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Henry Wynkoop | |
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| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromPennsylvania'sAt-large district | |
| In office March 4, 1789 – March 3, 1791 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1737-03-02)March 2, 1737 |
| Died | March 25, 1816(1816-03-25) (aged 79) |
| Resting place | Low Dutch Reformed Church, Richboro, Pennsylvania |
| Political party | Pro-Administration |
| Occupation | judge |
Henry Wynkoop (March 2, 1737 – March 25, 1816) was an American politician, who was member of theContinental Congress (from 1779) and later aUnited States representative for theCommonwealth of Pennsylvania during theFirst United States Congress, 1789 to 1791.
Wynkoop was born inNorthampton Township in theProvince of Pennsylvania on March 2, 1737. His father engaged in thepractice of chattel slavery to operate the family's 153-acre farm inNewtown. Raised on the farm, Henry Wynkoop was subsequently admitted toPrinceton University, but opted not to complete his studies, choosing instead to enter into local politics. In 1759, when his father died, he inherited both the farm and the people that his father had enslaved.[1]
Wynkoop married three times and had eight children. In 1761, he wed Susannah Wanshaer, who died in 1776. In 1777, he wed Maria Cummings, who died in 1781. He then married his third wife, Sarah Newkirk, who died in 1813.[2]
As a farm owner in Pennsylvania, Wynkoop benefitted financially from thepractice of chattel slavery, as his father did before him.[3]
Prior to his term as a representative, Wynkoop served as a justice of theCourt of Common Pleas and theorphan's court inKingston, Pennsylvania, from 1780 to 1789. After his term in Congress, he was appointed as an associate judge inBucks County, a post he held until his death.
During his later years, Wynkoop created a will in which he decreed that, upon his death, the people he had been enslaving should be freed bymanumission, a process which finally occurred on March 25, 1816, when he died in Bucks County. Some of the individuals who were freed stayed and continued to work for the family.[4][5]
Following his death, Wynkoop was interred in the graveyard of the Low Dutch Reformed Church inRichboro, Pennsylvania.
Wynkoop freed his nine slaves at his death on March 25, 1816. That was 36 years after Pennsylvania abolished slavery by freezing the slave population and giving slave holders a grace period to free captives — a process called manumission. Wynkoop's thoughts on the matter are unknown.
Mrs. Geyer was the author of the 1976 history for the Bucks County Historical Journal (Fall 1976 Edition) celebrating Northampton Township's 250th anniversary. The article, which deals with Henry Wynkoop the man, supplements a paper on Wynkoop the politician, read at the Historical Society meeting in May by Lyle L. Rosenberger, Associate Professor of History at the Bucks County Community College. It is on file at the BCHS Library. Link:https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~wynkoop/genealogy/webdocs/further.htm
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by None | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromPennsylvania's at-large congressional district 1789–1791 | Succeeded by None |
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| National | |
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