Charles Stewart Wurts (August 8, 1790 – June 26, 1859) was a founder of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, which built the Delaware and Hudson Canal and later became the Delaware and Hudson Railway.[1] Along with his brothers, he helped launch the anthracite industry in America.
Born in Flanders, New Jersey on August 8, 1790,[2] he was a son of John Wurts (1744–1793) and Sarah Grandin; and a grandson of Johannes Conrad Wirz (1706–1763), who founded the Wurts family in America.[1]
As a youth, Wurts moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and found work at one of the commercial houses there.[2] In 1823, he helped found the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company along with his brothers Maurice (1783–1854), William (1788–1858), and John Wurts (1792–1861).
Charles married Mary Van Uxem (1802–1877) on August 16, 1826; among their children was Charles Stewart Wurts II (1830–1907), who married his cousin Martha Haskins Wurts (1833-1859) in 1858 and then Mary Stuart Wood (1845-1883) in 1865.[2][3]
He died on June 26, 1859[2] and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.[4]