The Chisholm family represented here descends from the South Carolina Edings–Chisholm line that migrated north after the Civil War and married into the Muhlenberg, Rogers, and Lawrence families. Through these alliances they became part of the extended social and ecclesiastical network of the Episcopal reformer Rev. William Augustus Muhlenberg and the Long Island philanthropic communities associated with St. Johnland, College Point, and Morristown.

The Edings–Chisholm Line of South Carolina

The Chisholms of Charleston and Edisto Island were interwoven with the Edings family, a prominent planter line noted for ties to the Episcopal Church and Lowcountry political life. William Edings Chisholm (1823–1895), father of George Edings I, appears to descend from the Chisholms of St. Paul’s Parish (Edisto/Colleton counties), though collateral branches also lived in Charleston proper. Typical occupations in the antebellum generation included rice planting, legal work, and mercantile activity.

The Muhlenberg–Rogers–Chisholm Connection

Mary Ann Catherine Muhlenberg Rogers (1827–1913), George’s mother, was related to:

• Rev. William Augustus Muhlenberg (1796–1877), rector of the Church of the Holy Communion, founder of St. Luke’s Hospital, St. Johnland, and a leading figure in the Episcopal Church’s mid-nineteenth-century social-reform movement.

• The New Jersey Rogers family of Morristown, prominent in local civic and religious affairs.

These connections positioned the Chisholms firmly within the institutional networks of New York Episcopal philanthropy.

The Lawrence Connection

Through Edith Lawrence, the Chisholms joined the extensive Lawrence–Townsend–Hicks–Willets network of early Long Island Quaker and post-Quaker families. This alliance further associated them with the mercantile and civic elite of nineteenth-century New York.