Jacob H. Wendell

Jacob H. Wendell was born in August 1754. He was the son of Albany residents Harmanus and Catharina Van Vechten Wendell. His mother died when he was just two years old. Two of his older brothers remained Albany mainstays. In 1769, he was left a share of his father's estate.

By 1785, Jacob had married Albany native Geertruy Lansing. By 1800, the marriage had produced three children. He was a member and pewholder at the Albany Dutch church.

Coming of age at the outbreak of hostilities in 1775, Jacob served as an ensign and later lieutenant in the Continental army. In September 1780, he was identified as an adjutant (administative officer). He retired from the army in 1782. After the war, he was granted a land bounty right in conjunction with the Albany militia regiment.

Following the war, this Wendell family made its home on the corner of Market and Columbia Streets in the third ward where they were mainstays for more than three decades. Jacob was a skipper and probably a small scale merchant as well. In 1788, he also paid taxes at another location - this one in the first ward.

Perhaps because his older brothers were so politically prominent, Jacob H. Wendell served only as a firemaster in 1778 and constable in 1780. He was, however, involved in a range of community-based activities.

Jacob H. and Geertruy Wendell lived at 27 Columbia Street until Jacob's death in 1826 at the age of seventy-one. His widow died a year later.

Sources: The life of Jacob H. Wendell is CAP biography number 2883. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.