The first half of the eighteenth century was a time of wars and rumors of wars, both in Europe and in the New world - then so sparsely inhabited. In Europe the glory of France, so dazzling under the rule of the "Le Grande Monarque," as Louis XIV was proudly called, had begun to decay, and England was rapidly pressing to the front ranks of the world's great Powers. In America, the bitter rivalry so long existent between Frenchmen and Englishmen was coming to a head, culminating in a long and bloody contest for supremacy in the New World - a contest which did not end until, half a century later, the cross of St. George triumphed over the fleur-de-lis of France.

    Pennsylvania at this time was a mere infant in years, and the population of our entire country then was little more than that of Philadelphia at present.

    It was in that stirring period of the world's history that Henry Wynkoop, Soldier, Patriot and Jurist, was born at Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania on March (O. S.), 1737.

    He was the son of Nicholas Wynkoop and Ann Kuypers, and the lineal descendant of Peter Wynkoop, one of those sturdy Hollanders who came from the Low Country to New Amsterdam in 1639. In 1717, Henry's grandfather, Gerrit Wynkoop, moved to Pennsylvania, and purchased land in Northampton Township, Bucks County, which is still in the possession of his descendants.

    Two years after Henry's birth, his father built "Vredensburg," the Wynkoop homestead, which after the lapse of more than a century and a half, is still standing at Newtown in an excellent state of preservation. "Vredensburg," is one of those specimens of early colonial architecture, which every one admires and many try to imitate. Surrounded by 153 acres of fertile land, it commands a magnificent view of the adjacent country - south, east, and west. The building is large, containing nineteen rooms, and is so substantially built of stone as to defy time and weather.

    It was in this homestead that Henry Wynkoop passed his days. Of his boyhood little or nothing is known. It seems that he prepared to enter Princeton College, but was prevented from doing so.

    When on the verge of manhood, Henry lost his father - a man universally loved and honored - who died in 1759 at the early age of 54.

    It was about this time that Henry Wynkoop came into prominence. In 1760, at the early age of twenty-three he was elected a member of the legislature of the Province of Pennsylvania. That his services were acceptable to the community is shown by the fact that in 1761 he was re-elected. The same year he married Susannah Wanshaer, of Essex County, New Jersey.

    In those early days some of the Justices of the Peace, who were not lawyers, but laymen, were also appointed Associate Judges of the County Courts. Having been commissioned a Justice of the Peace in 1764, Wynkoop, although barely twenty-eight years old, was early in the following year also made an Associate Judge of the Bucks County Courts. He was reappointed to both offices time and again up to 1774.

    By this time the disputes between the colonists and the mother country had assumed alarming proportions. The passage of the Stamp Act and its repeal, the Boston riot, the Boston Tea Party, the bill closing Boston harbor to shipping, and the meeting of the first Continental Congress at Philadelphia followed each other in rapid succession, and are now 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 1774, the Bucks County Committee of Safety chose Henry Wynkoop, John Kidd, Joseph Kirkbride, John Wilkinson, and James Wallace to attend the first Provincial Conference to be held on July 15th of that year.

    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 under foot. But there is no defiance in the Resolutions of this first conference, for they declare themselves "liege subjects of his majesty King George III," and deplore the idea of a separation from the mother country. They then proceeded to draw up instructions for the Delegates to the First Continental Congress, reciting in dignified and patriotic language their wrongs and their fruitless appeals to Britain for redress.

    After his return to Bucks County, Wynkoop was chosen a member of the County Committee of Observation, whose duty it was to observe the conduct of all persons, whether or not they were favorable to the cause of liberty - a rather thankless task it would seem. This Committee was kept busy reproving those who had uttered expressions derogatory to the American cause.

    The following year Wynkoop was appointed Clerk and Treasurer of the Bucks County Committee of Safety. It was in one of the Associated Companies, above recommended by this Committee, that we find the name of Henry Wynkoop enrolled as a private, namely, the Fourth Associated Company, First Battalion. Later on Wynkoop gained the title of Major, but it is not believed that he was ever commissioned, the records seeming to show that he preferred to serve his country in another way.

    On June 8th, 1776, the third Provincial Conference met at Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia. The delegates "for the Committee of Bucks County," were James Wallace, John Kidd, Benjamin Segle, and Henry Wynkoop.

    The proceedings of this body had a very important effect on the history of our State. After resolving that "the present government of this province is not competent to the exigencies of our affairs," it was decided to call a Provincial Convention to provide a suitable form of government. Wynkoop was appointed one of the judges for Bucks County to decide the election of delegates to this proposed convention.

    Before adjourning, this conference, on June 25th, 1776, issued a thrilling address to the Pennsylvania patriots. After reciting the evils they had suffered at Great Britain's hands, and prophesying that the year 1776 would be a landmark in the history of the world as establishing liberty in one 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 was connected with nearly every important delegation from Bucks County, he was hardly omnipresent, and being Clerk and Treasurer of the Committee of Safety and Judge of Election, he could not very well act as a delegate to 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.

    If not a member of this Convention, Wynkoop was nevertheless elected by it to serve on the General Council of Safety for the State, as the only member from Bucks County, which post he held for one year. To this Council, many important matters, military and otherwise, were referred by the legislature.

    It was as a jurist, however, that Henry Wynkoop was destined to gain the brightest laurels. Under the constitution of 1776 the Courts of Bucks County were thoroughly re-organized and were first opened on September 9th, 1777, with Henry Wynkoop presiding, probably by virtue of seniority, as president judges were apparently not provided for until afterwards 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, conciseness and the eloquence, reverence and patriotism it displays. Let us quote from it:

    "The end and object of all good government is the happiness of the people; when it fails in this, it becomes tyranny and oppression.

    "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."

    With almost prophetic insight he adds:

    "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."

    On November 18th, 1780, a commission issued to Henry Wynkoop, to act as lay President Judge of the Bucks County Courts. But a still greater honor was in store for him. In February, 1780, 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 20th, 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 9th, 1783, very probably because from 1779 until that year he was a member of the Continental Congress, besides being Judge in Bucks County. In this High Court of Errors and Appeals, as the new tribunal was called, Henry Wynkoop was associated with such famous men as Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Reed, Thomas Mifflin, Francis Hopkinson, Edward Shippen, John Dickinson, Jacob Rush, and Thomas McKean. On February 24, 1806, this curious court, of which little has been said or written, was finally abolished.

    Upon his election to the First Congress in 1789, Judge Wynkoop resigned the Presidency of the Bucks County Courts, and his judgeship in the High Court of Errors and Appeals. He served his country faithfully in this Congress until its adjournment in 1791, 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 from Newtown to Doylestown in 1812.

    As to Henry Wynkoop's personality, it has been said, that his was one of those rare characters whose influence on the community is never lost. The handsome face, the fine features, the firm chin, and the high forehead, all denote the strong character of the man. Add to this a fine intelligence, strict integrity, and profound religious convictions, and we have a complete picture of the man, a character pre-eminently fit to be loved, respected, and honored.

    With Washington, Hamilton, Adams and other great Revolutionary heroes, Judge Wynkoop was on terms of closest intimacy, and Washington, in his diary for the year 1790, makes frequent mention of having dined with him.

    The busy life of Henry Wynkoop came to an end on March 25th, 1816. He was married three times and left eight children, and more than forty grand-children. In the church yard at Richboro is a small stone with this simple inscription: "In memory of Henry Wynkoop who died contented and grateful in the 80th year of his age."

Source:

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

Collection of the Joseph Henry Beatty Family
MSS 445
Folder 135