Henry Casimir de Rham (15 July 1785 – October 1873) was a Swiss–American merchant and diplomat.
Early life
editHenry Casimir de Rham was born on 15 July 1785 in Giez, Switzerland.[2] He was a son of Johann Christoph Wilhelm de Rham of Braunschweig, Saxony, Germany and the former Anne (née Kinloch) de Rham (1742–1813). His elder brother was Jacques de Rham, who married Adélaïde Doxat whose family owned the Château de Champvent.[3] His maternal grandfather was Sir James Kinloch, Bt. of Scotland.[4]
Career
editIn 1803 he had opened a business in New York.[5] After the War of 1812 he entered business relationship with Isaac Iselin Roulet.[5] After his 1815 marriage, two of his wife's brothers became partners in the business known as de Rham, Iselin & Moore (later known as de Rham & Moore, but at the time of his death as de Rham & Company).[6]
In July 1822 de Rham was appointed to be one of the first two Swiss consuls to the United States[3] by the Federal Diet of Switzerland. He assumed responsibility for a district encompassing the New England states, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the states north of the Ohio River.[7] In 1842, de Rham retired from his office as the Swiss consul.[6] In his later life he was an avid Whist player and joined a Whist club.[6]
Personal life
editIn 1815, de Rham married Maria Theresa Moore (1784–1855), a daughter of Jane (née Fish) Moore and Dr. William Moore (a brother of Bishop Benjamin Moore).[8] Together, they had four children, including:[9]
- Charles de Rham (1822–1909), who married Laura Friedrich Schmidt, daughter of Eliza Ann (née Bache) Schmidt and John William Schmidt,[10] who served more than fifty years as Consul-General in New York for Prussia, Saxony, and Baden.[9][11] Her paternal grandfather, Dr. Georg Schmidt, was court physician to Queen Louise of Prussia, and her maternal grandfather, William Bache, was a son of Theophylact Bache.[9]
He died in October 1873 in New York City. He was interred alongside his wife at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery.[2]
Descendants
editThrough his son Charles, he was a grandfather of Elise De Rham (1850–1879), who married John Jay Pierrepont; Charles de Rham (1854–1933), who married Emily Hone Foster; Henry Casimir de Rham (1855–1916),[12] who married Anna Tayloe Warren and Georgina Louise Berryman; and William de Rham (1857–1881).[13]
References
edit- ^ "Henry Casimir de Rham (The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection)". www.getty.edu. The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
- ^ a b Bergen 1915, p. 770.
- ^ a b c Junold, Louis J. (1926). "History of the Swiss Consulate of New York". Swiss American Historical Society Review. p. 3.
- ^ Meier, Heinz K. (1963). The United States and Switzerland in the Nineteenth Century. Studies in American History. Vol. I. The Hague: Mouton & Co. OCLC 714968765.
- ^ a b Junold, Louis J. (1926),p.4
- ^ a b c Junold, Louis J. (1926),p.5
- ^ Meier 1963, p. 16.
- ^ Weeks, Lyman Horace (1898). Prominent Families of New York: Being an Account in Biographical Form of Individuals and Families Distinguished as Representatives of the Social, Professional and Civic Life of New York City. Historical Company. p. 408. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
- ^ a b c Bergen, Tunis Garret (1915). Genealogies of the State of New York: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. Vol. 2. Lewis Historical Publishing Company.
- ^ "Mrs. Charles De Rham". The New York Times. 6 May 1899. p. 7. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
- ^ "OBITUARY. MRS. CHARLES DE RHAM". New-York Tribune. 6 May 1899. p. 9. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
- ^ "HENRY CASIMIR DE RHAM; Harvard Graduate a Member of Family Well Known in Society". The New York Times. 24 March 1947. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
- ^ Moffat, R. Burnham (1904). The Barclays of New York: who They are and who They are Not,-and Some Other Barclays. R. G. Cooke. p. 200. Retrieved 2 June 2023.