Wijnpersse family papers

Biographical notes drawn from The Dictionary of Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Dutch Philosophers (Bristol, England: Thoemmes Press, 2003), s.v. Dionysius van de Wijnpersse and Samuel Johannes van de Wijnpersse.

Dionysius van de Wijnpersse, one of the most influential philosophers in The Netherlands during the second half of the eighteenth century, was born at Middelburg in 1724. He studied philosophy in Utrecht from 1741, and after 1747 he studied theology at Leiden University, attending lectures in the humanities and social sciences as well. After his studies, Van de Wijnpersse became a minister in 1749, and as soon as 1752, he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at Groningen. In the same year of his appointment, Groningen University made him Doctor of Theology h.c. In 1758-1759, he was Rector magnificus. In 1769, he was appointed in Leiden, where he taught metaphysics, ethics, and eventually philosophia experimentalis. Van de Wijnpersse's teaching left six theses and two frequently reprinted manuals to posterity.

Samuel Johannes van de Wijnpersse was born in Groningen on 11 June 1759. He was the son of Dionysius van de Wijnpersse and Anna Diederica Thiens. He matriculated from Leiden in 1770 and 1775, and received his PhD in 1780. His life was divided between philosophy and theology. He was a Reformed minister in the villages of Nieuwveen (1782) amd IJsselmonde (1784) before being appointed as Professor of Philosophy at Groningen University. He left after two years to become a minister in Amsterdam, but was deposed in 1796 for refusing to sign a declaration of approval of the new political regime. In 1803, he was appointed as Professor extraordinarius of philosophy in Leiden. In 1822, he was granted his superannuation which he enjoyed until his death in Leiden on 22 November 1842.

Dionysius van de Wijnpersse was the son of Samuel Johannes van de Wijnpersse.

Cornelius Adrianus van de Wijnpersse was either a cousin or brother of Dionysius van de Wijnpersse (1799-1870).