Marte Myndertse Van Iveren
by
Stefan Bielinski


Marte Myndertse Van Iveren was born in April 1727. He was the son of Albany residents Frederick and Sara De Wandelaer Van Iveren. He was known as "Martin Mindertse" or "Marte Mynders."

In November 1751, he married Schenectady native Sara Ryckman at the Albany Dutch church. By 1767, four children had been christened in Albany.

Like many men of his family, Marte Myndertse was a blacksmith. He also was a first ward mainstay for forty years. His Southside home on Hudson Street received a moderate assessment. He served as a firemaster, constable, chimney viewer, and in 1760, he was elected assistant alderman for the first ward. He was a contractor of the city and made metal fittings for docks and bridges He also owned a lot on Gallows hill.

At the outbreak of the war, he joined the crusade for American liberties and represented the first ward on the Committee of Correspondence. He helped collect money for the relief of Boston. In 1778, he was fifty-one-years-old and was chosen lieutenant in a company of older patriots called "Associated Exempts." A dozen of them formed his company of blacksmiths under the Quartermaster General.

In 1785, he was elected overseer of the poor and chimney viewer for the first ward. Throughout his adult life, he was called on to witness legal documents and to subscribe to community-based petitions.

Marte Myndertse lost his wife in February 1791. By 1800, his name no longer appeared on the first ward census of heads of households. He died in April 1806. His obituary called him "a worthy and respectable inhabitant." He was just past his seventy-ninth birthday.

biography in-progress


notes

the people of colonial Albany Sources: The life of Marte Myndertse Van Iveren is CAP biography number 2461. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.



first posted: 7/30/05; updated 3/4/11