Aitken, William B., Distinguished families in America descended from Wilhelmus Beekman and Jan Thomasse Van Dyke.

(New York and London :  The Knickerbocker Press,  1912.)

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176                 THE VAN DYKE FAMILY

of the burgher families. His coat of arms is described in
Rietstap's Armorial General of France, as follows: **D'arg.
k ime digue de sin., touchant les flancs de I'ecu, mouv. d'une
eau au nat., et siurm. de trois etoiles d'or, rangees en chef.
Crest: une 6toile d'or."

The Director-General and Council at Fort Amsterdam on
October 2, 1659, made the following proclamation: ''The
Director-General and Coimcil notify the inhabitants of the
Town of New Utrecht to keep good watch and for the purpose
of keeping good order they have appointed and set as in
other cases the person Jan Thomassen to the office of Ser¬
geant, they therefore order the inhabitance of the Town of
New Utrecht to obey and acknowledge as Sergeant the
above named Jan Thomassen." This was the commission
of Sergeant Jan Thomasse Van Dyke.

It was often the custom of the Dutch to refer to a person
by mentioning his first name and the first name of his father.
Jan Thomasse would mean John the son of Thomas, and Jan
Janse, John the son of John. To this would be added the
name which indicated generaUy the place from which he
came;thus Beekman was "the man of the brook," Van Dyke
was the man of the dyke. The name was spelled in many
ways, often in the same family. It was spelled Van Dyke,
Van Duyk, Van Dike, Vandike, Van Dyk, Van Duyck, and
Van Dyck. The correct way of spelling the name of the
family founded by Jan Thomasse Van Dyke is Van Dyke.
Dutch parents in naming their children would generally
give to the oldest son the name of his paternal grandfather,
and to the second son the name of his maternal grandfather.
The two oldest daughters wotUd receive the names of their
grandmothers in the same order. According to the Register
of New Net her land Jan Thomasse Van Dyke was for many
years a Magistrate of Fort Orange and New Utrecht.

Jan Thomasse Van Dyke was appointed by Governor
Colve, August 18, 1673, one of the Schepens. He must have
died soon after for under date October 16, 1673, we find in
Documentary History of New York, vol. ii., 577 and 659,
the following entry:
  Page 176