Wynkoop House History

The Wynkoop House along with five acres of the original farmstead was purchased in 1991 by José R. and Christine Wedam Rosario and opened in 2008 as the Bluestem Bed and Breakfast.

The red brick, Federal vernacular style farmhouse was originally built when David and Sarah Ann Wynkoop owed the approximately 160-acre farmstead between 1853 and 1864. The name Wynkoop seems to be a contraction of Wijnkooper, a wine buyer or vintner. The name has, properly, double i, in the first syllable, with the second i extending below the line, and curving to the left, as in physicians’ prescriptions. All double vowels, in the Netherland tongue are pronounced long; hence the Low Dutch pronounced this name Winekope, but in this country the pronunciation is now Winecoop, rhyming with loop, except in Virginia, where it is sounded Wincoop, after the English fashion.

Records indicate that David and Sarah Ann (Hoover) Wynkoop were natives of Pennsylvania. David was born the son of John and Anna (McClure) Wynkoop in 1821. Sarah was the daughter of Frederick and Susannah (Miller) Hoover and was born in 1826. They were married in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on January 5, 1846. Their first two children were born in Pennsylvania; James Edward was born October 4, 1842 and died there, a young child, in 1847, and Mary Ann was born November 11,1848. They were in Indiana as early as 1851 at the time of the birth of another daughter, Susannah Rebecca, August 17, 1851.

Perhaps because of a possible relationship to an already established Hoover clan in La Porte County Center Township (the John Hoover family), David and Sarah chose to purchase the northwest quarter of Section 14 in Township 37 North, Range 3 West containing 160 acres. It was in close proximity to the John Hoover farm and adjoined Isaac Hoover’s farm. (It is suspected that Sarah’s father, Frederick, and John Hoover might have been brothers. John Hoover had two sons—Isaac and John D, who married two sisters Leah and Susan H. Hoover respectively, who were also their first cousins. It is known that Leah and Susan were not Sarah’s sisters but they may have been cousins as well, and their father a brother to Frederick and John.)

The Wynkoops purchased their 160-acre property for $2200-$3200 in 1853 via a land contract from the Hardings (records are somewhat unclear regarding payments), and gained possession of the frame house on it. In the following year they acquired the deed for a sum of $1000 paid to the heirs of the previous deeded owner (Samuel Haas). According to the 1862 plat map of La Porte County there were three structures, plus a schoolhouse, on the property at that time. (See the first map insert.) The schoolhouse would have been the Merchant School, recorded as having been built in 1862. A “rebuilt” version of the school—no longer in use--still exists on that site today. It is likely that one of the other structures may have been an original log cabin possibly dating back to the 1830’s when the property was first purchased by land treaty from the Pottawatomi Indians. By the time of the printing of the 1874 plat, there is only one structure indicated on the map, presumably the new brick structure, although a mortgage record indicates that a frame house still existed.

In-depth research does not pinpoint the exact date the brick house was built, but the date ca 1858 has been assigned. The growth of the family likely called for a larger house and a second mortgage secured in 1858 would appear to establish that date as the best possible guess-timate. The Wynkoop children born in La Porte County were John Hoover Wynkoop in 1854, Sarah Elizabeth in 1856, Albert Llewellyn in 1858, David McClure in1859, and William Lincoln in 1862.

Family information records that David Wynkoop was “engaged in the brick business and in planting.” Isaac Hoover, in partnership with his brother John D., was in the brick manufacturing business. A La Porte County 1904 history reports that when Isaac Hoover arrived here in 1846, “there was not a brick house in the county, and many of those now standing are made of brick of their manufacture.” It would seem logical that the Wynkoop house is constructed from brick manufactured at the Hoover Brickyard.

Family tragedy struck again when two-year-old Sarah Elizabeth died in 1858, and 10-month-old William Lincoln died in 1863. On December 28, 1864, David and Sarah Wynkoop sold the property to William C. Taylor for the sum of $8,000. The family remained in La Porte County until the early 1870s, but there is no record of their having purchased any real estate following the sale of our subject property. The 1870 census indicated that they resided in the same “neighborhood,” but only owned personal property.

David and Sarah Wynkoop with their five remaining children left La Porte County and moved to Brenner, Doniphan County, Kansas where he continued as a “planter.” In Kansas, David had a farm of 160 acres in Wayne Township, mostly rolling prairie and very fertile. He also had eighty acres near his homestead and eighty acres about a mile and a half from his home. In Wolf River Township he had another farm of 220 acres. It was a fine level tract of land, and was considered among one of the best of the fine farms in that township. It would appear that when he retired, he and Sarah moved to Atchison, Kansas.

David died in Atchison, on February 1, 1905. His obituary, which appeared in the Kansas Chief, February 9, reported, “nothing gave him more pleasure than to be surrounded by his entire family which numbers 41. It has been his custom to invite his children and their families home for Christmas dinner, and in 35 years there was but one omission which was in 1889, caused by sickness.” He reportedly was a philanthropist “of the first type.” Some of the children resided in Doniphan County, but others resided in Arizona and Mexico. Prior to his death, there had not been a death in the family for more than 25 years. He was 84 years old at the time of his death.

Just fifteen days later, Sarah Ann died—February 16, 1905. She was almost 80 years old. Had the couple lived another year, they would have celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary. Her obituary appears in the Atchison Daily Globe, February 16, 1905. Their residence in Atchison was at 928 Mound Street.

Both were returned to La Porte and are buried in Pine Lake Cemetery in Lot 476, Cherry Hill, next to the Hoover Family plot. The family stone contains information about David and Sarah Ann as well as the two children, Sarah Elizabeth and William Lincoln, who died in La Porte County while they resided here. On the back of the monument the following is inscribed: “Thou shalt come to thy Grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in, in his season.” Behind the monument at each of the graves is a small marker: “Father,” “Mother,” “William L.,” and “Sarah E.”

It is an intriguing coincidence that the Kansas home of their one son, Albert Llewellyn Wynkoop, was for some time also a bed and breakfast. The Albert Llewellyn Wynkoop House in Highland, Doniphan County, was built by local craftsman, Ely Saunders, in 1912. It is a “unique and impressive Prairie style house. The large house was likely a frequent site for entertaining, due to Wynkoop’s involvement in local politics and as a partner in Chandler & Wynkoop’s Cash Store. The Prairie style was gaining popularity in Kansas when the house was erected. The design emphasizes horizontality found in the Prairie style through extremely wide eaves and rows of tripartite windows, but also incorporates elements of verticality, especially in the front columns. Saunders was responsible for the construction and likely the design of many traditional buildings in and around Highland, including the elementary and high schools and the Highland Christian Church. With the Wynkoop House, Saunders created a residence that stands out as impressive, substantial, and innovative.” The house is located at 307 West Pennsylvania, in Highland. It was listed on the National Register on April 4, 2007.

A final tidbit of corroborating evidence to date the Wynkoop house came from previous owners, Glen and Mary Kessler (from 1957-1978). When the Kesslers removed a section of the entrance, they discovered a 1858 Flying Eagle penny embedded in the mortar adjacent to the doorway. It was the Kesslers’ belief that the original builders embedded the penny as a date marker and that doing so was common practice in the 19th century.

Guests of the Bluestem Bed and Breakfast interested in the house history are invited to view the Indiana Title Abstract of the property with records dating back to 1832 and the plat maps of La Porte County from 1872 and 1907, as well as the 1858 penny gifted to them by Tom and Pat Kessler. José and Christine plan to continue to research the history of the property. Check back for future updates.

We are indebted to Fern Eddy Schultz, La Porte County (IN) Historian, for researching and compiling most of this history, as part of the 2008 Christmas Candlelight Tour of La Porte County historic homes, sponsored by People Engaged in Preservation. (website: www.peplaporte.org)

--Christine and José Rosario, 2008