USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Volume IV > Part 13
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BAIRD.
Arms- Gules a boar passant or. Crest- A boar's head erased or. Motto-Dominus fecit. (Burke: "Encyclopædia of Heraldry.") .
DOMINVS
FECIT
Baird
MBaird
a da makdem dard, of Ploidalphy, a . Fryown railroad executie Which
Voor he descended From 'IUM. . -o - 4. Toruder of the Philoleh lymf that jame born in London Douleursl, Sau 0. 1700, died in Phil
Towe der . 751, He was low- www . mafi of nich scholast attshow 1 . od do a number of important el al governmental character. Uery, an original trustee of Hasno one of the originators of the Pu tr Coll peo Pluladelphia tlater th ( ki Wwisylvania ), and the first y Ammo the time of his arrival resident M The American Philosophic In Philadeiphol, Se wes prominently il ah the political and social life of the tjuaker City. Thomas Hopkin on w Mar Maison born in Nov Cas- il . August 4, 1718, died in Pluladelphi: wifer & d.4 daughter of Dallmin wwwdl Jane . Dyer ) Johnson. They w
Marc Nih children, of wvim was Francis, see furtoer
(II) FRANCIS HOPKINSON. eldest ( offwas and Mary ( Johnson ) Hopkioson, was born in PhiladdetsffAn 5. 1737 dod May 0, 5791 H0 imme life and eqc tiun were devolu » wow ent of culture and refine- me it His acader - training having 1 .10 taseasy Food cestuDe philadelphia, he took up the study of the law in the .to boasts, heod alisod A 12912 Philade
itipo temminto Cli entibad fitt I for
. imp paluch In was call nonlorel. As secretary of a
C Que 1 ,61 he showed marke 1 WT! The [ cm, The Treaty wac afterv .rd y published . Ury an fibra an of the Philadel- phia Toleary for din Vann. donc rd performer upon the har .i- chond le be ame very profi iet who was the first native poct- composer Nome Und Stars. He I com. ed a number of hymns, and
was but seventeen when he produ Ye thy Mus c.' From a year's study in .vitat e of a number of notables, he
Treland and England, where be ina returned to the Umted Stat to le for Newcamle
- stoned laler a Collector of Custoans
Again settled in I Iladelph .. ! . Ihre w' conducted a store Having been made a member of the Proy wwwil al Siwy Jersey he resigned that office and all office under the Green le na h accept a delegate hip in th fir . Continenal Congres - He si la cons mittee to Brit any de of federation; he voted for in! co Or American Colonies ; and wa .. sully honored by selection set de Sphere of the Declaration of Iste pendence for New Jersey. Ouf g 8 aubon he contribu ed a number (! satires which were considered a ex capireable in the cause of inde, end-
FECIT
DOMINVS
Baird
99
BAIRD
ence. Among these was his famous "Battle of the Kegs," written in 1778. His literary efforts were of a high order and enduring value. He was actively inter- ested in naval affairs as head of the Navy Department, and served as treasurer of the Continental Loan Office. Among his songs printed for the public were : "My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free"; "The Garland"; "With Pleasure I Have Passed My Days"; "The Twenty-third Psalm," and "An Anthem from the 114th Psalm." "Washington's March in G Major" is ascribed to him by some authorities.
Francis Hopkinson married, September II, 1768, at Bordentown, New Jersey, Anne Borden, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Rogers) Borden, the latter the daughter of Samuel and Mary Rogers. The great-great-grandparents of Mrs. Hopkinson, Richard and Joan Borden, settled at Portsmouth, Rhode Island, prior to 1638, and their son, Benjamin, born at Portsmouth, May 16, 1649, married, at Hartford, Connecticut, September 22, 1681, Abigail Glover, daughter of Henry Glover, and removed to Shrewsbury, New Jersey, where their seventh child, Joseph Borden, grandfather of Mrs. Hopkinson, was born, March 12, 1687. He was the founder of Bordentown; married Ann Conover, and died September 22, 1765, leaving one son, Joseph, father of Mrs. Hopkinson, and a daughter, Mary, wife of Chief Justice Thomas Mckean. In 1774, Francis Hopkinson became a resi- dent of Bordentown, thus becoming a citizen of New Jersey. To Francis and Anne (Borden) Hopkinson were born nine children, of whom was Joseph, see further.
(III) JOSEPH HOPKINSON, second son and child of Francis and Anne (Bor- den) Hopkinson, popularly remembered as the author of "Hail Columbia," was born in Philadelphia, November 12, 1770, died January 15, 1842. He became one of the leading members of the bar of Philadelphia County and city, acting as coun- sel in many celebrated cases, among which were the impeachment proceedings against Justice Chase, in which Mr. Hopkinson especially distinguished himself. He was a member of the National House of Representatives, 1815-19. In 1828, he was appointed by President Adams to be Judge of the United States District Court, an office held by his father at the time of his death, and he, too, filled it until his death, fourteen years after his elevation. He was a Federalist in politics, a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1837, vice-president of the American Philosophical Society and president of the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts. He was the author of various addresses and articles on legal and ethical subjects. His authorship of the national song, "Hail Columbia," came about after this man- ner: In 1798, when war with France seemed imminent, excitement ran very high, especially in Philadelphia, where Congress was in session. A friend of Mr. Hop- kinson connected with a theatre in Philadelphia was given a benefit, and, realizing that the only way he could fill the house was to present something of a political nature, since the public mind was so taken up with political questions, he appealed to his old friend and schoolmate, Judge Hopkinson, for advice and assistance in securing a patriotic song to be sung at his benefit. Judge Hopkinson told him to call the following afternoon, and he would provide him with a song. "Hail Colum- bia" proved to be an immediate success, it was given as encores and repeated night after night for weeks, the audiences joining in the chorus, and it was sung in the
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streets, in large assemblies and in processions, and within an incredibly short time it was being sung and applauded in all parts of the United States.
Judge Joseph Hopkinson married, February 27, 1794, Emily Mifflin, daughter of General Thomas Mifflin, and they were the parents of fourteen children, of whom was Oliver, see further.
(IV) OLIVER HOPKINSON, son of Judge Joseph and Emily ( Mifflin) Hopkin- son, was born in Philadelphia, July 24, 1812, died in that city March 10, 1905. He was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1832 and his Master's degree in 1835. From a preliminary study of the law, he entered service in an engineering corps. From the latter profession he again turned his attention to the law, completed his studies therein and was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1837.
As a lieutenant of the Cadwalader Grays, Mr. Hopkinson participated in the suppression of a riot in Queen Street, Philadelphia, in 1844, when an attempt to burn a Catholic Church was frustrated. The following night he commanded a detachment assigned for the protection of St. John's Church and of the arsenal opposite the church. He was lieutenant-colonel of the First Regiment, Delaware Volunteers, in the Civil War, and was wounded at the battle of Antietam. He was an expert drillmaster and skillful leader of skirmishing forces. While his regi- ment was encamped at Old Point Comfort, Virginia, he was a witness of the famous fight between the "Monitor" and the "Merrimac." For reasons of physical disability he resigned his commission, but in 1863, when Lee invaded Pennsylvania, he accepted the command of the Fifty-first Pennsylvania (Second Coal) Regiment, and was at its head during that regiment's term of service. He was an ådept at playing the violin, and his home in Philadelphia was a mecca for many years for music lovers and artists. Among his earliest recollections was that of Joseph Bona- parte, who lived at Bordentown, New Jersey, and was a frequent visitor at his father's house.
Oliver Hopkinson married, in 1845, Eliza Swaim, daughter of William Swaim, who was a captain in the War of 1812, and of Huguenot descent, whose ancestors settled in Connecticut early in the seventeenth century. One of Mrs. Hopkinson's ancestors was a member of the first General Court of that colony, held at Hart- ford, April 26, 1636. Of the eleven children born to Oliver and Eliza (Swaim) Hopkinson was a daughter, Elizabeth Borden, of whom further.
(V) ELIZABETH BORDEN HOPKINSON, fourth child and eldest daughter of Oliver and Eliza (Swaim) Hopkinson, was born in Paris, France, March 7, 1852. She is a member of the Pennsylvania Society of the Colonial Dames of America, and of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She married, June 4, 1878, in Philadelphia, Richard Loper Baird, of whom further.
(The Baird Line).
(I) JAMES BAIRD, the first of this line to come to America, was born near Belfast, Ireland, July 5, 1871; he married, June 3, 1809, in the Presbyterian (First) Church, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Catharine Mercer, daughter of Bernard and Sarah (Gardner) Mercer. Their children were:
I. Margaret, born June 10, 1810.
IOI
BAIRD
2. William Mercer, of whom further.
3. Sarah Ann, born February 9, 1814.
4. Catharine, born February 17, 1816.
(II) WILLIAM MERCER BAIRD, son of James and Catharine ( Mercer) Baird, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 24, 1812, died September 17, 1879. He was a prominent shipping merchant and director of several large steam- ship corporations, including the Hartford Line and the Despatch and Swiftsure Transportation Company. For a number of years he was a member of the city council. He married Susan I. Cooper, daughter of Francis and Frances (Bow- man) Cooper. Their children:
1. James.
2. William M., Jr., born July 28, 1846.
3. Catharine Frances, born June 17, 1848, died December 4, 1914; married Joseph Hopkinson.
4. R. Loper, Jr., of whom further.
5. Francis Cooper, born January 3, 1853, died April 27, 1903.
6. Margaret Loper, married George Fox.
(III) RICHARD LOPER BAIRD, father of O. Hopkinson Baird, of this review, was born in Philadelphia, December 4, 1850, and died February 2, 1920, a son of William Mercer and Susan I. (Cooper) Baird, his father an operator of steam- ships plying between Philadelphia and other Atlantic ports and for years a mem- ber of the Philadelphia City Council. At the end of the Freshman year at the University of Pennsylvania, the son, R. Loper, entered the Philadelphia Poly- technic Institute, from which he was graduated in 1870 with the degree of Civil Engineer. After a stay abroad, he returned to take up the study of law, and was graduated from the law department of the University of Pennsylvania in the class of 1875 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In that year he was admitted to the bar, and in association with his brother-in-law, Joseph Hopkinson, formed the firm of Baird and Hopkinson, which agreement continued in effect until the death of Mr. Hopkinson. The firm became one of the most important in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania legal circles.
In politics Mr. Baird was a recognized leader of the Democratic party. He was deputy collector of customs, as chief of the law division of the Philadelphia Custom House, in 1889. He served as secretary of the board of examiners of the Civil Service Commission for the customs district of Philadelphia. In 1891, he was appointed State clerk by the Philadelphia city treasurer, and in that capacity conducted the investigations into the methods and conduct of the then mercantile appraisers of the city of Philadelphia, which resulted in their indictment, arrest and dismissal from office by the court. From 1893 to 1896, he served, under appointment from President Cleveland, as assistant appraiser of merchandise for the district of Philadelphia. On April I, of the latter year, he was appointed suc- cessor to the appraiser, and held that office until April 20, 1897, when he retired from office, having tendered his resignation to President William McKinley. Thereafter he gave all his attention and energy to the practice of law. He attained great fame as a lawyer of unusual abilities, quiet, simple, forceful, logical, effective, and singularly successful in the handling of his cases and in office practice. He belonged to the Young America Cricket Club, from which emerged the German- town Cricket Club. In 1874, he was one of the eleven which won the Halifax
I02
BAIRD
Cup, and he also played against some of the most expert cricketers. He was a member of the University Barge Club, served on the Executive Committee for a number of years, and later was elected an honorary member.
R. Loper Baird married, as before stated, Elizabeth Borden Hopkinson, and to them were born three children :
I. Oliver Hopkinson, of whom further.
2. Elizabeth Biddle, who married Charles E. Shull.
3. R. Loper, Jr., who married, December 12, 1906, Catherine Sterck, who came here from England in 1900, daughter of Charles Weaver Sterck, of London, England, and Catherine Fife (Stoddart) Sterck, of Edinburgh, Scotland. Mr. and Mrs. R. Loper Baird, Jr., have two children: Catherine Borden, born October 26, 1911, and Richard Loper, 3d, born November 20, 1918.
(IV) O. (OLIVER) HOPKINSON BAIRD, eldest child and only surviving son of R. Loper and Elizabeth Borden (Hopkinson) Baird, was born in Philadelphia, March 22, 1879. His education was received at the Friends' Select School, Wil- liam Penn Charter School, the Bordentown Military Institute, Temple College, and the University of Pennsylvania. On leaving the university he became associated with the Public Ledger Company of Philadelphia. Subsequently he was connected with the New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk Railroad. He then was employed in the treasury department of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and later was appointed secretary and treasurer of the Bellefonte Railroad Company, in which offices he has ever since served. The political preference of Mr. Baird is Republican. He is well-connected socially and prominent in learned and patriotic organizations. Dur- ing the World War he was chief clerk, O. G. Department, Emergency Fleet Department, and was a member of the Home Defense Reserves. He is secretary of the Society of Descendants of Signers of the Declaration of Independence, a member of the Society of Colonial Wars, the Sons of the Revolution, the Histori- cal Society of Pennsylvania and the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. He belongs to the Philadelphia Cricket Club and the Philadelphia Barge Club. His chief recreation is tennis, and his religious fellowship is with the Protestant Epis- copal Church. It is with justifiable pride that Mr. Baird, on both sides of his house, points to forebears who distinguished themselves in war and in peace, in the cultivation of patriotism and the refinements of life.
O. Hopkuison Baird
Dan Rensselaer
The Colonial and Revolutionary ancestry of Alexander Van Rensselaer, well known in the social, philanthropic and business circles of Philadelphia and Penn- sylvania, comprises one of the most interesting lines in American life.
The Van Rensselaer family, representatives of which in later years have become residents of and identified with important activities in Philadelphia, was the first of the early Dutch families of the Colonial era to acquire a great landed estate in America under the "Patroon" system, and among the first, after the conquest of the Dutch by the English, to have their possessions erected into a "Manor," and was a family of much antiquity in Holland. The family, which is traced four generations back of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, the first Dutch Patroon in America, was early seized of, and derived its family name from Rensselaer Manor, three miles southeast of Nykerk, in Guelderland, originally a Reddergoed, a possession carrying with it a title to nobility. Here the family became quite numerous ; there is hardly a church in Guelderland that does not have tombstones or memorials to dead and gone Van Rensselaers, many of them inscribed with the arms of the family. In the Orphan Asylum of Nykerk, established in 1638, is still preserved a picture representing the founders and first regents of the institution, among whom was Jonkheer Jan Van Rensselaer, attired in the dress of the Dutch nobility of that period, and above his head is engraved the family arms.
(I) HENDRICK WOLTERS VAN RENSSELAER married Sivone Van Indyck, of Hemegseet, and had children, of whom was:
1. Johannes Hendrick.
(II) JOHANNES HENDRICK VAN RENSSELAER, eldest son of Hendrick Wol- ters and Sivone (Van Indyck) Van Rensselaer, married Derykebia Van Luxoel, and they had two sons :
I. Kiliaen, of whom further.
2. Wolter Jans.
(III) KILIAEN VAN RENSSELAER, elder son of Johannes Hendrick and Dery- kebia (Van Luxoel) Van Rensselaer, married Nelltje Van Vrenoken, and they had children, of whom was :
I. Hendrick Kiliaen, of whom further.
(IV) CAPTAIN HENDRICK KILIAEN VAN RENSSELAER, eldest son of Kiliaen and Nelltje (Van Vrenoken) Van Rensselaer, was a captain in the Dutch Army and was killed at the siege of Ostend, June 9, 1602; his brother, Johannes, who held similar rank, was killed February 7, 1601, and a monument to their memory is erected in the Protestant Church at Nykerk. The family was long prominent in the civil affairs of Holland, many of the name having served as burgomasters, treasurers, etc., in different towns in Guelderland. Captain Hendrick Kiliaen Van Rensselaer married and had a son :
1. Kiliaep, of whom further.
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VAN RENSSELAER
(V) KILIAEN VAN RENSSELAER, only son of Captain Hendrick Kiliaen and Maria (Paraat) Van Rensselaer, was born in Guelderland, Holland, near Nykerk, about 1595, and was but seven years of age at the death of his father. He suc- ceeded to the titles and estates of the family and became a man of great influence in the councils of his native country. He engaged in the pearl and diamond trade in Amsterdam and became one of the wealthiest citizens of that city. He was one of the organizers of the Dutch West India Company, chartered in July, 1621, "to establish an efficient and aggressive Atlantic maritime power in the struggle with Spain" and to colonize, develop and rule the Dutch American dependencies, of which the country, discovered by Captain Henry Hudson, in 1609, was known as "New Netherland" and comprising the present states of New York and New Jer- sey, was the most important. He was a member of the directorate and the execu- tive board of the former to administer the affairs of the company and to arrange and transact the concerns of New Netherlands.
The name of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, from the time of the organization of the Dutch West India Company, was conspicuously identified with all its policies and measures, especially the original settlement of Manhattan Island in 1623. He placed at the disposal of the company several of his vessels and twice advanced large sums of money to save its credit. As the active promoter of the scheme of "Freedom and Exemptions," for the encouragement of emigration to New Nether- lands, he availed himself promptly of its privileges. He employed Sebatiaen Jansen Cool, an officer of the Dutch West India Company in command at Fort Orange (now Albany, New York), to purchase lands of the Indians, and in 1630 he secured all the land on the west side of the Hudson from twelve miles south of Albany to the mouth of the Mohawk River and stretching back "two days' journey into the interior," which was erected into the patroonship of "Rensselaerwyck," confirmed to Van Rensselaer, January 8, 1631, by the "Assembly of XIX." Later purchases included a tract of about the same dimensions on the east side of the Hudson, south of Albany and "far into the wilderness," the two purchases embrac- ing practically all of the counties of Albany and Rensselaer, and extending far into the present limits of Massachusetts. Subsequent purchases included Schenectady, Columbia and part of Greene counties. The total, exceeding 700,000 acres, was erected into three patroonships, Rensselaerwyck, Pavonia and Swaanendael, the last two eventually reverting to the West India Company.
Rensselaerwyck, the greater part of which remained in the exclusive ownership of the Van Rensselaer family for more than two centuries, was at once placed by its proprietor, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, on the basis of a fully acquired estate, and he took active measures for its development, settlement and improvement. He manned the post with his own soldiers, and his own flag flew from its staff. The colonists took the oath of allegiance to him, and justice was administered in his own home. It is not known that he ever visited Rensselaerwyck, although tradi- tion has it that he paid it a brief visit in 1637. The affairs of the colony were managed by capable men as co-directors.
Kiliaen Van Rensselaer died in Holland in 1646. He married (first) Hille- gonda Van Bylaer, and (second) Anna Van Wely, daughter of Johannes and Leentje (Hackens) Van Wely. The line is through his son, Jeremias, by the sec- ond wife, and of whom further.
VAN RENSSELAER.
Arms-Quarterly; Ist, gules a cross (crusader's) argent ; 2d, argent, a fess embattled counter-embattled gules ; 3d, azure, three ducal crowns or; 4th, azure, three chevronels argent.
Crest-A basket argent flames issuing therefrom proper Mottoes-Niemand zonder. -Omnibus effulgior.
(K. S. Baxter; "A God-Child of Washington.")
NIEMAN
F
ONDER
Han Rensselaer
4
5
directorate and the exorn-
@pally and to arrange
Mi tr not the concert, of New Nydurur
The name of Kihaen Van Ro the organwallbu ot ti
Da West Indi Company jwith aff its polices and
Wlan1 in 1023. 5.
large sim. of money to save je Emil mater of thescheme of
Preodfin And Excourent' Tua ration to New Naher-
endo 'ed Schations
Jammer. Cool an officer of the be in command it Fort Indiaus. and mn 1630
colo the mitcomo
mbros brothsi Area sotto Mi tic
Thedude d Schenectady .
T odling jouquo acres, wie ml Swaarendael. .
61 procent. He
.
....
NIEMAND ZONDER
EFFULGIOR
OMNIBUS
Han Rensselaer
105
VAN RENSSELAER
(VI) JEREMIAS VAN RENSSELAER, son of Kiliaen and Anna (Van Wely) Van Rensselaer, was born in Holland in 1632 and came to America in 1658 to assume the directorship of Rensselaerwyck, filling that position and that of the nominal head of the family in America. for sixteen years. Under Dutch rule the colony was a distinct one, not in any manner subject to the political control or jurisdiction of the general administration of New Netherlands. When converted into an English colony, in 1664, it was erected into a manor with no material abridgment of its rights and privileges; the manor or lordship being set aside as a separate political entity with powers and privileges of police power, appoint- ment of necessary officials, and the control and administration of justice, and right to send a special deputy to the General Assembly of the province. The latter posi- tion, invariably filled by the head of the family, was first held by Jeremias Van Rensselaer, the third patroon, who represented the family and colony in the Assembly from 1664 to 1674. It was he who was the ancestor of the later line of the Lords of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck and of the American family of the name. Under his able administration as the first resident director of the family, the colony continued to flourish appreciably.
Jeremias Van Rensselaer died in 1674. He married, July 12, 1662, Maria Van Cortlandt, sister of Stephanus Van Cortlandt, the founder of Cortlandt Manor. She was born in 1645, died January 29, 1689. Of their son, Kiliaen, see further.
(VII) KILIAEN VAN RENSSELAER, second Lord of the Manor, eldest son of Jeremias and Maria (Van Cortlandt) Van Rensselaer, was born at Rensselaer- wyck, August 24, 1663, and became the head of the family on the death of his cousin and brother-in-law of the same name in 1687. He received a new patent for the manor, in his own name, May 20, 1704, from Queen Anne, but released to his brother Hendrick, Claverack Manor, 60,000 acres in Columbia County, which with other lands then vested in the younger branch of the family, descendants of Hendrick. He also settled large tracts of land on his sister, the wife of Peter Schuyler. He was continuously in public life from 1691 to 1719, serving as a mem- ber of the General Assembly from 1691 to 1703, when he was elevated to the Governor's Council, of which he was a member until his death, which occurred in 1719. For many years he was also Commissioner of Indian Affairs. In this connection it should be emphasized that the attitude of the Van Rensselaer family towards the Indians was always conciliatory, friendly and just; and, while other colonies and settlements suffered depredations from hostile tribes, Rensselaerwyck was always free from their ravages.
Kiliaen Van Rensselaer married, October 15, 1701, Maria Van Cortlandt, his cousin, daughter of Stephanus and Gertrude (Schuyler) Van Cortlandt, of Van Cortlandt Manor. Of his son, Stephen, see further.
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