Jeronimus Wendell was born in Beverwyck about 1655. He was the son of New Netherland pioneers Evert Janse and Susanna Truax Wendell. Losing his mother as a child, he was described as eight years old at the time of his father's re-marriage in 1663.

Coming of age in Albany, by the mid 1670s he had married his neighbor, Ariantie Visscher - daughter of an Albany carpenter. By 1689, they had six children.

Jeronimus was an Albany shoemaker-turned-furtrader whose State Street home was listed on a census of householders in 1679. In 1684 his Albany taxes were in arrears. His second ward property was assessed on a levy made in 1689. He employed apprentices and prospered by using his trade to produce leather products to be bartered to Native American hunters. Later, his sons would represent that initiative in the Indian country.

Jeronimus Wendell made a will in 1690. It left most of his estate to his wife during her widowhood. Each of his living children was left personal bequests of silver, books, and other small items. The will went unfiled and Jeronimus was dead by 1697 when his widow was identified as the head of their household.