Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 92

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

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

Issue of Samuel and Mary (Lippincott ) Yorke:

EDWARD YORKE, b. Dec. 20, 1798; d. 1868; m. Sarah Hanna; of whom presently ;

William Yorke, b., Phila., Ang. 15, 1800; d. April 26, 1895; m. Mary Murphy, of Marys- ville, Ky .; no issue;

Peter Lippincott Yorke, b. Dec. 30, 1801; d., Phila., unm., April 14, 1865;

Sarah Yorke, b. Feb. 2, 1804; d., Phila., Nov. 12, 1830; m. Daniel S. McCauley, Lieu- tenant in U. S. N .; later Consul General at Alexandria, Egypt, where he d .:

Samuel Yorke, of Phila., b. Oct. 6, 1807; d. Sept. 25, 1861; unm .;

Joshua Yorke, b., Phila., Oct. 23, 1810; d. there, Jan. 25, 1874; unm .; lived most of his life in Cincinnati, O., where he became prominent in business and social life; he espe- cially distinguished himself by his courage during the great cholera epidemic, in re- maining in the almost deserted city to assist the doctors in their heroic fight against the terrible scourge, thereby greatly endearing himself to the people; when in 1865, he was afflicted with total loss of sight, and was compelled to leave Cincinnati to return to his native city of Phila., and to decline the re-election to the presidency of the Union Club of Cincinnati; he received a letter from the committee appointed for the purpose, from which the following is extracted :

"One of twenty who made the original organization, on March 7, 1846, you have continuously been its most active member, and whatever it may have accomplished in the promotion of pleasant intercourse and mutual good will among ourselves, and in giving to strangers kindly hospitable attention, is attributable to you.

"As God has afflicted you with a sudden loss of vision, which we pray may be only temporary, we deem it appropriate that we should address you, not only as members of this Club, but as members of this community. You have lived in it many years; as a merchant, you have been enterprising and honorable; as a citizen, you have been loyal and public spirited; in our best society, you have been regarded as a courteous and accomplished gentleman; as a man, your ear has ever been open to the cry of distress, and you have, in time of pestilence, repeatedly perilled your life in energetic effort to mitigate and avert the horrors of disease."

Joshua Yorke was indeed a manly and accomplished gentleman; gifted with the most ready sense of humour, an omniverous reader, a brilliant conversationalist, he never was embittered by his terrible affliction; notwithstanding ill health, and at times, cruel suffering, he stoically bore his burdens, and in the ten years in which he sur- vived his sight, no one ever heard him utter a murmur of regret: to the last he re- mained a genial and charming companion;

Joseph Yorke, d. Jan., 1812, in inf.

EDWARD YORKE, eldest son of Samuel and Mary (Lippincott) Yorke, of Phila- delphia, was born in that city, December 20, 1798. He went into business with Charles Macalister, of Philadelphia, and represented the firm of Yorke & Mac- alister, New Orleans, Louisiana, where he rose to prominence in business and social world. He interested himself in public affairs and was one of the prime movers in the establishment of the first public schools in New Orleans. He was president of the bank there, when the policy of President Jackson, with regard to recharter- ing the United States Bank, brought about the widespread financial disasters, which form part of our country's history. Ruined like so many others, Edward Yorke later entered into a number of business ventures, notably one connected with the introduction of gas in the French capital. This brought him to Paris, where he and his family established their residence for a time, and where his youngest daughter, Sara, now Mrs. Cornelius Stevenson, was born. Having become inter- ested, with some American capitalists, in a project to build a trans-isthmian rail- road at Tehuantepec, he ultimately left Paris, his family following in 1856, and after remaining some time in the United States, eventually went to Central

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America. His two sons, Edward and Ogden, graduates of the French School of Engineering, the "Ecole Centrale," began their careers on the isthmus. Work having been suspended on the railroad, the young engineers sought and found a new opening for their energies in Mexico, where they entered the service of the English company, which had obtained a concession from the government of Juarez to build the first railroad attempted in that country, from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico.

Edward Yorke died of paralysis at Brattleboro, Vermont, 1868, and his death- bed was cheered by a public acknowledgement of his services, made by citizens of New Orleans, on the celebration of an anniversary of the establishment of the public school system in that city, held at that time.

Edward Yorke married, in New Orleans, 1834, Sarah, born in Alabama, daugh- ter of James and Sarah (Jackson) Hanna, originally of state, but at the time of the marriage of their daughter, Sarah, living on a plantation owned by them in Louisiana. Letitia Hanna, another daughter, married Edwards Ogden, of New York.

Issue of Edward and Sarah ( Hanna) Yorke:

Edward Yorke, b., New Orleans, was educated at the French engineering school, Ecole Centrale, and with his brother, Ogden, was employed, for a time, as an engineer of the Isthmain Railway, at Tehuantepec, Central America; later on a railway in Mexico; became Assistant State Surveyor of Cal .; was drowned in 1884, in fording a swollen stream in that state; m. Jane Heard, of Sacramento, Cal., and had one daughter :

Edwina Yorke.

Ellen Yorke, b., New Orleans; m. in Mexico, Jan. 2, 1865, Capt. Charles Blanchot, Cap- tain of Etat-Major of France, officer of the Legion of Honor, Aide-de-Camp to Mar- shall Bazaine, during the period of the French intervention in Mexico, at whose head- quarters the marriage was celebrated at his request ; issue :

Fernand Blanchot, d. s. p .;

Marguerite Blanchot, unm .;

Jeanne Blanchot, m. Count de Beauregard.

Ogden Yorke, b., New Orleans, graduated at Ecole Centrale, Paris, France; employed as civil engineer of proposed Isthmian Railway, across Central America, and later on the railway from Vera Cruz to city of Mexico; was killed by brigands, while serving in the latter position, March 4, 1862;

Mary Yorke, m. Maurice Kingsley, son of Charles Kingsley, Canon of Westminster, England; issne: Ralph Kingsley, Francis Kingsley;

SARA YORKE, b. Paris, France, 1847; m. Cornelius Stevenson, Esq., of Phila. Bar; of whom presently.

SARA (YORKE) STEVENSON, youngest daughter of Edward and Sarah ( Hanna) Yorke, was born in the Rue de Courcelles, Paris, February 19, 1847, and remained in France to complete her studies, under the care of friends, after lier parents had returned to America. In 1862 she joined her family in Mexico, where she re- mained five years, during the period of the French Intervention and the Empire of Maximilian, an account of which she has since written, under title "Maximilian in Mexico, a Woman's Reminiscences of the French Intervention" (Century Publishing Company, New York, 1898). She came to the United States after the "débâcle," and in 1868, her father having died, she came to Philadelphia, where June 30, 1870, she was married by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Howe, in her uncle's house, to Cornelius Stevenson. Esq., an account of whom and his ancestry is given be- low. Always a student, Mrs. Stevenson soon became identified with several of the intellectual as well as with some of the charitable interests of the city. Her early associations in France had been with scholarly people and she had developed a taste for archæology, which in time, became all-absorbing. She eventually formed

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one of a small group of men and women, who, with the approval and assistance of Dr. Pepper, provost of University of Pennsylvania, organized the "University Archeological Association," and the "Museum of Archaeology and Paleontology of the University of Pennsylvania," 1888. At her instigation, and largely through her personal effort, a museum building was erected and the original "Association" and "Museum" were consolidated, and adopted by the trustees of the university as the "Department of Archaeology of the University." Of this department she was for many years secretary, and later president. She was also instrumental in establishing a section to illustrate the archæology of Egypt and the Mediterranean ; and through her efforts, large and valuable collections were obtained and installed, of which, as curator of the section, for many years, she had special charge, her services being freely given.

Through her initiative was due the sending out of several expeditions to South America, the Etruscan region, and to various other fields. In recognition of her work and of the above mentioned services, the University of Pennsylvania, 1894, bestowed upon her the honorary degree of Doctor of Science, it being the first instance of such a distinction having been conferred upon a woman by that insti- tution.

Sara Yorke Stevenson has at various times held other leading and honorable positions : In 1893 she was appointed on the jury for ethnology at the Chicago Columbian Exposition, and upon the assembling of the international jury was elected, by her colleagues, its vice-president. For several years she was president of the Pennsylvania Society of the Archaeological Institute of America ; was one of the organizers of the Civic Club of Philadelphia, and its earliest president ( 1894-99). As president of the executive board of the Depository and Philadel- phia Exchange for Women's Work ( 1894-1904), and as president of the Acorn Club (1894-1907), she always kept in touch with the varied interests of women in the community in which she lived.

In 1895 she was appointed by the City Councils of Philadelphia, one of eight prominent citizens, to serve, with certain members of the city's administration, ex- officio, as trustees of the Philadelphia museums, and she served in that capacity until 1901, when she resigned. She was appointed, by the Mayor of Philadelphia, a member of an advisory committee of prominent citizens to consult with him on matters of serious importance, notably, in 1897-98, with regard to the $12,000,000 loan to be expended on filtration and other permanent improvements for the city.

She was also, on several occasions, appointed by the Mayor and by other con- stituted authorities, chairman of ladies' reception committees, to assist in doing the honors of the city to official visitors, notably, in 1896, on the occasion of the formal opening of the Philadelphia Museum, when President Mckinley and his Cabinet and the Diplomatic Corps were the guests of the city ; and again, in 1898, on the occasion of the Peace Jubilee, held in celebration of the victorious close of the Spanish-American War, when once more President Mckinley and members of his Cabinet honored the city with their presence. She served in the same capac- ity on numerous other interesting occasions.

Sara Yorke Stevenson has delivered a number of lectures and addresses, hot- ably, one in May, 1894, at the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, which won for her the honor of being the first woman whose name had so far appeared printed on a Harvard University calendar. She has published. in addition to

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"Maximilian on Mexico," a number of scientific papers and magazine articles on a variety of subjects.

CORNELIUS STEVENSON is a great-grandson of William Stevenson, of Surinam ( British Guyana), born February 17, 1748, by his wife, Ann, daughter of Lucas Dokoe Groebe, of St. Eustache, Surinam, by his wife, Aletta Heylinger. William and Ann ( Groebe) Stevenson left St. Eustache, Surinam, for Philadelphia, where they arrived May 13, 1779. He became a prominent builder in Philadelphia, and was one of the incorporators of "The Carpenters' Company, of Philadelphia," April 2, 1790, and was its president from that date until his death in 1817. He also filled the position of City Commissioner. William Stevenson died at his residence, 130 Mulberry (now Arch) street, November 16, 1817, and was buried in the graveyard of St. Paul's Episcopal Church.

Cornelius Stevenson, eldest of ten children of William and Ann (Groebe) Stevenson, was born on the Demarara river, Surinam, February 20, 1779, while his parents were on their journey to Philadelphia. He was reared and educated in Philadelphia, and became a member of the Carpenters' Company, 1809; was its warden, 1811-13; secretary, 1818-20; vice-president, 1825-27; and a member of the managing committee, 1815-32. He was Captain of Sixth Company, Twenty- fourth Regiment, First Brigade, Pennsylvania Militia, commissioned March 23, 1804; and was made Captain of the Washington Artillery, First Brigade, First Division of the Militia of the city and county of Philadelphia, September 14, 1814; and Major of First Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Artillery, November 4. 1814.

ADAM MAY STEVENSON, second son of Cornelius and Mary Catharine (May) Stevenson, born in Philadelphia, November 11, 1806, died there, September 13, 1888. He married, November 15, 1838, Anna Smith, born April 21, 1811, died February 15, 1894, daughter of William and Anna Clifford (Smith) Phillips.

William Phillips, father of Anna Smith ( Phillips) Stevenson, born March 14, 1771, died August 24, 1845, was a son of John Phillips, who married, April 10, 1766, Rebecca, born January 22, 1725, daughter of William Pyewell, of New Jersey, and his wife, Mary Catharine (Gheslin) Rutter, born February 13, 1733-34, died September 24, 1762, daughter of Caesar Gheslin.

Anna Smith, wife of William Phillips, and mother of Mrs. Stevenson, was born October 17, 1774, died February 10, 1856. She was a daughter of Thomas Smith (son of William Smith), born in Bermuda, and his wife, Elizabeth, born May 25, 1747, daughter of Thomas Clifford, and his wife, Ann, daughter of George Guest, and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of James Marshall, who was a Justice of the Peace and of the courts of Burlington county, New Jersey, 1687-90, and died there in 1694.

Issue of Adam May and Anna Smith ( Phillips) Stevenson:

Anna Phillips Stevenson, b. Aug. 17, 1839; unm .;

CORNELIUS STEVENSON, b. Jan. 14. 1842; m. Sarah Yorke, above mentioned; of whom presently;

Rebecca Phillips Stevenson, b. July 6, 1844; m. Frederick Thurston Mason; no issue ; Elizabeth Clifford Stevenson, m. John Holbrook Easby; issue, Mary Stevenson Easby_

CORNELIUS STEVENSON, only son of Adam May and Anna Smith (Phillips ) Stevenson, born in Philadelphia, January 14, 1842, received his primary education

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at private schools of his native city, and at the age of seventeen years (1859), entered the college department of the University of Pennsylvania, class of '63, and was a member of the A. v. Fraternity. He left the university at the close of his sophomore year and took up the study of law. He was admitted to the Phila- delphia Bar, and has since practiced his profession in the several courts of Phila- delphia city and county. When, during the Civil War, Pennsylvania was threat- ened with invasion by the Confederate Army, 1863, he went to the front as a private in the First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry.

Cornelius and Sara (Yorke ) Stevenson have issue :

William Yorke Stevenson, b. Jan. 29, 1878.

STEEL FAMILY.

The earliest authentic ancestor of the Steel family of Philadelphia is Robert Steel. There is no exact information regarding his ancestry, but he is supposed to be of English origin. It is stated that he was descended from James Steel, who was Secretary of the Province of Pennsylvania, under William Penn's administra- tion. Robert Steel was married at Christ Church, Philadelphia, May 15, 1722, to Elizabeth, daughter of John and Margaret Albin Hunter, of Newtown, Newtown township, Chester county, now Delaware county, Pennsylvania.

John Hunter, father of Elizabeth Hunter, was originally a resident of the north of England. He was a strong churchman, and probably by his acts had made himself somewhat offensive to other religionists. Upon the accession of James II. to the throne, in order to escape persecution, he removed to Rathdrum, Wick- low county, Ireland, where he became an extensive grazier. When William and Mary were called to the throne of England, and with their armies followed the fugitive forces of James into Ireland, John Hunter entered the Protestant Army as a trooper, and with his friend, Anthony Wayne, grandfather of Gen. ( Mad Anthony ) Wayne. was present at the battle of the Boyne, fought July, 1690. William Hill, who married the daughter of John Hunter, and with his wife had previously emigrated to Pennsylvania, settled in Middletown township. John Hunter with his family followed his son-in-law to America and settled in New- town township, then Chester county, where he purchased a large tract of land, which he occupied during his life. He brought over with him a holster and pistol (both in use at the battle of Boyne) and also a wedding ring. The two latter are still preserved among his descendants. The ring bears this inscription, "Keep this in remembrance of me, 1693."

JOHN HUNTER'S MILITARY RECORD.

According to Dalton's English Army Lists, at Public Records Office, Chancery Lane, London, England, John Hunter's subsequent military record is as follows:

Cornet 1694 ; wounded at Blenheim, where he served as Cornet-Lieutenant to an additional troop in same regiment 2, 24, 1708. Served at Malplaquet (vol. 4. P. 52).

Quartermaster 1702, First Troop, Gen. Ross' Regiment, Royal Irish Dragoons, commissioned Cornet November 1, 1702 (vol. 5, p. 251).

This regiment served at Blenheim and throughout Marlborough's campaign (vol. 4, p. 60).

Note says: "John Hunter joined this regiment as Quartermaster before 1694- promoted to cornet Nov. Ist, 1702. Lieutenant to an additional troop in same regiment Feby. 24, 1708. Served at Ramillies and Malplaquet" (vol. 5, part 2, p. 27).

On March 17, 1723, John Hunter purchased a plantation of 350 acres in Newtown township, Chester county, and erected his mansion house, still standing, a short dis- tance back from the old West Chester turnpike, a short distance beyond Newtown square. At the time it was erected, the house would have been considered a pre-

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tentious edifice. His mechanics accompanied him when he emigrated, as servants. They brought with them their tools and the lumber for the house. The date of his arrival in America was 1711. He and Anthony Wayne, Sr., were very active in the affairs of old St. David's, at Radnor; at various times they were both vestrymen of this church, and he is interred in the ground of St. David's. The date of his death on his tombstone, still plainly legible, being April, 1734.

His will, dated January 30, 1734, was probated May 19, 1736. It mentions wife, Margaret ; sons, George, Peter, William and James ; daughters, Ann Baker, Mar- tha Cole, Elizabeth Steel and Mary Hill, and granddaughter, Margaret Baker. Many of his descendants still reside in Delaware county.

Robert and Elizabeth (Hunter) Steel had four sons, John, Andrew, Peter and James. The family do not seem to have been originally members of the Society of Friends, but some members of it later united with the Society, and most of the Philadelphia branch of the family belong to that sect.

John Steel, eldest son of Robert and Elizabeth Steel, was a farmer in East- town township, Chester county, where he died in 1782. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph and Margaret (James) Lewis, of Welsh descent, and they had nine children, four of whom died unmarried. Sarah, eldest daughter, married (first) Joseph Collins, ( second) James Read, the latter surviving her, and through a second marriage with Hannah Buchanan was the grandfather of Thomas Bu- chanan Read. The second daughter, Elizabeth Steel, married Davis Read. Will- iam Steel, son of John and Elizabeth Steel, married Elizabeth Butler, and had two sons, John, married Ann Rowland, and William, married Sarah Ann Pike, and two daughters, Margaret, died unmarried, and Hannah, married Daniel Hoopes. John Steel, son of John and Elizabeth Steel, married Leah Adams, and had sons, John, Robert, George, Peter, Joseph and Horatio, the three latter of whom married and had issue, Robert, son of John and Elizabeth Steel, married Jane Bishop, and had two daughters, Ann, wife of Davis Smith, and Eliza, wife of Samuel Leedom; and one son, Emmor Steel, married Mary Worrall. The re- maining children of John and Elizabeth (Lewis) Steel: Joseph, Peter, Martha and Margaret, died unmarried.

Andrew Steel, son of Robert and Elizabeth ( Hunter) Steel, was a carpenter and farmer in Easttown, Chester county. He married Mary Massey, and had five children, viz .: James, married Rachel Ellis; Peter, married Catharine Baker ; Thomas, married (first) Mary Hill, (second) Lydia Davis, a widow, (third) Elizabeth Miller : Andrew, married Susannah Dulton; Mary, married Joseph Davis.

Peter Steel, son of Robert and Elizabeth (Hunter) Steel, married Mary Barton, of Chester county, and removed to Baltimore, Maryland. They had one daughter.

JAMES STEEL, son of Robert and Elizabeth (Hunter) Steel, born in Philadel- phia, January 10, 1732, died November 29, 1769. He married, at Christ Church, Philadelphia, November 21, 1758, Martha, daughter of Thomas Canby, Jr., and his wife, Sarah Preston, and granddaughter of Thomas Canby, the eminent Bucks county Friend, by his first wife, Sarah Jervis.

Thomas Canby, Sr., came from Thorne, Yorkshire, 1684, at the age of sixteen years, and investigations made by his descendant, Henry M. Steel, of Philadelphia, show that he belonged to a family long settled in that locality. The parish records abound with references to baptisms, marriages and burials of persons bearing the

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name. In 1642 "Olde Mr. Canby, unkle to Mr. Edward Canby, and an olde officer of the chace," acted as guide to King Charles I, over John-a-Moore to Whitgift Ferry, on his way to Beverly. The arms of the Canby family of Thorne are given in a Mss. book of "Arms of Yorkshire Families," by Francis Hougham, which in 1731 belonged to John Warburton, Somerset Herald, author of the map with coat-of-arms, now amongst his collection at the British Museum, on which appears also the arms of Canby of Thorne, with a marginal note in the hand- writing of Warburton, referring thereto. In another Mss. book of Warburton's is a memorandum, showing that Edward Canby, of Thorne ("Gent"), was a sub- scriber to the map.

The earliest mention of the name in Yorkshire is when George Canbye, born about 1545, is recorded as church warden of Eckington. This George Canbye is thought to have been the husband of "Janet Briggs, widow," whose will probated in 1629, mentions sons : Edward, Thomas, William, George and Ann Canby. Of these, Canby, of Thorne, born about 1570, was probably the "olde officer of the Chace," who acted as guide to Charles I, 1642.

EDWARD CANBY, eldest brother of the above-named Thomas Canby, was the father of "Thomas Canby, the Elder, of Thorne, Gent." born about the year 1590, whose will, dated October 17, 1667, probated March 16, 1668, sealed with the coat- of-arms, noted on Warburton's map of Yorkshire, before mentioned, "a fess ermine," mentions "eldest sonne Edward Canby," to whom he devises thirty acres of land, lying near Wroote; "youngest sonne Benjamin Canby"; "sonne John Canby, to whom he devises his lease from Sir Thomas Abdy and others of 98 acres of land neare Wroote, and 17 acres in West Moores ; sonne Thomas Canby ; daughter Mary, wife of John Atkinson, and her son Thomas Atkinson (the latter probably the Thomas Atkinson, of Sandwith, Yorkshire, who came to America in 1682, and was an eminent preacher among Friends in Bucks County, Pennsyl- vania ) ; daughter Phebe, wife of Samuel Mackrith ; daughter Anne, wife of James Stainton and daughter Hester, wife of Richard Starkey." His son, Edward, was named sole executor, and the witneses were Bartholomew Bannester, Rich. Star- key, and Mary Atkinson. The will mentions the dwelling-house of the testator in Reedum Lane, called "Pinfold House, neare the Dutch Banke." On the parish register of Thorne is the record of the burial of Mary, wife of Thomas Canbye. Gent, September 13, 1650.

Edward Canby, Gent, of Thorne ( 1630-1702), eldest son, and executor of his father, a tablet to whose memory and that of his wife, Elizabeth Elmhurst, is erect- ed in the church at Thorne, was the Edward Canbye mentioned in the record of his uncle, Thomas Canbye's, service as guide to King Charles, 1642. His wife was buried in. 1685. "aged about 43." The record of the baptism of their children ap- pears on the parish records of Thorne, as do those of his brothers, Benjamin and Thomas Canby.

Benjamin Canby, father of Thomas Canby, emigrant, married a sister of Henry Baker, of Lancashire, with whom Thomas Canby came to Pennsylvania in 1684. Her given name is thought to have been Elizabeth. They had children : Elizabeth, baptized May 16, 1664, died the same year ; Thomas ( the emigrant ), baptized April 9, 1668; Henry, baptized 1666, died young; and Katharine, baptized 1671, died young. Benjamin Canby, though referred to in the Pennsylvania records, in con- nection with his son, as "Benjamin Canby of Thorne. Yorkshire," evidently re-

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Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 92

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