Charles Stewart Wurts (August 8, 1790 – June 26, 1859) was a founder of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, which built the Delaware and Hudson Canal and later became the Delaware and Hudson Railway.[1] Along with his brothers, he helped launch the anthracite industry in America.
Born in Flanders, New Jersey on August 8, 1790,[2] he was a son of John Wurts (1744–1793) and Sarah Grandin; and a grandson of Johannes Conrad Wirz (1706–1763), who founded the Wurts family in America.[1]
As a youth, Wurts moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and found work at one of the commercial houses there.[2] In 1823, he helped found the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company along with his brothers Maurice (1783–1854), William (1788–1858), and John Wurts (1792–1861).
Charles married Mary Van Uxem (1802–1877) on August 16, 1826; among their children was Charles Stewart Wurts II (1830–1907), who married his cousin Martha Haskins Wurts (1833-1859) in 1858 and then Mary Stuart Wood (1845-1883) in 1865.[2][3]
He died on June 26, 1859[2] and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.[4]
Citations edit
- ^ a b "Wurts Family Papers". Hagley Museum and Library. Retrieved October 28, 2013.
- ^ a b c d Du Bin, Alexander (1939). Old Philadelphia Families. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Historical Publication Society. pp. 281–283. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
- ^ "Finding Aid". The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera. The Winterthur Library. c. 1999. Retrieved October 28, 2013.
- ^ "Charles S. Wurts". www.remembermyjourney.com. Retrieved September 27, 2022.