Catharina Wendell was born in March 1723. She was the daughter of Johannes E. and Anna Kip Wendell. Unlike those of her siblings, her baptism was not recorded in the register of the Albany Dutch church. She grew up in a second ward merchant's home but lost her father when Johannes E. Wendell died in 1739. Her mother lived until 1779.

She was well past her twenty-eighth birthday in November 1751 when she married Gysbert Marselis. The marriage produced seven children who were baptized in the Albany Dutch church.

Gysbert Marselis died in 1779. In 1783, she was identified as his widow and named co-executor of the estate of her unmarried sister, Geesje Wendell.

Perhaps she resided in the home of her only surviving son, John Marselis!

The widow Catharina Wendell Marselis died in December 1815.

Sources: The life of Catharina Wendell Marselis is CAP biography number 2775. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources. Beginning with the absent baptism, her life is much more puzzling that those of most other Wendell family members. At this point, our exposition is cautious!