Windmuller-Heynen Family Tree

PGV 18Apr update

William Vanderbilt Kissam was the son of Peter Rutgers Kissam (1834-1889) and his wife Josephine DeMott and the grandson of the Rev. Samuel Kissam (1821-1890). Maria Louisa Kissam was a daughter of Rev. Samuel and thus the brother of Peter Rutgers. She married William Henry Vanderbilt and their decendants included John Hammond and Benny Goodman.

William Vanderbilt Kissam had an addiction to alcohol which resulted in his death in 1904. Because he was related to the Vanderbilt clan the circumstances of his death received some press coverage.

William V. married Leila Homeyard Brown in 1892. Two years later they had a son, Clinton Brown Kissam and soon afterwards Leila and Clinton separated from William V. complaining of his abuse of alcohol. In 1909, when he was 14, Clinton died of spinal meningitis while away at school.

Meanwhile, Leila had entrusted money to a lawyer who promised to invest it conservatively in New York real estate. In 1902 she sued him for misusing her funds to enrich himself at her expense. She lost the suit and he was exonerated a year later.

In 1908 William V's niece, Ida M. Kissam, committed suicide. Believing she had been abandoned by a lover, she inhaled gas from a tube connectied to a fixture in a bathroom within her mother's home in New Rochelle, NY.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
22 Nov 1903
p. 4
Kissam, Black Sheep, Ends His Wild Career; Nephew of the Late William H. Vanderbilt, His Opportunities Were Bright; He Married in Great State; Within Four Years, Beautiful Wife Had Got a Divorce -- Then Came Reckless Life and Its End

49 years old... body found in a cheap lodging house in Newark... death due to alcoholism and morphinism... beautiful wedding in Christ Church... one of the much talked about belles of her day... husband given to continual dissipation ... his companion Dr. Paul D. Thorne

New York World
21 Nov 1903
p. 1
Scion of Wealth Dies in a Chair; Nephew of Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt Expires in a Cheap Lodging-House in Newark After a Tour of Conviviality
William V. Kissam... in the company of Dr. Paul D. Thorne ... after an evening of conviviality they went to the Planters' Hotel ... Thorne retired at once, but Kissam ... sat upright in a chair. He was found at daylight in the same chair. ... as nephew of late Mrs. William H. Vanderbilt had a legacy of bonds of NYCRR, had money which he spent freely... came to Newark in 1900 to take gold cure at Keeley Institute on Park place ... met Thorne who was a staff member...became inseparable companions... Thorne ruined ... in 1896 sued his wife for abandonment ... Mrs. Leila H. Kissam ... retaliated, claiming that her husband was a habitual drunkard and that it was impossible to live with him. the referee who heard proceedings decided in favor of wife on all points.... Kissam was in and out of institutions devoted to the cure of the liquor habit.... she let him return home after the Keeley cure...lasted only a few days ...he paid alimony

NYT article saved as jpg.

Post Standard
Syracuse, NY
09 Oct 1902

Mrs. William V. Kissam suit against a lawyer for misuing money she entrusted to him. She lost the suit.

Fraud, Says Mrs. Kissam; Suit Against Grant Squires Brought by Syracusan; Both Parties Prominent; Plaintiff Daughter of Late DeWitt Clinton Brown -- Dependant a Grandson of the Late John Forbes -- Well Known Residents of New York -- Allegations Made by Mrs. Kissam That Mr. Squires Made Misrepresentations in Handling Her Property.

The plaintiff is Mrs. Leila H. B. Kissam... [she] is the daughter of the late DeWitt Clinton Brown, formerly of this city. He was a member of the law firm of Sheldon & Brown and married Agnes Lawrence, the daughter of the late Judge James B. Lawrence, one of the founders of the city of Syracuse. Later Mr. Brown went to New York to reside. Mrs. Kissam is well known socially here where she is a frequent visitor.

Leila added Le Baron as a middle name in submitting evidence for admission to the DAR.
Lineage Book - National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Volume 10, published by the DAR in 1899
Mrs. Leila Homeyard Le Baron Kissam. 9744
Born in New York. Wife of William Vanderbilt Kissam.
Descendant of Rev. Ammi Ruhamah Robbins, of Connecticut.
Daughter of De Witt Clinton Brown and Agnes McLaren Lawrence, his wife.
Granddaughter of James Robbins Lawrence and Christine McLaren, his wife.
Gr.-granddaughter of Grove Lawrence and Elizabeth Robbins, his wife.
Gr.-gr.-granddaughter of Ammi Ruhamah Robbins and Elizabeth Le Baron, his wife.
Ammi Ruhamah Robbins, 1776, was chaplain in the Canadian campaign which was a failure and entailed great hardships on the men. During the retreat from Quebec he became ill and was unfit for further active service. He died at Norfolk in 1813, aged seventy-three.

Syracuse Herald
31 Oct 1909
p. 6B
Died of Spinal Meningitis
... death of Clinton Brown Kissam, only child of Leila H. B. Kissam of Brooklyn, ... occurred ... at the McKensey school, Dobbs Ferry.... His mother, Mrs. Leila H. B. Kissam, has many friends in the city who will sympathize with her in her great sorrow. He was the great-grandson of the late James R. Lawrence, one of the early and most prominent lawyers of Syracuse...

New York Herald
23 Jan 1910
p. 13
Mrs. Leila Kissam Is Married Again; Becomes the Bride of Mr. George Herbert Smith, of New York, in Tompkinsville, N.Y. ...
Mrs. Smith is the daughter of DeWitt Clinton Brown, formerly of Syracuse, N.Y., who removed to Brooklyn several years ago. She is relaed to leading New York families. ...

New York Herald
28 Jul 1911
p. 9

Charge Four with Fraud After Promotion Crash; Post Office Inspectors Arrest Officials of the Henry N. Roach Company, Which Failed After American Tanning Company Went Into Hands of Receivers; Say Investors Have Lost More Than $2,000,000

[One of the parties to the suit is G. Herbert Smith.] On January 19, 1910, he married Mrs. Lelia H. B. Kissam, in Tompkinsville, S.I., and has been living at No. 316 West Seventy-ninth street, where he gave the entire membership of the Union League Club as references.

A niece:

Syracuse Herald
27 Oct 1908
p 5
Worse Than Gillette; Ida M. Kissam So Brands Lover Who Neglected Her; She Inhaled Gas and Died; Young Woman Related to the Vanderbilts and Who Has Relatives Here Left Letters Condemning A. Percy Faloner.

... Miss Kissam was 25 years old. She was handsome and vivacious. She lived with her mother and, according to one of her letters, Falconer called upon her frequently for five years. ... The letter to her sister, Mrs. N. J. Pearson, of No. 71 Church street, New Rochelle, is of the same tenor [as a letter she left for Falconer]. In part it read: "I have been brave as long as I can, but there is a limit. I now have nothing to live for, so good-bye. Sell my business out of which take care of mamma as long as she lives. ... " ... Miss Kissam's uncle, William Vanderbilt Kissam, who was found dead in a lodging house in the Bronx in November, 1903, married Miss Leila Brown, daughter of Attorney Dewitt Clinton Brown, about fourteen years agbo. A separation followed after a year. Mrs. Kissam is the granddaughter of the late Judge James R. Lawrence and a cousin of Miss Virginia A. Jones and Lawrence T. Jones of this city.

In 1909, the only child of William V. and Leila, Clinton Brown Kissam, died of spinal meningitis, aged 14, at the prep school he attended in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.

Rye Chronicle
31 Oct 1908
p. 4
Coroner Busy; Called to Investigate Two Cases of Suicide
... Miss Ida M. Kissam, a dressmaker, of New Rochelle, whose father, Theodore Kissam, it is said, was a cousin of William K. Vanderbilt's mother ...

Theodore Kissam of New Rochelle was the father of Ida M. Kissam.
He was brother of:
Priscilla S. Bowker 1837-1904 (daughter of George and Margaret Kissam)
Edward Kissam of Westfield NJ
Thomas and William Kissam of Brooklyn
Mrs. C.A. Swan
Mrs. Phebe R. Purnell
Miss Elizabeth Kissam, all of Brooklyn

see:
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
24 Aug 1904
p. 3
Mrs. Priscilla S. Bowker
widow of Butler A. Bowker died, Amityville, L.I.
daughter born 1937 of George and Margaret Kissam

The World
New York
18 Feb 1894
Death of Dr. George W. Weeks; A Well-Known Uptown Physician Passes Away Suddenly of Pneumonia
Tammany Hall, 29 years old, popular,
widow is daughter of Theodore Kissam of New Rochell
also one son

New York, State Census, 1875
View New York, State Census, 1875
Name: Josephine Kissam
[Josephine Demott]
Age: 30
Gender: Female
Birth Year: abt 1845
Residence Date: 1 Jun 1875
Residence Place: Brooklyn Ward 06, Kings, New York, USA
Election District: Ward 06, E.D. 10
Household number: 355
Relation to Head: Wife
Spouse's Name: Peter Kissam
Mother's name: Margaret Demott
Line Number: 12
Sheet Number: 49
Household Members:
Name Age
Peter Kissam 40
Josephine Kissam 30
William Kissam 6
Margarett Kissam 4
Edna Kissam 2
Margaret Demott 50
Maria Demott 22
Ellen Connors 20
Maggie Dayan 21
Mary Doran 40