Evert Janse Wendell
by
Stefan Bielinski


Evert Janse was born about 1615. Traditional sources state that he was a native of Embden in East Friesland. He emigrated to New Netherland - first to New Amsterdam and then upriver to Fort Orange to trade with the Indians.

He was living in Beverwyck at the initial distribution of houselots in 1653. He soon began to acquire and trade additional parcels of land within the Albany stockade.

His first wife was Susanna Truax whom he married in New Amsterdam in July 1644. After her death, Evert Janse is said to have wed the widow Maritie Mingael in 1663. He was a lifelong member and officer of the Albany Dutch Church.

His marriages produced many children with ambitious sons to establish the Wendell family in Albany, its environs, and beyond for many generations.

Evert Janse was a trader and official in Albany throughout the second half of the seventeenth century. His State Street home was prominently configured on community survey documents. He was a church officer and involved in its business. His primary accomplishment seems to have been the ability to garner a number of choice parcels of land in the new city of Albany. His family further developed them in the years that followed.

Evert Janse Wendell may have lived into his mid-nineties. In August 1703, he and Maria (his wife) conveyed a parcel of land in Albany to his son Thomas Wendell. Traditional sources hold that he died in 1709 at the age of ninety-seven. In that year, his widow and Thomas were listed on the Albany assessment roll.

biography in-progress


notes

the people of colonial Albany Sources: The life of Evert Janse Wendell is CAP biography number 2655. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.



first posted: 6/30/05; last updated 3/4/12