Johannes Wendell was born
in New Netherland in 1649. He was the son of Evert
Janse and his first wife, Susanna
Truax Wendell. At the time of his father's second marriage in
1663, he was identified as aged fourteen and the eldest of five
surviving children.
Shortly thereafter, he entered the fur trade. By the 1670s, he
had married Maria de Meyer - daughter of a Manhattan-based merchant
and would-be Albany trader. That union was shortlived and her death
left him with two small daughters. By the end of the decade, Johannes
had remarried - this time to Elsie
Staats, daughter of a prominent Albany physician. Over the next
twelve years, she bore him nine more children - making their household
among Albany's largest.
Johannes Wendell prospered in the fur trade, established a home
on upper State Street, acquired frontier lands,
was appointed justice of the peace in 1684, commissioned captain
of the Albany militia company in 1685, and was appointed alderman
under the Albany city charter of
1686. He also was a deacon and elder of the Albany Dutch
church.
He served as first ward alderman
until the charter government was suspended during the reign of Jacob
Leisler. Unlike the other city
fathers, he did not repudiate Leisler's regime. Instead, he
accepted Leisler's commission to be mayor
of Albany in 1690. With the return of regular government in 1691,
Johannes Wendell found himself cut off from city
hall. He also began to experience trouble in his business when
he was brought before the Albany court and fined for illegal trading
with the Indians.
In November 1691, this fifty-one-year-old merchant and landholder
made his will.
He died early in 1692 leaving a widow and eleven children to share
in his extensive estate.
notes
The
life of Johannes Wendell is CAP biography number 2942. We know of no substantial
genealogical resource or other biograhical narrative on his life.
The exact place of his birth is unclear.
He may have been born in New Amsterdam - where he was baptized,
at Fort Orange, or in surrounding Rensselaerswyck.
Real Estate: After his house and lot above
Pearl Street, Johannes Wendell had acquired a share in the Saratoga Patent, land at Stone Arabia (today's Lansingburgh), and acreage at Klinkenbergh in southern Albany County.
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