The Van Wyck Family of Dutchess County

THE VAN WYCK FAMILY OF DUTCHESS COUNTY

Joseph W. Emsley

Edmund Van Wyck, well known resident of Manchester Bridge, Route 55, Town of LaGrange, doesn't often tell about his ancestry in New York State, or in Dutchess County, but it is fascinating for the onlooker at his prominent Dutch lineage to tell a few facts about the Van Wycks. Many county residents, driving back and forth to the John F. Kennedy Airport, probably have wondered in their travels over part of that route about the Van Wyck Expressway. To be sure, that route was named after one Edmund Van Wyck's ancestors. The original family settler in the early New Amsterdam area was Cornelius Barentse Van Wyck who came here from Holland about 1650.

Edmund Van Wyck Cornelius, coming to this country as a man, bought some 450 acres of land in the Flatbush area of New York. One of his descendants, James, was quite prominent in the Brooklyn area. He was an engineer on a highway project when the Van Wyck name was first applied to a part of the present Van Wyck Boulevard.

Edmund Van Wyck is a great, great grandson of Judge Theodorus Van Wyck, a grandson of the first settler, and son of the first Theodorus Van Wyck in the family line of early settlers in this country. Judge Theodorus and Cornelius 2nd were among the early settlers in Dutchess County.

Theodorus came to Dutchess County about 1720 to survey the southern Dutchess Rombout Patent for Madame Catharyn Brett. This extensive area of some 85,000 acres of land was among the early grants of land in the colonial period of the State.

Cornelius and Theodorus Van Wyck each acquired more than 400 acres of land in southern Dutchess, the former in the Fishkill area and the latter in East Fiskill, along what is now Route 52. Judge Theodorus, Edmund Van Wyck's ancestor, was born in Hempstead, Long Island October 15, 1697. He moved to Dutchess in 1736. He and his brother, Cornelius, split an original tract of some 900 acres for the extensive Van Wyck family holdings in southern Dutchess.

Cornelius was the owner of the lands in the Route 9 area of Fishkill which included the site of the present Van Wyck house which became popularly known as the "Wharton" house, so known as the scene of action in James Fenimore Cooper's novel, "The Spy". The late County

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Historian, Helen Wilkinson Reynolds, said in her book, "Dutch Houses in the Hudson Va,lley", that the eastern, smaller part of this historic Van Wyck family house was, in all probability the original dwelling.

The equally prominent early Van Wyck house of Cornelius' brother, Theodorus, is the one still standing and tenanted in Route 52 in East Fishkill. There is a long driveway into the property and the original house faced the south, not north to Route 52. Miss Reynolds, probably Dutchess County's most thorough and accurate historian, wrote that this house, east of Wiccopee, is bounded on the south by the Fishkill mountains and an "arable flat called Fishkill Hook, a name which is a hybrid form or Vis Kil Hoeck (Fish Creek Corner )".

The Van IXTycks, with a growing number of family branches, became one of the most prominent among the early settlers. Theodorus Van Wyck served as a delegate from the county to the second Provincial Congress in New York City.

During the War of the Revolution, John Jay, the famous resident of Westchester County, moved his family into Theodorus's house after the British occupied New York City. As Miss Reynolds described the Jay family tenancy of the house, "from 1776 to 1781, the house at Wiccopee was a haven for Mr. Jay's elderly parents, his children and brother." Some members of the Jay family stayed for a time in the Colonel John Brinckerhoff stone house in Lomola Road, Fishkill, off the present Route 82 near Swartoutville. John Jay, for whom the present-day Fishkill Plains School was named, became the first Chief Justice of the United States, 1789-1795, and was Governor of New York thereafter.

Judge Theodorus Van Wyck and Colonel John Brinckerhoff were appointed among the first judges of the Court of Common Pleas, February 24, 1750, by Governor George Clinton. Judge Van Wyck was a man of fixed decisions and promptness. So well did he live up to his motto, "Owe no man a cent", that, at his death, it was said this was literally true.

Edmund Van Wyck's ancestry included a third Theodorus, Dr. Theodorus Van Wyck of the Revolutionary War period, who cared for the wounded and ill during the war. He was popularly called "Dorus", Ed Van Wyck noted.

Miss Ida Van Wyck, Poughkeepsie resident, a descendant of the original member of the family, was a member of the Cornelius Van Wyck family line. Captain Cornelius, of her line, was killed at the battle of White Plains. A member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, she was employed for many years in Poughkeepsie as secretary to the late attorney, Edward K. Haas.

Miss Van Wyck's father was DeWitt S. Van Wyck, Green Haven, and later of the Town of Union Vale. Her grandfather, John S., lived in Beekman township. Her great grandfather, Robert, also lived in Dutchess County.

Edmund Van Wyck's relatives include Miss Edith Van Wyck of Fishkill, a cousin, and like Ed, a descendant from the original settler through

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the Theodorus family line. Edith Van Wyck also numbers Judge Theodorus and Dr. Theodorus in her line of descent.

Mrs. Varick Stringham of the Fishkill Plains, Stringham Mill area of the town of East Fishkill, is the widow of Varick Van Wyck Stringham who died last year. Varick and his father, Edward B., were owners of the 400-acre place, known for some 100 years as Crystal Springs Farm. This property, on Sprout Creek, was purchased by Colonel Richard Van Wyck in 1835. There is no vestige left of importance of the Stringham mill, but the Stringham house remains almost intact as an outstanding example of colonial times. This house, as evidenced by the black brick letters, three feet high, on the west end of the property, dates back to 1768 — one of the oldest in the county.

Historian Helen Reynolds, who included this Verplanck-Van Wyck house in her "Dutch Houses of the Hudson Valley", said of the present-day Stringham house, "It has lost some of its original details, but its brick walls, in good proportion, its gambrel roof and its roof-balustrade give it lasting distinction." She noted that Richard Van Wyck purchased the place from the heirs of William Beekman Verplanck. Miss Reynolds added that the house was "simply a well preserved example of a gentleman's home in the pre-Revolutionary period".

Getting back to Edmund Van Wyck, his community activities have been so ramified, but self-sacrificing as any citizens might expect. His family connections include his daughter, Edna Ruth Floyd, Clinton, New Jersey, ninth generation of the Van Wyck family in this country.

The LaGrange house and acreage included over a period of many years an apple orchard, Edmund's father having had also an interest in the farm. The former 30-acre orchard was well known for its production of McIntosh, Cortland and Rome Beauty apples. The sloping property was well adapted to apple growth.

Edmund Van Wyck was active for many years in the County Farm Bureau, later known as the Cooperative Extension Service. Active also in the Grange, he served as master of Poughkeepsie Grange, and the county Pomona Grange. He was master of Triune Lodge, FAM, and a district deputy of the Masonic Order, having become a 32nd degree Mason.

Active in the Arlington Reformed Church, he has served as deacon and elder of that religious body. Van Wyck, of diversified interests, has been a trustee of the Poughkeepsie Savings Bank for many years. He has long been a member of the LaGrange Fire Department and continues as a fire fighter. His numerous affiliations include membership in the Dutchess County Historical Society, having served as its president and, at present, as a trustee. He is a member of the Holland Society of New York State.

Edmund Van Wyck was one of six grandsons of Edmund Van Wyck. Five of the grandsons moved west, three remaining there and two returning to the New York area. The line of ancestry included John Brinckerhoff, Ed's great grandfather, who was a general in the New York Militia.

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