Early Life and Family
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 bearing their first child, Rachael, in 1767. After her death he married Charlotte Stanley. They made their home in New Castle and had four children, Nancy Ann, Mary, Nicholas, and Henry. They were members of Immanuel Episcopal Church.
Read more about this topic: Nicholas Van Dyke (governor)
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