William Rotch Wister, 1827 - 1911

One of the six children of William Wister and Sarah Logan Fisher, William Rotch Wister was born on December 7, 1827 and raised at the Belfield estate. William Rotch attended the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1845 and was admitted to the Bar on October 6, 1849. He became the solicitor and director of many esteemed organizations including: the National Bank of Germantown, the “Hand-in-Hand” Fire Insurance Company, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, The Guarantee Trust Company, and William Wharton Jr. & Co., Inc.

In addition to his professional achievements, he was active in his community. He was dubbed the father of American Cricket, having founded the Germantown Cricket Club in 1854. During the American Civil War, William Rotch was a Lt. Colonel of the Twentieth Cavalry regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers.

On August 21, 1911, William Rotch Wister died at the house of his cousin, Owen Wister, in Saunderstown, Rhode Island, after battling pneumonia for some time.