Walter V. Wemple

The name Walter V. Wemple appeared on the roster of an Albany militia company in May 1767. He was listed among the "enlisted men" composed almost exclusively of Albany city residents. This sketch focuses on the individual (hopefully) uniquely known as "Walter V. Wemple." He sometimes was referred to as "Vroman."

Extensive and impressive family-based research has established him as the eldest son of Albany-area residents Abraham and Rachel Vrooman Wemple and that he was born prior to early 1751. He later would settle in Claverack and married one Mary Hogeboom there in May 1785. Perhaps the marriage produced but two children - neither of whom survived to raise families of their own. He is said to have died and was buried in the Claverack cemetery with the following inscription "Dr. Walter Vrooman Wemple, died Aug 10, 1789 in the 47th year of his age."

In November 1772, Walter V. was listed among the partners seeking 8,000 acres in Albany County located east of the Hudson and north of Kayderossaras. That petition appears to have been granted.

In October 1773, Walter V. Wemple was listed as secretary at a Masonic Lodge meeting in Albany. The name would appear several additional times in the printed minutes.

In March 1776, Dr. Samuel Stringer hailed him as "Dear Vroman" in a letter addressed to WVW "Surgeon in the general hospital, Canada."

In June 1777, he was in Albany where he was among those signing a clemency petition for a condemned resident of Livingston Manor.

From 1786 to 1797, Walter V. Wemple was the clerk of Columbia County.

In 1790, the census for Claverack configured the household of Walter V. Wemple with an adult male, a female, and five slaves.

A pension application for Continental service was submitted by his heirs and detailed his wartime activities.

A recent monograph on the political climate of the postwar Hudson Valley noted that "Dr. Walter V. Wemple (settled in the village [Claverack] since the late 1770s but with many connections in Albany where he had once been a member of the secret Lodge of Perfection) served as county treasurer until his death in 1798.

Sources: The life of Walter V. Wemple has no CAP biography number. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources. The Wemple family mostly did not inhabit the city of Albany during the pre-Revolutionary war era. Wemples were much more numerous in the surrounding hinterland.
    At this point we are not certain why Walter V. Wemple belonged to a city-based militia company or what qualified him to become "senior surgeon" in the Revolutionary army. Perhaps, his Masonic connection (Dr. Stringer was a central figure in both initiatives) opened doors for him.