Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/277

Rh brother, William Peter, jurist, b. in Ghent, N. Y., in 1778 ; d. in New York city, 6 Sept., 1826, was graduated at Columbia in 1797, adopted the profession of law, and settled in New York city, where he became the devoted friend and protege of Aaron Burr. He took Burr's challenge to Hamilton, and was one of his seconds in the duel. Van Ness became judge of the southern district of New York in 1812, being appointed by President Madison, and held office until his death. Judge Van Ness suffered much opprobrium from his connec- tion with the Burr-Hamilton duel, and is described by the partisans of the latter as " a brilliant but unscrupulous politician." In his own party, how- ever, he was popular and respected. Washington Irving was his intimate friend. He published " Examination of Charges against Aaron Burr," under the pen-name of " Aristides " (New York, 1803); with John Woodworth, "Laws of New York, with Notes " (2 vols., Albany, 1813) ; " Re- ports of Two Cases in the Prize Court for New York District " (1814) ; and " Concise Narrative of Gen. Jackson's First Invasion of Florida " (1826). — Another brother, Cornelius Peter, jurist, b. in Kinderhook, N. Y., 26 Jan., 1782 ; d. in Philadel- phia, Pa., 15 Dec, 1852, was educated for the bar, removed to Burlington, Vt., and practised his profession with success until 1809, when he be- came U. S. district attorney. From that year un- til his death he occupied public office. He was collector of the port of Burlington in 1815-'18, a commissioner to settle the U. S. boundary-lines under the treaty of Ghent in 1817-21, a member of the legislature in 1818-'21, having been chosen, as a Democrat, chief justice of Vermont in 1821-'3, governor from the latter date till 1829, and U. S. minister to Spain in 1829-37. In 1844-'5 he was collector of the port of New York. The Univer- sity of Vermont gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1823. He published a " Letter to the Public on Po- litical Parties, Caucuses, and Conventions " (Wash- ington, D. C, 1848). — Their first cousin, William W, jurist, b. in Claverack, N. Y., in 1776 ; d. in Charleston, S. C, 27 Feb., 1823, was admitted to the bar in 1797, practised in his native town and in Hudson, N. Y., was a member of the assembly in 1804-'6, and the leader of the Federalist party. He was appointed a judge of the supreme court in 1807, and held office till 1822. In January, 1820, he was tried before a committee of the legislature on the charge of using his office to obtain the charter of the American bank. The trial was conducted with great ability, and Judge Van Ness was acquitted, but he never recovered from the effect of the charge, and fell into delicate health, from which he finally sank while on a southern tour. He was removed from the bench in 1822, under the act of the Constitutional convention of that year, and resumed the practice of law. Dr. Jabez D. Hammond says of him : " He was one of the shrewdest and most sagacious men whom New York ever produced, of fascinating manners, and remarkable conversational powers."

VAN NEST, Rynier, clergyman, b. near North Branch, N. J., 8 Feb., 1739 ; d.'in Schoharie, N. Y., 24 Feb., 1776. His ancestor, Peter, came to this country from Holland in 1647. Rynier was licensed to preach in the Reformed Dutch church in 1773, and was pastor on Long Island and in New York state from, that date until his death. He was presi- dent of th'e General synod in 1767-'88. He was de- voted to the Whig cause, and gave liberally in sup- port of the Continental congress. — His great-neph- ew, Abraham Rynier, clergyman, b. in New York city, 1 Feb., 1823, was graduated at Rutgers in 1841, at the New Brunswick theological seminary in 1847, and was licensed to preach in the Reformed Dutch church. He was pastor in New York city in 1848-'62. in charge of the American chapel in Paris in 1863-'4, of the American chapel in Rome in 1864-'5, of the American Union church in Florence, Italy, in 1866-'75, and of a church in Philadelphia in 1878-'86. He received the degree of D. D. in 1860 from the University of Pennsylvania, and Rutgers. He was president of the evangelization committee of the Free church of Italy in 1875. of the General synod in 1879, and organized the Re- formed Dutch church in Geneva, Switzerland. He has published " Signs of the Times " (New York, 1854) ; " Reports of Union Church, Florence " (1868, 1870, 1872) ; " Life of Rev. George W. Bethune " (1869) ; and " Reports of the Florence Orphan Asy- lum " (1876) ; and edited James S. Cannon's " Pas- toral Theology" (1853) and George W. Bethune's " Lectures on the Heidelberg Catechism " (1864).

VAN NIEUWENHUYSEN, Wilhelmus, clergyman, b. in Holland about 1645 ; d. in New York city, 17 Feb., 1681. He came to this country in 1671 as an assistant to Samuel Drisius, and min- istered with great success till after 1674. He was subsequently involved in a struggle between the English governors and the non-conformist churches, and successfully resisted an attempt to install Nicholas Van Rensselaer, an Episcopal cler- gyman, over the Dutch church in Albany. Four years later, by permission of Gov. Edmund An- dros, Van Nieuwenhuysen convened the four Dutch clergyman that were then in New York, and with their elders organized a classis. This was the first formal ecclesiastical body among the Dutch in this country, and the last for about seventy years. Their ordination of a clergyman was subsequently ratified by the classis of Amsterdam. There was a steady growth in the membership of his church during his ministry in New York. He also sup- plied the churches on Long Island during their vacancy. Henricus Selyns, his relative and suc- cessor, wrote a poem on his life and work, which concludes with the lines " Now is New Netherland, by Nieuwenhuysen's mis- sion, And Nieuwenhuysen, by New Netherland's con- trition, Led to the New Jerusalem for new delights ; What church more safety finds than in renewed rites ? " VAN NORMAN, Daniel Cummings, educator, b. in Nelson, Canada West, 17 Aug., 1815 ; d. in New York city, 24 June, 1886. He was graduated at Wesleyan in 1838, joined the Canada Wesleyan conference the next year, and was professor of classics and physics in Victoria college, Coburg, in 1838-'45. He founded the Burlington ladies' acad- emy, Hamilton, Ont., in 1845, was its principal till 1851, and in the latter year assumed the charge of Rutgers female institute, New York city, which post he held till 1857. He then founded and be- came principal of the Van Norman institute, a school for young ladies, successfully conducting that institution until his death. He received the degree of LL. D. from Wesleyan in 1860. Late in life Dr. Van Norman left the Methodist and united with the Presbyterian church. He was secretary of the American foreign and Christian union for many years, and a member of scientific and literary bodies, and, although he held no regular pastorate, had preached more than 4,000 sermons.

VAN NOSTRAND, David, publisher, b. in New York city, 5 Dec., 1811; d. there, 14 June, 1886. He was educated at Union hall, Jamaica,