Anthony Wayne Van Leer

Anthony Wayne Van Leer (March 3, 1783 – July 9, 1863) was an American ironmaster and owner of the Cumberland Furnace in Dickson County, Tennessee. He was a member of the influential Van Leer family, the son of Samuel Van Leer, captain in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and nephew of General Anthony Wayne. The town of Vanleer, Tennessee is named after him.

Anthony Wayne Van Leer
BornMarch 3, 1783
Chester County, Pennsylvania
DiedJuly 9, 1863 (aged 80)
Nashville, Tennessee
OccupationIronmaster
Parent(s)Samuel Van Leer
Hannah Wayne
RelativesBernardhus Van Leer (grandfather)
Isaac Van Leer (brother)
Anthony Wayne[1](Uncle)
VanLeer Polk (grandson)
George Howard Earle Jr. (grandnephew)
Florence Van Leer Earle Coates (grandniece)

Biography

Van Leer was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania[2] on April 6, 1783, to Samuel and Hannah (Wayne) Van Leer.[1] His father, Samuel Van Leer was a captain in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Van Leer would join his family's iron business in Pennsylvania.[3]

On June 12, 1816, he married Rebecca Brady and together they had seven children but only 2 daughters survived to adulthood.[1]

In 1825, Van Leer began to invest in the iron business in Tennessee and purchased the Cumberland Furnace with partners [4] from Montgomery Bell who was known as the "Iron Master of Middle Tennessee."[5] Van Leer became one of the wealthiest ironmasters in Tennessee.[6] By 1840, the Cumberland Furnace employed 114 slaves.[7] Despite their status as slaves, men were paid on average $12 a month and women $5.[8]

During the American Civil War, his family had close ties to the Union. Furnace operations ceased in 1862 for the remainder of the war. Despite the fact that the Union army utilized scorched earth tactics, and unlike other furnaces in the area, the Cumberland Furnace was not destroyed by the Union Army.[4] His home was also used as a headquarters.[1]

He died on July 9, 1863, in Nashville, Tennessee[2][9] and the ownership of Cumberland Furnace passed to his grandchildren Vanleer Kirkman and Mary Florence Kirkman. Mary and her husband bought out her brother's share of the furnace. Mary's husband was a Union Captain. All former slaves were kept on payroll.[4]

Legacy

The town of Vanleer, Tennessee is named in his honor.[10][11] Van Leer hired famed William Strickland to design his children's homes.[12]

References
  1. "Anthony Wayne Van Leer". www.vanleerarchives.org. Van Leer Archives. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  2. Acklen, Jeanette Tillotson (1933). Tennessee Records - Tombstone Inscriptions and Manuscripts Historical and Biographical. Nashville: Clearfield Company, Inc. p. 91. ISBN 0-8063-0001-9. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  3. Jordan, John W., ed. (1911). Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and Personal Memoirs, Volume III. Lewis Publishing Company. p. 1321. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  4. Jackson, George E. "Cumberland Furnace". www.tennesseeencyclopedia.net. Tennessee Historical Society. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  5. Dalton, Robert E. (Spring 1976). "Montgomery Bell and the Narrows of Harpeth". Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 35 (1): 3–28. JSTOR 42623550.
  6. Culbertson, Lewis R. (1896). Supplement to the Culbertson Genealogy. Cincinnati: The Cincinnati Lancet-Clinic. p. 4. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  7. Goings, Henry (2012). Rambles of a Runaway From Southern Slavery. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0-8139-3238-5. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  8. "Historical Documents at Tennessee State Archives". www.vanleerarchives.org. Van Leer Archives. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  9. "Obituaries - 1863 - Nashville City Cemetery". www.thenashvillecitycemetery.org. Archived from the original on 2021-07-24. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  10. "A Brief History of Vanleer Archived 2013-09-02 at the Wayback Machine," Dickson County Historical and Genealogical Society website, originally published in Heritage Book of Dickson County, 1803-2006. Retrieved: 28 February 2013.
  11. Miller, Larry L. (2001). Tennessee Place Names. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. p. 213. ISBN 0-253-33984-7. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  12. "Southern Belle and a Yankee officer | Ladies Tea - War from a Feminine Perspective".
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