S.R. Durand:

 "On November 12, 1825 [Dr. Benjamin McVickar's 26th birthday] he and Isaphene Catherine Lawrence were married by his brother, Rev. John McVickar D.D., at the home of her parents at 498 Broadway...  Benjamin McVickar's brother John was 12 years older than he.  John was a distinguished professor at Columbia University, and a book has been published about his life.  It is entitled 'The Enterprising Life - John McVickar.  It was written by John Brett Longstaff, and published in 1961."

From "Old Merchants of New York City," by Walter Barrett, Second Series, 1863, chapter 28, as quoted by S.R. Durand:

 "John, the third son, [of John and Ann (Moore) McVickar],  was a prfessor and clergyman.  He married Eliza, daughter of the celebrated Dr. Bard who was president of the first Medical College.  He is still alive and has several children.  One is a much-esteemed clergyman, William McVickar."

From "The Enterprising Life, John McVickar 1787-1868," as quoted by S.R. Durand:

 "In 1829, John McVickar was acting president of Columbia Univeristy and conferred honorary degrees on four recipients, all of whom had personal significance for him.  They were his cousin Clement Moore, professor of the General Seminary and for the past fifteen years secretary of the Columbia trustees [and also, the author of 'A Visit from St. Nicholas,' which begins famously 'Twas the night before Christmas...'], and McVickar's college and club confrere, James Renwick, both to receive L.L.D.'s.  A D.D. was awarded to Jackson Kemper [my ancestor], a former Columbia undergraduate whom McVickar was soon to champion in his pioneering career as bishop of the Northwest, and an L.L.D. to his boyhood companion who was destined to be his next-door neighbor in the latter years, Washington Irving.
 The following year, in 1830, when professor John McVickar was in Edinburgh, Scotland, Sir Robert Liston said that he had a message from Mrs. Grant of Laggan.  The professor felt honored to hear that the famous authoress claimed him as 'her cousin,' he maiden name being McVickar, and that she desired much to see him.  Professor Mac  was familiar with Anne Grant's highly popular "Letters from the Mountains," and her "Essays on Superstitions of the Highlands."  She had been the wife of the minister of Laggan, Invernesshire, and for many years now she had been the center of a literary circle in Edinburgh.
 After breakfast the McVickars drove to Mrs. Grant's large house in the outskirts of Edinburgh and were ushered into what Professor Mac desribed as "an empty but not unfurnished, literary-looking drawing room."  Mrs. Grant soon came in supported on crutches and aided by a servant, looking old and broken by years but still with much dignity. The moment she sat down, however, John McVickar was impressed with the fact that she was "full of life and interest."
 The history of the family name, the crest with its double-headed eagle and the motto 'Dominus Providebat,' she entered upon "with all her Scottish feeling."  Her first question was as to the coat-of-arms the American McVickars bore (which is the same).  Then she proceeded to tell of "the glens they once held - how the Campbells derived all their property and power from them by intermarriage with the heiress of the McVickars."  She told Professor Mac that the Earl of Glasgow was the present head of their clan and urged that he go to see him." (Ref: pp. 150-151)

Facts about this person:

Record Change July 08, 1999