Johannes Dyckman was born bet. 1618 and 1619 in Holland. He married 1st to Maria de Grebber on February 22, 1641/42 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands, and married 2nd to Maria Bosyns (also called Maria Cornelisz).
Amsterdam was built with a system of canals (or grachts) and dikes, which could be how the Dyckman family acquired it's name - is it possible they were dike men! In fact, early versions of the name were spelled "Dijkman" and dijk is the Dutch word for dike. Alternatively, it could be a variant of the Van Dyke name. Will we ever know for sure?
Dike building in Holland has been traced back as far as the late Iron Age. Dikes were found during excavations in the Frisian villages of Peins and Dongjum. Large scale building of the dikes began between 1200 and 1500, when rising sea levels prompted action. Either way, we know the Dyckman's undoubtedly were quite familiar with the challenges the water presented and the canals they built in an attempt to coexist with it.
This interactive map allows you to take a virtual tour of Amsterdam's canals. Here the canal boat is on the Keizersgracht, the very canal Johannes' first wife lived on at the time of their marriage in 1641/42.
At that time, Johannes was living nearby "on the Anjeliersgracht". Anjeliers is the Dutch word for carnations and gracht is their word for canal. Anjeliersgracht was formerly a canal, but is now filled in and called Westerstraat, shown here in this interactive map:
Finally, this clip from Google Maps aerial view shows the proximity of the two locations, where Johannes lived and his first wife lived at the time of their marriage:
If you'd like to learn more about the history of Amsterdam's canals, you may enjoy this YouTube video on the subject.
Sources:
Canals of Amsterdam on Wikipedia [Link]
“Johannes Dyckman of Fort Orange and his descendants”, by Marjorie Dikeman Chamberlain, 1988.
Archives, Amsterdam, Holland, Orphans Court XXVI, p. 325.
Church Records at South Amsterdam, Holland.
