Daniel Crommelin Verplanck

Daniel Crommelin Verplanck (March 19, 1762 – March 29, 1834) was an American politician and lawyer who served three terms as a United States Representative from New York during the early national period. A member of the Republican Party, then commonly known as the Democratic-Republican Party, he represented New York in the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Congresses, contributing to the legislative process at a formative time in the nation’s history and participating in the democratic governance of his constituents.

Verplanck was born on March 19, 1762, in New York City, in the Province of New York. He was the son of Samuel Verplanck (1739–1820), a wholesale importer and banker, and Judith Crommelin Verplanck. His father was the brother of Gulian Verplanck (1751–1799), further situating Daniel within a prominent mercantile and political family. His early childhood was spent in the family’s substantial yellow brick mansion at 3 Wall Street in New York City. During the American Revolutionary War, his parents separated over political allegiance: his father, a supporter of the Revolution, withdrew to the family’s summer home up the Hudson River in the Town of Fishkill, while his mother, a loyalist, remained in British-occupied New York City. The Fishkill house, later known as Mount Gulian, became the headquarters of General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, placing the young Verplanck in close proximity to significant military and political activity of the era.

Verplanck received his early education under private tutors, reflecting both his family’s status and the educational practices of the time. He later attended Columbia College (now Columbia University) in New York City, from which he graduated in 1788. His family’s prominence and connections to leading figures in commerce, education, and politics helped shape his intellectual formation and future career. A portrait of Verplanck at age nine, painted by the renowned artist John Singleton Copley, is preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum also maintains “the Verplanck Room,” which contains portraits and furnishings originally from the Wall Street house and later moved to the family estate at Fishkill, underscoring the family’s cultural and historical significance.

Following his graduation, Verplanck studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1789. He commenced the practice of law in New York City, establishing himself in the legal profession at a time when the new federal and state legal systems were taking shape. In addition to his legal work, he engaged in banking and commercial activities and was one of the original subscribers of the Tontine Coffee House, an important center of mercantile and financial life in the city. His professional pursuits reflected both his legal training and his family’s longstanding involvement in commerce and finance.

Verplanck’s personal life was closely intertwined with prominent American families. In 1785, he married Elizabeth Johnson, daughter of William Samuel Johnson (1727–1819), the third president of Columbia College and a United States Senator from Connecticut, and granddaughter of Samuel Johnson (1696–1772), the first president of King’s College (the predecessor of Columbia). Daniel and Elizabeth had two children: Gulian Crommelin Verplanck (1786–1870), who later became a U.S. Representative from New York, and Ann Verplanck (1788–1789), who died in infancy. Elizabeth Johnson Verplanck died in February 1789 at the age of twenty-five. In November 1790, Verplanck married Ann (“Nancy”) Walton, daughter of William Walton (nephew and heir of merchant William Walton) and Mary De Lancey Walton, thereby linking him to the influential Walton and De Lancey families. Daniel and Ann Walton Verplanck had several children: Samuel Verplanck (1792–1792), who died in infancy; Mary Ann Verplanck (1793–1856); Louisa Verplanck (1796–1802); Samuel Verplanck (1798–1861); Elizabeth Verplanck (1800–1888); William Walton Verplanck (1803–1870); James DeLancey Verplanck (born 1805); and Anna Louisa Verplanck (1807–1836).

As a member of the Republican Party representing New York, Verplanck entered national politics in the early nineteenth century. He was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Eighth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Representative Isaac Bloom. He was subsequently re-elected to the Ninth and Tenth Congresses, serving continuously from October 17, 1803, to March 3, 1809. His tenure in Congress coincided with a significant period in American history, including the administration of President Thomas Jefferson and the early years of President James Madison’s administration, when issues such as foreign trade restrictions, maritime rights, and the nation’s westward expansion were prominent. During these three terms in office, Verplanck participated in the legislative process and represented the interests of his New York constituents in the House of Representatives. He did not seek renomination in 1808 and, upon the expiration of his final term, returned to private life.

After leaving Congress, Verplanck resumed the practice of law and continued his involvement in public affairs at the local level. He became judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Dutchess County, New York, a position in which he served until his resignation in 1828. His judicial service earned him the honorific by which he was commonly known in his later years, “Judge Verplanck.” Following the death of his mother in 1803, the family’s Wall Street house was closed, and Daniel and his family relocated permanently to Mount Gulian, near Fishkill, along the Hudson River. In 1822, he sold the Wall Street property to the Bank of the United States for use as its New York branch, marking the end of the Verplanck family’s direct presence at that historic city residence.

At Mount Gulian, Verplanck maintained a hospitable household that was open to family members and notable guests throughout the year. The estate, already distinguished by its Revolutionary War associations, became a social and familial center. On Christmas Day in 1826, he hosted a group of cadets from the United States Military Academy at West Point, including Thomas Boylston Adams Jr., grandson of President John Adams and nephew of Verplanck’s neighbor Caroline Smith DeWindt. (In his 1892 work, The History of Abraham Isaacse Verplanck, W. E. Verplanck mistakenly confuses cadet Adams with his father, Thomas Boylston Adams.) Caroline Smith DeWindt later perished in the 1852 Henry Clay steamboat disaster, a tragedy that further linked the extended Verplanck circle to notable events in nineteenth-century American history.

Daniel Crommelin Verplanck died on March 29, 1834, at his home, Mount Gulian, near Fishkill, New York. He was interred in Trinity Church Cemetery in Fishkill. His life spanned the colonial, revolutionary, and early national periods of American history, and through his legal career, congressional service, judicial office, and family connections, he remained closely associated with the political and social development of New York and the young United States.