By the mid-eighteenth century, the family would be in its third and fourth generations in America and was well established in greater Albany County. Although most descendants named "Van Wie" would cluster around the "Van Wie's Point" homestead, family members also were interwoven into the city's social fabric.
A published compilation of survey lists from Albany County covering the mid-1760s provided the names of almost two dozen different Van Wies - all of them connected to activities and/or holdings in the Manor. However, at virtually the same time (early in 1766), the consecutive signatures of brothers Pieter Van Wie, Willem Van Wie, and Casparus Van Wie were included among the 94 signers of a Constitution for the Albany Sons of Liberty. Virtually every name on that earliest counting of Albany dissidents identified a city resident.
In 1767, a map fixed the location of the residents of Rensselaerswyck living around Albany. Three Van Wie households were clustered along the river south of the city.
In 1790, two "Van Wee" named households
were configured on the city census
and ten more in surrounding Watervliet.
a decade later, two Van Wie households
remained in the city.
The first city directory published in 1813, identified four Van Wie households living in Albany's first ward. Two homes, including a roominghouse kept by Gerrit W. Van Wie, were located on Hudson Street. In 1820, six Van Wie addresses were listed in various settled locations in the city.
In March 1869, a newspaper obituary marked the passing of 93-year-old Catherine Van Wie Quackenbush - last of the Van Wie's Point family.
Located off of Western Avenue in Westmere, the suburban street named Van Wie Terrace also commemorates the family today.
notes
first opened 8/20/14; online 1/20/15; last revised 6/8/15