Here you will find Official records from the Civil War, personal letters, newspaper articles and biographies detailing the life and military service of Alfred Wynkoop, M.D., Surgeon of Volunteers for the Union Army.

    Richard Wynkoop, in the 1904 edition of the Wynkoop Genealogy in the United States of America, has this to say about him on pages 152-153:

    767. Alfred Wynkoop, M.D., (Abraham 431, Benjamin 175, Abraham 52, Benjamin 8, Cornelius 1,) born April 3, 1825: married, April 17, 1856, Helen Keturah Crispin, of Salcombe, Devonshire, England. He was a druggist and physician, in Philadelphia: then a surgeon, in the Union army; then a druggist and physician, in New York: and, afterwards, in Philadelphia.
    Child of Dr. Alfred and Helen K. Wynkoop:
1285. Wooddrop: b. Dec. 1, 1858.

    I've taken a personal interest in Alfred since 1997 and for all the wrong reasons, which might reassure those of you just starting research on their own Wynkoop family connections.

    Many years ago, long before my father passed away in 1981, he happened to mention to me one day that he had seen a genealogy chart for the Wynkoop family at the New York Public Library and that his grandfather was listed in it. And that was all he said. Talking to my father about his immediate family was a touchy subject and one he never encouraged, so I just filed that fact away for another day. Frankly, I was astonished that he had seen this so-called "chart" at the New York Public Library, since we lived in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area at the time and I wasn't aware that he had spent any significant amount of time in New York on anything other than business. Naturally I spent hours fantasizing about some sort of rolled up piece of parchment that would answer all the questions I had about where my branch of the family came from, but I never had the chance to follow up on any of these daydreams during my own infrequent trips to New York City.

    My father passed away when he was only 64 and I never did get the chance to ask him the questions that I always wanted to ask. Years went by, I moved around a lot, got married, had a son, got divorced and unexpectedly found myself back in Pennsylvania again, with more time on my hands than I ever expected to have again. One day, while cruising the Web I chanced upon someone who had a copy of Richard Wynkoop's 1878 edition of Wynkoop Genealogy in the United States for sale. I snapped it up immediately and read it from cover to cover the first night it arrived. In many ways it was better than a good novel. It was full of interesting people, all of them related to me, who had quietly been doing really interesting things in this country since the mid 1600s. I was in seventh heaven!

    Naturally, one of the first things I did was to try to find my father's grandfather in the genealogy. I realized, of course, that this book must have been the "genealogy chart" that my Dad saw at the New York Public Library all those years ago. Now my Dad was never wrong about anything factual in his entire life. He was a brilliant man with a photographic memory and if he told you something was true you could take that to the bank. His favorite challenge was, "I'll bet you a quarter!," if you dared to doubt anything he said, and I never knew him to have to pay out on the challenge. (Of course this was back in the days when a quarter was worth something. That, unfortunately, is another story, sigh....)

    My problem was that I didn't know what my Dad's grandfather's name was. And he wasn't around to ask. Neither was my mother. So I did a little figuring. My Dad was born in 1916, the youngest of three children, so assuming that his father was in his late 20s or early thirties when my Dad was born, then he would have been born around 1880 or so, and his father would have been born around thirty years earlier than that, in the 1850s. So ... I was looking for a Wynkoop, from the Philadelphia area, who was born in the 1850s or so.

    My Dad had always had an interest in silversmithing, something Benjamin Wynkoop, the youngest son of the original Cornelius Wynkoop, had made a living at. My father had also felt that he should have been a physician instead of the Chemical Engineer he became. Putting these "facts" together, (knowing that a lot of my father's interests came about because of some member of the family's activities in the past), I started to look in the genealogy for a descendant of Benjamin Wynkoop's, probably a doctor, who had lived in the Philadelphia area in the mid to late 1800s. I made up a list of possibilities and on that list was Alfred Wynkoop, surgeon, resident of New York and Philadelphia, who had served during the Civil War as a surgeon in the Union Army and who had a son named Wooddrop Wynkoop.

    Nothing was known about Wooddrop, at least according to the genealogy I had in hand, but he seemed like a good bet. He was born December 1, 1858, probably in Pennsylvania. He was the son of Alfred Wynkoop, a Philadelphia druggist and physician who served as a surgeon in the Union army during the Civil War. His mother was Helen Keturah Crispin, an Englishwoman from Salcombe, Devonshire.

    I posted a query in Tracy Wynkoop's Guestbook on his old site, The Official Wynkoop Family Website, which has since been retired. I mentioned the facts above and asked: "I would like to know if he had any siblings. I also want to know the name of his wife and any information available about his children. Wooddrop is mentioned as entry #710 in the 1878 edition of Richard Wynkoop's "Wynkoop Genealogy in the United States of America." I do not have access to a copy of the 1904 edition of this book and I was hoping that someone who does could look at it to see if Richard had updated Wooddrop's entry. I believe this man to be my father's grandfather and would appreciate any help you could possibly provide."

    That was on the 16th of July, 1997. Two weeks later, after a very long, hot, tiring day at the Montgomery County Historical Society in Norristown, Pa., a kind librarian there asked me a very simple question as I was dragging my tail out the door and, in doing so, set my feet on the right path. As it turns out, Alfred Wynkoop was not and is not my Dad's great-grandfather and his son, Wooddrop, was not his grandfather. I had learned my first lesson in genealogy the hard way and very publicly indeed.

    And for that I owe Alfred and Wooddrop a big note of thanks. The lessons they taught me have enabled me to help others set their feet on the right path from the very beginning. Along the way I've become very proprietary about Alfred and his son Wooddrop and have spent a fair amount of time learning what I could about them. Lately, with the help of Joseph A. Check, [email protected], of Bay Shore, New York, I've learned a lot more about Alfred and his rather interesting son, Wooddrop Wynkoop, who went to Oxford University in England in 1881, and later became a professional actor in New York, under the name of "Basil West."

    Oh, and about my father's grandfather. It turns out he wasn't in Richard Wynkoop's Genealogy after all! His great-great-grandfather, Henry Wynkoop, (#410), was. You'll find him on page 69 of the 1904 edition of the Wynkoop Genealogy. Don't believe me? I'll bet you a quarter!

    Chris

Accidents.
     From the Philadelphia Press, Wednesday, 26 August, 1857.

General Orders No. 46, War Department, April 23, 1862.
     Surgeons from civil life who tender their service for the sick and wounded are to be given special privileges.

Surgeon Alfred Wynkoop is to Report for Duty as Medical Director of 2d Division 6th Corps.
     Special Orders, No. 173, dated December 19, 1862.

Alfred Wynkoop's Appointment as Surgeon of Volunteers.
     His certificate signed by Abraham Lincoln, February 27, 1863.

Alfred Wynkoop forgets that there's a war on.
     Surgeon Wynkoop is unwittingly involved in smuggling important information concerning troop movements over to the enemy.

The Court-Martial of Surgeon Alfred Wynkoop.
     The Major General Commanding the Army of the Potomac, has suspended the execution of the sentence, under the 59th Article of War and recommended that the sentence be mitigated to a severe reprimand, to be published in General Orders.

Andrew Johnson Proposes the Following-named Persons for Appointment by Brevet to be Lt. Colonels.
     Surgeon Alfred Wynkoop and his distant cousin, Major Edward Wanshaer Wynkoop, are among those named.

Dr. Irish's Old Botanic Depot and Pharmacy.
     Dr. Alfred Wynkoop, proprietor of Dr. Irish's Pharmacy.

A Drama With a Pleasant Ending, Romance of Actor Basil West and Miss Lulu Harris.
     From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Thursday, 11 December 1890, p. 6.