Catharina Dunbar Wynkoop

by


Catharina Dunbar was born in November 1770. She was the daughter of William and Elizabeth Van Deusen Dunbar. She grew up as part of a mid-sized family in the Van Tromp Street home of an Albany mainstay.

In February 1791, she married her third ward neighbor James Wynkoop at the Albany Dutch church. By 1811, the marriage had produced at least five children.

These Wynkoops made their home nearby on North Market Street where James was a prominent grocer and merchant. In 1800, they were raising their children in the home of his recently deceased father. James and Catharina Wynkoop would remain Market Street mainliners for several decades.

Catharina lost her husband in 1821. Beginning in that year, she was identified in the city directory as the head of her South Market Street household. In 1830, the sixty-year-old "widow of James" had moved to a smaller residence located near the ferry. Catharina Dunbar Wynkoop survived until June 1838. Eventually, her stone came to rest in the Albany Rural Cemetery.


biography in-progress


notes

the people of colonial Albany Sources: The life of Catharina Dunbar Wynkoop is CAP biography number 2250. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.





first posted: 8/20/09