Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Garret Dykeman: The Loyalist Who Never Came Back
DYCKMAN FAMILY HISTORY
November 25, 1783, was a day of mixed emotions in New York City, as British troops evacuated the city after seven years of occupation. The date would be celebrated annually by New Yorkers as "Evacuation Day" for a century after the British departed. Overshadowed by other holidays in the 20th century, Evacuation Day was not observed again until 1983 to mark the 200th anniversary of that fateful event.
But in 1783 joy was neither unalloyed nor universal among city dwellers viewing the transfer. For those Loyalists who had not left with the bulk of the British occupying troops, it was a time to lie low and hope for the best. They watched with apprehension as scarlet-uniformed British regiments marched sullenly down the Bowery to wharves along the East River.
A certain Mrs. Day prematurely displayed the American flag over her boarding house on Murray Street. British Provost Marshal William Cunningham, resplendent in scarlet coat and powdered wig, ordered her to take it down. She whacked him on the nose with her broom, bloodying it, and sent him packing.
A discreet distance behind the departing British, 800 combat-weary Continental soldiers from Massachusetts and New York, entered the city, their worn uniforms and battle-scarred weapons in stark contrast with the bright outfits and highly polished weapons of the British garrison troops. At the head of the small American force rode General George Washington and Governor George Clinton, escorted by high-ranking Continental officers. Heading south on Broadway, the triumphal American procession passed St. Paul's Chapel, designed by architect Thomas McBean and completed in 1766. This graceful church still stands between Fulton Street (then called Partition Street) and Vesey Street.
As a parting insult, the British had nailed a Union Jack to the flagstaff of the fort at the Battery, then greased the pole and cut the halyards. John Van Arsdale, an American sailor, had shoes equipped with metal spikes. He climbed the slippery pole and replaced the British flag with the Stars and Stripes.
Although the war had virtually ended in 1781 with the American victory at Yorktown, Virginia, desultory skirmishes and negotiations for peace dragged on through 1782. A royal proclamation in February of 1783 officially suspended hostilities, staggering Loyalists who had hoped for a different oucome. By the end of June, 10,000 of them had accepted the British government's offer of free passage to other British colonies.
We tend to think of the American Revolution as a war pitting British land and naval forces against the fledgling army and navy of the colonists. But it was also a bitter civil war that raged between two factions of the Americans themselves.
The word "Tory" was a disparaging epithet hurled at pre-Revolutionary supporters of British authority. The word "Loyalist" came into use as a badge of honor by those who disdained rebellion and upheld the Crown. Anti-Tory legislation, fines, and the social pressures of mass meetings, rowdy brawls and even mob violence directed at Tories were commonplace, eventually causing many Loyalists to emigrate.
Gone to New Brunswick
One Loyalist who was not present to witness the British departure was Garret Dykeman. With some 3,000 other Tories, the 41-year-old Dykeman, his wife and their three sons, ranging in age between 11 and 14, had left for St. John, on Canada's Bay of Fundy, a month earlier in October...
Born Gerrit Dyckman, Garret Dykeman was the son of Jacob Dyckman, the first male Dyckman to leave the lush meadowlands of Harlem and make his home in Westchester County. His mother was Rebecca Vermilye. Their first child, Josyntje, Gerrit's older sister, was baptized in the Reformed Dutch Church in New York City on October 26, 1737.
The Jacob Dyckman family probably moved from Harlem to Philipse Manor about 1741, for we know that Jacob was still Constable in Harlem in 1739 and 1740. Gerrit, their second child, was baptized on June 6, 1741, in the First Dutch Reformed Church in North Tarrytown, now Sleepy Hollow. According to Dutch custom, as the first male child Gerrit was named after his paternal grandfather.
We know that Jacob recorded the earmark with which he identified his cattle in the Philipsborough Town Book in 1744. He must have had an above-average education because he was made Town Clerk in 1750 and held that office until 1763. The Town Book was much improved after he accepted the post. Gerrit Dyckman was baptized in the North Tarrytown church soon after his birth in 1741, but later joined the Anglican Church and changed his name to Garret Dykeman.
The Old Dutch Church
The First Dutch Reformed Church in Sleepy Hollow played a major role in the lives of Dutch farmers, who were the original settlers of Westchester in the 1640's. For their religious buildings, they developed a polygonal form topped by a gable or a gambrel roof with flared eaves, although this style had no precedent in Holland.
The Dutch constructed churches in Van Cortlandtville, North Tarrytown and Fordham. These became social and religious centers of life in the respective manors. Church records show that the North Tarrytown congregation was already organized by 1697. Construction of the church took place sometime between that date and 1699. It later became the mother church for other churches in the area, including the monumental Second Dutch Reformed Church on Broadway in Tarrytown and the Hawthorne (then called Unionville) Dutch Reformed Church.
Today, the First Dutch Reformed Church, also called the Old Dutch Church, is the oldest remaining church in Westchester and, with the restored manor house at the Upper Mills, across the Albany Post Road, gives us a link with the early Dutch past in the Hudson Valley.
The church is built on a rectangular plan, with a polygonal apse at the eastern end. Walls are of fieldstone, and the gambrel roof and flared eaves are sheathed in wood shingles. The west gable of the church is faced with wood clapboards, a mixing of materials characteristic of Dutch colonial buildings. Containing a bell cast in Holland in 1685, the open octagonal belfry surmounts the gable.
The Old Dutch Church retains its general exterior form, but it has undergone many alterations. During the Revolution, the original plain backless benches on which the tenants of the manor worshipped, and the seats of the lord and lady, were replaced with high-backed pine pews.
After a fire in 1837, major alterations were made. The original north-south axis of the interior plan was changed to the present east-west axis. The entrance door, originally at the southwest corner of the building, was moved to the center of the west wall and covered with a full-width one-story Greek Revival portico.
Inside, the original north gallery was removed and the west gallery was enlarged. The pulpit was replaced and the exposed ceiling beams and quarter-oak ceiling was removed.
Today's window pattern was established in this 1837 alteration. The original windows were small with sills about seven feet above the floor. These were lowered, and their shape was changed to that of a lancet arch. The openings were framed in brick and new window sash were installed. About 1870, the front portico was removed. In 1897, to celebrate the building's bicentennial, the original beamed ceiling and pulpit were reproduced. Open to the public, this historic church building and adjoining burying ground are well worth a visit for anyone interested in local history.
Jacob and Rebecca Vermilye Dyckman had eleven children, six girls and five boys, born between 1737 and 1760, all but the first baptized in the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow. Except for Gerrit and his brother Jan, 12 years his junior, we know almost nothing about the later lives of the other children.
Gerrit Dyckman was baptized in the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow soon after his birth in 1741, but we know little about Gerrit Dyckman's youth. His name appears twice as a sponsor at baptisms in the Sleepy Hollow Church: At the age of 19, he was a witness when his youngest brother Petrus was baptized. In 1765, he and his sister Rebecca witnessed the baptism of Daniel and Mareitie Marteling's daughter, Ragel (Rachel).
Gerrit Dyckman later deserted the Dutch Reformed Church of his birth in favor of the Anglican (Protestant Episcopal) Church and Anglicized the spelling of his name, changing it to Garret Dykeman. It made a better match with his pro-British Loyalist sympathies. At the start of the Revolution, he was a trusted and reliable farmer, 35 years old, married with three children.
Who Were the Loyalists?
In the main, Loyalists were men of substance solid in their devotion to British institutions, with much to lose if Britain abandoned America. Loyalism was strong in New York, in part because of the colony’s dependence upon foreign trade. Most members of the local Chamber of Commerce, prosperous merchants and large landowners, were Loyalists.
Westchester's John Jay, a conservative who later sided with the Patriots, reflected Loyalist attitudes when he said, "Those who own the country ought to govern it." Religion, too, played a role. The Anglican Church was the official church of the British Crown. Anglican churchmen and their congregations opposed separation and independence from the mother country, but other religions favored making the change. Only one of New York's Presbyterian ministers became a Loyalist. Of 44 Dutch Reformed ministers in the colony, 37 supported independence.
New York, seventh of thirteen colonies in total population, was the largest Loyalist stronghold. It supplied as many members of the British armed forces as the rest of the colonies combined and included at least half of the total American Loyalists.
Marriage and Children
At White Plains sometime before 1769, Garret Dykeman married Eunice Anne Hatfield, niece of Capt. Abraham Hatfield, a Loyalist. Their first child, a son named Gilbert Hatfield Dykeman, was born May 17, 1769. A second son, Jacob Dykeman, also named for his paternal grandfather, followed on March 4, 1771. A third son, Moses Dykeman, was born December 31, 1772.
Dominated by Loyalists, in January of 1775 the New York Assembly refused to appoint delegates to the Second Continental Congress, so Patriots decided to bypass the Assembly by going directly to the freeholders of New York and proposing a new legislative body, a Provincial Convention. Such a convention was set for April 20th, a date that gave outlying towns and counties where Loyalism was strong the occasion to protest the trend to rebellion.
Contest at White Plains
Freeholders and inhabitants of Westchester County assembled at White Plains on April 11. Loyalists opposed to electing deputies met at Hatfield's Tavern "due south from the old Court-house, nearly half a mile distant, on the north side of the old stage-road to New York."
Patriots favoring such an election gathered at Miles Oakley's Tavern "on the east side of the old stage-road, directly opposite to the old Court-house." At the courthouse, led by Lewis Morris, third and last lord of the Manor of Morrisania, they intended to appoint the delegates and outmaneuver the opposition.
Getting wind of the opposition's plan, the Loyalist faction, led by the Reverend Samuel Seabury, Frederick Philipse and Isaac Wilkins, marched to the courthouse to protest the actions of the Morris group.
In 1766, Samuel Seabury, 45, was named pastor of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in the village of Westchester, in that part of Westchester County that voted in 1895 for consolidation with the growing city to the south. St. Peter's, a handsome English Gothic granite church, the third building on the site to house this congregation, still stands in the Bronx on Westchester Avenue not far from the former village green, a busy intersection now known as Westchester Square.
Frederick Philipse, 55 years old, was the wealthy third lord of Philipse Manor, who had inherited undisputed title to his enormous estate in 1751. He was the landlord of more than 270 tenant farmers occupying lots that averaged about 200 acres. His loyalty to the Crown would later cost him his Manor.
The 34-year-old Isaac Wilkins, son of a rich planter in Jamaica in the West Indies, was a graduate of King's College (later named Columbia), where he had earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees. In 1762, he had married 16-year-old Isabella Morris, Lewis Morris's young half-sister.
Over the protests of the Loyalists, the Patriots unanimously appointed delegates to the Provincial Convention and passed resolutions thanking the Continental Congress for its actions opposing the Crown. Both factions wrote accounts of what happened that day. The Loyalists claimed two-thirds of Westchester's inhabitants were friends of government and drew up "A Protest of the Inhabitants and Freeholders of Westchester County" to which 312 names were inscribed. Historians believe Isaac Wilkins penned this document.
Lewis Morris later responded by noting that "In the formidable catalogue of 312 sober and loyal protestors, there are not less than 170 who, after a most diligent inquiry, I cannot find have the least pretensions to vote, and indeed many of them are under age."
Not infrequently, Tories were tarred and feathered, ridden out of town on a rail, imprisoned, forced into exile and even hanged without a trial. Patriots harassed tavern keeper Abraham Hatfield until his life finally became so unbearable that he crossed the British lines and joined DeLancey's hated mounted corps in 1777. We know this from a petition Hatfield made from Canada after the war. In it, he sought reimbursement from the British for one horse, saddle and "accoutriments" amounting to 33 pounds, and for 40 months of unpaid service.
Following the burning in 1776 of the original White Plains courthouse in which Loyalists and Patriots had contested over sending delegates to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, a new courthouse was constructed in 1787. According to tradition, it was a duplicate of the original. It was replaced 70 years later with an imposing stone courthouse erected at a cost of $120,000.
The site of the previous three courthouses in White Plains is today occupied by the state armory, dedicated in 1909. Now on the National Register of Historic Places, the armory building has been converted to senior citizen apartments and a senior citizen center.
According to Henry P. Toler's New Harlem Register, a genealogy of the descendants of the 23 original patentees of the town of New Harlem published in 1903, Garret Dykeman served in the First Regiment of the Westchester County militia. The public record says nothing about his other activities during the war years. Like other prominent New York Loyalists Frederick Philips and Anglican clergyman Samuel Seabury, Dykeman was taken prisoner at his home in 1779 and taken to Connecticut. When the Dykeman family gathered in New York City to embark for Nova Scotia as Loyalist refugees in 1783, Garret did not mention New York, but said that he was from Connecticut.
Imprisoned
The isolated and strongly Patriot back country of Connecticut was a favorite spot for holding important Loyalist prisoners from the northern colonies. The most celebrated prison for this purpose was at the Simsbury (now East Granby) copper mines, 18 miles from Hartford. Officially named Newgate, after London's infamous prison, the mere threat of being sent ‘to the mines" was enough to make a Loyalist conform.
Now a National Historic Landmark, Simsbury was the "Catacomb of Loyalty" to British lieutenant Thomas Danbury, in his Travels Through the Interior Parts of America. It was the "woeful mansion" of another inmate, cells deep below the surface into which "the prisoners are let down by a windlass into the dismal cavern, through a hole, which answers the purpose of conveying their food and air; as to light, it scarcely reaches them."
For Tories desiring to escape the country, a series of hiding places between New York City and Canada foreshadowed the celebrated "Underground Railroad" of pre-Civil War days. The number of Loyalists who left of their own volition or were forced to leave has been estimated at between 80,000 and 100,000--although the number who remained and adjusted to changed circumstances was much higher. Laws punishing them by confiscating their property, denying them careers and even citizenship, or curbing recourse to the courts left many Loyalists with no choice but to emigrate.
England a Refuge
England offered a haven for Loyalists of property or distinction and already retired pensioners of the Crown. Frederick Philipse left for England after the close of hostilities in 1783. His lands were seized and confiscated. He never returned from England and died there in 1785 at the age of 65. His crypt is in Chester, England.
Toward the end of the war, London, Bristol and other cities swarmed with exiles. The meager government compensation for losses (only about a third of the amount Loyalists claimed) was only part of the disillusioning experience for Loyalists. A deeper hurt was their loss of place in society and the aloofness, if not contempt, shown by the English for their former provincials.
Besides Great Britain, a vast majority of refugees found new homes in many areas of Canada. In 1783, Canada, in the modern sense, did not exist. Canada then consisted of only two provinces: Nova Scotia--the area Canadians now call the Maritimes (Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Isle and New Brunswick)--and French-speaking Quebec, the original New France, which also included the largely unoccupied region north of the Great Lakes.
Many American Loyalist regiments were brought to Canada and disbanded there to avoid revenge by the victors. Paradoxically, ex-soldiers from the regular British army and deserters from the various mercenary Hessian corps were permitted to remain in the United States.
To Canada
A Loyalist group had sent a delegation to Nova Scotia to survey it as a possible destination. Their report was so favorable, many of them decided to settle in the St. John River Valley of New Brunswick. The St. John was about the size of the Hudson, the committee reported, and drained into a splendid harbor on the Bay of Fundy, ice-free in winter. Parr Town (later renamed St. John) was at the harbor at the mouth of the river. Some 30,000 Loyalists left the States for Nova Scotia, according to Governor John Parr's estimate early in 1784.
The two principal settlements in New Brunswick were the valley of the St. John River, including the city of the same name (the only Canadian city founded entirely by Loyalists), and Shelburne, on the southern shore of the peninsula, with a temporary population of 10,000. Loyalists moved into thinly settled Nova Scotia in such great numbers, New Brunswick had to be made a separate province in August of 1784. The Loyalists themselves argued for separation because of friction with the original settlers.
In addition to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, refugees fanned out in the St. Lawrence Valley and along the northern shore of Lake Ontario.
The British government promised land--tax free for several years--and transportation. It furnished refugees with woolen and linen cloth, shoes, stockings, mittens, tools such as axes and spades, and a year's supply of provisions. Initially, the only shelter provided was tents. The short-handled axes quickly turned out to be useless for clearing the thick forests. Soon the program bogged down in bureaucracy and favoritism, and the promised supplies of seed and food were both inadequate and unreliable.
A Hard Life
For Loyalist newcomers to Canada, conditions were harsh. Accustomed to a comfortable life, many found it difficult to cope with the hardships of primitive conditions in an undeveloped country and a cold climate. Inefficient administration and management of the refugee program only added to their frustration.
In Boston, American General Benjamin Lincoln expressed regret that the local newspapers were so full of hate for Tories. "We are not only driving from us many men who might be useful, but we are obliging them to people Nova Scotia," he remarked to his wife.
Garret Dyckman and the 3,000 Loyalists in his group chose the St. John River area. In New York, Garret Dykeman, his wife and their children were ready to board the Neptune as members of Company 51 on October 3, 1783. They waited at Staten Island until the ships in their convoy were assembled, and sailed on October 7. They landed at Parr Town, New Brunswick, about mid-October 1783.
They were granted a building lot in town and a supply of boards, shingles and bricks. At first, most of the buildings were log houses, and the lumber was used for roofing. The Dykeman lot was on St. George's Street (now called King Street), today part of a desirable residential area. In May of 1784, a census of the families was taken to find out who had survived the winter.
Moving Upriver
Because the government did not consider town lots as part of the acreage promised to refugee families, the Dykemans traveled about 50 miles up the St. John River and staked out lots at Jemseg in Waterborough Parish, near Grand Lake.
In 1786, Garret petitioned Thomas Carleton, governor of New Brunswick, to grant him the lands that had been promised, pointing out that he had "set down with his family" on land he supposed belonged to the Crown. His petition was apparently granted; in his will he bequeathed Lots 5 and 7 to his son Gilbert Hatfield Dykeman, who owned land adjoining them.
At Gagetown, a community across the St. John River on the west bank, now the county seat, Garret Dykeman became a pew holder in St. John's Anglican Church, built in 1790 and consecrated two years later. Church records show that his wife Eunice, and their first and third sons, Gilbert H. and Moses, were baptized in this church as adults on August 26, 1792.
Meanwhile, in the States laws against Loyalists were gradually rescinded. New York and New Jersey, which had both suffered severely at the hands of Loyalists, repealed their drastic anti-Tory laws by 1788. As persecution ceased, many well-known Loyalists returned. Despite an occasional local unpleasantness, some found a surprisingly friendly reception and enough support in time for them even to hold political office.
Returnees
Among Loyalists returning to New York were Peter Van Schaack, Garret's cousin States Morris Dyckman, Samuel Seabury and Isaac Wilkins.
Attorney Van Schaack had argued in lawyerly fashion against the Declaration of Independence and armed rebellion. Banished to England in 1778, he returned in 1785, was readmitted to the bar and resumed his law practice in Kinderhook, N.Y. He is credited with opening the first true law school in the United States. Despite being nearly blind, he practiced law until 1812 and operated his law school until 1826. He died in 1832 at the age of 85.
Wealthy States Morris Dyckman returned to Cortlandtown, where he would soon plan the building of the mansion he called Boscobel.
Samuel Seabury returned to America in 1785 as the first bishop in the Anglican Church in the United States. How he accomplished this makes an interesting story. He had been taken prisoner in Westchester in 1775 and held in Connecticut for seven weeks. The following year he sought safety behind the British lines in New York City and served as chaplain to the British Army throughout the Revolution.
Presented in 1783 as a candidate for consecration as a bishop in the now independent colonies, he was refused by church authorities in Britain, who felt they were legally barred from performing this rite. Seabury took himself to Scotland, where Scottish prelates obliged by consecrating him. Seabury became rector of St. James's Church in New London, Connecticut, and Bishop of Connecticut and Rhode Island. He died in 1796 and is buried in New London. To his death, he had little sympathy for the liberalizing ideas of the new country.
Isaac Wilkins, who had been serving as an administrator of refugee affairs in New Brunswick, returned to Westchester and decided to become an ordained minister. Although he had prepared himself for the ministry, Wilkins did not become a clergyman until he was almost 60, after which he was named rector of St. Peter's Church in the village of Westchester in what is now the Bronx. Founded in 1653 and known as Oostorp under the Dutch, between 1681 and 1759 this village was the seat of the County of Westchester. Built in 1702, the first church on this site at Westchester and Seabury avenues, St. Peter's was the church at which Samuel Seabury had been the rector when he and Wilkins had tried to prevent the election of delegates to the Provincial and Continental Congresses.
Isaac Wilkins served for 31 years as rector of St. Peter's Church. He and his wife died in 1830 within a few months of each other and were buried under the chancel of the church. They had twelve children, seven daughters and five sons.
Meanwhile, Back in New Brunswick
If Garret Dyckman thought of joining the Loyalists returning to New York, he gave no hint of it. The responsibilities of a growing family and a working farm would have discouraged a return. In New Brunswick, Garret and Eunice Dykeman had another son, Joseph Hatfield Dykeman, born in November 1788, and two daughters, Rebecca and Anna (the latter referred to in his will as Ann), whose birth dates are unclear. Daughter Anna Dykeman and fourth son, Joseph Hatfield Dykeman, were baptized in the St. John's Anglican Church in Gagetown September 11, 1795.
Garret Dykeman died about June 19, 1813, in his 73rd year. His will, written shortly before he died, reveals that he had flourished in the new land. To son Gilbert Hatfield, he left two lots and 120 pounds; to son Jacob, 100 pounds; to son Moses, two lots and 60 pounds; to son Joseph Hatfield, the family homestead, livestock and farming tools.
The remainder of his estate was divided among his four sons and two daughters. To daughters Rebecca and Ann he gave his household furniture and 100 pounds, to be equally divided. His clothing was distributed equally among his four sons.
Garret Dykeman was buried on June 20 in St. John's churchyard, where many of the graves are unmarked. One Dykeman gravestone, marking the grave of Eunice Hatfield Dykeman, who died November 16, 1808, can be seen. Her husband's grave alongside hers has only a rough footstone to mark it.
Hundreds of descendants of Garret and Eunice Dykeman populate New Brunswick today, most still living in the valley of the St. John River. Others are in Ontario. By the latter part of the 19th century, Dykemans had begun to migrate to the northern tier states, and can be found in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Minnesota and Illinois. It is not known whether any Dykemans have returned to Westchester.
In an excess of enthusiasm, a Canadian historian paid tribute to the Loyalists who emigrated to Canada: "It is but truth to say the Loyalists were the makers of Canada. They were an army of leaders. The most influential judges, the most distinguished lawyers, the most capable and prominent physicians, the most highly respected clergy, the members of the council of various colonies, the crown officials, the people of culture and social distinction--these were the Loyalists. Canada owes deep gratitude to her southern kinsmen, who thus, from Maine to Georgia, picked out their choicest spirits, and sent them forth to people our northern wilds."
This was a noble sentiment, but the truth is somewhat different. A study of the occupations of those Loyalists who submitted claims to the British after the war is revealing. It shows the breakdown of Loyalists by occupation to be farmers, 49%; merchants, shopkeepers, artisans, 32%; professionals, 9%; and officeholders, 10%. Thus, a majority of Loyalists were farmers like Garret Dyckman, shopkeepers and others in commerce. Interestingly, among professionals, doctors outnumbered teachers by four to one.
Despite the Loyalists' valiant and principled point of view as the War of Independence loomed, loyalty to a monarch thousands of miles away and allegiance to an imperious, heavy-handed government that had not treated them very kindly in recent years had little appeal for most Americans. Much more compelling was the goal of true independence and the tantalizing prospect of being able to govern themselves. To achieve this, victorious Patriots fought, bled and died in that special kind of civil war called the American Revolution.
That revolution and the unique system of government it spawned have stood the test of time. More than that, they have inspired other peoples to emulate the American experiment. Britain's loss has been the civilized world's gain.
Appendix: The Sons and Daughters of Garret and Eunice Dykeman
Gilbert Hatfield Dykeman, born in Westchester May 17, 1769, married Dorcas Manzer July 10, 1794, in St. John's Anglican Church in Gagetown. He was almost 25 and she had just turned 17. They had 12 children, eight girls and four boys, between 1795 and 1818.
Jacob Wiggins Dykeman, born in Westchester March 4, 1771, married Statira Camp July 27, 1796, in St. John's Anglican Church in Gagetown. She was born in Connecticut, the daughter of Loyalist Abiathar Camp. They had 10 children, five boys and five girls. Without his oldest son, Daniel Lyman Dykeman, who remained in New Brunswick and three children who died young (one boy and two girls), Jacob and his family later moved to Ontario in Canada, where many of his descendants still live.
Moses Dykeman, born in Westchester December 31, 1772, married Eunice Phoebe Currie February 13, 1798, in St. John's Anglican Church in Gagetown. He was 26 and she was 18. They had 12 children, nine boys and three girls. She died November 30, 1845, and he died on April 7, 1850.
Joseph Hatfield Dykeman, born in Jemseg, New Brunswick, in November of 1788 and baptized September 11, 1795, married Hannah Flagler. He died in 1855. They were childless.
Rebecca Dykeman married Richard Currie. Several Currie family members are buried in the cemetery of St. John's Anglican Church in Gagetown.
Anna (Ann) Dykeman was baptized September 11, 1795, in St. John's Anglican Church in Gagetown. On January 3, 1809, she married William Colwell.
November 25, 1783, was a day of mixed emotions in New York City, as British troops evacuated the city after seven years of occupation. The date would be celebrated annually by New Yorkers as "Evacuation Day" for a century after the British departed. Overshadowed by other holidays in the 20th century, Evacuation Day was not observed again until 1983 to mark the 200th anniversary of that fateful event.
But in 1783 joy was neither unalloyed nor universal among city dwellers viewing the transfer. For those Loyalists who had not left with the bulk of the British occupying troops, it was a time to lie low and hope for the best. They watched with apprehension as scarlet-uniformed British regiments marched sullenly down the Bowery to wharves along the East River.
A certain Mrs. Day prematurely displayed the American flag over her boarding house on Murray Street. British Provost Marshal William Cunningham, resplendent in scarlet coat and powdered wig, ordered her to take it down. She whacked him on the nose with her broom, bloodying it, and sent him packing.
A discreet distance behind the departing British, 800 combat-weary Continental soldiers from Massachusetts and New York, entered the city, their worn uniforms and battle-scarred weapons in stark contrast with the bright outfits and highly polished weapons of the British garrison troops. At the head of the small American force rode General George Washington and Governor George Clinton, escorted by high-ranking Continental officers. Heading south on Broadway, the triumphal American procession passed St. Paul's Chapel, designed by architect Thomas McBean and completed in 1766. This graceful church still stands between Fulton Street (then called Partition Street) and Vesey Street.
As a parting insult, the British had nailed a Union Jack to the flagstaff of the fort at the Battery, then greased the pole and cut the halyards. John Van Arsdale, an American sailor, had shoes equipped with metal spikes. He climbed the slippery pole and replaced the British flag with the Stars and Stripes.
Although the war had virtually ended in 1781 with the American victory at Yorktown, Virginia, desultory skirmishes and negotiations for peace dragged on through 1782. A royal proclamation in February of 1783 officially suspended hostilities, staggering Loyalists who had hoped for a different oucome. By the end of June, 10,000 of them had accepted the British government's offer of free passage to other British colonies.
We tend to think of the American Revolution as a war pitting British land and naval forces against the fledgling army and navy of the colonists. But it was also a bitter civil war that raged between two factions of the Americans themselves.
The word "Tory" was a disparaging epithet hurled at pre-Revolutionary supporters of British authority. The word "Loyalist" came into use as a badge of honor by those who disdained rebellion and upheld the Crown. Anti-Tory legislation, fines, and the social pressures of mass meetings, rowdy brawls and even mob violence directed at Tories were commonplace, eventually causing many Loyalists to emigrate.
Gone to New Brunswick
One Loyalist who was not present to witness the British departure was Garret Dykeman. With some 3,000 other Tories, the 41-year-old Dykeman, his wife and their three sons, ranging in age between 11 and 14, had left for St. John, on Canada's Bay of Fundy, a month earlier in October...
Born Gerrit Dyckman, Garret Dykeman was the son of Jacob Dyckman, the first male Dyckman to leave the lush meadowlands of Harlem and make his home in Westchester County. His mother was Rebecca Vermilye. Their first child, Josyntje, Gerrit's older sister, was baptized in the Reformed Dutch Church in New York City on October 26, 1737.
The Jacob Dyckman family probably moved from Harlem to Philipse Manor about 1741, for we know that Jacob was still Constable in Harlem in 1739 and 1740. Gerrit, their second child, was baptized on June 6, 1741, in the First Dutch Reformed Church in North Tarrytown, now Sleepy Hollow. According to Dutch custom, as the first male child Gerrit was named after his paternal grandfather.
We know that Jacob recorded the earmark with which he identified his cattle in the Philipsborough Town Book in 1744. He must have had an above-average education because he was made Town Clerk in 1750 and held that office until 1763. The Town Book was much improved after he accepted the post. Gerrit Dyckman was baptized in the North Tarrytown church soon after his birth in 1741, but later joined the Anglican Church and changed his name to Garret Dykeman.
The Old Dutch Church
The First Dutch Reformed Church in Sleepy Hollow played a major role in the lives of Dutch farmers, who were the original settlers of Westchester in the 1640's. For their religious buildings, they developed a polygonal form topped by a gable or a gambrel roof with flared eaves, although this style had no precedent in Holland.
The Dutch constructed churches in Van Cortlandtville, North Tarrytown and Fordham. These became social and religious centers of life in the respective manors. Church records show that the North Tarrytown congregation was already organized by 1697. Construction of the church took place sometime between that date and 1699. It later became the mother church for other churches in the area, including the monumental Second Dutch Reformed Church on Broadway in Tarrytown and the Hawthorne (then called Unionville) Dutch Reformed Church.
Today, the First Dutch Reformed Church, also called the Old Dutch Church, is the oldest remaining church in Westchester and, with the restored manor house at the Upper Mills, across the Albany Post Road, gives us a link with the early Dutch past in the Hudson Valley.
The church is built on a rectangular plan, with a polygonal apse at the eastern end. Walls are of fieldstone, and the gambrel roof and flared eaves are sheathed in wood shingles. The west gable of the church is faced with wood clapboards, a mixing of materials characteristic of Dutch colonial buildings. Containing a bell cast in Holland in 1685, the open octagonal belfry surmounts the gable.
The Old Dutch Church retains its general exterior form, but it has undergone many alterations. During the Revolution, the original plain backless benches on which the tenants of the manor worshipped, and the seats of the lord and lady, were replaced with high-backed pine pews.
After a fire in 1837, major alterations were made. The original north-south axis of the interior plan was changed to the present east-west axis. The entrance door, originally at the southwest corner of the building, was moved to the center of the west wall and covered with a full-width one-story Greek Revival portico.
Inside, the original north gallery was removed and the west gallery was enlarged. The pulpit was replaced and the exposed ceiling beams and quarter-oak ceiling was removed.
Today's window pattern was established in this 1837 alteration. The original windows were small with sills about seven feet above the floor. These were lowered, and their shape was changed to that of a lancet arch. The openings were framed in brick and new window sash were installed. About 1870, the front portico was removed. In 1897, to celebrate the building's bicentennial, the original beamed ceiling and pulpit were reproduced. Open to the public, this historic church building and adjoining burying ground are well worth a visit for anyone interested in local history.
Jacob and Rebecca Vermilye Dyckman had eleven children, six girls and five boys, born between 1737 and 1760, all but the first baptized in the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow. Except for Gerrit and his brother Jan, 12 years his junior, we know almost nothing about the later lives of the other children.
Gerrit Dyckman was baptized in the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow soon after his birth in 1741, but we know little about Gerrit Dyckman's youth. His name appears twice as a sponsor at baptisms in the Sleepy Hollow Church: At the age of 19, he was a witness when his youngest brother Petrus was baptized. In 1765, he and his sister Rebecca witnessed the baptism of Daniel and Mareitie Marteling's daughter, Ragel (Rachel).
Gerrit Dyckman later deserted the Dutch Reformed Church of his birth in favor of the Anglican (Protestant Episcopal) Church and Anglicized the spelling of his name, changing it to Garret Dykeman. It made a better match with his pro-British Loyalist sympathies. At the start of the Revolution, he was a trusted and reliable farmer, 35 years old, married with three children.
Who Were the Loyalists?
In the main, Loyalists were men of substance solid in their devotion to British institutions, with much to lose if Britain abandoned America. Loyalism was strong in New York, in part because of the colony’s dependence upon foreign trade. Most members of the local Chamber of Commerce, prosperous merchants and large landowners, were Loyalists.
Westchester's John Jay, a conservative who later sided with the Patriots, reflected Loyalist attitudes when he said, "Those who own the country ought to govern it." Religion, too, played a role. The Anglican Church was the official church of the British Crown. Anglican churchmen and their congregations opposed separation and independence from the mother country, but other religions favored making the change. Only one of New York's Presbyterian ministers became a Loyalist. Of 44 Dutch Reformed ministers in the colony, 37 supported independence.
New York, seventh of thirteen colonies in total population, was the largest Loyalist stronghold. It supplied as many members of the British armed forces as the rest of the colonies combined and included at least half of the total American Loyalists.
Marriage and Children
At White Plains sometime before 1769, Garret Dykeman married Eunice Anne Hatfield, niece of Capt. Abraham Hatfield, a Loyalist. Their first child, a son named Gilbert Hatfield Dykeman, was born May 17, 1769. A second son, Jacob Dykeman, also named for his paternal grandfather, followed on March 4, 1771. A third son, Moses Dykeman, was born December 31, 1772.
Dominated by Loyalists, in January of 1775 the New York Assembly refused to appoint delegates to the Second Continental Congress, so Patriots decided to bypass the Assembly by going directly to the freeholders of New York and proposing a new legislative body, a Provincial Convention. Such a convention was set for April 20th, a date that gave outlying towns and counties where Loyalism was strong the occasion to protest the trend to rebellion.
Contest at White Plains
Freeholders and inhabitants of Westchester County assembled at White Plains on April 11. Loyalists opposed to electing deputies met at Hatfield's Tavern "due south from the old Court-house, nearly half a mile distant, on the north side of the old stage-road to New York."
Patriots favoring such an election gathered at Miles Oakley's Tavern "on the east side of the old stage-road, directly opposite to the old Court-house." At the courthouse, led by Lewis Morris, third and last lord of the Manor of Morrisania, they intended to appoint the delegates and outmaneuver the opposition.
Getting wind of the opposition's plan, the Loyalist faction, led by the Reverend Samuel Seabury, Frederick Philipse and Isaac Wilkins, marched to the courthouse to protest the actions of the Morris group.
In 1766, Samuel Seabury, 45, was named pastor of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in the village of Westchester, in that part of Westchester County that voted in 1895 for consolidation with the growing city to the south. St. Peter's, a handsome English Gothic granite church, the third building on the site to house this congregation, still stands in the Bronx on Westchester Avenue not far from the former village green, a busy intersection now known as Westchester Square.
Frederick Philipse, 55 years old, was the wealthy third lord of Philipse Manor, who had inherited undisputed title to his enormous estate in 1751. He was the landlord of more than 270 tenant farmers occupying lots that averaged about 200 acres. His loyalty to the Crown would later cost him his Manor.
The 34-year-old Isaac Wilkins, son of a rich planter in Jamaica in the West Indies, was a graduate of King's College (later named Columbia), where he had earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees. In 1762, he had married 16-year-old Isabella Morris, Lewis Morris's young half-sister.
Over the protests of the Loyalists, the Patriots unanimously appointed delegates to the Provincial Convention and passed resolutions thanking the Continental Congress for its actions opposing the Crown. Both factions wrote accounts of what happened that day. The Loyalists claimed two-thirds of Westchester's inhabitants were friends of government and drew up "A Protest of the Inhabitants and Freeholders of Westchester County" to which 312 names were inscribed. Historians believe Isaac Wilkins penned this document.
Lewis Morris later responded by noting that "In the formidable catalogue of 312 sober and loyal protestors, there are not less than 170 who, after a most diligent inquiry, I cannot find have the least pretensions to vote, and indeed many of them are under age."
Not infrequently, Tories were tarred and feathered, ridden out of town on a rail, imprisoned, forced into exile and even hanged without a trial. Patriots harassed tavern keeper Abraham Hatfield until his life finally became so unbearable that he crossed the British lines and joined DeLancey's hated mounted corps in 1777. We know this from a petition Hatfield made from Canada after the war. In it, he sought reimbursement from the British for one horse, saddle and "accoutriments" amounting to 33 pounds, and for 40 months of unpaid service.
Following the burning in 1776 of the original White Plains courthouse in which Loyalists and Patriots had contested over sending delegates to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, a new courthouse was constructed in 1787. According to tradition, it was a duplicate of the original. It was replaced 70 years later with an imposing stone courthouse erected at a cost of $120,000.
The site of the previous three courthouses in White Plains is today occupied by the state armory, dedicated in 1909. Now on the National Register of Historic Places, the armory building has been converted to senior citizen apartments and a senior citizen center.
According to Henry P. Toler's New Harlem Register, a genealogy of the descendants of the 23 original patentees of the town of New Harlem published in 1903, Garret Dykeman served in the First Regiment of the Westchester County militia. The public record says nothing about his other activities during the war years. Like other prominent New York Loyalists Frederick Philips and Anglican clergyman Samuel Seabury, Dykeman was taken prisoner at his home in 1779 and taken to Connecticut. When the Dykeman family gathered in New York City to embark for Nova Scotia as Loyalist refugees in 1783, Garret did not mention New York, but said that he was from Connecticut.
Imprisoned
The isolated and strongly Patriot back country of Connecticut was a favorite spot for holding important Loyalist prisoners from the northern colonies. The most celebrated prison for this purpose was at the Simsbury (now East Granby) copper mines, 18 miles from Hartford. Officially named Newgate, after London's infamous prison, the mere threat of being sent ‘to the mines" was enough to make a Loyalist conform.
Now a National Historic Landmark, Simsbury was the "Catacomb of Loyalty" to British lieutenant Thomas Danbury, in his Travels Through the Interior Parts of America. It was the "woeful mansion" of another inmate, cells deep below the surface into which "the prisoners are let down by a windlass into the dismal cavern, through a hole, which answers the purpose of conveying their food and air; as to light, it scarcely reaches them."
For Tories desiring to escape the country, a series of hiding places between New York City and Canada foreshadowed the celebrated "Underground Railroad" of pre-Civil War days. The number of Loyalists who left of their own volition or were forced to leave has been estimated at between 80,000 and 100,000--although the number who remained and adjusted to changed circumstances was much higher. Laws punishing them by confiscating their property, denying them careers and even citizenship, or curbing recourse to the courts left many Loyalists with no choice but to emigrate.
England a Refuge
England offered a haven for Loyalists of property or distinction and already retired pensioners of the Crown. Frederick Philipse left for England after the close of hostilities in 1783. His lands were seized and confiscated. He never returned from England and died there in 1785 at the age of 65. His crypt is in Chester, England.
Toward the end of the war, London, Bristol and other cities swarmed with exiles. The meager government compensation for losses (only about a third of the amount Loyalists claimed) was only part of the disillusioning experience for Loyalists. A deeper hurt was their loss of place in society and the aloofness, if not contempt, shown by the English for their former provincials.
Besides Great Britain, a vast majority of refugees found new homes in many areas of Canada. In 1783, Canada, in the modern sense, did not exist. Canada then consisted of only two provinces: Nova Scotia--the area Canadians now call the Maritimes (Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Isle and New Brunswick)--and French-speaking Quebec, the original New France, which also included the largely unoccupied region north of the Great Lakes.
Many American Loyalist regiments were brought to Canada and disbanded there to avoid revenge by the victors. Paradoxically, ex-soldiers from the regular British army and deserters from the various mercenary Hessian corps were permitted to remain in the United States.
To Canada
A Loyalist group had sent a delegation to Nova Scotia to survey it as a possible destination. Their report was so favorable, many of them decided to settle in the St. John River Valley of New Brunswick. The St. John was about the size of the Hudson, the committee reported, and drained into a splendid harbor on the Bay of Fundy, ice-free in winter. Parr Town (later renamed St. John) was at the harbor at the mouth of the river. Some 30,000 Loyalists left the States for Nova Scotia, according to Governor John Parr's estimate early in 1784.
The two principal settlements in New Brunswick were the valley of the St. John River, including the city of the same name (the only Canadian city founded entirely by Loyalists), and Shelburne, on the southern shore of the peninsula, with a temporary population of 10,000. Loyalists moved into thinly settled Nova Scotia in such great numbers, New Brunswick had to be made a separate province in August of 1784. The Loyalists themselves argued for separation because of friction with the original settlers.
In addition to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, refugees fanned out in the St. Lawrence Valley and along the northern shore of Lake Ontario.
The British government promised land--tax free for several years--and transportation. It furnished refugees with woolen and linen cloth, shoes, stockings, mittens, tools such as axes and spades, and a year's supply of provisions. Initially, the only shelter provided was tents. The short-handled axes quickly turned out to be useless for clearing the thick forests. Soon the program bogged down in bureaucracy and favoritism, and the promised supplies of seed and food were both inadequate and unreliable.
A Hard Life
For Loyalist newcomers to Canada, conditions were harsh. Accustomed to a comfortable life, many found it difficult to cope with the hardships of primitive conditions in an undeveloped country and a cold climate. Inefficient administration and management of the refugee program only added to their frustration.
In Boston, American General Benjamin Lincoln expressed regret that the local newspapers were so full of hate for Tories. "We are not only driving from us many men who might be useful, but we are obliging them to people Nova Scotia," he remarked to his wife.
Garret Dyckman and the 3,000 Loyalists in his group chose the St. John River area. In New York, Garret Dykeman, his wife and their children were ready to board the Neptune as members of Company 51 on October 3, 1783. They waited at Staten Island until the ships in their convoy were assembled, and sailed on October 7. They landed at Parr Town, New Brunswick, about mid-October 1783.
They were granted a building lot in town and a supply of boards, shingles and bricks. At first, most of the buildings were log houses, and the lumber was used for roofing. The Dykeman lot was on St. George's Street (now called King Street), today part of a desirable residential area. In May of 1784, a census of the families was taken to find out who had survived the winter.
Moving Upriver
Because the government did not consider town lots as part of the acreage promised to refugee families, the Dykemans traveled about 50 miles up the St. John River and staked out lots at Jemseg in Waterborough Parish, near Grand Lake.
In 1786, Garret petitioned Thomas Carleton, governor of New Brunswick, to grant him the lands that had been promised, pointing out that he had "set down with his family" on land he supposed belonged to the Crown. His petition was apparently granted; in his will he bequeathed Lots 5 and 7 to his son Gilbert Hatfield Dykeman, who owned land adjoining them.
At Gagetown, a community across the St. John River on the west bank, now the county seat, Garret Dykeman became a pew holder in St. John's Anglican Church, built in 1790 and consecrated two years later. Church records show that his wife Eunice, and their first and third sons, Gilbert H. and Moses, were baptized in this church as adults on August 26, 1792.
Meanwhile, in the States laws against Loyalists were gradually rescinded. New York and New Jersey, which had both suffered severely at the hands of Loyalists, repealed their drastic anti-Tory laws by 1788. As persecution ceased, many well-known Loyalists returned. Despite an occasional local unpleasantness, some found a surprisingly friendly reception and enough support in time for them even to hold political office.
Returnees
Among Loyalists returning to New York were Peter Van Schaack, Garret's cousin States Morris Dyckman, Samuel Seabury and Isaac Wilkins.
Attorney Van Schaack had argued in lawyerly fashion against the Declaration of Independence and armed rebellion. Banished to England in 1778, he returned in 1785, was readmitted to the bar and resumed his law practice in Kinderhook, N.Y. He is credited with opening the first true law school in the United States. Despite being nearly blind, he practiced law until 1812 and operated his law school until 1826. He died in 1832 at the age of 85.
Wealthy States Morris Dyckman returned to Cortlandtown, where he would soon plan the building of the mansion he called Boscobel.
Samuel Seabury returned to America in 1785 as the first bishop in the Anglican Church in the United States. How he accomplished this makes an interesting story. He had been taken prisoner in Westchester in 1775 and held in Connecticut for seven weeks. The following year he sought safety behind the British lines in New York City and served as chaplain to the British Army throughout the Revolution.
Presented in 1783 as a candidate for consecration as a bishop in the now independent colonies, he was refused by church authorities in Britain, who felt they were legally barred from performing this rite. Seabury took himself to Scotland, where Scottish prelates obliged by consecrating him. Seabury became rector of St. James's Church in New London, Connecticut, and Bishop of Connecticut and Rhode Island. He died in 1796 and is buried in New London. To his death, he had little sympathy for the liberalizing ideas of the new country.
Isaac Wilkins, who had been serving as an administrator of refugee affairs in New Brunswick, returned to Westchester and decided to become an ordained minister. Although he had prepared himself for the ministry, Wilkins did not become a clergyman until he was almost 60, after which he was named rector of St. Peter's Church in the village of Westchester in what is now the Bronx. Founded in 1653 and known as Oostorp under the Dutch, between 1681 and 1759 this village was the seat of the County of Westchester. Built in 1702, the first church on this site at Westchester and Seabury avenues, St. Peter's was the church at which Samuel Seabury had been the rector when he and Wilkins had tried to prevent the election of delegates to the Provincial and Continental Congresses.
Isaac Wilkins served for 31 years as rector of St. Peter's Church. He and his wife died in 1830 within a few months of each other and were buried under the chancel of the church. They had twelve children, seven daughters and five sons.
Meanwhile, Back in New Brunswick
If Garret Dyckman thought of joining the Loyalists returning to New York, he gave no hint of it. The responsibilities of a growing family and a working farm would have discouraged a return. In New Brunswick, Garret and Eunice Dykeman had another son, Joseph Hatfield Dykeman, born in November 1788, and two daughters, Rebecca and Anna (the latter referred to in his will as Ann), whose birth dates are unclear. Daughter Anna Dykeman and fourth son, Joseph Hatfield Dykeman, were baptized in the St. John's Anglican Church in Gagetown September 11, 1795.
Garret Dykeman died about June 19, 1813, in his 73rd year. His will, written shortly before he died, reveals that he had flourished in the new land. To son Gilbert Hatfield, he left two lots and 120 pounds; to son Jacob, 100 pounds; to son Moses, two lots and 60 pounds; to son Joseph Hatfield, the family homestead, livestock and farming tools.
The remainder of his estate was divided among his four sons and two daughters. To daughters Rebecca and Ann he gave his household furniture and 100 pounds, to be equally divided. His clothing was distributed equally among his four sons.
Garret Dykeman was buried on June 20 in St. John's churchyard, where many of the graves are unmarked. One Dykeman gravestone, marking the grave of Eunice Hatfield Dykeman, who died November 16, 1808, can be seen. Her husband's grave alongside hers has only a rough footstone to mark it.
Hundreds of descendants of Garret and Eunice Dykeman populate New Brunswick today, most still living in the valley of the St. John River. Others are in Ontario. By the latter part of the 19th century, Dykemans had begun to migrate to the northern tier states, and can be found in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Minnesota and Illinois. It is not known whether any Dykemans have returned to Westchester.
In an excess of enthusiasm, a Canadian historian paid tribute to the Loyalists who emigrated to Canada: "It is but truth to say the Loyalists were the makers of Canada. They were an army of leaders. The most influential judges, the most distinguished lawyers, the most capable and prominent physicians, the most highly respected clergy, the members of the council of various colonies, the crown officials, the people of culture and social distinction--these were the Loyalists. Canada owes deep gratitude to her southern kinsmen, who thus, from Maine to Georgia, picked out their choicest spirits, and sent them forth to people our northern wilds."
This was a noble sentiment, but the truth is somewhat different. A study of the occupations of those Loyalists who submitted claims to the British after the war is revealing. It shows the breakdown of Loyalists by occupation to be farmers, 49%; merchants, shopkeepers, artisans, 32%; professionals, 9%; and officeholders, 10%. Thus, a majority of Loyalists were farmers like Garret Dyckman, shopkeepers and others in commerce. Interestingly, among professionals, doctors outnumbered teachers by four to one.
Despite the Loyalists' valiant and principled point of view as the War of Independence loomed, loyalty to a monarch thousands of miles away and allegiance to an imperious, heavy-handed government that had not treated them very kindly in recent years had little appeal for most Americans. Much more compelling was the goal of true independence and the tantalizing prospect of being able to govern themselves. To achieve this, victorious Patriots fought, bled and died in that special kind of civil war called the American Revolution.
That revolution and the unique system of government it spawned have stood the test of time. More than that, they have inspired other peoples to emulate the American experiment. Britain's loss has been the civilized world's gain.
Appendix: The Sons and Daughters of Garret and Eunice Dykeman
Gilbert Hatfield Dykeman, born in Westchester May 17, 1769, married Dorcas Manzer July 10, 1794, in St. John's Anglican Church in Gagetown. He was almost 25 and she had just turned 17. They had 12 children, eight girls and four boys, between 1795 and 1818.
Jacob Wiggins Dykeman, born in Westchester March 4, 1771, married Statira Camp July 27, 1796, in St. John's Anglican Church in Gagetown. She was born in Connecticut, the daughter of Loyalist Abiathar Camp. They had 10 children, five boys and five girls. Without his oldest son, Daniel Lyman Dykeman, who remained in New Brunswick and three children who died young (one boy and two girls), Jacob and his family later moved to Ontario in Canada, where many of his descendants still live.
Moses Dykeman, born in Westchester December 31, 1772, married Eunice Phoebe Currie February 13, 1798, in St. John's Anglican Church in Gagetown. He was 26 and she was 18. They had 12 children, nine boys and three girls. She died November 30, 1845, and he died on April 7, 1850.
Joseph Hatfield Dykeman, born in Jemseg, New Brunswick, in November of 1788 and baptized September 11, 1795, married Hannah Flagler. He died in 1855. They were childless.
Rebecca Dykeman married Richard Currie. Several Currie family members are buried in the cemetery of St. John's Anglican Church in Gagetown.
Anna (Ann) Dykeman was baptized September 11, 1795, in St. John's Anglican Church in Gagetown. On January 3, 1809, she married William Colwell.
Labels: Dyckman Family History, Lower Hudson Valley
