Joshua Waddington

Joshua Waddington (1755 – February 29, 1844)^[2] was a British-American who was one of the founders of the Saint George's Society, the Bank of New York,^[3] and was the defendant in the case Rutgers v. Waddington before New York City Mayor's Court.^[4]

Joshua Waddington
portrait by Gilbert Stuart
Born	1755 Walkeringham, England
Died	February 29, 1844 New York City, United States
Nationality	British
Occupation(s)	Founder of H. & J. Waddington & Co, Director of the Bank of New York (1787), and later President of the St. George's Society of New York^[1]
Known for	Defendant in Rutgers v. Waddington trial
Spouse	Gertrude Gouverneur Ogden ​ ​ (m. 1804)​
Children	10
Parent(s)	Joshua Waddington Ann Ferrand
Relatives	Samuel Waddington (brother) Abraham Ogden (father-in-law) David A. Ogden (brother-in-law) James Henry Monk (nephew)

Early life

Waddington was born in 1755 to Rev. Joshua Waddington of Harworth and Walkeringham (1710–1780) and Ann Ferrand (1716–1806) of Messingham, who married in 1740. His mother was the daughter of Rev. Thomas Ferrand, Vicar of Bingley, Yorks. His father was a 1732 and 1752 graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge^[5] and was the Vicar of Walkeringham and Harworth and the Vicar of Mattersey in 1752.^[6]

He was one of eight brothers born to Joshua and Ann, including Thomas (1742–1790),^[7] John (1744–1770), Benjamin (1749–1828),^[7] William (1751–1818), George (1753–1824),^[8] Samuel Ferrand (1759–1829), and Henry Waddington (1761–1938).^[6][7] His brother William was the grandfather of William Henry Waddington (1826–1894), who served as Prime Minister of France in 1879 and was the French Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1883 to 1893.^[9] His sister, Sarah Waddington (1746–1848), who married Charles Monk (1753-1785),^[10] was the mother of James Henry Monk (1784–1856), the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol.^[11]

Career

In 1776, Waddington moved from England to New York City in order to join his brothers William and Henry Waddington in Colonial America, becoming a United States citizen.^[1]

In partnership with his brother Henry, they operated a linen business through the firm of Henry Waddington & Co., in London,^[12] and Joshua Waddington & Co. in New York.^[1][13][14] Due to the War of 1812, the dissolved their partnership on December 31, 1812 which led to legal action against them in front of Judge Cornelius P. Van Ness.^[13]

In 1784, he was among the founders of the Bank of New York, along with Isaac Roosevelt, Samuel Franklin, Robert Browne, Comfort Sands, Thomas Randall, William Maxwell, Nicholas Low, "Grand Old" Daniel McCormick, John Vanderbilt, Thomas Stoughton, and Alexander Hamilton.^[15][16] Waddington was elected a director at the first meeting of the subscribers in 1784 and continued to serve until his retirement in 1843.^[17]

In 1792, he was one of the founders of Tontine Coffee House.^[18] He was also part of the Ogden Land Company which was run by his wife's family.^[19]

Rutgers v. Waddington

Further information: Rutgers v. Waddington

In 1783, the New York legislature enacted the Trespass Act which stripped Tories of their property and privileges and gave patriots the legal right to sue anyone who had occupied, damaged or destroyed homes they had left behind British lines during the war.^[4]

On June 29, 1784, the case of Rutgers v. Waddington was presented before chief justice James Duane. The plaintiff, Elizabeth Rutgers, represented by Egbert Benson, had owned a large brewery and alehouse that she was forced to abandon when the British occupied New York City.^[20] Under the new Trespass Act, Rutgers demanded rent in the sum of £8,000 from Waddington, who had been running the brewery since it was abandoned.^[4] Waddington defense was litigated by Alexander Hamilton, Brockholst Livingston, and Morgan Lewis,^[21] who posited that the Trespass Act violated the 1783 peace treaty ratified earlier by Congress.^[22] Duane ruled that Rutgers was only entitled to rent from the time before the British occupation and the two parties agreed to the amount of £800.^[4][23]

Personal life

On November 6, 1804, Waddington married Gertrude Gouverneur Ogden (1777–1850), the daughter of Abraham Ogden (1743–1798) and Sarah Frances Ludlow (1744–1823), by whom he had ten children, eight girls and two boys, of which only one boy lived to maturity:^[24]

• Thomas Waddington (1805–1805), who died young^[24]
• Anne Ferrand Waddington (1806–1894),^[25] who married Dr. Jeremiah Van Rensselaer (1796–1871),^[26] in 1835, a grandson of Jeremiah Van Rensselaer (1738–1810),^[24][27] who climbed Mont Blanc in 1819.^[28]
• Sarah F. Waddington (1810–1903),^[29] who married Samuel Cornell Ogden (1806–1862), her first cousin,^[18][24] in 1843.^[30]
• William David Waddington (1811–1886),^[31] who married Mary Elizabeth Ogden (1810–1867), his first cousin,^[3] and was founder and president of the Gebbard Insurance Company.^[32]
• Catharine H. Waddington (1812–1813), who died young^[24]
• Gertrude D. Waddington (1813–1821), who died young^[24]
• Frances L. Waddington (1815–1834)^[24]
• Martha S. Waddington (1816–1877)^[24]
• Rebecca E. Waddington (1818–1845)^[24]
• Catharine B. Waddington (1820–1821), who died young^[24]

Waddington died on February 29, 1844.^[17]

Descendants

His grandson, George Waddington (1840–1915)^[33] married Elizabeth Van Rensselaer (1845–1911), the daughter of Henry Bell Van Rensselaer (1810–1864), a U.S. Representative and the son of New York's Lt. Gov. Stephen Van Rensselaer (1764–1839).^[34]

Legacy

The town of Waddington, New York in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States, was named in his honor.^[35]

References

Notes

1. NYSL: First Charging Ledger - Joshua Waddington
2. "Guide to the Samuel Blachley Webb papers". library.yale.edu. Yale University. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
3. York, Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New (1905). The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York: History, Customs, Record of Events, Constitution, Certain Genealogies, and Other Matters of Interest. V. 1-. The Saint Nicholas Society. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
4. Chernow, Ron (2004), Alexander Hamilton, pp. 199–201, ISBN 0143034758
5. Ball, W. W. Rouse; Venn, J. A. (1911). Admissions to Trinity College, Cambridge | Vol. III 1701 to 1800. St. Martin's Street, London: MacMillan and Co., Ltd. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
6. John Waddington. Who's Who Ped. 1. 1740. p. 606.
7. Venn, John (15 September 2011). Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108036160. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
8. De Keersmaecker, Roger O. "GEORGE WADDINGTON, 1793 - 1869". www.egypt-sudan-graffiti.be. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
9. "Waddington, William Henry (WDNN845WH)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
10. Greene, Richard Henry; Stiles, Henry Reed; Dwight, Melatiah Everett; Morrison, George Austin; Mott, Hopper Striker; Totten, John Reynolds; Pitman, Harold Minot; Forest, Louis Effingham De; Ditmas, Charles Andrew; Mann, Conklin; Maynard, Arthur S. (1921). The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
11. "Monk, James Henry (MNK799JH)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
12. "Henry Waddington & Co". worldcat.org. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
13. Court, New York (State) Supreme; Smith, Edwin Burritt; Hitchcock, Ernest (1883). Reports of Cases Adjudged and Determined in the Supreme Court of Judicature and Court for the Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors of the State of New York. Lawyer's co-operative publishing Company. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
14. Story, Joseph (1 May 2007). Commentaries on the Law of Partnership, as a Branch of Commercial and Maritime Jurisprudence, with Occasional Illustrations from the Civil and Foreign Law. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. p. 316. ISBN 9781584777663. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
15. "BANK OF NEW YORK ENTERS 150TH YEAR; President Roosevelt's Great-Great-Grandfother Among Its Founders in 1784". The New York Times. 15 March 1933. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
16. "NEW YORK'S FIRST BANK ROUNDS OUT 150 YEARS; Institution Founded in 1784, With Hamilton as a Director, Has Shared in Many Great Events". The New York Times. 11 March 1934. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
17. Domett, Henry Williams (1884). A History of the Bank of New York, 1784-1884: Comp. from Official Records and Other Sources at the Request of Directors. G.P. Putnam's Sons. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
18. "WHAT IS DOING IN SOCIETY". The New York Times. 28 February 1903. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
19. United States Congressional serial set. 1895. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
20. "New York Legal History: Rutgers v. Waddington". www.nycourts.gov. Historical Society of the New York Courts. 1987. Retrieved 8 May 2017. Second Circuit Committee on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution Egbert Benson: First Chief Judge of the Second Circuit (1801-1802)
21. "Morgan Lewis". nycourts.gov. The Historical Society of the New York Courts. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
22. ProbertencyEncyclopedia.com, Rutgers Vs Waddington
23. NovelGuide.com, RUTGERS v. WADDINGTON (New York Mayor's Court, 1784)
24. Alstyne, Lawrence Van; Ogden, Charles Burr (1907). The Ogden family in America, Elizabethtown branch, and their English ancestry: John Ogden, the Pilgrim, and his descendants, 1640-1906. Printed for private circulation by J.B. Lippincott company. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
25. "Obituary 1 -- VAN RENSSELAER". The New York Times. 8 May 1894. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
26. "DIED". The New York Times. 26 November 1871. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
27. Reynolds, Cuyler (1914). Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
28. "AMERICANS ON MONT BLANC". The New York Times. 4 April 1886. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
29. "Obituary 1 -- OGDEN". The New York Times. 28 February 1903. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
30. "NYC Marriage & Death Notices 1843-1856 | New York Society Library". www.nysoclib.org. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
31. "Obituary 2 -- WADDINGTON". The New York Times. 24 January 1886. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
32. "William D. Waddington". The New York Times. 24 January 1886. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
33. "George Waddington". The New York Times. 30 December 1915. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
34. Sullivan, Robert G. (1911). "Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs: Van Rensselaer Vol. IV". www.schenectadyhistory.org. Schenectady County Public Library. pp. 1814–1821. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
35. Curtis, Gates (1894). "History of Waddington, NY | FROM OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE A MEMORIAL RECORD OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY NEW YORK". history.rays-place.com. The Boston History Company. Retrieved 8 May 2017.

Sources

• "Waddington, Samuel Ferrand" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.