James Wynkoop

James Wynkoop was born in March 1769. He was the youngest son of Jacobus and Alida Myers Wynkoop. Due to wartime exigencies, his family moved from New York to Kingston and finally settled in Albany by the 1780s. Jacobus Wynkoop's house was located near the waterfront in the third ward.

In February 1791, James married North End neighbor Catalina Dunbar at the Albany Dutch church. By 1811, the marriage had produced five children.

In November 1794, the Albany Gazette noted that he was a grocer located at 21 Market Street. Two years later, he was identified as a fireman. In 1799, his personal property was valued under a third ward household. Beginning in 1800, he was identified on the census as the head of a household located where his father had been a decade earlier. By 1813, he had moved to the first ward where city directories identified him as a merchant living on South Market Street.

James Wynkoop was dead in 1821, when his widow was identified as the householder on South Market Street. Wynkoop's will passed probate in Albany County in February 1821. His widow survived until 1838.

Sources: The life of James Wynkoop is CAP biography number 6955. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.