Charles Henry Van Wyck (1824-1895) was born at Poughkeepsie, New York and spent his youth at Bloomingburg, Sullivan County, New York. He graduated from Rutgers College in 1843. After his graduation he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1847.

He began politics as a member of the Barnburner wing of the Democratic party but joined the new Republican movement and was elected to Congress in 1858. He served until 1863. During the Civil War he was in command of the New York Volunteers in the Peninsular and North Carolina campaigns. After the war he was again elected to Congress from New York.

In 1857 he acquired lands in the new western territories, near Nebraska City, Nebraska and in western Kansas. He moved to Nebraska in 1874. He was an active member of the Nebraska constitutional convention (1875) and was elected to the State Senate for three consecutive terms and the United States Senate from 1881 to 1887. He was active as a leader of the Farmers' Alliance and of the Populists in Nebraska, but was never a successful candidate for office on the Populist ticket. He died in Washington in 1895 and was buried in Milford, Pennsylvania.

Little biographical information is known about Ross Brodhead. He was the nephew of Kate Van Wyck, Charles' wife. He managed the Van Wyck estate after Charles' death for Kate Van Wyck and her daughter, Happy Theodora Van Wyck. He lived in Lawrence, Kansas, and was employed by the Watkins National Bank.