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(V) William
(3), only son of William Christopher and
mary (Rogers) Rhinelander, was born in New
York, September 19, 1825. He attended
private schools, and afterwards went to
Columbia College, graduating from that
institution in 1845. He was long associated
with his father in the management of the
large vested interests of the family, and
after his father's death in 1876 he became
the trustee of the estate. He married, in
1853, Matilda Cruger, daughter of Chief
Justice Thomas Jackson and Matilda (Cruger)
Oakley. Judge Oakley was graduated from
Yale College, and in addition to holding the
position of chief justice of the superior
court of New York from 1850 until the date
of his death in 1858, had bee a member of
congress in 1814-15, and again in 1828-29.
He was also elected attorney-general of the
state of New York in 1819, and was requested
to be a candidate for the presidency of the
United States, but declined. Judge Oakley's
wife, the mother of Mrs. William
Rhinelander, was the daughter of Henry
Cruger, who was born in New York in 1730,
died in 1827. Removing from New York to
England he became mayor of the city of
Bristol in 1781, and was twice a member of
the British parliament for that
constituency, serving his terms between 1774
and 1784. During that time he had as his
colleague the celebrated Irish orator and
statesman, Edmund Burke, and with him
opposed the taxation of the American
colonies. Returning to New York in 1790, he
became a state senator in 1792. Henry
Cruger was the grandson of John Cruger, who
came to New York prior to 1700, and was a
notable merchant of New York and mayor of
the city from 1739 to 1744, marrying Maria,
daughter of Major Hendrick Cuyler, of
Albany, who served in the French and Indian
War. The children of William and Matilda
Cruger (Oakley) Rhinelander: 1. Thomas
Jackson Oakley, born January 15, 1858; he
was bred to the law, graduating from
Columbia college in 1878, and from Columbia
Law School in 1880; he made, however, no
effort at practicing his profession,
confining himself to the care of the
Rhinelander Estates and Real Estate company;
he is a member of the Union Turf and Field,
Metropolitan and Country clubs, and the
Columbia College Alumni Association. He is
or has been president of the Delta Phi Club,
vice-president of the Seventh Regiment
Veteran League, a governor of the Society of
Colonial Wars, and a member of the Seventh
Regiment, the Society of the Sons of the
Revolution, Foreign Wars, Colonial Order and
Huguenot Society of America and the St.
Nicholas societies. He married, in 1894,
Edith Cruger, daughter of Charles Edwin and
Letitia (Campbell) Sands, and has a son,
Philip Rhinelander. 2. Philip, mentioned
below.
(VI) Philip,
junior son of William (3) and Matilda Cruger
(Oakley) Rhinelander, was born October 8,
1865, in New York City. He was graduated
from Columbia College in 1882. He studied
law to enable him to safety manage his
estate. He has traveled extensively, and is
a member of many corporations and
philanthropic boards. In company with his
elder brother, he purchased the ancient
castle of Schoenberg-on-the-Rhine, near
Oberwessel, overlooking the old town, and in
close vicinity to the lands owned by their
ancestors. This castle is on the site of a
Roman fortress built by Julius Caesar. It
has suffered much from the lapse of time and
the wars of many centuries, having been
commenced as far back as A. D. 951. Mr.
Rhinelander is a member of numerous clubs,
including the Union, Downtown, Calumet,
Badminton, St. Elmo, Baltusrol Golf and
Automobile Club of America. He is a member
of the Huguenot Society, Sons of the
Revolution, Society of the War of 1812, St.
Nicholas Society, and Society of Foreign
Wars. His home is on East 55th
Street, New York City, and he maintains an
office on William Street. He married, April
11, 1888, in New York City, Adelaide, born
Page 319
November 9, 1866, in
New York City, daughter of Isaac L. and
Cornelia (Brad) Kip.
POTTER. The
name and family of Potter are supposed to be
Norman in origin. Ferguson says:
"It has been remarked that names derived
from trades are more common in France than
England. I should rather say it is the
termination --er which is more common, and
that among the multitude of names with this
termination there are many which
accidentally coincide with names of trades.
WE have in almost all cases both in France
and England, names which contain the roots
and names which form other compounds.
Regarded from this point of view French and
English names mutually throw great light on
each other. When I doubt whether Potter
means a maker of pots it very much
strengthens my suspicion to find not only a
French Pottier, but also Potiere with a
corroborative termination."
If the
various families of Potter who settled in
this country were connected at all, it must
have been very remotely in their ancestry,
coming, as they did, from widely distant
localities. The census of 1774 shows in
Rhode Island Potters, five hundred and
eight-nine (probably many of these were
slaves) in a total population of fifty-four
thousand four hundred and sixty.
(I) Robert
Potter, the founder and immigrant ancestor
of the Potter family in America here dealt
with, came from Coventry, England, in 1634.
He was made a freeman of the Massachusetts
Plantation, September 3, 1634. He is
mentioned first as being a farmer at Lynn,
Massachusetts, and as removing, probably to
Roxbury, soon after being made a freeman of
the colony. The records mention his first
trouble with his church at Roxbury, which
finally resulted in the necessity of his
leaving the colony, which he did, and
settled in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. At
this time Robert Potter had become a
follower na disturber, and they together
with their associates purchased the tract of
land called the Shawomett Purchase, in rhode
Island, but afterwards named by them,
"Warwick," in honor of the Earl of Warwick,
who had so much befriended them in their
troubles with the Plantation of
Massachusetts. In 1638 Robert Potter
appeared again before the court and was
admitted an inhabitant of the Island
Aquidneck, Rhode Island, the same year.
Gorton, Potter and their associates seem to
have been religious agitators. They agreed
with the sect of Quakers in the rejection of
church ordinances and in some few other
points; they, however, differed from them on
many points deemed the most essential. From
the records it appear that they did not get
on very peaceably at Portsmouth. In the
following proceedings of the Colony of Rhode
Island, March 10, 1642, it was order that "robert
Potter and Richard Carden, Randall Houlden
and Sampson Shotten be disfrancised of the
privileges and prerogatives belonging to the
body of this state, and their names canceled
from the records." On the day following it
was ordered by the colony of Rhode Island:
"That if Robert Potter, John Wickes, Randall
Houlden, Richard Carden or Sampson Shotten,
shall come upon this island armed, they
shall be, by the constable calling to
himself sufficient aid, disarmed and carried
before the magistrate and there find
sureties for their good behavior; and
further be it established, and if that
course shall not regulate them or anyof
them, then a further due and lawful course
of law already begun with John Wickes." In
1642 Robert Potter sold his house and land
in Portsmouth to his brother-in-law, John
Anthony. In 1643 he, with others of the
Shawomett purchasers, was notified to appear
at the general court at Boston to hear
complain of Pomham and Socconocco has to
"some unjust and uncurious deals toward them
by yourselves." This summons they declined
to obey, so they were all carried to Boston
and sentenced to be confined in different
town, their wives betaking themselves to the
woods, suffering hardships that resulted in
the deaths of at least three of the women,
one of them being the wife of Robert
Potter. In the same year Robert Potter was
also excommunicated from his church, as
appears in the records of the First Church
of Roxbury, by the Rev. John Eliot. There
is no record of the exact date of Robert
Potter's coming to this country on the ship
in which he was a passenger, excepting that
he was a passenger with the Rev. Nathan
Ward, afterwards a minister of Ispwich,
Massachusetts, who left a written account of
his visit to Robert Potter in prison.
Robert potter
married (first) in 1643, Isabel -----------;
(second) in 1686, Sarah ----------, who
after his death married (second) John
Sanford, of Boston. Children by first wife:
Page 320
1. Elizabeth, married
Richard Harcutt. 2. Deliverance, married
James Greene. 3. Isabel, died August 24,
1724, married (first) -------------- Moss,
(second) Willian Burton. 4. John, mentioned
below.
(II) John,
son of Robert and Isabel Potter, was born in
Portsmouth, Rhode Island, in 1639, died in
1694.. He was enrolled a freeman in 1660.
February 6, 1660, he testified that in his
conscious that he did believe his father
sold a certain house, etc., in Portsmouth to
his uncle, Anthony, and engaged that when he
came of age he would confirm the sale. On
August 24, 1676, he was a member of the
court martial held at Newport for the trial
of certain Indians charged with being
implicated in King Philip's designs. Three
years later he was granted on his petition
by the assembly thirty-six shillings due him
for service some years since, being
constable, in securing and sending Indians
to Newport. On June 15, 1687, the petition
of Sarah potter, of Warwick, to court was
deferred to justices of the peace of
Providence, Warwick and Rochester, and three
months later, John deeded to his eldest son
robert two hundred acres for love, etc.
John Potter married (first) June 2, 1664,
Ruth, daughter of Edward and Judith Fisher;
(second) Sarah (Wright) Collins. Children
by first wife: 1. Robert, born at Warwick,
Rhode Island, March 5, 1665. 2. Fisher,
July 12, 1667. 3. John, mentioned below.
4. William, May 23, 1671. 5. Samuel,
January 10, 1672. 6. Isabella, October 17,
1674; married John Budlong, son of Francis
and Rebecca (Lippit) Budlong. 7. Ruth,
November 29, 1676. 8. Edward, November 25,
1678; married , December 27, 1711, Jane (Burlingham)
Potter, widow of John Potter. 9. Content,
October 2, 1686, died in 1703; married, June
1, 1703, Sarah Wright.
(III) John
(2), son of John (1) and Ruth (Fisher)
Potter, was born at Warwick, Rhode Island,
November 21, 1660, died February 5, 1711,
being killed by the fall of a tree. The
jury of inquest on his death judged him "to
be axedentolly excesery to his own death
occasioned by the fall of a tree." He
married Jane, daughter of Roger and mary
Burlingham. His widow married, December 27,
1711, his brother, Edward, and it is a very
singular fact relating to these two brothers
that they each had a son named John, who
grew to maturity having the same mother,
namely, Jane (Burlingham) Potter. The
children of John, all born at Cranston,
Rhode Island were: 1. John, mentioned
below. 2. Fisher, died April 28, 1789;
married, November 10, 1728, Mary, daughter
of Samuel and mercy (Harding) Winsor. 3.
Mary, married, in 1721, Robert Knight. 4.
William, married February 19, 1721, Martha
Tillingham. 5. Amy, married John Holmya.
6. Alice.
(IV) John
(3), son of john (2) and Jane (Burlingham)
Potter, was born at Cranston, Rhode Island,
before 1695. He lived on the Rivulet Farm,
one mile from the Quaker meeting house at
Cranston. This house was built by his
grandfather, who was born in 1639. John
Potter married, December 12, 1717, Phebe,
born in 1693, daughter of Thomas and Ann
Grunce. Children, all born at Cranston,
Rhode Island: 1. John, born December 8,
1718; married, May 24, 1739, Hannah,
daughter of James and Elizabeth Baker. 2.
Joseph, born July 10, 1720, died before
1762, married, January 1, 1747, Mary,
daughter of John and Frances (Holden) Low.
3. Mary, born June 20,1722; married December
19, 1739, Joseph Edwards, Jr. 4. Robley,
born February 15, 1724; married, December
29, 1742, Timothy, son of John and Rebecca
Russet. 5. Caleb, born October 31, 1725,
6. Stephen, born August 14, 1727, died
November 29, 1796, married (first) October
31, 1749, Mary Freeborn, (second) Ruth
Freeborn, two sisters, daughters of Gideon
and Ruth Freeborn. 7. Naomi, born May 18,
1729, died January 27, 1806; married,
January 14, 1749, Captain Randall Holden.
8. Ruth, born May 18, 1731; married
Ezekiel Searles, 9. William, born June 19,
1733. 10. Thomas, mentioned below. 11,
Sarah, born March 1, 1736; married Mahalie
Hammett.
(V) Thomas,
youngest son of John (3) and Phebe (Grunce)
Potter, was born at Cranston, Rhode Island,
March 25, 1735, died November 13, 1795. He
married, October 16, 1755, Esther, born
1738, died 1800, daughter of Ebenezer and
Mary (Hust) Sheldon. Children: 1. Mary,
born July 31, 1756, died May 13, 1757. 2.
Joseph, mentioned below. 3. Rhodes, April
3, 1759, died August 9, 1760. 4.
Sylvester,. 5. Phebe. . 6. Rebecca. 7.
Thomas., 8. Amy. 9. Clarke T. B. B., born
October 28, 1778.
(VI) Joseph,
eldest son of Thomas and Esther (Sheldon)
Potter, was born August 12, 1757,
Page 321
died November 23,
1824. He removed with his family in 1792 to
Beekman (now La Grange), Dutchess County,
New York. He married, December 27, 1781,
Anne Knight, born in 1760, died 1833.
Children: 1. Philadelphia, born 1782. 2.
Paraclete, 1784. 3. Joseph, 1787. 4.
Sheldon, 1789. 5. Robert Knight, 1791. 5.
Egbert Benson, 1797. 6. Alonzo, mentioned
below. 7. Horatio (right Rev.) 1802.
(VII) Right
Rev. Alonzo Potter, D. D., LL. D., bishop of
the Protestant episcopal Church of the
Diocese of Pennsylvania, son of Joseph and
Anne (Knight) Potter, was born July 4, 1865,
on board the steamship "Colorado," in the
harbor of San Francisco, California. He was
first sent to the district schools of his
native hamlet, and was there favored with
the instruction of a Mr. Thompson, a man
capable of appreciating him. At the age of
twelve he entered the academy at
Poughkeepsie, and having secured a
scholarship later went to Union College. He
was confirmed at Christ Church,
Philadelphia, by the venerable Bishop White,
and began his theological studies at the
General Theological Seminary. He was called
to be a tutor at the Union College at twenty
and within a year was advanced to the
professorship of mathematics. He was made a
priest by Bishop Bonnell, and after a period
as rector at Boston was made Bishop of
Pennsylvania. His biographer says of him:
"he lived more in his three score years than
more of these who stretch to the larger
span." He married (first) Sarah Maria
Knott; (second) Sarah Benedict; (third)
Frances Seton. Children, all born at
Schenectady, New York: 1. Hon. N. Clarkson,
born April 25, 1825. 2. Howard, July 8,
1826. 3. Robert Brown, mentioned below. 4.
Edward T., September 25, 1831. 5. Henry C.,
(right Rev.) May 25, 1835. 6. Rev. Eliphalet,
1837. 7. Maria, 1839. 8. James Nelson,
1841. 9. William A., 1842. 10. Frank
Hunter, 1851.
(VIII)
General Robert Brown Potter, son of the
Right Rev. Alonzo and Sarah Maria (Knott)
Potter, was born July 16, 1829, died at
Newport, Rhode Island, February 19, 1887.
His military career began in New York City,
and he was intimately connected with the
ninth Army corps, whose chief was General
Ambrose E. Burnside, of Rhode island, and
therefore it can be said as of Homer in
ancient days that three cities can claim the
honor of his well-earned fame. After his
college course at Union College, under the
care of his grandfather, young Potter
established himself in New York as a lawyer,
and at the beginning of the Civil War was in
successful practice in New York City. After
the war broke out, having no immediate ties,
his wife having died in 1858, a year after
their marriage, he determined to go to the
front, and immediately prepared himself by
study and drill to take the position of
which his ambition called him.
On the
organization of the Fifty-fist Regiment in
New York he received the commission of
lieutenant-colonel. His superior was
Colonel Ferrero, and Charles W. Le Gendre
was major. The regiment was moved to
Annapolis and soon after was attached to
Burnside's little army at Annapolis, and
brigaded under General Reno. They had their
baptisms of fire at Roanoke Island, where
Potter led three companies of his regiment
to the assault of the batteries and was the
first to enter the works,. At Newbern the
Fifty-first had again the post of honor and
stormed the entrenchments on the left of the
rebel lines. Here Major Le Gendre was shot
through the mouth, and Lieutenant-Colonel
Potter received a ball in the groin, which
passed through this body, and here Potter
showed that cool courage in which he was not
excelled, not even by Grant. He remained on
the field, in spite of his wound, until the
close of the memorable day, and his judgment
in pointing the line of attack decided the
victory in favor of the Union troops.
From Newbern the Fifty-first was soon after
General Pope in what is known as the second
Bull Run campaign. Here they held the left
of the Federal lines, covering Pope's
retreat, and here again, at the critical
point of the day, the Union lines broken,
Reno's brigade was called up to retrieve the
disaster, and Colonel Potter led the gallant
Fifty-first in full view of the remainder of
the army, and broke the rebel lines. At
South Mountain, where the lamented Reno
fell, the Fifty-first was again in the post
of honor, and at Antietam, Potter achieved
for himself an almost romantic fame. The
Union troops were disordered and the bridge
over Antietam Creek, the key to the Federal
position, lay in front of the enemy's lines,
and under the full fire of their artillery.
Potter, seizing the flag
Page 322
of his regiment,
crossed the bridge, calling on his men to
follow him, and thus secured the position,
and in the words of McClellan at the time,
"he saved the day." Some day, it has been
said, this action will be as noted in
history as is the similar dash of Napoleon
over the bridge at Arcolo, or over the
bridge at Lodi. At Antietam, again, Potter
was slightly wounded. The Fifty-first, of
which, after the promotion of Ferrero to be
brigadier-general, Potter had sole command,
was sent with General Burnside, his old
commanders and life-long personal friend, to
take part in the western campaign; Potter
took a place on Burnside's staff, and by
General Grant's special order received an
independent command. During the siege of
Knoxville, Potter commanded the division in
front of the lines, and with a greatly
inferior force so maneuvered for seven
trying day as to check the advance of
General Longstreet (detached to the capture
of the beleaguered city from General Hood's
army) and to admit of the relief and
re-enforcement of that port. It will be
remembered that the final assaults of the
rebels were defeated on the entrenchments in
an almost hand-to-hand fight. Potter had
now reached his true position as a commander
of large bodies. In the wilderness campaign
he was constantly under fire, and unusually
active in his division. Here Major Le
Gendre, now colonel of his old regiment, the
Fifty-first, was finally disabled, losing an
eye. The assault, after the explosion of
the memorable mine at Petersburg, fell to
General Burnside's command. Unfortunately
this officer (General Burnside), of but too
facile a nature, left to lot the choice of
the officer who should lead the assault, and
that fell to an incompetent officer.
General Grant in his memoir says: "In fact,
Potter and Wilcox were the only division
commanders General Burnside had who were
equal to the occasion." Neither of them was
chosen. The eventful history of the mine
explosion needs no further reference. An
intimate friend of General Potter states
that he had matured a plan for destroying
the bridge over the Appomattox, which would
have confined General Lee's army and saved
further fighting. A touching incident is
related by a friend of General Potter. He
had mounted his horse in front of Fort
Sedgwick, called "Fort Hell" by his men, to
lead his regiment to battle, when he was
struck by a ball and wounded in the groin,
as stated above. While he lay desperately
wounded on the field he was visited by
President Lincoln, who spoke tenderly to him
and cheered him with some of his
characteristic words. After the war he was
assigned by he secretary of State to the
command of Rhode Island and Connecticut
district of the military department of the
East, with headquarters in Newport, and in
the autumn of the same year he married his
second wife. A graceful compliment was paid
to Mrs. Potter, who was in receipt of a
novel but acceptable wedding present in the
form of a full major general's commission
for her husband, sent under the seal of the
war department of Secretary Stanton, the
general's brevet having already been
received. In 1866 he was appointed colonel
of the Forty-first United State Infantry
(colored), but never assumed command. This
closed his brilliant military career.
General Hancock said of him that he was one
of the twelve best officers (West Point
graduates not excepted) in the army, and
with his well-known modesty he (General
Potter) was wont to say that he might have
made a firs-rate officer with the advantages
of an early education at West Point.
After the
gigantic failure of the Atlantic and Great
Western Railroad Company he was appointed
receiver, a position of labor and trust, and
for three years he lived in a car on the
line of the railroad. Later, in the hope of
improving his somewhat shattered health, he
went to England, residing in Warwick county,
following the hounds, and maintaining his
generous hospitality the credit of his
native land and a true American gentleman.
On his return he purchased "the Rocks,"
which he made his residence, and during the
summer season he entertained in a liberal
manner. He spent his winters in Washington,
making common household with his brother,
Congressman Potter, General Potter had a
good deal to bear in his latter days in the
way of bodily pain, and not a little of it
may have been occasioned, it may be
presumed, by the rigors of the Civil War,
endured by him with immense patience and
courage. A memorial was erected to his
memory at the place of his burial, referring
to his services to his country, and
testifying to the sincere admiration in
which he was held by his countrymen.
He married
(first) April 14, 1857, Frances
Page 323
Tileston; (second)
Abbey Austin Stevens, daughter of John A.
Stevens, a distinguished financier, and
president of the Bank of Commerce.
Children: 1. Robert Burnside, mentioned
below. 2. Warwick, born October 31, 1871,
died October 11, 1893. 3. Austin, born in
New York, January 16, 1873. 4. Frances
Tileston married James L. Breese.
(IX) Robert
Burnside, son of General Robert Brown and
Abbey Austin (Stevens) Potter, was born at
New York, January 29, 1869. He was educated
at Groton School, Harvard, and the Ecole des
Beaux Arts, Paris. He is by profession an
architect and was a member of the firm of
Robertson & Potter, architects, 160 Fifth
Avenue, New York, from 1900 to 1910. He was
graduated from Harvard in 1891 with the
degree of Bachelor of Arts, and has a
diploma as architect from the French
government. He is a member of the American
Institute of Architects and is well known in
his profession. Mr. Potter is a member of
several prominent clubs and societies, among
them, the Knickerbocker Club, the County
Club, the New York Yacht Club, the
Architectural League, the society of Beaux
Arts, Architects, and the Societe des
Architectes Diplomes par le Gouvernement,
Paris. His permanent address is Antietam
Farm, Smithtown, New York.
PYNE. This
family surname is found written both as Pyne
and Pine, Lower stating that its derivation
is from the proximity of the dwelling place
of the original family to a pine forest.
The American possessors of the name are said
to a mixed English, French, Spanish and
German descent. The immediate home of that
branch of the family that left England for
America was the county of Devon in the south
of England. The eldest branch of the Pyne
family of Devonshire, which in 1797 assumed
the additional name of Coffin, is descended
directly in the male line from Oliver Pyne,
of Ham in Morwenstowe, who settled at East
Down in 1397. His grandfather, the second
son of John de Pyne, of Upon Pyne and Ham in
Morwenstowe, inherited Ham and other manors
about 1332, while the elder brother received
the main possessions of the family,
including Upton Pyne. This John de Pyne,
member of parliament in 1332, was a son of
Sir Herbert de Pyne, and was sixth in
descent from Sir Herbert de Pyne, who was
lord of the manor in 1122. This
earliest Sir
Herbert was probably the grandson of the
Seigneur de Pins, one of the hundred and
eighteen knights who fought at Hastings in
1966, and who may or may not have been
killed in that battle, as nothing definite
is known in regard to his settling in
England. It is thus possible that his
grandson, Sir Herbert, was after all the
first of the family to make his home in the
conquered country, coming over with King
Henry I, in the year 1100. The ancestral
home of the family, the Shute House, still
stands in Devonshire, and the coat-of-arms,
belonging presumably to the first
Anglo-Norman ancestor, was as follows:
Gules, a chevron ermine between three pine
cones, or.
Ancestors in
a direct line were Colonel John Pyn, M. P.,
of Curr Mallet, to whom reference is made by
D'Isreali in his life of Charles I; James
Pyne, who lived at Brook House, Kent, as
late as 1400; John de Pyne, M. P., 1332; Sir
Thomas de Pyne, 1314; Sir Robert de Pyne,
1243; Sir Thomas de Pyne of Combs Pyne and
Shute, 1240, High Sheriff of Devon; Sir
Herbert de Pyne, 1225; Nicholas de Pyne,
1191; crusader under Richard Couer de Lion;
Gilbert de Pyne, in command at the siege of
the castle of Brionne under the Duke of
Normandy, 1090.
During the
last century the family name was borne in
England by many persons of cultures and ate
artistic and literary attainments. James
Baker Pyne, born in 1800, was a noted
landscape painter, traveling extensively
through out the continent. William Henry,
of a previous generation, born in 1769, died
in 1834, was also a noted painter, beside
being an author of considerable celebrity;
he was known as "Ephraim Hardcastle," and
became connected with Ackerman, the
publisher, to several of whose publications
he contributed both drawings and writings.
The famous London publishing house of
Rivington was founded by a connection of the
Pyne family, Charles Rivington, who was born
in 1688, in Derbyshire, England, being the
son of Thurston Rivington, of that
locality. This firm, whose sign was the
"Bible and Crown," publishing chiefly
theological works, were the publishers also
of Samuel Richardson's "Pamela.' After the
death of the founder, the business was
conducted by his sons John and James, and
finally passed into the hands of the Messrs.
Page 324
Longman, in 1893, the
style of the firm appearing as Rivington,
Percival and Company.
James
Rivington, born in 1724, died in 1803, son
and successor of the founder of the
publishing house, made a fortune in the
business which, however, he rapidly
dissipated, and coming to America he settled
as a bookseller in Philadelphia, in 1760.
The following year he opened a bookstore at
the lower end of Wall Street, New York, and
in 1762 commenced selling books in Boston.
He failed, and re-commenced in New York,
where in April, 1773, he began the
publication of Rivington's New York
Gazetteer, supporting the British
government. This brought him into trouble
with the colonists, who destroyed his
printing press and, melting the type, turned
it into bullets. Rivington returned to
England and procuring a new outfit was
appointed King's printer for New York, where
he again set up his presses and started
Rivington's New York Loyal Gazette,
1777, which afterward became the Royal
Gazette; in this were published some of
Major Andre's verses. About the year 1781
he is said to have changed his politics,
furnishing General Washington with important
information; he remained in New York after
its evacuation by British troops, and
changed the title of his paper to
Rivington's New York Gazette and Universal
Adviser. But his business declined, his
paper came to an end in 1783, and he passed
the remainder of his life in comparative
obscurity. He died in New York in January,
1803, his name being preserved in the annals
of the city and applied to one of its
principal streets; a portrait, which has
been engraved, is in possession of one of
the Appletons. James Rivington was twice
married and left children.
(I) Percy
Rivington Pyne, namesake of the publisher,
and immigrant ancestor of the Pyne family in
America was born in England and came to this
country in 1828. He became prominent in
public affairs and as a philanthropist, and
was president of the National City Bank. He
was also the head and practically the
creator of the Delaware, Lackawanna &
Western Railway. His wife was Catherine S.,
daughter of Moses Taylor, one of the
foremost merchants and financiers of the
city in his day. Their son, Moses Taylor,
is mentioned below.
(II) Moses
Taylor, son of Percy Rivington, and
Catherine S. (Taylor) Pyne, was born in new
York City, December 21, 1855. He was
educated at Princeton University, from which
he was graduated with the degree of A. M.,
in 1877; and took a subsequent course at the
Columbia Law School, becoming a counsellor
at law in 1880. In 1903 he received the
degree of Litt. D. from Columbia
University. He has large interest in
railway and industrial corporations, and is
a director of the National City Bank and
other institutions. In politics, Mr. Pyne
is a Republican; he is a member of the
Episcopal Church, being a warden and
vestryman of Christ Church, Riverdale,
Trinity Church, Princeton, and Zion and St.
Timothy Churches, New York. Belongs to the
Union, University, Century, Metropolitan,
and Grolier clubs of New York City. On June
2, 1880, he was married at Trenton, new
Jersey, to Anna Margarette, daughter of
General Robert Field Stockton (see Stockton
VII). Children: 1. Percy Rivington,
mentioned below. 2. Robert Stockton, born
in New York, May 27, 1883, died at Pomfret,
Connecticut, February 25, 1903. 3. Moses
Taylor, born in New York, November 5, 1885.
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