USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Volume IV > Part 14
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(VIII) STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER, son of Kiliaen and Maria (Van Cort- landt ) Van Rensselaer, and the fourth Lord of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck, was born March 23, 1707. He was in feeble health and participated very little in pub- lic affairs, but held the family office of Provincial Commissioner of Indian Affairs until his death in June, 1747. He married, July 5, 1729, Elizabeth Groesbeck, who died December 31, 1756. Of their seven children was Stephen (2), see further.
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(IX) STEPHEN (2) VAN RENSSELAER, sixth child of Stephen and Elizabeth (Groesbeck) Van Rensselaer, was the fifth Lord of the Manor, born June 2, 1742. His father having died when he was five years of age, the affairs of the manor and estate were administered by his brother-in-law, Abraham Ten Broeck, who had married his elder sister, Elizabeth, and was for several years the family representative in the Assembly.
Stephen (2) Van Rensselaer built the manor house in 1756. He died in 1769, aged twenty-seven years. He married. in January, 1764, Catharine Livingston, daughter of Philip Livingston, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Christina (Ten Broeck) Livingston. She married (second) Elisdrus Westerlo. Stephen (2) Van Rensselaer was the father of three children:
I. Stephen (3), of whom further.
2. Philip Schuyler.
3. Elizabeth; married John Bradstreet Schuyler, son of General Philip Schuyler.
(X) STEPHEN (3) VAN RENSSELAER, eldest child and son of Stephen (2) and Catharine (Livingston) Van Rensselaer, and the sixth and last Lord of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck, was born in New York City, November I, 1764. He was graduated from Harvard College, class of 1782, and assumed the direction of the great family estate, adopting a policy of energetic improvement of the vast prop- erty, he being the eldest male representative of the family. Though the law of primogeniture had been abrogated a half century prior to his birth, he was the real head of the family and the holder of its lands and wealth. He greatly reduced the rents of the lands and greatly encouraged the material development of the landed estate. He became a member of the Assembly in 1789 and served in that body until 1791, when he was elected to the State Senate, of which he was a mem- ber until 1796. He was elected lieutenant-governor in 1795, and held that office until 1798, and was a candidate for Governor in 1801, and again was a member of the Assembly, 1808-19. He was one of the first advocates of the construction of the Erie Canal, from the Hudson River to the Great Lakes, and in 1810 he was named commissioner to view the proposed route, making a tour of inspection, the result of which he submitted in 1811. The War of 1812 delayed further activity in that line, and he entered the military service. He had been commissioned a major of infantry in the New York Militia in 1786; was made colonel in 1788, and major-general in 1801. At the outbreak of the War of 1812, he was appointed to the command of the United States forces in New York with the rank of major- general, and fought the battle of Queenstown Heights, October 13, 1812. He soon afterward resigned the command and participated in the war no further. With the resumption of peace he resumed the agitation in favor of the Erie Canal, and the first ground in its construction was broken on the Nation's birthday, July 4, 1817.
Stephen (3) Van Rensselaer again was elected to the Assembly in 1818; was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1821 ; was a member of the National House of Representatives, 1823-29; was regent and chancellor of the University of the State of New York; president of the State Agricultural Society of New York; the first president of the Albany Savings Bank, incorporated in 1820, the second oldest institution of its kind in the country. He was honored with the degree of Doctor of Laws by Yale University in 1825. In 1824 he founded Rens- selaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, the first of its character in the
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United States, liberally endowing it, and maintaining it at his own expense for fourteen years. He was the last of the family to retain Rensselaerwyck in its entirety. He was known as the "Old Patroon," while his eldest son and principal successor was known as the "Young Patroon."
Stephen (3) Van Rensselaer married (first), in 1783, Marguerite Schuyler, daughter of General Philip and Catharine (Van Rensselaer) Schuyler. He mar- ried (second), May 17, 1802, Cornelia Patterson, born in 1780, died in 1844, daughter of Hon. William Patterson, Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and Cornelia (Bell) Patterson. By his first wife, who died in 1801, he had three children, of whom the two eldest died in infancy; the third was Stephen (4) Van Rensselaer, his father's principal successor at Rensselaerwyck. By the second mar- riage he had eight children, of whom was Cortlandt, of whom further.
(XI) REV. CORTLANDT VAN RENSSELAER, D. D., seventh child of Stephen (3) and Cornelia (Patterson) Van Rensselaer, was born in the Manor House at Rensselaerwyck, May 26, 1808. He was graduated from Yale University in 1827, studied law and was admitted to the New York State bar in 1830. Having altered his program of life, he elected the ministerial profession and studied at Union Theological Seminary. In 1837 he was installed as pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Burlington, New Jersey. He afterwards resided in Washington, Dis- trict of Columbia, and had pastoral charge of two Presbyterian churches. In 1843 he undertook the task of raising an endowment fund for Princeton Theological Seminary ; starting the subscription with a personal gift of two thousand dollars, he secured the desired sum of $100,000.
From 1847 until his death, which occurred in Burlington, New Jersey, July 25, 1860, Dr. Van Rensselaer was corresponding secretary and the principal executive officer of the Presbyterian Board of Education. He introduced new methods of administration and extended the scope of educational work of the church; founded and edited "The Presbyterian Magazine" and "The Home, the School and Church." He was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity by the University of the State of New York in 1845. Selections from his writings were published, in 1861, under the title of "Sermons and Addresses," including an address made by him at the centennial celebration of the battle of Lake George. He was a prolific writer on the subject of education.
Rev. Cortlandt Van Rensselaer, D. D., married, September 13, 1836, Catharine Ledyard, born September 22, 18II, at Hartford, Connecticut, daughter of Dr. Mason Fitch and Mary Austin (Ledyard) Cogswell. Her father was descended from the Cogswell family, which came to New England from County Wilts, Eng- land, and his mother, Alice Fitch, belonged to the famous Fitch family of Connecti- cut. Mrs. Van Rensselaer's mother, Mary Austin Ledyard, was a granddaughter of John Ledyard, who came from England in 1700. Children of Rev. Dr. Cort- landt and Catharine Ledyard (Cogswell) Van Rensselaer :
I. Captain Cortlandt, an officer of the Civil War.
2. Philip Livingston, a major of cavalry in the Civil War.
3. Charles Chauncey.
4. Ledyard, a physician.
5. Alice Cogswell; married Edward B. Hodge, of Philadelphia.
6. Elizabeth; married General Edward Burd Grubb, of Edgewater Park, New Jersey.
7. Alexander, of whom further.
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(XII) ALEXANDER VAN RENSSELAER, youngest and only surviving child of Rev. Dr. Cortlandt and Catharine Ledyard (Cogswell) Van Rensselaer, was born October 1, 1850. He was graduated from Princeton University in the class of 1871, and for many years has been prominent in the cultural life of the Quaker City. Coming to Philadelphia shortly after his marriage, more than thirty years ago, he made a place all his own in the social, philanthropic and business circles of the city. Especially was he interested in the promotion of the refinements of life from the time of making his residence there. The fact continued to be given nota- ble emphasis through his leadership in the affairs of the Philadelphia Orchestra, which he was instrumental in founding, and of which he has ever since been the president. Therefore, it may be truly said that to the musical arts his contributions of executive administration and financial support, in this connection, constitute an invaluable service to the Philadelphia community.
Mr. Van Rensselaer has all his life been doing fine things in a large way, as becomes one of his standing and position. He and Mrs. Van Rensselaer had a common interest in their devotion to splendid charities of the most practical sort- fresh air excursions to their beautiful country place at Little Orchard, near Fort Washington, where children by the hundreds from the city's congested areas were given holiday; the taking of the city's poor on the Van Rensselaer yachts for cruises on the Delaware. In the making of these happy occasions, and many others of a similar nature, the two rejoiced exceedingly, seeking always to impress upon every one that he was not an object of charity, but one among the many hun- dreds of guests who were making their host and hostess glad by their presence.
Among other things for which Mr. Rensselaer has a penchant is yachting, in which he has attained considerable note. In 1898, during the Spanish War, shortly after the American soldiers had invested Porto Rico, the Van Rensselaers' yacht "May" was offered to carry relief to the men in the heated atmosphere of the island. The National Relief Commission accepted the offer, and the "May" cleared from the Port of Philadelphia with eighty tons of supplies and the National Relief Commissioners abroad. Mrs. Van Rensselaer accompanied her husband. In the performance of this patriotic and humanitarian service husband and wife were ardently helpful and enthusiastic.
Mr. and Mrs. Van Rensselaer entertained in regular fashion at their town house in Philadelphia and at their country home, "Camp Hill Hall," at Fort Wash- ington. Among their guests on different brilliant occasions were persons of inter- national prominence, and they themselves, on more than one occasion, had been entertained by royalty. In 1910, during a trip around the world, Mr. and Mrs. Van Rensselaer were guests of the Japanese Imperial family, and were enter- tained later by the Viceroy of India and the Rajah of Singapore. They both had been presented at the Court of St. James's also.
Alexander Van Rensselaer married, January 27, 1898, at "Camp Hill Hall," Fort Washington, Sarah (Drexel) Fell, widow of John R. Fell, and daughter of Anthony Joseph Drexel, of the well-known banking house of Drexel and Com- pany, of Philadelphia, and Ellen (Rozet) Drexel The wedding, which was one of the outstanding events of the time, united two of the most prominent of the families of New York and Philadelphia, respectively. It was at "Camp Hill Hall," the beautiful country estate, that Mr. and Mrs. Van Rensselaer spent much of their time, and more continuously during the days of her decline in health and until she passed away there, February 3, 1929, in the sixty-ninth year of her age.
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Mister
The Colonial and Revolutionary ancestry of L. Caspar Wister, a well-known member of the younger group of investment bankers of Philadelphia, is of espe- cial interest as connected with an old and distinguished family of Pennsylvania.
(I) JOHN WUSTER, second son of Hans Caspar and Anna Catharina Wiister, was born in Hilspach, Rhenish Palatinate, November 8, 1708, died in Philadelphia, January 31, 1789, arrived in the Quaker City in September, 1727, and there joined his brother, Caspar. He became a large merchant in choice wines and invested heavily in property in Germantown; on a large tract on Shoemaker's Lane and Germantown Road, he built, in 1744, the old mansion, christened "Grumblethorpe," ever since owned by his descendants. Having joined the Society of Friends on his marriage, he took no military part in the Revolutionary War, but there is evidence that he was in sympathy with the Colonists' struggle for independence. John Wister (here the surname changed to its commonly accepted form) married three times ; his second wife, Anna Catharine Rubenkam, born in Wanfried, Ger- many, died in Philadelphia, May 17, 1770, daughter of Rev. John Philip Ruben- kam, of Wanfried, having borne her husband five children, of whom was Daniel, see further.
(II) DANIEL WISTER, eldest son of John and Anna Catharine (Rubenkam) Wüster, was born in Philadelphia, February 4, 1739 (N. S.), died in Germantown, IO mo., 27, 1805. 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 took no active part in the Revolution. Daniel Wister married, in 1760, Lowry Jones, born in Lower Merion, 10 mo., 30, 1742, died 2 mo., 15, 1804, daughter of Owen and Susanna (Evans) Jones. She was a granddaugh- ter of Jonathan and Gainor (Owen) Jones, the great-granddaughter of Dr. Edward Jones, the pioneer of the colony of Welsh settlers in Merion and Haverford townships, who came from the neighborhood of Bala, Merionethshire, Wales, in 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 ship "Welcome," in 1682, and became 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 and Rebecca (Humphrey) Owen, of Merion, who came from Fron Goch, Merionthshire, to Pennsylvania, in 1690, and who was a descendant of the twelfth century chieftain, Rhirid Flaid. Her mother, Susanna Evans, born in 1719, died in 1811, was a daughter of Hugh and Lowry (Williams) Evans, and a granddaughter of Rees John Williams, who with his wife, Hannah Price (ap Rhys), a descendant of Owen Glendower Tudor, and of Edward I, came to Pennsylvania, in 1684, and settled near Gwynedd. Hugh Evans, maternal
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WISTER
grandfather of Mrs. Wister, was born in 1682, died in 1772, was a representative in the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly for many years, and a son of Thomas and Ann Evans, who came from Wales, in 1689, and settled at Gwynedd; and a descendant of Owen, Prince of Gwynedd and of Bleddyn, Prince of Wales. Dan- iel and Lowry (Jones) Wister had seven children, of whom was Charles Jones, see further.
(III) CHARLES JONES WISTER, second son of Daniel and Lowry (Jones) Wister, was born in Philadelphia, April 12, 1782, in the old Wister house on Market Street, which is the dwelling upon which Benjamin Franklin erected his first lightning rod. He was at first a merchant and later became interested in chemistry and mineralogy, and later assisted in the preparation of the first work on the subject of mineralogy ever published in America. He was one of the group of mutual friends, calling themselves the Twilight Club, from which, it is said, sprang the foundation of the Academy of Natural Science, instituted in 1815. He was an active member of most of the important literary, scientific and other cultural organizations of the early Philadelphia that have their well-known repre- sentatives of the present day. He was an ardent student of botany and an author- ity on local flora. The plant named in his honor, Coralerhiza Wisteriana, was a discovery of Mr. Wister's. He died July 23, 1865. Charles Jones Wister mar- ried twice, his first wife, Rebecca Bullock, having died September 20, 1812. They were the parents of two children, of whom was William Wynne, see further.
(IV) WILLIAM WYNNE WISTER, eldest son of Charles Jones and Rebecca (Bullock) Wister, was born in Germantown, Philadelphia, March 25, 1807, died there December 16, 1898. He was a finished student of the Greek and Latin languages, and taught also the German language, which he spoke fluently. He was known as the "Grand Old Man" of Germantown, where he lived to be ninety years old. He was president of the National Bank of Germantown from 1862 until his death in 1898. William Wynne Wister married, October 23, 1830, Hanna Lewis Wilson, and they were the parents of six children, of whom was Alexander Wil- son, see further.
(V) ALEXANDER WILSON WISTER, second son and third child of William Wynne and Hanna Lewis (Wilson) Wister, was born March 28, 1840. He enlisted in the Eighth Pennsylvania (Emergency) Regiment, in 1862, for the Civil War, and saw service in the Antietam campaign. He was a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Society of Colonial Wars and the Penn- sylvania Society Sons of the Revolution, and one of the organizers of the Ger- mantown Cricket Club. Alexander Wilson Wister married, December 3, 1862, Susan A. Wilson, and they were the parents of four children, of whom was Lewis Wynne, see further.
(VI) LEWIS WYNNE WISTER, eldest child and son of Alexander Wilson and Susan A. (Wilson) Wister, was born January 21, 1864, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in the class of 1885. He was engaged in the insur- ance business in Philadelphia until his death. He married, February 16, 1887, Elizabeth Wolcott Henry, daughter of T. Charlton and Mary (Jackson) Henry, and they were the parents of two children: L. (Lewis) Caspar, of this review, see further. A younger son, Charlton Henry, died in infancy.
PHILLIPS PHOTO
Gaspar Hister
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WISTER
(VII) L. CASPAR WISTER, elder and only surving son and child of Lewis Wynne and Elizabeth Wolcott (Henry) Wister, was born in Germantown, Phila- delphia, February 24, 1888. Having taken his preparatory course at Germantown Academy, he entered Princeton University, from which he was graduated Bachelor of Literature in the class of 1908. He was prominent in athletics, having won a position on the football and baseball teams during his university years.
Mr. Wister early made the profession of finance his own. His first connection in this line after his graduation was with the Trust and Safe Deposit Company, in Philadelphia, with which institution he was identified for about five years. He responded to a call to the colors in the World War period, and this service he permitted patriotically to intervene in his banking career. After the war he became an associate of the firm of Graham, Parsons & Company, with whom he continued until 1922. He is now (1930) associated with the well-known invest- ment banking house of Townsend, Whelen & Company, in the Quaker City, and is favorably known as one of the younger financial executives of Philadelphia.
During the World War, Mr. Wister entered the Second Officers' Training Camp at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. Upon the completion of the course he was commissioned a captain of infantry, and was sent overseas. He was with the Sixth Division and later with the Eighty-fifth Division, American Expeditionary Forces. His military record is a credit to the army annals of the United States. He received his honorable discharge from the service, April 18, 1919, and then resumed his place in civil life, again taking up the threads of his banking business where he had temporarily laid them aside to bear arms on the side of the Allies.
Mr. Wister is aligned with the Republican party, but has not essayed public office. He is prominent in social and recreational organizations, belonging to the Philadelphia Club, Racquet Club, Merion Cricket Club, and Gulph Mills Golf Club. His religious affiliation is with the Protestant Episcopal Church of All Saints at Wynnewood.
L. Caspar Wister married, October 2, 1910, at Devon, Mary Carpenter Lloyd, daughter of Malcolm and Anna (Howell) Lloyd, both her parents deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Wister have three children :
[. Caspar, born August 12, 1911.
2. Malcolm Lloyd, born August 2, 1913.
3. Lewis Wynne, born May 18, 1915.
Mr. Wister, while achieving a career in the city of his fathers, is making a notable addition to the commercial annals of Philadelphia, and is ranked among those who are making constructive contributions to the financial stability and pros- perity of the State.
hutchinson
The Colonial and Revolutionary ancestry of Sydney Emlen Hutchinson, well- known Philadelphia business executive, is of more than immediate interest to the family.
The genesis of Hutchinson as a patronymic is traceable from the holy name Hugh, through the popular Norman French forms, Huet and Hugon, which were corrupted into the English form Hutchin, thence to Hutchinson, the son of Hutchin.
(Bardsley : "English Surnames," p. 60.)
(I) The Hutchinson family dates back to John Hutchinson, who came from England in 1681, and settled in Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He mar- ried Phoebe Kirkbride. They were the parents of Randall, of whom further.
(II) RANDALL HUTCHINSON, son of John Hutchinson, was a member of the Society of Friends and a farmer in prosperous circumstances. He married Cath- erine Rickey (Rickey II), and they were the parents of James, of whom further.
(J. T. White: "National Cyclopedia of American Biography," Vol. XI, p. 237. F. A. Virkus: "Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy," Vol. I, p. 262.)
(III) JAMES HUTCHINSON, M. D., son of Randall and Catherine (Rickey) Hutchinson, was born in Wakefield Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Janu- ary 29, 1752, and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 5, 1793. He attended school in Virginia and later took the highest honors at Philadelphia Col- lege. He studied medicine under Dr. Evans, of Philadelphia, and upon graduating from the medical college in 1774, he went to England to pursue further studies under Dr. Fethergill. Owing to the political situation he returned to Philadelphia by way of France, bearing important dispatches from Dr. Franklin to the govern- ment. He became a surgeon in the Continental Army, and was later made surgeon- general of Pennsylvania, in which capacity he served until the end of the war. James Hutchinson, M. D., married (first), February 18, 1779, Lydia Biddle, a sister of Clement Biddle (marriage, Christ Church, Philadelphia, records). He married (second) Sidney (Sydney ) Howell. (Howell IV.) Dr. James and Sidney (Sydney) (Howell) Hutchinson were the parents of Israel Pemberton, of whom further.
(J. T. White: "National Cyclopedia of American Biography," Vol. XI, p. 237.)
(IV) ISRAEL PEMBERTON HUTCHINSON, son of Dr. James and Sidney (Syd- ney ) (Howell) Hutchinson, was born May 10, 1788, died May 9, 1866. . He distin- guished himself as United States Consul to Portugal, and while on his mission in that country had his official residence at Cintra. He was a Quaker of great wealth and influence. He married Margaretta Hare. (Hare III.) They were the parents of six children, among whom was Pemberton Sydney, of whom further.
(V) PEMBERTON SYDNEY HUTCHINSON, third child and son of Israel Pem- berton and Margaretta (Hare) Hutchinson, was born in Cintra, Portugal, Feb-
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ruary 15, 1836, while his father was on station as United States Consul in that country. He matriculated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1854, but left at the close of his freshman year to enter business in Philadelphia under the style of P. S. Hutchinson & Company, conducting a merchandising enterprise for a num- ber of years. He later was elected president of the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society, and was made a director of the Girard Trust Company, the Farmers' and Mechanics' National Bank, the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, and the Philadelphia Contributionship. He served as a member of the Pennsylvania Emer- gency Regiment in 1862, and was affiliated with the Pennsylvania Society Sons of the American Revolution. Pemberton Sydney Hutchinson died June 26, 1903.
He married, June 5, 1860, Agnes Wharton, daughter of George Mifflin and Maria (Markoe) Wharton. Agnes (Wharton) Hutchinson was descended from the ancient and honorable family of Wharton, which traces its line back to the time of Edward I, when one of the family, then known as Wherton, married a daughter of Philip Hastings, of Croglin, in Cumberland. Thomas Wharton held the manor of Wharton in the reign of Henry IV and the succeeding Lords of Wharton Hall held the manor of Ravenstonedale for one hundred and eighty-seven years. Thomas, second Lord Wharton, died in the fourteenth year of Queen Elizabeth's reign and was succeeded by Philip, third Lord Wharton, who was partisan of Cromwell. He had a younger son, Henry, who was a favorite pupil of Isaac New- ton. Philip, fourth Lord Wharton, who died in 1695-96, was made Viscount Winchenden and Earl of Wharton, and finally Marquis of Wharton.
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