Henry Wynkoop - Sketch of Soldier-Jurist.
Henry Wynkoop -
Sketch of Soldier-Jurist.

HENRY WYNKOOP.

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Sketch of Soldier-Jurist of Early Days.
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Paper Read Before Bucks County Historical Society, at Autumn Meeting at Wycombe, Oct. 7, 1902, by John S. Wurts, of Philadelphia.

    "It is in our Union that our salvation as a people depends. It is the arcanum of our strength, a blessing that we ought to prize as a gift from heaven."

    These were the words of Henry Wynkoop, addressed to the people of the County of Bucks at Newtown in 1777. To-day we are met to recount the deeds of the early patriots, foremost among whom was Henry Wynkoop, soldier, patriot, jurist.

    He was born in Northampton Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania on the second day of March (old style), 1737.

    He was the only son of Nicholas Wynkoop and Ann Kuypers, his grandfather Gerardus, who had married Hilletje Fokker, having settled in this neighborhood as early as 1717. Gerardus (who was the third son of Cornelius Wynkoop and Maria Jans Langedyck and the grandson of Peter Wynkoop) was an elder in 1744 of the Church of North and South Hampton. He owned five hundred acres along the Neshaminy, two miles west of Newtown, a portion of which is still occupied by his descendants and is said to have been in continuous possession of the family since it was purchased by this Gerardus in 1717.

    Whether Henry Wynkoop was born in the little "white house" still standing, or in a log house long since torn down, is not now precisely known. He was baptised on the 21st of April 1737, by the Rev. Cornelius Van Santvoort, as shown by the church record of Neshaminy and Bensalem. The name appearing "Hennerikes." "Vredens Hoff," the home of the Wynkoops, is one of those specimens of early colonial architecture, which every one admires and many try to imitate. Built by Nicholas Wynkoop in 1739, it is surrounded by 153 acres of land and commands a magnificent view of the adjacent country - south, east, and west. The building is substantially built of stone. Not only the exterior, but even the inside walls are of stone, and eighteen inches thick. In all, the house contains nineteen large rooms. There being six on the ground floor with a hall running through from south to north. In the kitchen door is a knothole "where the servants peeped at the clock." The place was many years afterwards sold by Jonathan Wynkoop to William Camm, whose descendants now own it.

    Near the house stands an ancient "spring house," where the dairy work was done, a "blacksmith shop" in a good state of preservation, a frame barn, and a stone stable.

    When on the verge of manhood, Henry lost his father - a man universally loved and respected, who died in 1759 at the early age of 54, and whose tomb bears the loving tribute of his "weeping widow and bereaved son."

    Henry Wynkoop is said to have had a classical education. We know only that he prepared to enter Princeton, but was prevented from consummating his design. His long and useful life, covering a period of nearly fourscore years, was spent in his country's service. From 1760, when he was a member of the Provincial Assembly of Pennsylvania, until his death in 1816, he was unwearied in his devotion to the public good. His residence in the vicinity afforded the opportunity, as his growing eminence gave the power, of entering on a larger field of usefulness. His father was a farmer. But he was destined to another and a different career.

    From early life the bent of his mind was toward politics, a propensity which the state of the times, if it did not create, doubtless very much strengthened.

    Public subjects must have occupied the thoughts and filled up the conversation in the circles in which he then moved; and the interesting questions at that time just arising could not but seize on a mind like his, ardent, sanguine, and patriotic.

    The citizens of Bucks conferred upon Mr. Wynkoop his first political distinction. By this time he had become extensively known throughout the State. At the early age of twenty-three he was elected a member of the legislature of the Province of Pennsylvania (then called the Provincial Assembly), in which he had no sooner appeared than he distinguished himself by knowledge, capacity and promptitude. That his services were acceptable to the community is shown by the fact that in 1761 he was re-elected. He was a constant attendant on the deliberations of this body, and bore an active part in its important measures. The same year he married Susannah Wanshaer, daughter of John Wanshaer and Christina Egberts, of Essex County, New Jersey.

    In 1762, while John Gregg was sheriff of Bucks County, we find Henry Wynkoop serving on the Grand Jury.

    In those early days some of the Justices of the Peace, who were laymen, not lawyers were also appointed Associate Judges of the County Courts.

    Having been appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1764, Henry Wynkoop, early in the following year, though barely twenty-eight years old, was also made an Associate Judge of the County Courts. He was reappointed a Justice of the Peace in 1770 and again in 1774, and his name also appears as Associate Judge in 1766, 1767, 1771, and 1773.

    By this time the disputes between the colonists and the mother country had assumed alarming proportions. In order to defend Canada and the Mississippi Valley, which the British had acquired from the French in 1760, Parliament laid a tax on sugar and charged "stamp duties in the colonies." Now the Americans had no objections to supporting an army, but they did object to being taxed by a body in which they were not represented. So odious was this Stamp Act to the colonists that they joined in signing written agreements to import no goods from England. The consequent repeal of the Stamp Act, the taxing of other articles, the Boston riot, and the tea party, the bill closing Boston harbor to shipping, and the meeting of the first Continental Congress are all matters of common knowledge.

    In these stirring events Henry Wynkoop took the keenest interest and early decided to cast in his lot with the patriots. In the summer of '74, when the whole country was aroused by the news that Boston was shut off from the world, a Committee of Safety was chosen in Bucks County. This Committee in turn chose Henry Wynkoop, John Kidd, Joseph Kirkbride, John Wilkinson, and James Wallace to attend a Provincial Conference July 15th, 1774, at Philadelphia.

    It is curious to note the change of language used by our forefathers prior to the Revolution. Beginning with a note of sadness, it soon changed to one of defiance as soon as the colonists found that their rights were disregarded, their wrongs unredressed, and their liberties trampled upon. But there is no defiance in this first Provincial Conference, for they resolve that "the Inhabitants of this Province are lieged subjects of his majesty King George III., to whom they and we owe, and will bear true and faithful allegiance," and deploring the idea of a separation from the mother country. But the second resolution sounds a warning note to which George III and his ministers should have paid heed, for the delegates to the Conference resolve to join in an Association of Non-importation of goods from Great Britain, if Congress approved. They also drew up instructions for the delegates to the First Continental Congress, reciting in dignified and lofty language their wrongs and their fruitless appeals to Britain for redress.

    (By a singular coincidence, and apparently through the fault of no one, the speaker to whom we have just listened, in the preparation of his paper on "Revolutionary Events about Newtown," and myself, in the preparation of his on Henry Wynkoop have, as you see, consulted the same authorities.

    This by way of apology, for what may seem to you to be repetition.)

    Later in the year 1774 the people of Bucks County chose a Committee of Observation, whose duty it was "attentively to observe the conduct of all persons" to ascertain whether or not they were favorable to the cause of liberty. The difference between the Committees of Safety and Committees of Observation, Inspection, and Correspondence was as follows: The former was a conservative body, generally organized under the direction of the Provincial legislatures; while the latter was usually a radical body, chosen by the people. Among those who served on each was the ever-ready Henry Wynkoop.

    Entering with all his heart into the cause of liberty, his ability and patriotism naturally drew upon him a large participation in the most important concerns.     Wherever Wynkoop was, there was found a soul devoted to the cause, power to defend and maintain it, and willingness to incur all its hazards.

    He was chosen by the people as one of the 28 members of this Committee of Observation, "to observe the conduct of all persons" - a rather thankless and unpleasant task it would seem. This Committee was to meet on December 29th, 1774, but, being prevented by "a great fall of Snow," did not come together until January 6th, 1775, at which time it was resolved: (1) that they highly approved of the "pacific measure recommended by the Continental Congress for the redress of American grievances"; (2) that they held themselves bound to keep the Association of said Congresses; and (3) that they held it their duty to contribute towards the relief and support of the poor inhabitants of the town of Boston. Then they voted that Henry Wynkoop and four others be appointed a Committee of Correspondence, and that Wynkoop be treasurer to receive donations for the relief of the Boston sufferers.

    On May 8th, 1775, being convinced that their applications for redress to Great Britain had been "fruitless and vain," the Committee recommended the people of Bucks County "to form themselves into Associations in their respective townships to improve themselves in the military art, that they may be capable of affording their country that aid which its peculiar necessities may at any time require."

    Later in the year, Wynkoop, as treasurer of the Committee of Safety, reported the receipt and delivery to Samuel Adams of several sums, aggregating over one hundred pounds for the relief of Boston's needy inhabitants, whom the rigorous Boston Port Act had secluded from the world. About the same time he was made clerk and treasurer for the ensuing year.

    It was in one of the Associated Companies, above recommended by the Committee of Safety, that we find the name of Henry Wynkoop enrolled as a private, namely, the Fourth Associated Company, Fourth Battalion, whose First Battalion, whose aged captain was Henry Lott, and first Lieutenant, Gerardus Wynkoop. "He subsequently gained the title of Major, though it is not believed that he ever held a commission," the records seeming to show that he preferred to serve his country in another way.

    Henry Wynkoop was a bold and fearless advocate - not only a decided, but an early, friend of independence. While others yet doubted, he was resolved, while others hesitated he pressed forward. For the part he was here to perform Mr. Wynkoop was eminently fitted. He possessed a bold spirit which disregarded danger, and a sanguine reliance on the goodness of the cause, and the virtues of the people which led him to overlook all obstacles. His character, too, had been formed in troubled times. He had been rocked in the early storms of the controversy, and had acquired a decision and a hardihood proportioned to the need of the times. He not only loved the American cause devoutly, but had studied and understood it. It was all familiar to him.

    In a letter, dated September 25th, 1775, written to Colonel Daniel Roberdeau, Henry Wynkoop states that he has received a return of the Associators and Non-Associators in certain Townships of Bucks County. That the loyalists in that year were almost equal in numbers to the patriots, is shown by this return which places the numbers of Associators at 1688 and of Non-Associators at 1613. But that was before Great Britain had resorted to sterner measures, and before Richard Henry Lee had offered a resolution in Congress that these colonies "are and of right ought to be free and independent States." In this letter Major Wynkoop says: "I have received some of the Association rules but am afraid that the signing will go heavy, chiefly arising from the Quakers and others, who chuse it staying at home and doing nothing," - a habit their posterity have not altogether outgrown.

    In the minutes of the Bucks County Committee of Safety, for July 21st, 1775 we read: --

    "John Lacey represented that Thos. Smith of Upper Makefield had uttered expressions derogatory to the Continental Congress and inimical to the liberties of America. The same being taken into consideration, Joseph Hart, Richard Walker, James Wallace and Henry Wynkoop or any three of them, are appointed a sub-committee to examine into the said complaints and report to the next meeting."

    Early in the following year all the arms in the county were ordered to be collected and placed in Henry Wynkoop's hands.     On June 18, 1776, the third Provincial Conference met at Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia. The delegates "for the Committee of Bucks County," according to the journal of the Conference were: --

    Mr. James Wallace, Mr. Benjamin Segle, John Kidd, Esq., Col. Joseph Hart, Major Henry Wynkoop.

    The proceedings of this body had a very important effect on the history of our State. The delegates first resolved that Associators who were 21, taxpayers and residents for one year, should have the franchise and then, that "the present government of this province is not competent to the exigencies of our affairs." With a view to provide a suitable form of government, it was decided to call a Provincial Convention. The judges appointed for Bucks County to decide the election of delegates to this proposed Convention were James Wallace, Joseph Hart and Henry Wynkoop. Although Wynkoop was connected with nearly every great event or important delegation from Bucks County about this time, he was hardly omnipresent, and, being clerk and treasurer of the Committee of Safety and Judge of Election, he could not very well be chosen a member of the Convention. This body, meeting in the State House on July 15th, proceeded to promulgate the Constitution of 1776 - Pennsylvania's first "Republican form of Government."

    Before adjourning, the Third Provincial Conference, on June 25th, 1776, had issued a thrilling address to the Associators of Pennsylvania. After reciting the evils they had suffered at Great Britain's hands, and prophesying that the year 1776 would be a land mark in the history of the world as establishing liberty in the quarter of the globe, they conclude with these stirring words: "Remember the name of Pennsylvania! Think of your ancestors and of your posterity!"

    Although Wynkoop, so far as we know, was not a member of the Convention which drew up the Constitution of Pennsylvania that body nevertheless elected him as the only delegate from Bucks County to serve on the Council of Safety for the State, of which body he was a member for a year. To this Council many important matters, military and otherwise, were referred by the State legislature. In '76 it was composed of 26 persons, who received eight shillings a day for their services. By an ordinance of September 3d, 1776. David Rittenhouse, Timothy Matlack, Henry Wynkoop and the other members of this Council were appointed Justices of the Peace for the entire State of Pennsylvania.

    About this time, the county was infested with a villainous set of men called "refugees," who, being acquainted with the residence of prominent citizens, were engaged by British officers to point them out and assist in securing their persons, so that they could be taken as prisoners to Philadelphia, the headquarters of the army. Wynkoop only escaped capture by not being home. In August, 1776, his family were greatly alarmed in the dead of night by a party of Hessians breaking into the house. A kick against the door of a back entry sent the lock with so much force across the narrow space against an opposite door as to make an impression there which ever remained as a memento of the foul deed. Mrs. Wynkoop, whose bedroom adjoined that into which the entrance was made, was greatly overcome by the shock. The only man about the place, a farm hand, escaped to the garret and hid under some flax. The children, who slept upstairs, were aroused from their sleep by the noise, and their first impulse was to get out of the window onto the pent-house. But the eldest daughter persuaded them to go down to their mother's room, though to get there they had to pass through the parlor, where all the soldiers were. They found their mother so much alarmed that it was impossible for her to suppress her screams. A brutal soldier proposed that she should be quieted by forcible means, but the officer spoke kindly to her, telling her not be alarmed, that she and the family should be well treated, that the only object of their visit was to convey Mr. Wynkoop to the city; and so after refreshing themselves with what they could find to eat and drink, they left, taking nothing more than a silver spoon, which one of the soldiers found and was remonstrated with by "Old Isabel," telling him he "musn't take that." All the answer she got for her faithfulness was a kick which sent her across the kitchen.

    This frightful scene so affected Mrs. Wynkoop that, rushing from the house, she jumped into the well and was killed. We read on her tomb stone, "an unfortunate victim to the public calamities of America." Her grandson writes: "Her piety was of the highest order, and the children who were old enough to remember her, regarded her memory with the truest veneration."

    After the Battle of Trenton, Christmas night, 1776 - the fight which so greatly revived the drooping spirits of the patriots - Washington entered Newtown, only nine miles from the scene of action, and filled the church, the jail and the inns with his Hessian prisoners. James Monroe, afterwards President, then but a youth of eighteen, was wounded in this battle, and, with Lieutenant Wilmot, an Englishman who had been injured and captured, was taken to the Wynkoop homestead. It was the letter of General Washington to his friend Wynkoop that secured for them these hospitable quarters. Monroe obtained a captaincy for his bravery in this engagement, and there is a tradition in the family that he offered himself to Christina Wynkoop's eldest daughter, but she preferred to marry Dr. Reading Beatty.

    On June 4th, 1776, the City Committee had issued a significant request to the Justices of the Courts of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions to hold no further sessions until a new government had been established. When the new government was established under the Constitution of 1776, the Courts of Bucks County were thoroughly re-organized, and were opened for the first time on September 9th, 1777, with Henry Wynkoop presiding, probably by virtue of seniority, as president judges were apparently not provided for until by an Act of Assembly. In this capacity he delivered the first charge to the Grand Jury of the County - a charge remarkable for its clearness and reverence and patriotism it displays.

    In it he said:--

    "Gentlemen of the grand Jury. The end and object of all good government is the happiness of the people; when it fails in this, it becomes tyranny and oppression; and there is no time in civil life, in which we can prove the integrity of our principles to each other more effectually, than by uniting in and supporting such legal measures, by which we may be enabled to render justice unto all men. I need not call to your attention the great difficulties under which we have long labored from the want of having our courts of justice open, yet, at the same time I feel a pleasure in declaring that the disposition of the generality of the inhabitants of this county has been so honestly affected towards each other as to render the want of the public administration of justice, an evil of as little inconvenience as possible. From this good omen I may venture to infer that nothing will be wanting on your parts to give due authority and execution to the business for which we are now met.

    "I congratulate you gentlemen, on this signal favor of heaven towards us; that at a time our country is threatened to be overrun by foreign invaders, our liberties sacrificed to the ambition of an arbitrary court, and our property given up to a hireling army; that we can this day meet in uninterrupted security, to prosecute the lawful business of the county. May this blessed right be confirmed and increased to our posterity, that they may look back upon us, their struggling ancestors, with pleasure and veneration.

    "When we consider the great cause we are engaged in, and take a retrospective view of our former condition under the English government, our veneration therefor, and attachment thereto, together with the variety of unforeseen causes productive of events equally unexpected, which have at length brought us into our present state of independence, we are constrained to admire the unerring wisdom of Providence. The Almighty setteth up, and he casteth down; he breaks the sceyptre, and transfers the dominion; he has made choice of the present generation to erect the American empire; let each individual exert himself in this important operation directed by Jehovah himself, for it is evident from a short review that the work was not the present design of man. Under such a powerful ally we have nothing to fear, but to do our duty like men, and to trust the event of His divine disposal, who in His own time will do strict justice unto all men.

    "But that, gentlemen, which I would at this time most strenuously recommend to your attention, is the cultivation of good order, and a serious, friendly deportment towards each other, in the execution of public business. Courts of justice, next to places of Divine worship, require a solemnity of carriage, as a mark of that awful respect which we pay to the Creator of heaven and earth, at the time we are invoking His aid, and making our appeal to Him as a witness of our integrity. And in this place I would be understood to extend my charge to all persons present, not doubting, but that you, gentlemen of the jury, will by your example endeavor to influence, and by your legal authority to support and encourage, this so necessary and important a part of our duty.

    " It would be a most extraordinary miracle, if the opinions of all men as to modes and forms were to be the same; but that government will always be the most esteemed which is the most distinguished by justice and candor. Governments which are formed by the arbitrary will of one man, or by the despotic and self-interested notions of a few, will never be the favorite of the bulk of the people, because in those governments, equal and perfect justice never can be obtained. The strong will triumph over the weak, the crafty over the ignorant, and the litigations between the rich will be decided by the longest purse. Justice will give way to favor, and mankind will, by degrees, sink into slavery under the form of the law.

    The Constitution of our courts of justice now, is such, however men may differ in opinion, no man need fear the want of equity. We have been so long deprived of the advantage of the legal and public administration of justice, and men have been so much accustomed to live without civil restraint, that it has now become one of the greatest obligations we owe to society, to set an example of good order and obedience. In this salutary measure all men are interested. It is that by which property is made secure to the lawful owner; the poor are thereby protected from the encroachments of the rich; and the rich from the lawless invasions of the robber. However we may differ upon trifles, in modes and forms, let us be careful to remember that the administration of justice, on which our civil happiness depends ought, and must be supported; otherwise there is no safety for any man, either rich or poor, and we sink at once into confusion.

    "It is therefore high time to come back to rule and order, and as our worthy assembly for various salutary purposes has proposed to take the sense of the people, whether a new convention shall be called or not, for the purpose of revising, altering, or amending the present constitution, I conceive it my duty, as a magistrate, and for the preservation of the peace, to recommend to all the inhabitants of this county, a cordial and brotherly union, and a firm and unshaken determination to support the administration and execution of civil authority and public justice.

    "Various and numberless have been the artifices of the enemies of America to seduce us from our union, and involve us into parties. It is in our union, that our salvation as a people depends. It is the arcanum of our strength, a blessing that we ought to prize as a gift from heaven. It is our duty to watch over it as the treasure of America, and shun every measure and suppress every passion that has a tendency to destroy it, as we would the poison of a serpent. Difference of opinion has arisen concerning the present form of government, and differences of opinion will always arise on that subject, let the form be what it may. I would therefore recommend to every man to read and consider the constitution for himself, and that you, gentlemen of the jury, after you depart from this place, would recommend the same conduct in your several neighborhoods that when the voice and opinions of the people come to be taken they may be able to give it with clearness and precision. I think it necessary at this crisis of affairs to preface my charge with these hints, because I would not be thought to abet a measure contrary to what should be judged the public good, nor to shrink from my duty in supporting the just rights of the people. The well effected inhabitants of this county have been remarkable for their firm attachment to the cause of liberty, none have exceeded them in zeal and duty, and what I am now anxious to caution them against is, that they would not suffer little differences of opinion to grow into stubborn prejudices; it will sap our union and act against us with more mischevious efficacy than the whole army of our enemies.

    "Let us, by no imprudence of our own, give any advantage to those who let us neglect the use of such means, as the present Constitution puts in our power, for the preservation of ourselves and the well ordering of our conduct. * * * Twelve of you, at least, must agree in opinion that the accused must undergo a public trial - so twelve other jurors are to declare him innocent or guilty. Happy institution, whereby no man can be declared a criminal, but by the concurring voices of at least four and twenty men collected in the vicinage, upon their paths, to do justice. Gentlemen, I do most cordially congratulate you, placed as you are in a station honorable to yourselves, and beneficial to your country. Guardians of the innocent, you are appointed to send the felon, the assaulter, the beater, affrayer and rioter, together with the counterfeiter, disorderly public-house keeper, extortioner, defrauder of his country, and him who is so lost to every patriotic feeling as to commit treason, to trial. Your diligence in source of your own honor, and a means of your country's safety; and although no such offenses can be found, your laudable search will yet tend to curb a propensity to the commission of such offenses.

    "See, gentlemen, what great advantage may result from your vigilant and patriotic conduct! Our ears therefore ought to be shut to the petitions of friendship, and the calls of consanguinity. But they ought to be open to receive the complaints of your injured country, and the demands of impartial justice."

    On December 4, 1778, Wynkoop was chosen by the General Assembly as one of the Commissioners to settle the accounts of County Lieutenants.

    Fearing that the judge might become idle if he did not fill two or three offices at once, he was, in 1779 elected to the Continental Congress to succeed Edward Biddle. Wynkoop did not disappoint the people. Although he served as a delegate until 1783, and although Congress held sessions at Philadelphia, Princeton, Annapolis, and New York, each of which Wynkoop attended, the docket of the Orphans' Court of Bucks County seems to show that the judge was absent there only twice, namely March and December, 1781, having even attended the special sessions.

    On November 18, 1780, a commission issued from Hon. Joseph Reed, President, and the Supreme Executive Council, to Henry Wynkoop, to act as President Judge of the Bucks County Courts. But a still greater honor was in store for him. In February, 1780, while the Revolution was at its height, a tribunal higher than the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania had been established. Its province was to hear appeals from the Supreme Court, the Register's Court, and the Court of Admiralty. It consisted of the President of the Supreme Executive Council, Judges of the Supreme Court, and "three persons of known integrity and ability." On November 20, 1780, Henry Wynkoop as one of the "three persons of known integrity and ability" was commissioned a judge of this court. He did not take his seat until April 9, 1783, very probably because he was until that time a member of the Continental Congress, as well as president judge of the Bucks County Courts. With him were associated such famous men as Joseph Reed, Thomas Mifflin, Francis Hopkinson, Edward Shippen, John Dickinson, Jacob Rush, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas McKean. In 1791, upon the adoption of the new State Constitution, this court was reorganized, and on February 24, 1806, finally abolished.

    Henry Wynkoop was president judge of the Bucks County Courts from November 18, 1780, until June 27, 1789, when he was elected a member of the First Congress of the United States. In the docket of the Orphans' court at Doylestown may be seen a curious order issued by Judge Wynkoop in 1784. It shows that he favored pomp and ceremony in the transaction of judicial business. In it the constables are enjoined to appear in court with their staves in their hands, and after adjournment "to walk in procession with their staves before the sheriff to the door of the justice room, where they shall deposit their staves until the time of adjournment shall have expired, when they shall again attend and walk to the court-house door as before directed."

    Judge Wynkoop held the position of president judge of Bucks County, and the more important post of justice of the High Court of Errors and Appeals until 1789. In that year he was elected to the First Congress of the United States as one of the Representatives from the State of Pennsylvania. In a letter, dated June 27, 1789, addressed to the Supreme Executive Council of the State, he resigned both the offices of president judge and of justice of the High Court of Errors and Appeals. About the same time resigning the eldership of the Church of North and South Hampton. This First Congress convened March 4, 1789, and adjourned March 3, 1791. He served on this Congress until its adjournment, then returned to his birthplace, to be immediately appointed, by Governor Mifflin, an associate judge of the Bucks County Courts, which position he filled until the removal of the courts of Doylestown in 1812.

    Upon Judge Wynkoop's election to Congress, John Barclay was appointed to succeed him, being the last lay president judge in Bucks County.

    Another Constitution was given Pennsylvania in 1790, and under the Act of 1791 another change was made in the judiciary. Under this Act James Biddle was appointed first lay president judge of the district comprising the counties of Philadelphia, Montgomery, Chester, and Bucks.

    In 1806, the same year that the High Court of Errors and appeals was abolished, Bird Wilson was made president judge of the courts in Bucks County.

    Wynkoop was one of those rare characters whose influence on the community is well marked. The handsome face, the fine features, the firm chin, and the high forehead, all denote the strong character of the man. Add to this intelligence, integrity, and profound religious convictions, and we have a complete picture of Henry Wynkoop -- a character pre-eminently fit to be loved, respected, and honored.

    His grandson, John Beatty, writes:

    "He was much interested in the cultivation of his farm, one of the finest in the county, and planted a large orchard of the Virginia crab apple, which made the finest of cider, and was sold in Philadelphia, immediately from the press, at forty dollars a hogshead. It was supposed that the recipient in the city sold it for champagne. His colored man mentioned to someone that he was afraid his master was going to fail, he saw so much cider put in the cellar and never saw any of it taken out. He was not aware that it was passed through a process of fining and decanting, and finally disposed of, greatly to his master's advantage, in champagne bottles. The farm was planted with a variety of fruit. The long lanes reaching from the buildings to roads on either side was lined with a variety of the finest cherries and his son also planted a number of pear trees of twenty-seven varieties, besides a great variety of other fruit."

    Major Wynkoop, was, of course, deeply interested in the Revolutionary War, and was a great sufferer by it. When Washington's Army passed through the lower part of the county on its way to winter quarters at Valley Forge, there lay in its line of march a woolen factory near Newtown, where the soldiers, finding a quantity of ready dressed wool, did not scruple to apply it to their own use, and thus carried it away with them. The owner, not being sufficiently interested in the good cause to make this sacrifice, began to look around to see how he could recover his lost property, or its value in money, and finally concluded to apply to his neighbor, Wynkoop, for advice and assistance. He, in the kindness of his heart, although it was cold winter weather, and the roads were anything but railroad or turnpike, consented to take a journey to headquarters to see if anything could be done for his friend and neighbor. On his arrival and making his errand known, the general scanning his very ample vesture, facetiously observed to him: "Why, Mr. Wynkoop, I don't think you stand very greatly in need of cloth." Whether he succeeded in his mission is not known.

    After the war was over, and Washington had returned to his beloved Mount Vernon and engaged in farming, he wrote to his friend Wynkoop, requesting his friend to send him a Bucks County plow, which he had heard greatly praised. The article was procured and gave much satisfaction.

    In a letter to his son in law, Dr. Reading Beatty, dated April 30, 1789, the judge, in describing the inauguration of Washington, pays the following tribute to the Nation's first Executive:

    "The arrival of the President exhibited a scene more grand, majestic, yet truly affecting, than any I had ever been witness to. The conduct and behavior of this great character in that day hath been consistent with that of his whole life."

    Washington, in his diary for the year 1790, makes frequent mention of Henry Wynkoop and other great Revolutionary leaders, as having dined with him. And Senator Maclay, who was the judge's friend and room mate during the Congressional session, has the following entry in his diary:

    "Tuesday, April 28, 1789. At New York. This day, I ought to note with extraordinary mark. I had dressed and was about to set out when General Washington, the greatest man in the world, paid me a visit. I met him at the foot of the stairs. Mr. Henry Wynkoop just came in. We asked him to take a seat. He excused himself on account of the number of his visits. We accompanied him to the door. He made us complaisant bows - one before he mounted and the other as he went away on horseback."

    With Hamilton, Adams and other great men whose names are now family watch words, Judge Wynkoop was on like terms of intimacy. Particularly was this the case with that great financier, Alexander Hamilton.

    While both were members of the Continental Congress, in Philadelphia, they were walking along Chestnut Street one day. Hamilton, in his usual earnest manner, was ardently advocating a bill before the House, for which he wished to secure the vote of his friend. The judge, being unfavorable to the measure, changed the subject by calling to two very beautiful women who were passing. Two days later he was surprised by the arrival of his wife, who had traveled all night in response to a message from Hamilton that her husband was in a very dangerous condition. Not to be outdone by his friend, the judge sent a similar letter to Mrs. Hamilton, who hurried from New York to her husband. Mutual explanations followed and the families had a merry visit with each other.

    Referring to a title for the President of the United States, General Muhlenberg tells us that Washington himself was in favor of the style of "High Mightiness" used by the Stadtholder of Holland, and that while, the subject was under discussion in Congress he dined with the President and by a jest about it, for a time he (Muhlenberg) lost his friendship. Among the guests was Mr. Wynkoop, of Pennsylvania, who was noticeable for his large and commanding figure. The resolutions before the two Houses being referred to, the President, in his usual dignified manner, said, "Well, General Muhlenberg, what do you think of the title of "High Mightiness?" Muhlenberg answered, laughing, "Why, General, if we were certain that the office would always be held by men as large as yourself, or our friend Wynkoop, it would be appropriate enough, but if by chance a President as small as my opposite neighbor should be elected, it would become ridiculous." The evasive reply excited some merriment, but the Chief looked grave, and his evident displeasure was increased soon after by Muhlenberg's vote in the House of Representatives, against conferring any title whatever upon the President.

    Wynkoop was six feet four inches in height, being two inches taller than the father of his Country. In a company of gentlemen one day, Mr. Hamilton observed, "We have all to look up to Mr. Wynkoop." The latter courteously replied that he always felt mortified when he had to look down upon Mr. Hamilton - a man every one was disposed to revere and look up to.

    From an old list of men connected with the government in 1789 we learn that Henry Wynkoop, member of Congress from Pennsylvania, lived while in New York, at "Mr. Vandolsom's near Bear Market."

    Judge Wynkoop married three times. His second wife, whom he wedded in 1777, was Maria Cummings. She died in 1781. In 1782 he married Sarah Newkirk, of Pittsgrove, New Jersey. She died in 1813.

    Judge Wynkoop had no brothers and only one sister - Helen - the wife of the Rev. Jonathan DuBois, pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church of North and South Hampton. They had four sons and four daughters. Judge Wynkoop had eight children, and more than forty grandchildren.

    Christiana Wynkoop, the eldest child was born 18th August, 1763. Her husband, Dr. Reading Beatty, born 23d. December, 1757, was of Scotch descent. He was a son of the Rev. Charles Beatty, of Log College fame. His mother was Ann Reading, a daughter of Governor John Reading, of New Jersey.

    It seems his father had intended his going to Princeton College, but for some reason it was given up, and after his father's death he began the study of medicine, and was thus engaged when the Revolutionary War broke out in 1775. He enlisted as a private, and was immediately appointed sergeant. Through the influence of his elder brother, he obtained an ensign's commission, August 10, 1775, in the Fifth Pennsylvania Battalion, commanded by Colonel Robert Magaw. February 2, 1776, he was appointed a lieutenant, and in the course of the campaign, in consequence of the sickness of his captain, had command of the company. Whether he was in any of the engagements of the summer is not known, but he was taken prisoner at the surrender of Fort Washington, November 16, 1776, and met with harsh treatment, indeed almost losing his life at the hand of a savage Hessian soldier, and had to be shielded by a British officer. He was confined on the "Myrtle" prison ship, and held as a prisoner eighteen months until May 18, 1778, when he was exchanged. Having been diligent in the study of medicine, he was appointed by Dr. Cochran, Surgeon-General, as a surgeon in the Eleventh Pennsylvania Regiment, and his appointment was confirmed by Congress in a commission dated November 8, 1780. On the 10th of February, 1781 he received a commission from Congress as surgeon of artillery, commanded by Colonel Proctor, in which capacity he served till the end of the war. After the war he first settled as a practitioner of medicine at Hart's Roads, now Hartville, Bucks County.

    It was on April 20, 1786, that he married Christian, daughter of Judge Henry Wynkoop, who had been one of the executors of his father's estate. They made their residence at Rockhill, Nockamixon Township, near Erwinna, where he practiced two or three years. In 1788 they removed to the vicinity of Falsington.

    Reading Beatty died in 1831, and his wife died 18th April, 1841. They had eight children, among whom we find the wife of Rev. Alexander Boyd; Dr. Charles Clinton Beatty, who married Rebecca Vanuxem; Mary, the wife of Rev. Robert Steel; and John Beatty, born 1800, whose children and grandchildren live at Germantown and Villa Nova, Pennsylvania.

    Judge Wynkoop's second daughter - Ann, born 18th October, 1765, was married on the 17th August, 1790, to James Raguet. They had three children - James, Henry, and Claudine. Raguet was a French exile, a Bonapartist. The judge's grandchildren ever remembered the famous Fourth of July celebrations at Vreden's Hoff. The Jolly Frenchman, rather short and round, would roll down the grassy banks for the amusement of the children.

    He died suddenly, while conversing in a counting house in Philadelphia, in 1818.

    The Wynkoop family motto; "Virtutem Hilaritate Colere" - to adorn excellence with joyousness" - has been preserved upon a piece of silverware in the possession of Mrs. Leonard Mortimer Thorn, Ann's granddaughter. Mrs. James Raguet died 23d July, 1815.

    Judge Wynkoop's daughter, Margaretta, born January 22, 1768, was married on November 24, 1789, to Herman Joseph Lombaert, a merchant of Philadelphia, where he died of yellow fever, August 29, 1793, aged 37. He was a native of Flanders. After his death Judge Wynkoop spoke of him as a man of "remarkable cultivation and accomplishment." Mrs. Lombaert remained in Philadelphia for some years after the death of her husband, and then removed to Easton, Pa. She is described as talented and courtly in her manner.

    Her daughter, Susan Lombaert, became the wife of James Vanuxem, Jr., of Morrisville, Pa., and her son, Charles Lombaert, married Anna Arndt.

    Nicholas, son of Henry Wynkoop, was a physician. Born March 25, 1770; died March 30, 1815. While out gunning with a companion, the latter carelessly fired in such a manner as to destroy the sight of one of his eyes. He married Francenia, eldest daughter of General Francis Murray, of Newtown, and after her death, Sarah Donaldson. He had seven children, who left numerous descendants.

    The judge's daughter, Mary Helen, born April 30, 1772, was married July 9, 1793, to Christian Wirtz, Jr. He was a merchant in Philadelphia and member of the City Troop. She died February 25, 1809, and her husband April 27 of the same year. His father Christian, Sr., had come from Baden to Lancaster, where he was a major during the Revolution. This Wirtz family should be distinguished from the better known family who are descendants of Rev. John Conrad Wurtz, of Zurich, Switzerland, and pastor at Egypt, Bucks County, as early as 1742, whose descendants of later days intermarried with Judge Wynkoop's family.

    John Wanshaer Wynkoop, son of Henry Wynkoop. born July 11, 1774; died September 6, 1793, of yellow fever, while a student of the law.

    Judge Wynkoop's son, Jonathan. Born June 21, 1776; married on April 27, 1809, Ann Dick, daughter of Campbell Dick and Margaret Ledlie. He built a house in the village at Newtown where he died February 21, 1842. They had five children, among whom we find Margaret Ledlie, wife of Rev. James C. Watson, and Isabella, wife of Rev. Winthrop Bailey. Edward Vanuxem often spoke of the time he spent as a boy at the house of his Uncle Jonathan.

    Judge Wynkoop's youngest daughter, Susannah, born April 11, 1784, a very pretty child, was one of the little girls who strewed the flowers before General Washington as he passed over the Assaupink Bridge in Trenton on his way to New York to assume the first presidency. On October 13, 1808, she married Jan Lefferts, son of Arthur Lefferts and Adrianna Van Arsdalen, and removed to New York State, where their descendants now live. Susannah died March 2, 1849.

    Thus have we located the descendants of Judge Henry Wynkoop.

    It would be unjust, fellow citizens, on this occasion, while we express our veneration for him who is the immediate subject of these remarks, were we to omit a most respectful, affectionate, and grateful mention of those other great men, his colleagues, who stood with him and the same spirit, the same devotion, took part in the same transactions. And now, fellow members, let us not retire from this occasion without a deep and solemn conviction of the duties which have devolved upon us. The traditions of our fathers are ours to enjoy, ours to preserve, ours to transmit. Generations to come hold us responsible for this sacred trust.

    As there is in preparation a volume on the life and times of Henry Wynkoop - these disconnected remarks being in, their nature preliminary - the speaker would be indeed grateful for information tending to make the work accurate and complete.

    The grandfather's clock bought in London in 1760 by the Rev. Charles Beatty for his friend Judge Henry Wynkoop; his cane, curiously twisted, silver punch bowl, tiles from the fireplace, his family bible with silver clasps, several chairs, a table, and a magnificent oil painting by Rembrandt Peale, are all in the possession of his descendants.

    In a series of letters, written from New York in 1789 and 1790 by Judge Wynkoop, to his son in law, Dr. Reading Beatty, and fortunately preserved by the descendants, interesting mention is made of the controversy as to the location of the capital of the United States. He writes: "From present appearances I am induced to believe it will be in Pennsylvania somewhere, & from confidential Communications there is a strong probability at the Falls of the Delaware." In another letter he says: "The Bill respecting the permanent Seat passed I think on Wednesday for Susquehannah 31 to 17. It was taken up in Senate yesterday, & this day stands amended with Germantown * * * what will be its fate at last is yet uncertain. The Maneuvering of this Affair has been so various & also interesting, that I confess myself heartily tired of it, yet feel myself anctious for a Termination favourable to the State. Germantown is certainly the first place in the National Scale, & the Fallse of the Delaware with me is next." And again: "Should the Susquehannah fail, it goes either to Germantown or the Potowmack, most probably the Latter."

    In another letter he writes: "Dining at the house of an old acquaintance yesterday, an old respectable gentleman, there hit upon a thought respecting Titles, so new & singular that I can not refrain mentioning it, that every succeeding President should be honored with the Title of Washington, thus the name and virtues of this great man to be perpetuated in his official Successors as that of Caesar became a Title to the Roman Emperors, & Pharoh that of the Egyptian Kings. But this for Posterity."

    This series of letters, some forty-six in all, have recently been presented to the Bucks County Historical Society by one of his descendants.

    The old tax lists show that in 1779 Judge Wynkoop paid taxes on 460 acres in Northampton Township, and on a grist mill and 144 acres in Southampton Township, and he is thought to have owned considerable property in Philadelphia.

    When he died he left, what was considered in those days when millionaires were much fewer than now, a large fortune. Vreden's Hoff was the farm he left to Jonathan, his youngest and only living son.

    That Judge Wynkoop was a man of kindly disposition is shown by the fact that shortly before his death he set all his slaves free, but so well had they been treated that they absolutely refused to leave the homestead. Under an ash tree, not far from the house, they lie buried, the doings of "Granny Maria" and "Old Isabel," being spoke of to this day.

    On the 25th day of March, in the year 1816, the busy life of Henry Wynkoop came to an end. In the church yard at Richboro is a very small stone with this simple inscription: "In memory of Henry Wynkoop who died contented and grateful in the 80th year of his age."

    Delegate to two most important Provincial Conventions, seven times a member of the Continental Congress, member of the First Congress of the United States, one of the General Council of Safety for the State of Pennsylvania, and of the Bucks County Committees of Correspondence and Safety, Judge of the High Court of Errors and Appeals, and for nearly half a century on the Bench of the Bucks County Courts - thus was the life of Henry Wynkoop devoted to his country.

    Forty years after the Declaration of Independence he lived to a great age. He was an early patriot and an aged and venerable object of admiration and regard. Thus he finished his course, and thus his freed spirit ascended to God who gave it. His was a character worthy of emulation. God send us many such!


Source:

Wurts, John S. "Henry Wynkoop. Sketch of Soldier - Jurist of Early Days.", Bucks County Intelligencer, Doylestown, Pa., Thursday, 30 October 1902, p. 11

Location:

Spruance Library
Bucks County Historical Society
84 South Pine Street
Doylestown, PA 18901

Collection of the Joseph Henry Beatty Family
MSS 445
Folder 3

Created May 1, 1999; Revised September 6, 2002
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