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John
H. Wendell
John H. Wendell was born in 1752. He was a younger son of Albany residents Harmanus and Catharina Van Vechten Wendell. Losing his mother in 1756, he grew up in a comfortable third ward home where he learned business while being groomed for the law. In 1769, he was identified as the son and heir of Harmanus Wendell in his father's will.
John
H. Wendell was admitted to the New York bar in September
1773. However, a budding legal career was suspended
by the outbreak of war. He served in the Albany militia.
In 1776, he was commissioned a captain in the first
New York Regiment of the Continental Line. As a company
commander and adjutant, he participated in the Battle
of Monmouth, served at Saratoga, and on the Clinton-Sullivan
expedition of 1779. Wendell served until April 1781
when he resigned his commission. Later, he maintained
his militia command. He was a prominent participant
in public events and later was known as "General!"
Wendell
was thirty-two years old when he married Catherine
Van Benthuysen in 1784. By 1804, ten of their children
were baptized in the Albany Dutch church where both
parents were members and he was a church officer.
He
brought his bride and their children to his family
home at what became 315 North Market Street. His
household appearing on the census in 1790 included
two slaves. Although he owned slaves until 1820,
records show that he had freed at least six individuals
by 1821.
In
1797, he was elected to the first of three terms
in the New York State Assembly. During the 1800s,
this Albany attorney also served as Albany County
Surrogate, county treasurer, justice of the peace,
alderman, and notary.
Besides
his Market Street home, he maintained an Albany store,
owned a number of parcels in the city, and held investment
land in the Mohawk Valley as well.
Wendell
lost his wife in January 1817. In 1831, he was granted
a pension for service in the Revolution by the United
States Congress. He suffered a stroke on July 7,
1832 and died three days later at the age of eighty.
He dressed in Revolutionary War-era clothing and
was known as the "last of the cocked hats." He lived under the same roof his entire life. His will passed probate a month after his death.
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Sources: The life of John H. Wendell is CAP biography number
2975. This profile is derived chiefly from family
and community-based resources.
Public
events: The General" marched in parades, was a standard bearer at the
ratification parade in 1788, and in 1818, he was a pall bearer at the re-internment
of General Richard Montgomery.
In
1789, he advertized imported goods from London at
his store opposite the Post Office and in partnership
with Cornelius Wendell. Perhaps this was the same
location as his home!
By Stefan Bielinski, Colonial Albany Social History Project [http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany]
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