BIOGRAPHY: the Kip family; New York State
surname: Kip, de Kype, Marveil, Sille, Suyers, Vermilyea, de la Montagne, Van
Vleeck, de la Noy, Mille, Swarthout, Lewis, Marschalk, Dakin, Wells, Ingraham,
Storrs, Burgess, Kane, Lawrence, Van Rensselaer, Wilson, Bayard, Lorillard,
McCreery, Kinney, Rhinelander

submitted by W. David Samuelsen 
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Famous Families of New York, published 1917. Expired copyright

     The early part of the seventeenth century in Europe was marked by wars
and a general ebullition of the military spirit. Men took to arms just as
today they take to banking or drygoods. Of the stalwart pioneers who crossed
the ocean to the American continent, probably one-fifth was familiar with the
use of weapons, and a tenth had seen service in the field. Among the latter
was Hendrick Kip, or De Kype, who, though politically a Hollander, was by
birth of the purest French blood. His grandfather, Roeloff de Kype, was a
nobleman attached to the house of Guise during the bitter struggle between the
Ro- manists and Protestants. He was a brave soldier, and took part in many of
the engagements between the League upon the one side and the Prince of Conde'
and Admiral Coligny on the other. So great was his prowess that he evoked the
particular animosity of his opponents. When Conde' triumphed in 1562, the
chateau of the De Kype family was burned and its owner compelled to fly from
his home at Alancon, and take refuge in the Low Countries.

     He was accompanied by his three sons, and for six years they led a
precarious life, often passing under assumed names, and hiding at times when
their enemies were close upon their trail. During much of this period of exile
they were compelled to find safety in the cathedrals of Northern France and
what is now Belgium. They were received with warm hospitality by the monks,
and the sons were educated in the learning of the time. In 1569, Roeloff heard
of the appearance in the field of an army led by the Duke of Anjou. He
promptly left cover. With his son Henry he joined the Duke's forces and took
part in the hotly contested battle on the banks of La Charante, near Jarnac,
where the Prince of Conde' was killed. On the same day the brave nobleman gave
up his life for the cause of his religion.

     Of the three sons thus thrown suddenly upon their own resources, Jean
Baptiste, who was a priest, became attached to a church in Paris; Henri, a
soldier, entered the army of an Italian prince, where he rose to high rank;
Roeloff II, [1544], tired of war and of religious controversy, migrated to
Holland, where he became a Protestant and a citizen of that sturdy
commonwealth. He settled in Amsterdam, then a rich metropolis, established
himself as a merchant, and amassed a fortune. He died in 1596, leaving his
wealth to his son Hendrick.

     Hendrick (1590?) married Margaret de Marveil and continued the business
founded by his father. In middle life he was a prominent merchant of
Amsterdam. He probably was a shareholder in the Dutch West India Company, as
that corporation had raised its vast capital from the great merchants of the
period. At the beginning the enterprise had proved a success, and had brought
wealth to the country and dividends to the shareholders. Holland was full of
strange tales respecting the fertility of its new possessions in the West, of
rich deposits of ores, and an inexhaustible supply of rich skins and pelts.
Under these influences the strong-willed trader determined to start a new life
in the province of the New Netherlands. He embarked with his wife and three
children and came to New Amsterdam in 1635. Here he bought property, but he
could not become accustomed to the ways ot the New World. He yearned for the
luxuries of Amsterdam, and after a few years he went back to the old country
with his wife, where they ended their days.

     In the second generation there were three sons, who became burghers in
New Amsterdam - Hendrick II., Isaac, and Jacob. Hendrick married Anna de
Sille, the beautiful daughter of the Hon. Nicasius de Sille, Councillor of the
province, who was the belle of her time; Isaac married Catalina de Suyers,
and, upon her death, Mrs. Maria Vermilyea; and Jacob married Marie de la
Montagne, daughter of Dr. de la Montagne. All three sons purchased real
estate, and took a lively part in the politics of the day. Hendrick appears to
have been the strongest character of the trio. When Governor Kieft ordered the
ambush and massacre of one hundred and ten defenceless Indians, men, women,
and children, at Corlear's Hook and Pavonia, Hendrick was one of the few to
protest against the act as wanton murder, and to agitate for the deposal of
the Governor and his forced deportation to Holland. When the latter brought
all the influence of his office to bear and secured the silence, if not the
acquiescence, of the burghers, Hendrick was the only man who refused to
connive at the wrong.

     The Governor summoned the inhabitants to assemble in the fort at the
Battery to entertain proposals for a treaty of peace to be concluded with the
Indians. The meeting assembled, and the court messenger, Philip de Trury,
after the town bell had rung and the citizens had come to order, reported that
all the burghers on the Manhattans, from highest to lowest, had attended, as
they all had answered kindly, excepting one, Hendrick Kip; and, while the
entire community was willing to show respect, that burgher had expressed only
contempt for the Governor. This fearless action won the admiration of the
people, who, from this time on, looked up to him as a leader. When Governor
Stuyvesant succeeded Kieft, he reorganized the local government by creating a
popular Assembly, consisting of nine delegates known as the "Nine Men," who
were to co-operate with him and his Privy Council in the administration.
Hendrick was one of the first members of this body.

     Governor Stuyvesant's motive in ordering this change was to win the good
will of the people by making a concession to their love of freedom. The issue
was the old question of political liberty and home rule. What the Governor
conceded increased the desire on the part of the burghers for larger civil
rights. The result was a constant struggle between the executive and the "Nine
Men," the one endeavoring to extend his authority, and the other opposing him
in every way possible. This opposition, being public and official, was, of
course, talked about, not only in New Amsterdam, but in all the other
settlements of the New Netherlands. It developed into a condition bordering
upon anarchy, and probably would have resulted in revolution but for the
English conquest, which put an end to the rule of the West India Company. In
this struggle Hendrick was one of the leaders of the popular party, and seems
to have been as much feared by Stuyvesant as by Kieft, although the former was
a superb soldier and an excellent statesman of the old Dutch type.

     Isaac, Hendrick's brother, was essentially a man of affairs. Buying a
stout sloop, he started a freighting business on the Hudson River, with main
offices at New Amsterdam, Esopus, and Fort Orange. The profits he invested
wisely in real estate, and among his holdings was a farm which included the
present City Hall Park. The road to it from the city wall was partly through
his land, and was known as Kip's Road, and afterwards Kip Street. This, during
British rule, was changed to the present name of Nassau Street. He had a
spacious home at New Harlem in 1675, where he was the First Corporal of the
Night Watch. As he was upon the river most of the time, his duties were
probably less onerous, and certainly less profitable, than those of the modern
inspector of police.

     Jacobus, the third son, was farmer, merchant, and politician. His name
appears more frequently in the old records than that of any other member of
his family. He held the important office of schepen no less than six times
between 1659 and 1675.

     He received a grant from the Dutch West India Company, about 1655, of
the property known as the Kip's Bay Farm, the whole or part of which was held
in the family for two hundred years, and built thereon what is known as the
Kip's Bay Mansion, which was taken down in 1851 to make way for East
Thirtyfifth Street. The house was said by Benson J. Lossing, a historian, to
be the oldest house then in the State, and in its time one of the most
splendid, the coat of arms of the family being cut in the lintel over the
front stoop. He was the founder of that branch known to this day as the Kip's
Bay Kips.

     In the third generation the family was more numerous and powerful than
in the second. The Hendrick or Henry branch left New York at this time and
settled in western New Jersey, where they established the New Jersey and
Pennsylvania branches of the family. This was headed by Nicholas [1666], who,
when he migrated, took with him his parents and the other members of his
household.

     The sons of Isaac, Hendrick [1654], Abraham [1659], Isaac [1662], and
Jacob [1666], were able and enterprising citizens. They were prosperous during
their father's life, and upon his death inherited extensive estates. They
managed these with singular skill, and became prominent land-owners. Hendrick
and Jacob (either his brother or uncle, but more probably the former) bought
the large tract known as Kipsburgh, which they settled and converted into a
profitable estate, and which thereafter was duly patented into a manor with
the manorial rights of the period. The four sons married well, their wives
being as follows: of Hendrick, Magdalena Van Vleeck; Abraham, Catalina de la
Noy; Isaac, Sarah de Mille; and Jacob or Jacobus, Rachel Swarthout.

     The children of Jacob were Isaac, Jacob, and John (?). They took a much
livelier interest in public affairs than their cousins. John or Johannes was a
member of the Council in 1684, and was an Alderman in 1686-1687, 1691-1692,
1696-1697. Jacob was an Alderman from 1709 to 1728, continuously. They
displayed the love of freedom and the strong courage which marked their race,
and left untarnished records to their descendants.

     In the fourth generation the two prominent characters were two sons of
Jacob - Isaac [1696] and Roeloff [1698 ?]. Isaac was merchant and landed
proprietor, who managed his property with wisdom. He married Cornelia Lewis,
by whom he had several children.

     The early part of the eighteenth century was uneventful in New York,
being a period of quiet and peaceful growth. There was a steady influx of
people from Europe, especially of the Palatines. Lands and produce rose in
value; business developed, and the lords of the manors grew wealthy and
powerful, without any endeavor on their part. The Kips enjoyed this prosperity
with their colleagues.

     In the fifth generation, two sons of Isaac deserve mention. One was
Leonard [1725], who married Elizabeth Marschalk, and the other Dr. Isaac
[1732], who married Rachel Kip of Kipsburgh, his cousin. The former, Leonard,
was a distinguished Churchman, and the latter a generous and publicspirited
physician. They were notable for their hospitality and were popular in
colonial society. During the Revolution, Leonard was a Royalist, and was
punished thereafter by the confiscation of his estate. The other members, or
most of them, were Revolutionists.

     Of the twelve children of Jacobus I., Samuel I., [1682] became the owner
of the estate and was succeeded by Jacobus II. [1706], who was an old man when
the Revolution occurred and too feeble to take up arms for the cause of
freedom. Too ill to be moved, he remained in his house, which stood
overlooking the East River, near where is now the Thirty-fourth Street ferry.
In spite of the danger, he stayed manfully at his post, and was in the house
the day the British fleet opened fire upon the American earthworks, situated
upon the bluff near his home. During the bombardment, he and his family took
refuge in the cellar, and so escaped injury. Promptly after landing, the
British troops occupied the mansion, but their commander set aside a portion,
including three large rooms, for the head of the house and his two beautiful
daughters. The shock, however, was too much for Jacobus, who died before the
close of the war.

     It was in this mansion that the farewell dinner was given to Major
Andre, Sir Henry Clinton, and his staff, partly as a compliment to Andre, then
on the eve of departure to consummate negotiations with Benedict Arnold. His
health was drunk by the assembled guests, and when the toastmaster referred to
the young Major's prospect of being ennobled for his gallantry, the sentiment
was cheered to the echo. Ten days afterward he had been captured, tried, and
executed.

     Samuel II. [1731], eldest son of Jacobus II., was a stanch Whig during
the Revolution, and after the battle of Long Island was driven, with a reward
of five hundred pounds offered for his arrest, from the old mansion at Kip's
Bay where but a few days before he had been the host of Washington. He
returned with his family and slaves to Kip's Bay after the Revolution and died
there in 1804, when the property was partitioned among his nine children.

     Of these, Henry III. [1785], the youngest, now left his birthplace with
his young wife, an English lady of the Dakin family, - the first intermarriage
of this branch of the Kips with any but Dutch stock, - and migrated to Utica,
N. Y. The house where he lived near Utica, with the slaves' quarters attached,
is still standing. Later he returned to New York, where he died in 1849. His
life was that of a modest, quiet country gentleman.

     He had eight children, among whom Henry IV. [1817] showed his Dutch
energy and thrift by becoming one of the founders of the great express
transportation business, and until his death (1883) was one of its ablest
leaders. By his wife, Charlotte M. Wells, of Southold, he had three sons, of
whom William F. [1855] is the chief representative.

     The latter was educated at Harvard (A. B., 1876) and Columbia (LL.B.,
1879), and for ten years was secretary and chief executive of the Civil
Service Reform Association of Buffalo; in 1892, was secretary to ex-President
Cleveland, and for many years has been librarian of the Association of the Bar
of the City of New York.

     George Goelet Kip, now of Morristown, N. J., a retired lawyer, formerly
a member of the law firm of Dewitt, Lockwood, & Kip, famous as the guardians
of rich old Dutch estates, is another descendant in this ninth generation of
the Kip's Bay branch.

     In the sixth generation Isaac Lewis [1767] and Leonard [1774] were
prominent. Leonard studied law, became a partner of Judge Brockholst
Livingston, and afterwards was appointed to an office in the Court of
Chancery. He married Maria, daughter of Duncan Ingraham, by whom he had four
children.

     Isaac Lewis, the elder son, married Sarah Smith. He was interested in
commerce, but devoted himself chiefly to his many real-estate holdings. He had
three sons.

     In the seventh generation, the Kip family produced many notable members.
Of Leonard's children, Elizabeth married the Rev. Dr. Storrs of St. John's
Church, Yonkers; Sophia, the Right Rev. George Burgess, D.D., Bishop of Maine,
and Mary, the Hon. John Innes Kane.

     The Right Rev. William Ingraham [1811] married Maria Elizabeth, daughter
of Isaac Lawrence of New York. He was a graduate of Yale (1831), studied law,
and afterwards divinity. He was graduated from the General Theological
Seminary, and was ordained in the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1835. He
received the honorary degrees of A.M. from Yale and Trinity, of D.D. from
Columbia, and LL.D. from Yale. He was a distinguished contributor to the
religious press, and was the author of nine valuable works.

     Leonard [1826] married Harriet L., the daughter of the Hon. John Van
Rensselaer of Albany. He was graduated from Trinity (1846), and received the
degrees of L.H.D. and LL.D. from Hobart in 1893. He studied law, was admitted
to the bar, and settled in Albany. Here he followed law and literature, and in
1885 became President of the Albany Institute. He has written many articles
for the magazines, and published many books, including sketches, fiction,
historical studies, and short stories.

     Of the children of Isaac Lewis, three held prominent places in the
public eye - Brockholst Livingston, Leonard William [1796], and the Rev.
Francis M. [1807]. Leonard William was educated at Columbia (1815), where he
also took the degree of A.M. in 1820. He practised law in New York City, and
he took high rank as an authority upon real estate and titles. He was a member
of the Board of Council of the University of New York, and was influential in
developing that institution of learning. He married Anne Corbet Wilson. Rev.
Francis Maerschalk [1807] was graduated from Columbia (1826) and Rutgers
(1829). He received the degree of S.T.D. in 1857. He married Mary R. Bayard.

     In the eighth generation, the most distinguished member was Colonel
Lawrence [1836], son of Bishop William Ingraham. He was appointed a cadet at
West Point (1853). Upon his graduation in 1857 he became Second Lieutenant in
the Third Artillery, and at once went into active service. He was a member of
the expedition which General Wright led against the Northern Indians, and
distinguished himself at the battle of Four Lakes and Spokane Plains. His
experiences during this campaign were written and published afterwards in a
delightful book, Army Life on the Pacific. At the opening of the Civil War in
1861, he went upon General Sumner's staff as senior aide-de-camp, with rank of
major. He was with the Army of the Potomac in the battles of Yorktown,
Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Seven Pines, Allen's Farms, Savage's Station,
Glendale, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Mine Run, and the seven-day'
fight in front of Richmond, and received many testimonials for gallantry. He
was an aide-decamp on Major-General Sheridan's staff, and took part in every
battle and skirmish under that commander until the surrender of Lee. He was
made lieutenant-colonel by brevet in 1865, and his kinsmen can point with
pride to a testimonial in the archives of the War Department, written by
Sheridan, in which he is stated to be "a most brave and gallant officer,
possessed of fine intelligence and gentlemanly demeanor." He married Eva
Lorillard, by whom he had two children, Eva Kip McCreery and Leonard, who died
in 1896.

     William Ingraham II. [1840], another son of the Bishop, was a citizen of
prominence, who served satisfactorily as Secretary of the United States
Legation at Tokio in 1861 and 1862. He married Elizabeth C. Kinney, by whom he
had two sons, William Ingraham III. [1867] and Lawrence [1869].

     Dr. Isaac Lewis, son of Leonard W., was graduated from the New York
University, in the medical department, of which he afterwards took the degree
of M. D. He married Cornelia, daughter of the Hon. William V. Brady, Mayor
of New York, by whom he had two children, Adelaide, who married Philip
Rhinelander, and William V. B.

     The Rev. Leonard William, Jr., was graduated from Columbia in 1856,
where he afterwards took the degree of A.M., and received the degree of S.T.D.
from Rutgers in 1880. He was intensely devout, and, upon being ordained, he
volunteered his services to the American Board of Foreign Missions and was
detailed to Amoy, China, where he has been a leader in the Christian world
ever since.

     The family is marked by great intellectual vigor and by a deep love of
liberty and culture. It has enjoyed the advantages of wealth and social
position during its nine generations in the New World, and long before its
founder crossed the sea. It has always taken a deep interest in public affairs
and has held many public positions of honor and responsibility. One list shows
more than forty who have been selected to represent their fellow-citizens. For
six generations they have adorned the learned professions, the pulpit, the
bar, and medicine. Through them runs a strong military instinct, which comes
to the surface in every war. In commercial life they are active, enterprising,
and successful. They may be regarded as an admirable type of the American
citizen.