Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 8

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 978

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Col. Samuel Boyer Davis married Sally Jones, of a family that had originally settled in North Carolina, but located at Wilmington, Delaware, about 1750."

SUSSEX DELAWARE DAVIS, was the second son of Col. Samuel B. and Sally (Jones) Davis, and was born at "Delamore Place," near Wilmington, Delaware, December 30, 1838. He first attended school at the academy of Rev. Samuel Gay- ley, near Wilmington ; was later a pupil at St. Mary's College, a Roman Catholic institution under the charge of Rev. Patrick Reilly, in Wilmington, and prepared for college under the tuition of William R. McAdam, a well-known instructor of youth in Philadelphia. He entered the sophomore class of Princeton College, and graduated with honors, class of 1859. He studied law in the office of Hon. George W. Wharton, in Philadelphia, and was admitted to Philadelphia Bar, 1862. He was appointed by Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, as register in bankruptcy for Philadelphia, and filled that posi- tion until the repeal of the bankruptcy. He was counsel for the Union Pacific Railroad Company at one time and has served as counsel in many important cor- poration cases involving large interests. He served a number of years as a school director from the Eighth Ward of Philadelphia, and has filled a number of other honorable positions.

Mr. Davis is a member, and has been for a number of years, one of the gov- ernors of the Rittenhouse Club, and was, in 1871, a founder of the Junior Legal Club, now known as the Legal Club, of which he has been a number of years a member of the executive committee. He is a member of the vestry of St. Luke's Protestant Episcopal Church of Philadelphia, and a regular attendant.

Issue of Sussex Delaware and Mary Fleeming ( Hare) Davis:

Samuel Boyer Davis, b. March 9, 1875; CAROLINE HARE DAVIS, of whom presently; Robert Hare Davis, b. Aug. 16, 1877, unm. (1907);

Sussex Delaware Davis, Jr., d. inf.

CAROLINE HARE DAVIS, second child of Sussex Delaware Davis, Esq., and his

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wife Mary Fleeming Hare, was born in Philadelphia, July 20, 1876. She mar- ried, October 8, 1904, William Penn-Gaskell Hall, descendant of the Halls of Leventhorpe Hall, county York, England, seventh in descent from William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, and fourth in descent from Peter Gaskell, of Innersly Hall, county Chester, England.

Mr. and Mrs. William Penn-Gaskell Hall resided at 1118 Spruce street, Phila- delphia. They have issue :

Mary Fleeming Hare Hall, b. Dec. 30, 1905; William Penn-Gaskell Hall, Jr., b. Sept. 8, 1908.

HARRIET HARE, second daughter of Robert Harford Hare, by his wife, Caroline Fleeming, born in Newport, Rhode Island, July 23, 1847, married, June 25, 1873, George McClellan, M. D., of Philadelphia, where they reside. Mrs. McClellan is president of Chapter 2 of Colonial Dames of America; vice-president of Morris Refuge Association ; founder of Francisvale Home for Dogs; life member of Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children ; member of City Park Association and of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association. She is a woman of fine literary taste, and author of three novels, "Cupid and the Sphinx," "A Carpet Knight" and "Broken Chords."

Dr. George McClellan is a direct descendant of Gov. Bradford, of Plymouth Colony, and of Gen. Samuel McClellan, of Woodstock, Connecticut, a distinguish- ed soldier of the Revolutionary War.

Dr. George McClellan, grandfather of the present Dr. McClellan, born at Wood- stock, Connecticut, December 22, 1796, received an academic education in his native town and entered Yale College, sophomore class, at the age of sixteen years. On his graduation he studied medicine, and in 1817 was a student under Dr. Dor- sey in Philadelphia. He received his medical degree in 1819, and began the prac- tice of his profession in Philadelphia, which continued for a period of thirty years. He was founder of Jefferson Medical College, 1825, and filled its chair of surgery until 1838. In 1839 he began a course of lectures in Philadelphia, and founded another Medical School, chartered as "The Medical Department of Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg" in which he was an instructor until its close 1843. Dr. McClellan died in Philadelphia May 8, 1847 ; he held high rank as a surgeon and physician, and was author of "Principles of Surgery," edited by his son, Dr. John Hill Brinton McClellan, after his decease. He married, September 14, 1820, Eliz- abeth Brinton, by whom he had five children. Elizabeth Brinton was the daughter of John Hill Brinton, Esq., of Philadelphia Bar, by his wife, Sarah Steinmetz, and a descendant of William Brinton, of Nether Gournal, parish of Sedgeley, county Stafford, England, who came to Pennsylvania 1684, and settled Birmingham town- ship, Chester, now Delaware county. His second son was Major General George Brinton McClellan, of the U. S. A.

DR. JOHN HILL BRINTON MCCLELLAN, eldest son of Dr. George and Elizabeth (Brinton) Mcclellan, born in Philadelphia, August 13, 1823, entered University of Pennsylvania 1837, and graduated with degree of A. B., later receiving degree of Master of Arts. He entered the Medical Department of the University and received degree of Doctor of Medicine there 1844. He was surgeon to St. Joseph's Hospital 1850-62; filled the same position at Wills Eye Hospital ; was made Pro-

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fessor of Surgery at the Pennsylvania College 1855; became Fellow of College of Physicians, Philadelphia, 1849; was a member of Academy of Natural Sciences 1847-74; member of Philadelphia County Medical Society and American Medical Association from 1849. He was acting assistant surgeon of the United States Army 1861-5, stationed at the Military Hospitals on South street, Philadelphia, at Mowers, Virginia, and at Chestnut Hill.

He edited "Principles and Practice of Surgery," written by his father, Dr. John Hill Brinton McClellan, died at Edinburg, Scotland, July 20, 1874. He married Maria, daughter of Oliver Eldridge, of Boston, Massachusetts.

DR. GEORGE MCCLELLAN, first above mentioned, born in Philadelphia, October 29, 1849, was a son of Dr. John Hill and Maria ( Eldridge) McClellan. He enter- ed University of Pennsylvania 1865, and left at close of his junior year. He grad- uated at Jefferson Medical College in 1870, and has since practiced his profession in that city. He was surgeon to Philadelphia and Howard Hospitals ; Lecturer on Anatomy and Surgery at the Pennsylvania School of Anatomy for twelve years; Lecturer on Anatomy at Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1890 to date; Fel- low of College of Physicians since 1873; member of Philadelphia County, Penn- sylvania State, and National Medical Associations, and author of "Regional Anat- omy in its Relation to Medicine and Surgery," "Anatomy in its Relation to Art," and numerous essays on medical subjects. He is Professor of Applied Anatomy at Jefferson Medical College, and is president of the Medical Club, and of the Contemporary Club; vice-president of the Philobiblion Club, and member of the University Club. He married, as before stated, 1873, Harriet Hare.

Kilhan Van Rensselaer

VAN RENSSELAER FAMILY.

The Van Rensselaer family, representatives of which have in later years become residents of and indentified with the social and business life of Philadelphia, was the first of the early Dutch Colonial families 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 gen- erations back of Kiliaen Van Rennsselaer, the first Dutch Patroon in America, were early seized of, and derived their 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 scarcely 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 at 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 day, and above his head is engraved the family arms, Gules, a cross moline argent ; with crest, an iron basket out of which issue flames or, above a closed knight's hel- met.

The ancestral line of the American family so far as traced is as follows :

HENDRICK WOLTERS VAN RENSSELAER, married Sivone Van Indyck, of Hemeg- seet, and had two sons, Johannes Hendrick and Wolter Hendrick; and three daughters, Guertruv, married the Advocate Swaaskn; Anna, married - By- gimp; and Betye, married Nogger.

JOHANNES HENDRICK VAN RENSSELAER, eldest son, married Derykebia Van Luxoel, and had two sons, Kiliaen and Wolter Jans.

KILIAEN VAN RENSSELAER, married Nelltje Van Vrenoken, and had three sons, Hendrick, Claes, Johannes, and one daughter, Engeltje, married Gerris William Patten.

HENDRICK KILIAEN 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 the same rank, was killed February 7, 1601, and a monument to their memory is erect- ed in the Protestant Church at Nykerk. The family was long prominent in the civil affairs of Holland, many of the name serving as burgomasters, treasurers, etc., in different towns in Guelderland.

KILIAEN VAN RENSSELAER, first American Patroon, was the only son of Capt. Hendrick Van Rensselaer, who married Maria Paraat, and had beside Kiliaen, a daughter, Maria, who married Rykert Van Twiller. Kiliaen Van Rensselaer was born in Guelderland, Holland, near Nykerk, about 1595, and was therefore but seven years of age at the death of his father. He was carefully educated, and suc- ceeding to the titles and estates of the family took a position of great influence in the councils of his native country, arriving at his majority at the most critical period in the history of the United Provinces, when the truce with Spain was just drawing to a close, and the question of vital importance, whether the war for

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absolute independence should be resumed, must be determined. He engaged in the pearl and diamond trade in Amsterdam, and became one of the wealthiest citizens of that city, "at a time when the merchants of Holland like those of Italy had be- come the princes of the land."

Kiliaen Van Rensselaer was one of the organizers of the Dutch West India Company, chartered in July, 1621, with a capital of seven million florins, that famous and powerful auxiliary of the government of the Netherlands in the gigan- tic contest against Spain and for national supremacy. The object, as stated in the grant, was, "to establish an efficient and aggressive Atlantic maritime power in the struggle with Spain" and to colonize, develop and rule the Dutch American de- pendencies, of which the country discovered by Capt. Henry Hudson, 1609, known as "New Netherlands" and comprising the present states of New York and New Jersey, was among the most important. It was granted exclusive authority and trade privileges in the Dutch possessions of North and South America, as also on the coast of Africa from the Tropic of Cancer to Cape of Good Hope. The affairs of the company were administered by a directorate known as the "Assem- bly of the XIX," from the membership of which an Executive Board was selected to arrange and transact the concerns of New Netherlands, and Kiliaen Van Rens- selaer was a member of both these controlling bodies. He was from its organiza- tion one of its mainstays and his name is conspicuously identified with all its meas- ures and policies, 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. He had a principal part in the adoption, 1629, of the plan of "Freedom and Exemptions," devised to encourage emigration to the New Netherlands. It gave to each member of the company the right to select lands in the province and erect them into a Patroonship, under his own ex- clusive personal proprietorship and govermental authority, with the right to for- ever possess and enjoy all the lands lying within the limits specified, "together with the fruits, rights, minerals, rivers and fountains thereof, fishing, fowling and grinding, to the exclusion of all others, as also chief command of and lower juris- diction thereover, to be holden from the Company as a perpetual inheritance;" provided that he satisfy the natives for the land taken, and transport thereto fifty souls and upwards of fifteen years of age and upwards, before the expiration of the fourth year after the grant; one-fourth at least to be transported during the first year.

Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, as the active promotor of the scheme of "Freedom and Exemptions," took prompt action to avail himself personally of its privileges. He employed Sebatiaen Jansen Cool, an officer of the Dutch West India Company in command of 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 patroon- ship of "Rensselaerwyck," confirmed to Van Rensselaer, January 8, 1631, by the "Assembly of XIX." Later purchases included a tract of about the same dimen- sions on the east side of the Hudson, south of Albany and "far into the wilder- ness," the two purchases embracing practically all of the counties of Albany and Rensselaer, and extending far into the present limits of Massachusetts. Subse- quent purchases included Schenectady, Columbia and part of Greene counties. The

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total, exceeding 700,000 acres, was erected into three patroonships, Rensselaer- wyck, Pavonia, and Swaanendael, the last two eventually reverting to the West India Company.

Rensselaerwyck, the greater part of which remained in the exclusive owner- ship and possession of the Van Rensselaer family for over two centuries, was at once placed by its proprietor, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, on the basis of a fully ac- quired estate, and he took active measures for its development, settlement and improvement. Comfortable houses and ample barns were erected for his tenants, near Fort Orange; agricultural implements were provided; saw and grain mills erected and his stores supplied with goods suitable to meet the wants of the colon- ists. 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 administer- ed in his own name.

It is not known that Kiliaen Van Rensselaer ever visited Rensselaerwyck, al- though tradition says that he paid it a brief visit in 1637. The affairs of the colony were managed by capable men as vice-directors, the first of whom was Arendt Van Corlaer, a capable and accomplished man, and the last, - Schlich- tenhorst, whose daughter, Margaretta, became the wife of Philip Peters Schuyler. Other vice-directors were Dr. Adriaen Van der Donck, the first lawyer in New Netherlands, subsequently patroon of "Colon Donck," later Phillpse Manor; and Dominie Megapolensis, the most accomplished of the early Dutch divines. Kiliaen Van Rensselaer died in Holland in 1646. He married (first) Hillegonda Van Bylaer, and (second) Anna, daughter of Johannes Van Wely, and his wife, Leentje Hackens.

All his sons except Johannes, the eldest, were by the second wife. He had, how- ever, in all eleven children; three daughters by the first wife died without issue; Susanna, another daughter, married Jan de la Court and died in Holland; Jean Baptiste and Jeremias, the two eldest sons of the second marriage, were succes- sively patroons of Rensselaerwyck, the latter being the first of the family to settle permanently in America, coming over in 1658 to succeed his brother, Jean Baptiste, who had returned to Holland and become a leading merchant in Amsterdam. Rev. Nicholas Van Rensselaer, fourth son, born in Holland, 1638, was liberally educated and after taking his degree in theology went to England as chaplain to the Dutch embassy there. He came to America in 1674, with letters from the Duke of York, and succeeded his brother Jeremias, who had died at Rensselaerwyck, October 12, 1674, as head of the family at the Manor. He died at Albany, in November, 1678. He married, February 10, 1675, Alyda, daughter of Philip Peters Schuyler, by his wife, Margaretta Van Schlichtenhorst, but left no issue. She married (second) Robert Livingston, grantee of Livingston Manor. Rycker, fifth son, came over with his brother, Jean Baptiste, 1651, a mere child, and was many years a magis- trate at Albany, later returned to Holland and died there in 1695. The other chil- dren were Wolters, who remained in Holland, and Elizabeth, married Jan Van Rensselaer, of the Holland branch of the family.

Johannes Van Rensselaer, eldest son of the first patroon, under the laws of Holland was recognized as the head of the family, but the estate descended to all the children jointly. He did not come to America ; the management of Rensselaer- wyck continuing under the vice-directorship of Van Corlaer and Van Schichten-

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horst, until the latter was succeeded by Jean Baptist Van Rensselaer, May 8, 1652, the latter being the first of the family to assume the directorship, coming over for that purpose in 1651, and bringing with him his brother, Rycker, a mere child. Johannes Van Rensselaer died in Holland in early manhood. He married Eliza- beth Van Twiller and had two children, Kiliaen, the first Lord of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck, and Nella, married Johan de Swardt.

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 Nether- lands. When converted into an English Colony, in 1664, it was erected into a Manor with no material abridgement of its rights and privileges; the manor or lordship being set aside as a separate political entity with powers and privileges of police power, appointment of necessary officials, and the control and the adminis- tration of justice, and right of sending a special deputy to the General Assembly of the Province. The latter position was invariably filled by the head of the fam- ily, the first being Jeremias Van Rensselaer, the third patroon, who represented the family and colony in the Assembly from 1664 to his death in 1674. It was this Jeremias who was the ancestor of the later line of the Lords of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck and of the American family of the name. He was born in Hol- land, 1632, and received a liberal education. He came to America to assume the directorship of Rensselaerwyck, filling that position, and that of the nominal head of the family in America for sixteen years. The Colony had greatly improved and flourished under the wise directorship of Van Corlaer and Van Schlichtenhorst, and nowise suffered under the able administration of the first resident director of the family. He was a man of probity and ability and was devoted to the best inter- ests of the colony. He left a numerous correspondence under the title of "New Netherland Mercury," that constitutes a valuable contribution to the history of the province. He married, July 12, 1662, Maria, sister to Stephanus Van Cortlandt, the founder of Cortlandt Manor. She was born in 1645, died January 29, 1689.

Jeremias was succeeded by his nephew, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, only son of Johannes, by Elizabeth Van Twiller. He died at Watervliet, New York, 1687. He married his cousin, Anna Van Rensselaer, daughter of his uncle and prede- cessor, Jeremias, but had no issue.

KILIAEN VAN RENSSELAER, second Lord of the Manor, eldest son of Jeremias and Maria ( Van Cortlandt) Van Rensselaer, born at Rensselaerwyck, August 24, 1663, 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, wife of Peter Schuyler.

Kilaen Van Rensselaer was constantly in public life from 1691 to 1719, serving as a member 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 in 1719. He was also for many years Commissioner of Indian Affairs. In this connection it might be remarked that the attitude of the Van Rensselaer family towards the Aborigines was always a conciliatory, friendly and just one, and, while other colonies and settlements suffered depredations from hostile savages, Rensselaer- wyck was always free from their ravages. Kiliaen Van Rensellaer married, Octo-

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ber 15, 1701, Maria, his cousin, daughter of Stephanus and Gertrude (Schuyler) Van Cortlandt, of Van Contlandt Manor, by whom he had four sons and four daughters. The eldest son, Jeremias, succeeded him as the head of the family, but died unmarried in 1745, and was succeeded by the second son,

STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER, fourth Lord of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck, was born March 23, 1707. He was delicate and took little or no part in public affairs, but held the family position of Provincial Commissioner of Indian Affairs until his death in June, 1747. He married, July 5, 1729, Elizabeth Groesbeck, who died December 31, 1756. They had seven children, several of whom died in infancy. He was succeeded by

STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER, II., sixth child, fifth Lord of the Manor, born June 2, 1742. His father died when he was five years of age, and 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 General Assembly.

Stephen II., built the manor house in 1765. He died in 1769, at the early age of thirty-seven years. He married, January, 1764, Catharine, daughter of Philip Livingston, signer of the Declaration of Independence, by his wife, Christina Ten Broeck. She married (second) Elisrdus Westerlo. Stephen II., had three chil- dren-Stephen III., Philip Schuyler Van Rensselaer and Elizabeth, married John Bradstreet Schuyler, son of Gen. Philip Schuyler.

STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER, III., sixth and last Lord of the Manor of Rensse- laerwyck, was born in the city of New York, November 1, 1764. He graduated at Harvard, 1782, and assumed the direction of the great estate, adopting a policy of energetic improvement of the vast landed estate of the family of which he was the eldest male representative, and though the law of primogenture had been abrogated a half century before his birth, was the real head of the family and the holder of its lands and wealth. He greatly reduced the rents of the lands and en- couraged the material development of the landed estate. He entered political life in 1789 as a member of Assembly, and served in that body until 1791, when he was elected to the State Senate, in which he served until 1796; was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1795, and filled that position until 1798, and was a candidate for Gov- ernor in 1801, and again a member of Assembly 1808-19. He was one of the first advocates of the erection of the Erie canal, from the Hudson river to the Great lakes, and in 1810 was appointed commissioner to view the route, and made a tour of inspection, the result of which he submitted in 1811. The second war with Great Britain delayed further action, and he entered the military service. He had been commissioned Major of Infantry in the New York Militia in 1786; became Colonel in 1788 and Major General in 1801. At the outbreak of hostilities in 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 after resigned the command and took no further part in the war. On the return of peace he resumed the agitation in favor of the Erie canal, and the first ground was broken for its construction on the nation's birthday, 1817. Stephen Van Rensselaer was again elected to the Assembly in 1818; was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1821 ; was a member of the national House of Repre- sentatives 1823-29; and filled various other positions of honor and dignity. He was regent and chancellor of New York State University; president of the State

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Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 8

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed Publication date: 1911 Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 978

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 978