Американың негізін қалаушысы Николас Ван Дайк

American Founding Father and politician

Nicholas Van Dyke (September 25, 1738 – February 19, 1789) was an American Founding Father, lawyer, and politician from New Castle in New Castle County, Delaware. He served in the Delaware General Assembly, in the Continental Congress, where he signed the Articles of Confederation, and as president of Delaware.

Van Dyke was born at Berwick, his family's home in St. George's Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware, near the present location of Delaware City. He was the son of Nicholas and Rachael Alee Van Dyke, whose father, Andrew Van Dyke, had moved there from Long Island in New York in 1704. Young Nicholas was educated at home, then read law in Philadelphia where he was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1765. Van Dyke returned to New Castle where he lived with his family and began a law practice. He married twice, first in 1766 to Elizabeth Nixon who died in 1770, two weeks after the birth of Nicholas. After her death he married Charlotte Stanley. They made their home in New Castle and had several more children. They were members of Immanuel Episcopal Church.

Van Dyke died at Berwick and was buried there. Later his remains were removed to the Immanuel Episcopal Church Cemetery at New Castle. His son, also Nicholas, later represented Delaware in the U. S. House and U. S. Senate. His daughter, Nancy Ann, married Kensey Johns at a 1784 wedding in the Amstel House in New Castle that was attended by General George Washington. Their son, Kensey Johns Jr., would later serve in the U. S. House. Much of the property surrounding Van Dyke's original home Berwick was taken in 1829 for the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, but the house remained through the American Civil War. All the remaining lands and home are believed to have been taken when the canal was expanded in 1929. His New Castle home, now known as the Amstel House, still stands on Fourth Street in New Castle and is open to the public. No known portrait of Nicholas Van Dyke exists.