Duyckinck family papers

Whitehead Cornell Duyckinck was born in Brooklyn, New York, October 23, 1843. He was the son of Richard Bancker and Eliza H. (Cornell) Duyckinck.

He was the eighth generation from his paternal ancestor, Evert Duyckinck, who settled in New Amsterdam, now New York, in 1638, and in the ninth generation from his maternal ancestor, Thomas Cornell, who came from County Essex, England, and settled in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, in 1640.

After graduating from Yale College in 1865, he became a clerk with the firm of Howland & Aspinwall, at that time one of the most important and extensive shipping merchants in New York. Remaining with them three years, he then went into the free and bonded storage business, under the firm name of Mathews & Duyckinck. Retiring from this firm, he became a partner in the firm of H.A. Rogers & Co., importers, manufacturers and dealers in railway, machinist and engineers' supplies, at 50 and 52 John Street, New York, which was dissolved in 1875. He then continued in business alone until 1886, when, owing to sickness from overwork, he retired, having disposed of his business to a stock company. For a time he did not take part in any active business, but in 1891 accepted a position in the Mutual Life Insurance Company of new York, with which he was connected until his retirement, in 1914.

In his leisure time, Duyckinck wrote about his personal and family histories, publishing The Duyckinck and Allied Families in 1908, and Student Life at Yale in 1925. He was always loyal to Yale and served the class of 1865 as treasurer, secretary, custodian, and historian.

He was married on April 20, 1869, in Brooklyn, New York, to Caroline Hyde. They had three children.

Whitehead Duyckinck died of cerebral thrombosis on February 21, 1936, in Plainfield, New Jersey.

(Sources: Biographical Record of the Class of 1865, Yale College and Yale University Obituary Record, 1935-1936)