|
|
The DeWandelaers
Johannes de Wandelaer Jr. was born in 1676 at New Amsterdam. He was the second oldest of ten children.His father, Johannes de Wandelaer, was born about 1653 at Leyden, South Holland, Netherlands. He came to America from Leyden, first settling at New Jersey. A short time later, Johannes relocated up the Hudson River to be among the first settlers of Fort Orange NY (later to be known as Albany), where he owned much land. Johannes bought and sold "divers lots" in and around Albany.
On 17 March 1672 Johannes married Sarah Schepmoes at New Amsterdam. Their first child was born in 1673. Johannes de Wandelaer Jr. was born in 1676. Johannes and Sarah settled prior to 1678 at Albany, where Sarah gave birth to eight more children. Catarine DeWandelaer was their seventh child was born in 1689. Johannes was an Alderman in 1686, and an Assessor in the 1st Ward of Albany from 1691 to 1694. About 1699, the family moved to Schaghticoke, N.Y.
On 6 April 1701 Johannes DeWandelaer Jr. married Lysbeth of his marriage to Lysbeth; his little sister Catarine was on Gansevoort, who was born in Albany. Records indicate that Johannes was a merchant in 1702 and his will was prepared on 20 June 1705 at New Amsterdam. Johannes Jr. was 24 at the timely twelve. Lysbeth's brother, Leendert was nineteen. On 11 May 1712, Catarine DeWandelaer married Leendert Gansevoort.
Johannes DeWandelaer Jr. was an Assistant Alderman of the 3rd Ward, Albany, from 1705 to 1709. They moved from Albany (Broadway & Maiden) about 1719 and became tenant farmers on the Schaghticoke tract on the east side of the Hudson River. Johannes was listed as a freeholder in Schaghticoke in 1720, where he died sometime later.
Johannes and Lysbeth DeWandelaer had at least ten children, who were all born at Albany:
Sara was baptized on 20 July 1701. Harmen was baptized on 25 November 1702.Johannes was baptized on 22 October 1704. Rebecca was baptized on 29 September 1706. Andries was baptized on 15 December 1708. Angenietje was baptized on 4/11 March 1711. Pieter DeWandelaer - our ancestor was baptized in 1713. Maria was baptized on 25 December 1715. Harmen was baptized on 16 February 1718. Adrien was baptized on 19 May 1719.
Pieter DeWandelaer was born 20 September 1713 and lived in Albany with his parents and six siblings. His oldest sister, Sara, was twelve years when he was born and his youngest, older sister was only two. His father, Johannes DeWandelaer was Assistant Alderman of the 3rd Ward of Albany from 1705 to 1709. About 1719, Johannes and Lysbeth moved their family of ten children from Albany . They became tenant farmers on the Schahticoke tract on the east side of the Hudson River. Young Pieter DeWandelaer hated to leave his aunt, uncle and cousins. Johannes was listed as a freeholder in Schaghticoke in 1720. Johannes died at Schahticoke.
Pieter's Aunt Catarina, Uncle Leendert Gansvoort and five cousins lived in Albany at the time. Catarina DeWandelaer and Leendert Gansevoort were married 10 May 1712. Catarina was Pieter's father's sister; Leendert was his mother's brother. After grandfather Harmen Gansevoort's death in July 1710, Uncle Leendart bought out the shares of his grandfather's brewery from his seven surviving sisters. He further increased his wealth by operating the brewery and investing the proceeds into mortgages on city properties and developed farms. The brewery prospered because of the expanding population, including the Palatine Germans brought to Albany by Robert Livingston in 1710. Aunt Catarina and Uncle Leendert had ten children, all born in Albany. Their first child, Harmen, was born in 1712. Pieter Gansevort was born in 1725 and was the youngest son of Catarina and Leendert.
Uncle Leendert was a Constable in 1710, a Firemaster in 1715, and listed as a freeholder of the 3rd Ward of Albany in 1720. In 1734 Leendert was elected Alderman of the 3rd Ward of Albany. He was permitted to share in the Cherry Valley Patent in 1736. Leendart died 30 November 1763, and Catarina died at Albany on 16 August 1767.
Pieter Gansevoort was eight years younger than his cousin, Pieter DeWandelaer. Young Pieter was a classical scholar. He studied medicine in Boston and became a physician. On 7 January 1752, at Albany Dr. Pieter Gansevoort married Gerritje Ten Eyck. They had nine children; two children died as babies and the last two were twins, Hendrick and Margarita, born in June 1770. Gerritje (Gertrude) Gansevoort was born in April of 1757.
Meanwhile Pieter DeWandelaer took over his father's farm Schaghticoke. He first married Adrianntje Van Vecten, who died on 21 March 1751 in Albany. Pieter and Adrianntje had two children. Johannes was born in 1748 and died before he was two years old. Barent was born in 1750 and died a few days after his first birthday.
Pieter DeWandelaer married a second time to Anna Bogardus Van Vechten on 10 March 1753 at Schagticoke. Anna had first married Benjamin Van Vechten on 29 February 1744. Benjamin died on 31 August 1749 after fathering two children, both born in Schaghticoke. It may have been that Anna and Adrianntje were sisters-in-law.
Pieter DeWandelaer had three children by Anna. With her one surviving son, and their three, the family consisted of four children, born between 1748 and 1763. Their daughter, Elizabeth was born in Albany in 1753 and married Teunis Van Vechten in December 1777. Johannes Gansevoort DeWandelaer was born 1756; he will marry his first cousin, once removed, Gerritje (Gertrude) Gansevoort.
Johannes Gansevoort DeWandelaer was baptized on 25 April 1756 at Albany NY. His parents, Pieter DeWandelaer and Anna Bogardus Van Vechten De Wandelaer, lived in Albany NY. Johannes was the middle child of three. He had an older sister and a younger sister.
In his early life, Johannes Gansevoort DeWandelaer worked as an assistant in the law office of Judge Van Vechten, of Albany. On 14 May 1777, he married at Albany to Gertrude (Sara?) Gansevoort, who was baptized at Albany on 8 April 1757 to Dr. Pieter Gansevoort and Gerritje Ten Eyck.
Johannes Gansevoort DeWandelaer was an enlisted man in the Albany County Militia.
After the Revolutionary War, Johannes DeWandelaer and his family moved to Palatine NY, where they purchased a 600 acre farm that he worked until his death on 17 August 1824 (his will was dated 12 July 1822 and was probated on 4 September 1824). Gertrude died on 29 June 1844.
Johannes and Gertude (Gansevoort) DeWandelaer had nine children:
Pieter was baptized on 4 May 1778 at Albany. Maria was born at Albany in December 1779. Harmen was baptized at Albany on 10 September 1781. Gerritje was baptized at Schaghticoke, N.Y. on 5 August 1783. Maria was baptized at Schaghticoke, N.Y. on 22 November 1784. Anthony was born or baptized at Schaghticoke,N.Y. on 4 February 1787. Gerrit was born on 30 August 1788 at Schaghticoke, N.Y. Barrot Ten Eyck was born about 1792 at Montgomery County,N.Y. Gansevoort P. deWandelaer - our ancestor.
Gansevoort P. DeWandelaer was born at Palatine, Montgomery Co., in 1797. He was the youngest of nine children born to Johannes and Gertrude (Gansevoort) Dewandelaer Jr.
When Gansevoort DeWandelaer was young, he studied medicine and clerked in the store of his uncle - Conrad Gansevoort. He married about 1825 to Delia Getman of Ephrath, who was born on 5 July 1807 to Adam Getman and Mary Vauche.
Gansevoort DeWandelaer inherited his father's farm, at Palatine, and died there on 23 April 1867. Delia joined the Lutheran Church of Stone Arabia on April 1867 and died on 21 January 1876. They had five children: Mary Ann was born on 24 February 1828, and was baptized on 6 March 1828. She died young. Another child who died young. John Adams DeWandelaer - our ancestor was born in 1834. James Gansevoort was born on 11 November 1836. Georgiana was born in 1833/34.
John Adams DeWandelaer was born at Palatine, N.Y. on 16 November 1834. He was oldest three surviving children of Delia (Getman) and Gansevoort DeWandelaer.
John Adams DeWandelaer first married on 30 September 1856 to Nancy C. Coppernoll, who was born 8 November 1838 to James Coppernoll and Nancy Strayer. John and Nancy lived in Palatine, New York. By 1861 John and Nancy had two children, Delmar and Florence.
"At 4:30 on April 12, 1861, a hot-headed South Carolina rebel fired on Fort Sumter, beginning four years of bloodshed and bitterness called the Civil War." The war actually started decades earlier, as differences between the people of the North and those of the South. The Souhtern Confederates stunned the Northern Union loyalists. It was not until September of 1862 that the Union was able to claim an approaching victory.
John DeWandelaer became a captain in the Union Army during the Civil war, after having enlisted as a private on 25 August 1862 at Palatine. He became a 1st Lt. on 1 September 1862 and a captain on 6 March 1863. He served under Major General Banks in Louisiana, fighting in four engagements. General Grant had sent troops to Louisiana where Banks was preparing to invade Texas. Banks never did occupy Texas. The Banks campaign was badly beaten at Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, Louisiana. Bank's troops retreated with such panicky haste that Admiral Porter's accompanying fleet of gunboats narrowly escaped complete destruction.
John DeWandelaer further served in the calvary under General Sheridan in Virginia, seeing five engagements. He was wounded in the shoulder during the Battle of Winchester on 19 September 1864.
"In 1864 the North's high command decided on a policy of total war. General Philip Sheridan was ordered to put the South's granary to the torch. When he was finished the Shenandoah Valley was a scene of blackened desolution." Grant's instructions were despoil the rich farm lands of the Valley so throughly that the place could no longer support a Confederate Army. On September 19 Sheridan attacked Jubal Early's Confederate troops at Winchester. The assault was bungled and soon stalemated, but Sheridan galloped to the front, waving his hat and shouting to his officers, "Give 'em hell . . . Press them, General they'll run!" until he had the whole army surging forward irresistibly. The thin gray ranks broke and fled. After the Confedates left, the Union army put a torch to the Valley. Sheridan left his army to attend a stratgy conference in Washington.
Refusing to admit defeat, Early attacked. At dawn on October 19 the Confedertaes demolished the Union soldiers left at Ceder Creek, just south of Winchester. "By afternoon the Yankees had been shoved back four miles. General Sheridan was on his leisurely was back to Ceder Creek when the news reached him. He spurred through the backwash of defeat, a dramatic figure shouting at stragglers to "Turn Back! Turn Back! Face the other way!" Soon he had his men back into line and formed for a counterattack, swearing to give Early "the wordt licking he ever had!" A blue tide of Yankess simply overwhelmed Early, with cavalry playing havoc among the retreating Rebels. The Confederacy's hold on the Shenandoah Valley was broken for good."
Of course John DeWandelaer wasn't able to witness the famous "Sheridan's Ride" as he was wounded in the September battle at Winchester. John DeWandelaer mustered out of the Army with his Company at Savannah, GA. on 2 October 1865 when his return to his family. John and Nancy DeWandelaer had six children:
Delmar J. DeWandelaer - our ancestor was born in 1858.
Florence Adele DeWandelaer was born on 5 July 1859, and married on 14 May 1879 to Marvin E. Weller. d. 28 May 1952.
Loretta was born in 1863, and married on 22 March 1881 to William C. Wock. They lived in Fort Plain and had 2 children.
Julia DeWandelaer was born in 1868, and married --- Van Antwerp.
Glidden A. DeWandelaer was born about 1870, and died on 5 April 1910.
Melvin DeWandelaer was born in 1877.
After twenty-two years of marriage and six children, Capt. John DeWandelaer divorced Nancy. He married Francis Campbell, who had one child by him - Isabella (who married Nolan D. Mitchell and had two children- Nolan and Francis). Nancy died on 1 October 1882 and is buried at Fort Plain. John DeWandelaer was a contractor and died on 9 April 1891 at Adamstown, MD, and is buried at Washington, DC.
Delmar J. DeWandelaer was born at Palatine, New York, on 21 June 1857 or 21 January 1858, and was baptized on 14 February 1860 at the Trinity Lutheran Church at Stone Arabia.
He was married about 1875 to Emma Louisa Truax, who was born on 31 January 1857 at Matawan, New Jersey, and moved to Fort Plain in 1874.
Delmar DeWandelaer was a member of the firm of DeWandelaer & Gray - Undertaking & Furniture Store, until his retirement in 1913.
Emma died on 15 Novenber 1935, at Fort Plain. They had at least one child - Edward Percy our ancestor. Probably Edward was their only child.
Delmar DeWandelaer died on 4 January 1939, at Palatine, and is buried at Fort Plain.
Edward Percy DeWandelaer was born on 17 March 1876,at Fort Plain, New York. He was the son of Delmar DeWandelaer and Emma Lousia (Traux) DeWandelaer. The DeWandelaers lived in Fort Plain NY where Edward's father was a member of the firm of DeWandelaer & Gray - Undertaking & Furniture Store, until his retirement in 1913.
Edward Percy DeWandelaer married about 1902 Ethel Effa J. Link, who was born at Root, N.Y. on 14 November 1879 to Addison Link and Grace Alida Stokes. Edward and Ethel had two children:
Dorothy Jane was born at Fort Plain on 28 June 1904. Ruth Rosemary DeWandelaer was born 18 November 1905 at Fort Plain, N.Y.
When the girls were teenagers, Edward DeWandelaer seperated from Ethel and moved to Phoenix, AZ, where he died in 1942. Ethel died on 5 February 1932 at Amsterdam, New York.
Dorothy married on 31 January 1931 to Richard J. Walker.They lived in the Philadelphia, PA area until Richard's retirement from the Philadelphie Electreic Co., when they moved to Largo Fla.
Ruth Rosemary DeWandelaer was born at Fort Plain, N.Y. on 18 November 1905. She was the second daughter of Edward Percy and Ethel Link DeWandelaer.
As a child, Ruth's family lived at Ft. Plain NY, where her father was a member of the DeWandelaer & Gray - Undertaking & Furniture store. Ruth's sister, Dorothy DeWandelaer, was only a year and a half older. Both girls graduated from Fort Plain High School. Ruth graduated from Agnes Scott College at Decator Ga. Agnes Scott was a women's college established in 1879. Aunt Dorothy use to say `the town knew when the DeWandelaer girls were home from college because their mother use to buy a vat of dill pickles'. Ruth's parents separated sometime around 1920. Her father, Edward DeWandelaer, moved to Phoenix, Az. where he died in 1942
It seems apparent that Dorothy and Ruth DeWandelaer frequently visited the Taylor's, in Philadelphia. Aunt Minnie became like a fairy godmother to the two DeWandelaer girls. Aunt Minnie was Ruth's mother's sister.
Ruth married at Philadelphia on 15 August 1928 to Nicholas Herkimer Greene. Nicholas Herkimer Greene was born at Chicago, Ill. in 1906 to Carlton Herkimer Greene and Maude Sophia Leppert. Nicholas graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in June 1928.
Apparently Ruth and Nick became sweetheart while Nick visited his grandparents in Ft. Plain through out his childhood. Nicholas and Ruth settled in the Germantown area of Philadelphia, where Nicholas worked as an accountant and office manager of with the Philadelphia Electric Company.
Ruth's sister, Dorothy DeWandelaer, married Richard J. Walker on 31 January 1931. Richard Walker also worked for the Philadelphia Electric Company. Dorothy and Richard first settled in Philadelphia.
Ruth and Nicholas had two children: Nicholas Herkimer Greene Jr was born in 1931, and Ann DeWandelaer Greene was born in 1935.
Ruth and Nicholas lived at Philadelphia, where she died after a short illness on 24 June 1939. Nicholas was left a widower with two young children. At the funeral, he met Ruth's cousin. Ruth's mother had died in 1932. Her father was remarried and living in Arizona. I don't think he came to his daughter's funeral!
Nicholas remarried Ruth's cousin,Florence Louise Pitcher, on December 30, 1939. Nick and Louise had a daughter, Priscilla Louise, born April 20, 1941 Nicholas Greene retired from the Philadelphia Electric Company and moved to Largo with his second wife.