Van Dyke, John

Born: 1807-04-03 Lamington, New Jersey

Died: 1878-12-24 Wabasha, Minnesota

John Van Dyke studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1836. He opened a law practice in New Brunswick, New Jersey, became prosecuting attorney for Middlesex County in 1841, and mayor of New Brunswick in 1846 and 1847. He married Mary Dix Strong in 1841, with whom he had five children. Van Dyke later served as president of the Bank of New Jersey and won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Whig in 1846, remaining there from 1847 to 1851. He later joined the Republican Party and served as a judge on the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1859-1866.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 1983; William B. Aitken, Distinguished Families in America: Descended from Wilhelmus Beekman and Jan Thomasse Van Dyke (New York: The Knickerbocker Press, 1912), 216-17.