Evert Jansen Wendell - Orphan Master

In Emden in East Fresia, in what is now Lower Saxony, Germany Evert Jansen Wendel was born. The year was 1614 and he is my 9th Great Grandfather.  He departed Emden about 1640 gaining transportation with the Dutch East India Company arriving in New Amsterdam a month later.  He lived in New Amsterdam for almost 5 years falling in love with the lovely Susanna DuTrieux whom he married on 31 July 1644. 

After receiving a license to trade with the Indians he moves his family to Fort Orange a Dutch settlement in what was called New Netherlands. Grandfather Evert becomes the Ruling Elder in his local Dutch Reformed Church in 1656. By 1657 he is the Orphan Master.  In 1653 New Amsterdam was granted Municipal Rights and many things that the church was responsible for now became the domain of the council for the city. The care of orphans, widows and the poor became their concern and Orphan Masters were appointed by council. On 15 September 1655 the Peach Tree War started over the senseless murder of Tachiniki a young Wappinger woman who stole a peach from a tree in the yard of a Dutch Settler. After a few weeks of unrest and tension including the location of a New Swedish Settlement an army of 600 Indians attacked the new settlement as well as New Amsterdam. This incident left many orphans not to mention those who were orphaned by illness, death and abandonment. 

In 1660 he was a Magistrate. His family and his business thrived and by 1660 8 children had been born. Sadly in 1660 his wife Susanna passes away and three years later he marries Maritje Abrahm Van Deursen and they have 4 children. 

Grandfather Evert and his family attended the Dutch Reformed Church in Albany and in 1656 a stained glass window panel with the Wendel Coat of Arms was installed in the church. It says "Evert Jansen Wendell, Regerende Dyaken 1656  A description of the design is Per fess, in chief Azure a ship under full sail proper, in base Argent two anchors in saltire crowns upward Sable.

Grandfather Evert died in 1709 and is said to have been buried under the Old Dutch Church that stood at the corner of Yonker and Handelser Streets. Now known as State Street and Broadway in Albany.