July 22, 1795 The Pennsylvania Gazette

From the New York Argus.

Mr. Greenleaf,

    The following letter from Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia, will give pleasure to every benevolent mind, as it shews the Progress of arts in our country, and affords "a fresh proof of the dominion of human reason over natural evil."

"Philadelphia June 25, 1795.

"DEAR SIR,

    As you delight in all improvements that are calculated to lessen human misery, I know you will be pleased to hear that Mr. Benjamin Wynkoop, a citizen of Philadelphia, has invented a MACHINE, which is moved by the constant motion of the sea in all weathers, for pumping water and foul air out of ships, and thereby preventing a great source of the calamities to which seamen are exposed. The machine, I have been told, has been subjected to a faithful experiment, and has afforded great pleasure and satisfaction to all who have seen it. In examining he model and description of this machine, I have had my attention fixed upon the great advantages which will arise to commerce, from its preserving provisions, and even the timber of ships from the corruption and decay, to which foul air disposes them. But its chief advantage will consist in preventing the generation of those fevers which are produced at sea by the confinement of human and other effluvia in the holds of ships, and which in all ages and countries have destroyed so many thousand lives - The machine may further tend to lessen the inconveniences of long sea voyages, by enabling them to carry a large quantity of live stock with them, for domestic animals, in common with human creatures, become sickly and die, when confined together in these apartments. This was experienced during the late war, in an attempt that was made to transport hogs and sheep, for the support of the British army in America; I congratulate you upon this discovery. It affords a fresh proof of the dominion of human reason over natural evil, and it may serve to nourish a hope that the time will come, when, comparatively speaking, "evil there shall be none" upon the surface of the globe.
From, Dear Sir,
Your sincere Friend

BENJAMIN RUSH.
"Dr. ROGERS"

Source:

Unknown, "Benjamin Wynkoop invents a machine for pumping water and foul air out of ships," The Pennsylvania Gazette, Philadelphia, Pa., Wednesday, 22nd July 1795.

    Richard Wynkoop, in the 1904 edition of the Wynkoop Genealogy in the United States of America, has this to say about Benjamin Wynkoop on pages 74-75:

    175. Benjamin Wynkoop, (Abraham 52, Benjamin 8, Cornelius 1,) born November 23, 1734: died September 2, 1803: married May 18, 1767 Sarah Wooddrop Sims, daughter of Joseph and Anne Sims. His body, and the bodies of several of his children, were buried at the corner of Pine and Third streets, Philadelphia. His widow died December 31, 1814, aged 63.
    His descendents know of no second marriage, and yet he seems to have married, about 1781, and, probably a sister of Sarah. For James Lempriere Hammond wrote, from the Island of Jersey, in May, 1783, to his brother Nicholas, as follows: "Your last letter tells me of the marriage, about a year and a half ago, of Mr. B. Wynkoop to his second wife." The "B. Wynkoop" seems to be this Benjamin, and he named children, after that period, Wooddrop Sims, and Sarah, which suggests that the second wife was sister to the first.
    Benjamin was, in 1788, a member of the Rumseian Society, Philadelphia, and of its committee of correspondence. This society had for its subject James Rumsey's experiments with steamboats.
    Benjamin Wynkoop and his family, in 1778, were at the residence of his step-mother, the Widow Mary (Dyer) Wynkoop, Appoquinimink, Newcastle County, Delaware, while Philadelphia was occupied by the British. Nicholas Hammond, then aged about twenty, grandson of the Widow Wynkoop, wrote as follows: "Mr. Benjamin Wynkoop and family are with us, and by their generally pretty and familiar behavior increase the cordiality which before subsisted among us. They have been here some months, and await, with impatience, the messengers of peace, that they may return to Philadelphia."
    Children of Benjamin and Sarah Wynkoop:
426. Joseph: b. Dec. 3, 1768: d. Mch. 24, 1814.
427. Esther: b. May 18, 1771: d. Nov. 20, 1774.
428. Sarah: b. May 15, 1773: d. Sept. 24, 1777.
429. Anne: b. Dec. 30, 1775: d. June 18, 1849.
430. Benjamin: b. Nov. 15, 1778: d. Sept. 10, 1789.

    Children of Benjamin and ----- Wynkoop:
431. Abraham: b. June 1, 1782: m. Hannah Norman.
432. Wooddrop Sims: b. Oct. 20, 1786: d. in 1814: m. Jan. 19, 1807, Anne Bartleson, Christ Church, Phil. They had no child.
433. Sarah: b. June 30, 1789: d. July 12, 1790.

    Chris