Ambrose Eggleston (May 16, 1793-1865-January 23, 1865) was the son of Nicholas Eggleston and Mary Stewart of North East, New York. He graduated from Yale College in 1813 and taught school until 1815, when he moved to Poughkeepsie, New York, where he studied law. In 1818, he was admitted to the bar and moved to Unadilla, New York, where he practiced law until 1821. That year, he entered the Auburn Theological Seminary, and he received a preaching license in 1822. Eggleston was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Conventry, New York; the Congregational Church in Egremont, Massachusetts; and the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in Fallsburg, New York. He lived in Coldwater, Michigan, during his later years. Eggleston married Elizabeth B. Harper ("Betsey") of Windsor, New York, on August 18, 1819, and they had four children: George H. (1821-1861), Nicholas Albert (b. 1824), Hamilton Stewart (b. 1835), and Mary Emily (ca. 1840-1842).
Nathaniel Hillyer Eggleston (or Egleston) was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on May 7, 1822, the son of Nathaniel Eggleston (1790-1839) and Emily Hillyer (1797-1874). After graduating from Yale College in 1840 and Yale Seminary (now Yale Divinity School) in 1843, he was pastor of the Congregational Church in Ellington, Connecticut, from 1845-1850. He also served in Brooklyn, New York; Chicago, Illinois; Madison, Wisconsin; and Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and was a founder of the American Congregational Union and the Chicago Theological Seminary. His teaching career included an appointment at Williams College and the establishment of a family school in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Eggleston later lived in Washington, D.C., where he was chief of the Bureau of Forestry (now the United States Forest Service) from 1883-1886. Nathaniel H. Eggleston married Sarah Ann Winship, the daughter of Thomas Winship and Emily Warner, on July 30, 1844, and they had five children: Melville (b. 1845), Mary Edith (1847-1858), Nathaniel Howard (b. 1851), Lilian Hillyer (b. 1857), and Sarah Louise (1860-1878). Nathaniel Hillyer Eggleston died on August 24, 1912. Melville Eggleston (or Egleston) received a bachelor's degree from Williams College in 1870 and an honorary master's degree from Yale College.
Samuel Eggleston (1738-1822) of North East, New York, and his wife, Hester Buck, married on March 18, 1761. Their children were Phebe, Elizabeth, Hester, Martha, David, Abigail, Samuel, Eunice, Susan, and Keturah.
From the guide to the Eggleston family collection, 1772-1924, 1859-1864, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
