Oliver Wendell was born in Boston, March 5, 1733, [N. S.] His father,
Hon. Jacob Wendell, was born in Albany in 1691, and was a descendant of
the first of the name and family in America, that has been transmitted
to us. Evart Janson Wendell came from Embden[X] to the New Netherlands
when possessed by the Dutch, and settled at Beverwyck, the site of
Fort Orange, afterward called Albany, on Hudson river. The arms of the
family were painted on nine panes of glass in the east window of the
ancient church in Albany; namely, a ship riding at her two anchors. By
an engraved copy of these arms, in possession of the family, it appears
that Evart Janson Wendell was an officer in that church the same year
in which New Amsterdam, afterwards called New York, was laid out in
small streets eight years before the Dutch garrison at Fort Orange
capitulated to the English. The inscription is, _Regerendo Dijakin_,
1656.
Evart J. was the father of John, who was the father of Jacob. This
grandson of Evart J., the father of Oliver, was placed, while in his
minority, under the care of Mr. John Mico, an eminent merchant in
Boston, and was trained up to mercantile business. He afterwards became
settled in Boston as a merchant, and was very prosperous. He was highly
respected in the town and province; and, among other offices, was
repeatedly employed by the government in the negotiation of treaties,
and exchange of prisoners, with the Indians. He married Sarah Oliver,
the daughter of Dr. James Oliver of Cambridge, and lived in School
street, near the Episcopal church. He possessed a handsome estate in
Oliver street, where, after the destructive fire of 1760, he built a
brick house, (still standing,) in which his son Oliver lived. Since the
incorporation of the city, a street leading from Oliver street, and
passing by this place, has been named Wendell street. Mr. Wendell had
several children. His son Oliver, after finishing his education at
Harvard College, entered into mercantile business with his father, from
whose experience and counsels he may have derived no less benefit, than
from his stock in trade.
Mr. Wendell possessed a rare combination of talents and virtues,
alike adapted to the offices of public and of private life. Mild in
temper, benevolent in disposition, upright in principle, and resolute
in action, he was conciliatory in address, and exemplary in life; and
uniformly had the esteem and confidence of his friends and of the
community. He was in the consultations of the early patriots of the
American Revolution, and contributed to the acquisition and maintenance
of the liberty and independence of the Commonwealth and country. After
the Constitution was settled, he was often a member of the Senate,
and of the Council, in the government of the Commonwealth. During
his public life, he was Judge of Probate for the county of Suffolk;
President of Union Bank; a Fellow of the Corporation of Harvard
College; President of the Society for propagating the Gospel among the
Indians and others in North America; and a Trustee of Phillips Academy,
Andover. Retiring from the city, he spent several of his last years in
Cambridge, where he died, January 15, 1818, aged 85.
The evening of his days was serene and tranquil. While conscious of
uprightness, he relied not on his integrity as meritorious, but founded
his hope of future happiness on the propitiation made for sin by
Jesus Christ; this hope was a steadfast anchor to his soul. Religious
contemplation, and devotional exercises, habitual to him in public and
active life, were cherished by him in secrecy and the stillness of
retirement. Easy and gentle, at last, was his descent to the grave,
and the observer might "see in what peace a Christian can die." His
remains were deposited in the family tomb, in the Chapel burial-ground
in Boston.
To the public notice of his death was annexed the following sketch
of his character, written in the Council Chamber at the State House,
on the reception of the intelligence of his death, by a highly
respected friend,[Y] who, by long intercourse with him in public
and private life, was a competent judge of his character. "In all
relations of life, as a man, citizen, and magistrate, Judge Wendell
was distinguished for uncommon urbanity of manners, and unimpeached
integrity of conduct. During the course of a long life he had been
successively called to fill many high and responsible offices. The
punctuality and precision with which he fulfilled all the duties
connected with them, were highly exemplary. Full of years, he has
descended to the grave regretted and beloved by all who knew him;
happy in the consciousness of a life well spent, and rejoicing in the
prospect of felicity in a future state, of which a firm faith in his
Redeemer gave him the assurance."
Judge Wendell married, in 1762, Mary, a daughter of Edward Jackson, who
graduated at H. C. 1726, married Dorothy Quincy, and was a merchant of
Boston. He was the son of Jonathan, who was a brazier and nail-maker,
and married Mary Salter, March 26, 1700, lived in Boston, and left
an estate of about £30,000. He was the son of Jonathan, who married
Elizabeth---- and settled in Boston. He was born in England, and was
the son of Edward, born in 1602, who emigrated from White Chapel, a
parish in London, to this country about 1642, took the freeman's oath,
May, 1645, and in 1646 purchased of Gov. Bradstreet a farm of 500 acres
of land in that part of Cambridge which is now Newton, for £140. For
his second wife he married March 14, 1648, Elisabeth Oliver, widow of
Rev. John Oliver, the first minister of Rumney Marsh, (Chelsea,) and
daughter of John Newgate of Boston. He was one of the most respectable
men of the Colony, and was much engaged in public life. He died July
17, 1681, aged 79. Judge Wendell had several children, most of whom
died young. Oliver and Edward never married, and have deceased. Sarah
married the Rev. Dr. Abiel Holmes of Cambridge, by whom she had five
children; namely, Mary Jackson, who married Usher Parsons, M. D., of
Providence, R. I.; Ann Susan, who married Rev. Charles W. Upham of
Salem; Sarah Lathrop, who died 1812, aged 6 years; Oliver Wendell, M.
D., of Boston, who married Amelia Lee Jackson, daughter of Hon. Charles
Jackson of Boston; and John, an Attorney at law, living in Cambridge.
For the above facts we are indebted principally to the late Rev. Dr.
Holmes of Cambridge, and Francis Jackson, Esq., of Boston.