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Wyck's earliest owner was Hans Milan, a Quaker who came from Germany
and was a descendant of a Swiss Mennonite family. His daughter,
Margaret, married a Dutch Quaker named Dirk Jansen, a linen weaver
who prospered in the first half of the 18th-century. By his death,
he was listed as a gentleman and had Anglicized his name to Dirk
Johnson. Their daughter, Catherine, married Caspar Wistar, a German
who became a Quaker and amassed a sizable fortune as a button
maker, glassmaker and investor in land.
In the next generation, Margaret Wistar married
Reuben Haines I, a brewer and merchant of English descent. Their
son Caspar Wistar Haines continued the family businesses and married
Hannah Marshall, a member of another Quaker family. Wyck passed
to Reuben and Jane Bowne Haines and then to their youngest daughter,
Jane Reuben Haines, who lived here until 1911, carefully preserving
the house, furnishings and gardens.
In the eighth generation, Jane B. Haines founded
the first school of horticulture for women:The PA School of Horticulture
of Ambler which is now Temple Ambler, and one brother, Caspar,
helped design the Mexican railway system; while another, Robert,
invented a gauge for measuring steel in rolling mills.
The last owners, Robert and Mary Haines, were fruit growers; Robert
patented a device to press apples for a more natural tasting juice. Wyck's
family descendants are still very involved in the life of their
home and community.
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