Robert H. Wendell
Robert H. Wendell was born in February 1760. He was the son of Hendrick J. and gunsmith's daughter Maria Lansing Wendell. He grew up in a merchant's home on Court Street. His father was appointed sheriff in 1777.
In his teens during the War for Independence, he could be expected to play an active role. Later, he would receive a land bounty right in conjunction with the Albany militia regiment.
He probably was the "Robert Wendell" who witnessed the will of Mayor John Barclay in January 1779.
His wife was Agnes Fonda of Schenectady. They married during the early 1780s in the Schenectady Dutch church. Between 1784 and 1801, eight children were christened in Schenectady.
He settled in Schenectady where he became an attorney, public figure, and later, a gentleman farmer. To fully articulate his long life beyond Albany would be beyond the scope of our concern. Sorry!
Robert H. Wendell lost his wife in April 1828. He died in Schenectady in July 1848. He had lived eighty-eight years.
Sources:
The life of Robert H. Wendell is CAP biography number 2710.
This sketch is derived chiefly from
family
and community-based resources.
From HMGFM online from Schenectady Digital History:
Robert Hendrick (Henry), son of Hendrich and Maria (Lansing) Wendell, was baptized February 7, 1760, in Albany, died in Schenectady, July 7, 1848. He was an attorney-at-law, and at the age of twenty-four years removed from Albany to Schenectady, where he located and settled on lands yet in the family. He was a slave owner and prominent in the Whig party. He built his homestead on College Hill, which is now standing, in the residential section of Schenectady. The farm is now traversed by broad boulevards and streets which are lined with handsome residences. Near the house were the slave quarters where lived the tillers of the fields, owned by Mr. Wendell. He married Agnietje, died July 7, 1848, in her eighty-ninth year, daughter of Jacob Fonda and a descendant of Jillis Douwse [Douwese?] Fonda, of Beverwyck, 1654.
Children:
Henry Robert, baptized September 29, 1784, see forward;
Peter Fonda, born July 3, 1786;
Maria, born February 9, 1789, died October 26, 1809;
Jacob, born April 16, 1791, died at Shelby Basin, Orleans county, New York, October 12, 1843;
Giles F., buried February 9, 1824;
Alida, born January 10, 1796;
Robert Lansing, born 1798;
Mattheiu Trotter, born December 14, 1801.