not been ascer- tained; he was a merchant in New York in 1702 when he was made a "free- man and Citizen" of the city; and he and his partner, William Glencrosse, were appointed by the Provincial Council, "Prize-Masters" of New York. He was evidently interested in trading operations between Great Britain and the port of New York, as on January 29, 1709-10, he drew a draft from London, on his brother, Sir Patrick Scott, of Ancrum, the original of which is still in the pos- session of his descendants in Philadelphia, as is also his certificate as a free- man of New York City; the indenture of partnership between John Scott and William Glencrosse, dated September 4, 1703; the certificate of the admission of "John Scott, Merchant of New York in America, as Burgess and Guild- brother", dated July 7, 1709, of the City of Glasgow, Scotland; and another cer- tificate dated five days later, of his admission as John Scott, "Lawful son ot Sir John Scott, of Ancrum" to the honor of Burgess and Guild-brother of the burgh of Peebles, Scotland.
On March 1, 1710, John Scott was commissioned by Governor Robert Hunt- er, lieutenant of Captain James Wemas's company of fusileers, posted on the frontiers of New York, and he was made commandant at Fort Hunter on the
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Mohawk river, where he died in June, 1725. His original commission is al- so in possession of his descendants in Philadelphia. He became a large land- owner in Ulster and Albany counties, New York, and also owned land at Perth Amboy, purchasing one thousand and five hundred acres of the Indians in 1722. Lieutenant John Scott married Magdalena, daughter of John Vincent, and granddaughter of Adrien Vincent, who was a resident of New Amsterdam, now New York, as early as July 16, 1640, when he owned land on Broad street. They had nine children.
John Scott, Jr., the eldest son of Lieutenant John and Magdalena (Vincent) Scott, was baptized at the Dutch Reformed Church of New York, August 16, 1702. He was a merchant of New York City, and was admitted a freeman of the city in 1726. In 1725 his petition as "eldest son of Lieutenant John Scott, Commandant at Fort Hunter" for a warrant for the land purchased by his father in the Mohawk Valley, was recommended to the Governor by the Pro- vincial Council of New York, and he received a patent for one thousand and one hundred acres on the south side of the Mohawk river, a copy of which is in the possession of his Philadelphia descendant, Hannah Louisa Scott, as are also letters from his cousin, Sir John Scott, of Ancrum, Scotland, son of Pat- rick Scott. He married Marian, youngest daughter of Peter Morin, a Hugue- not refugee from Rochelle, France, who was made a freeman of New York City, June II, 1691. John Scott, Jr., died early in 1733; his will was proved May 8, 1733.
Brigadier General John Morin Scott, only child of John and Marian (Morin) Scott, was born in New York City, in 1730, died there September 14, 1784. He graduated at Yale in 1746, studied law with William Smith, the elder, father of William Smith the historian, who with his law partner, William Livingston, and John Scott composed the "triumvirate of Lawyers" complained of by the Pro- vincial Governor to the British authorities, as the leaders of the opposition to the oppressive measures of the British ministry. To each of these three is ascribed the authorship of the celebrated "Review of Military Observations in North America," published in 1757. He was the author of various official and legal reports and took an active part in all the conspicuous movements of his day in New York, so that his name is found in every history of the city and state. He was a radical opponent of the taxation of the Colonies without representa- tion, and one of the founders of the "Sons of Liberty." He served as an alder- man from 1757 to 1762, and became the leader of those radically opposed to British rule, whose candidate he was for the legislature in 1767 and 1768, and was one of the Committee of Twelve appointed to memorialize the Assembly on the subject of doing business without using the obnoxious British stamps. He was a candidate for election to the first Continental Congress at Philadel- phia in 1774, but was defeated by the conservative element. On May 1, 1775, he was one of the General Committee of One Hundred for the City and County of New York, and gave material aid in stopping the removal of arms and ammu- nition by the British. He was also a delegate to the Provincial Conventions of New York, 1775 and 1776. On June 9, 1776, he was appointed brigadier-gen- eral of the New York Militia under the service of the Continental Congress, and fought with his brigade at the battle of Long Island; was wounded at White Plains, October 28, 1776; and took an active part in the campaign about New
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York, until his retirement on March I, 1777. He was suggested for commission in the Continental Line, but General Washington requested him to remain with the militia, believing that his ardent spirit would bring that branch of the ser- vice up to a higher standard of efficiency. The exposure incident to his service in the field broke down his health and he was compelled to relinquish his com- mand. He was later a member of Congress and of the State Senate of New York, and was Secretary of State at his death in 1784. He married Helena, daughter of Petrus and Helena (Hoogland) Rutgers, and a great-great-grand- daughter of Rutger Jacobse Van Schooderwoert, who sailed from Texel, for the New Netherlands, October 1, 1636.
Lewis Allaire Scott, only surviving son of Brigadier General John Morin Scott, was born in New York City, February II, 1759. He succeeded his father as Secretary of State of New York, being commissioned by Governor Clin- ton, October 24, 1784, and filled that position until his death, March 17, 1798. He was buried in Trinity Churchyard, New York. He married, at Philadel- phia, January 16, 1785, Juliana Sitgreaves, born in Philadelphia, May 15, 1765, died there March 30, 1842, daughter of William and Susanna (Deshon) Sit- greaves, the former of whom was born in Philadelphia, December 14, 1729, of parents who had come from Lancashire, England, a year previously, and the latter a native of Boston, Massachusetts.
John Morin Scott, only son of Lewis Allaire and Juliana (Sitgreaves) Scott, was born in New York City, October 25, 1789; his father died when he was in his ninth year and his mother took him to her relatives in Philadelphia. He graduated from Princeton in 1805, and after a post-graduate course of one year, he studied law with William Rawle, of Philadelphia, and was admitted to the Philadelphia bar, September 2, 1811, and became a successful lawyer. During the War of 1812-14, he served as lieutenant of the Second Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry, stationed at Camp DuPont. He was many years a member of City Council, Common and Select, was elected president of the latter, Decem- ber, 1826, and served until 1832; was elected mayor of Philadelphia, October I, 1841, and twice re-elected; was a member of Assembly, in 1815 and 1836; and a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1827-28. He was prominent as an orator and delivered many noted addresses. He was one of the founders of the Philadelphian Club, which like the English clubs, grew out of a coffee house which was a place of meeting for prominent men of those days. He died in Philadelphia, April 3, 1858, and is buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery.
He married, May 15, 1817, Mary Emlen, born in Philadelphia, October 4, 1795, daughter of George and Sarah (Fishbourne) Emlen, and granddaughter of George and Ann ( Reckless) Emlen, and of one of the most prominent Quaker families in the City of Brotherly Love, in Colonial days. Julia Scott, their fifth child, was the wife of Robert Waln Leaming, whom she still survives ; residing at 315 South Fifteenth Street, Philadelphia. She is a member of the Colonial Dames of America and other patriotic societies.
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