Philip VanKoughnet

Philip VanKoughnet

Colonel The Hon. Philip VanKoughnet M.P. (April 2, 1790 – May 7, 1873) landowner, businessman and political figure in Upper Canada.

History of the Name

This family originated during the Middle Ages in Switzerland, when their name was spelt von Gachnang after acquiring the lands of Gachnang and Schelleburg in 1336. They remained loyal to the Princes of Austria and were guests of the Holy Roman Emperor at Zurich in 1443. In 1566, they entrusted their considerable land holdings to Sigismund, Archduke of Austria who prompty lost them by using the money raised to fight unsuccessful wars. The family maintained their noble name and moved to the surrounding villages of Zurich and Zurich itself, where they were prominent citizens. During the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) their ancestor fled to Turckheim and then Colmar, Alsace, where three successive generations of the family were members of the Grand jury, spelling their name von Gochnat, the French version of the name. Having again lost their status after the French regained possession of Alsace, in 1751, the subject's grandfather emigrated to North America where their name changed again to VanKoughnet, as it has since been known.

Career

Born in New Johnstown (Cornwall), 2 April, 1790, he was the son of Michael VanKoughnet (1751-1832), 'a large landowner' and United Empire Loyalist. He was educated at John Strachan's school. He fought at the Battle of Crysler's Farm during the War of 1812. In 1816, he was elected to the 7th Parliament of Upper Canada representing Stormont & Russell. In 1833, he was part of a commission to establish a canal at Cornwall to improve transportation along the Saint Lawrence River, that brought him a personal profit of £10,000. VanKoughnet Island, off the canal, was named for him.

In 1832, Philip VanKoughnet inherited his father's extensive lands in Upper Canada (which he bought in 1783 after the Americans had put a price on his head for his loyalty to the Crown) adding to them over time until at his death he owned the entirety of the district. His father had named the original settlement 'New Johnstown', after Johnstown (New York) where the Colonel's grandfather, John, or Johann Eberhardt von Gochnat (1712-1770), had lived on arriving from Alsace in 1751.

In 1836, VanKoughnet was appointed to the Legislative Council of Upper Canada by Lieutenant Governor Sir Francis Bond Head. In 1838, he commanded a battalion of militia (2nd Stormont Regiment) at the Battle of the Windmill. In 1870, he was appointed chairman of the Canadian Board of Government Arbitrators. It was said of the Colonel that he had, ‘all the stubbornness of a German, with the patriotism of a Briton’. He had ‘earned the respect of his contemporaries for his sterling qualities and honest patriotism’, holding little regard for the American revolutionaries.

Family

On 1 April, 1819, he married Harriet Sophia (1795-1854), daughter of Mathew Scott (1775-1812), of the Scotts of Urlings and Mohubber, Co. Tipperary, and Lady Anna Glancy of Kurley, Co. Kilkenny. Mrs Vankoughnet's father was described as 'a very eminent', 'affluent and respectable merchant' of Carrick-on-Suir. But, after being publicly flogged and then wrongly imprisoned for giving grain to the starving Catholic population of Carrick-on-Suir during the troubles of 1798, he declared himself bankrupt when the price of grain fell during his internment. He took his own life in 1812 [1]. Mathew Scott, a great-grandson on two sides of Nicholas Purcell of Loughmoe, was a nephew of John Scott, 1st Earl of Clonmell. Mrs VanKoughnet's sister, Catherine Scott (1785-1863), was the great grandmother of the author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes.

Philip and Harriet left thirteen children, who after his death on 7 May, 1873, divided Cornwall, Ontario (which New Johnstown is now known as) between themselves. The eldest son, The Hon. Philip Michael Matthew Scott VanKoughnet, became the Chancellor of Upper Canada (now known as Ontario), and one of the Colonel's granddaughters, Agnes Gertrude VanKoughnet, married Sir Hugh John Macdonald, the only surviving son of the first Prime Minister of Canada.

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online