Dirck Keyser was born in Amsterdam about 1635. He was the son of Dirck Gerritz Keyser and Cornelia van den Wyngaert. The father Dirck Gerritz was a morocco leather manufacturer, possibly a tanner or glover. Cornelia was the daughter of Tobias Govertz van den Wyngaert, a noted Flemish Mennonite who lived from 1587 to 1667. 1 Dirck had a sister and four brothers. All of them lived and died in Amsterdam: Anneken, Gerrit, Tobias, and another brother who was buried in 1655.2 It is possible that they were all Mennonites, given the strong tradition from their mother’s family.

Dirck, the oldest son, was a manufacturer of silk on the Printzen Graght.3 He first married in 1668, Elizabeth ter Himpel, daughter of Pieter ter Himpel Sr and Elizabeth van Singhel. The wedding intention said that they were married “in the church at Buicksloot, declared…the 22d day of November, 1668.”4 Pieter ter Himpel, was a woolen draper of Amsterdam; he died December 10, 1680. The mother Elizabeth van Singhel died in 1656; she had brothers Pieter Jr. and Aernaut.5

Dirck and Elizabeth had a daughter Elizabeth and two sons, Peter and Dirck. Elizabeth (the mother) died in May 1681, and the daughter Elizabeth died just a month later. Dirck married Johanna Harperts Snoeck in November 1682, again at Buiksloot, in the northern part of Amsterdam. The record said, “Dirk Keyser and Joanna Snoeck, upon their desire after three Sundays having been published at Amsterdam in all the churches, on the undersigned date in the church at Buiksloot, lawfully and in presence of the Lord’s congregation are married, declare I, the undersigned Secretary at Buiksloot, the 22d November, 1683.” It was signed by B. Vredenhuis, Secretary.6

Dirck and Johanna had a daughter Johanna together before the older Johanna died in 1686. As her funeral invitation said, “Johanna Harperts Snoeck, on Thursday, the 29th of August, 1686, was buried from his residence on the Printzen Graght in the Wester Kerk, in the thirty-eight year of her age.”7 Dirck left Amsterdam and traveled to New York in 1688, with his children Peter, Dirck Jr, and Johanna. From there they traveled overland to Philadelphia. Johanna died on the trip and was buried somewhere between New York and Philadelphia.8

Dirck settled in Germantown and bought land there. He had bought twenty-five acres from Cornelius Seivers (Soierts) in March 1688, before immigrating. He later bought another twenty-five acres in September 1689, from Dirck Sipman, through Sipman’s attorney Herman up de Graff.9 In 1693 Dirck was taxed in Germantown for 60 acres.10 He built a house on the main street in Germantown, at present-day 6205 Germantown Avenue. It is now gone but drawings show a two-story stone house, with a third gabled story and an addition behind.11 The initials D.K. were cut in a stone in front.12

As Charles Keyser said, “It seems to have been composed of two rooms front with a kitchen containing a bake-oven and smoke-house on the read end… on the first floor, with some sleeping-rooms above in the second story. The pent roof extending over the door and windows is still there… This house was a large one in its day, and appeared to be large enough for Dirck Keyser and his son Pieter, a boy of 12 years of age, and no doubt a housekeeper… A curious arrangement is that there are three cellars under the house without any communication with each other. With only one is there any direct communication to the upper floor, and this is by a set of solid stone steps going down from the entry … Alongside of this cellar the old well is found and is in most excellent order. It serves not only to give good water but to keep this part so cold that everything is preserved in summer without ice.”13

Dirck was a leader of the Germantown Mennonite congregation. A Dutch Reformed minister named Rudolph Varick travelled from Long Island to Germantown in 1690 and reported that “I then came to a Dutch village, near Philadelphia where, among others, I heard Jacob Telner, a Dutch Quaker, preach…The Lutherans, Mennonites and Papists, all of whom are much opposed to the Quakers, meet lovingly every Sunday, when a Mennonite, Dirck Keyser from Amsterdam, reads a sermon from a book by Joost Harmensen”.14 The Mennonite met in the house of Tunis Kunders until they built a log meeting house in 1708.15 The early congregation included the Keysers, William Rittenhouse and his wife, John Gorgas, the Kuster family, and the van Bebbers.16 Rittenhouse became the first official minister. 17 After Rittenhouse died suddenly in 1708, Dirck may have taken over the duties temporarily. In May 1710 he performed the marriage for Jacob Kolb and Sarah Van Sintern in the log meeting house.18

Dirck was active in the Germantown community. He served as a fence-viewer, was a witness in court, and subscribed to the school in Germantown.19 In 1691 he was an inspector of the roads, along with Peter Schumacher.20 He signed the petition against the tax bill in 1692. In 1691 he was naturalized as a citizen in 1691, along with his son Dirck Jr.21 A story has been passed down about Dirck and his neighbors. “He had been a silk merchant, and after he arrived here he wore a silk coat, which caused his neighbors some disgust. Some of the brethren calling to talk over his worldliness, found him in his garden. As he advanced to meet them he wiped his hands on his coat. They concluded on seeing this, that he did not value it unduly and so said nothing of the object of their visit.”22

In 1704 he was a witness, along with his son Dirck Jr, in a case of slander. The case was Abraham op den Graeff against David Sherkes for slander. (This was not the first time Abraham had been in trouble of this sort.) Sherkes said that no honest man would be in Abraham’s company. Dirck Keyser senior had put up bond for Sherkes. The witnesses were Dirck Keyser senior, Dirck Keyser junior, Arnold Van Vosen and Herman Dors. The jury found for the defendant (Sherkes). Abraham wanted to appeal, but when told that he must pay the charges of the court and give bond to prosecute, he did not.23 The same year, Dirck acted as fence viewer, and presented as insufficient the fences of Johannes Umstat and others. His son Peter was a viewer for his section, but was “removed”. Perhaps he resigned; some Mennonites refused to take an office that might pit them against their neighbors.24

Dirck married again, for the third time, to a woman named Elizabeth. There is no record of this marriage, but two pieces of evidence support it, both from probate records. When Dirck’s estate was probated on August 1, 1716, the bond was posted by Elizabeth Keyser of Germantown, widow, Peter Keyser of Germantown, cordwainer, and Ludowick Christian Sprogell of Philadelphia, dyer.25 Also, when the son Peter made his own will in 1724 he asked his wife Margaret to take care of his “old mother-in-law Elizabeth”. Peter’s mother Elizabeth was dead, as was Margaret’s mother Anneke. The only possibility is that he meant his stepmother, a previously unknown third marriage for his father Dirck. It is interesting that Dirck and his son Dirck Jr seem to have died in the same month, perhaps of some contagious disease.26 The inventory of the estate of Dirck Sr. was taken August 17, 1716 by Dirck Jansen and Anthony Klincken. It included his wearing apparel, beds and bedding, kitchen wares, spinning wheels, other furniture, low Dutch books, tobacco pipes, two cows and a heifer, two ewes and four lambs, fifty acres of land with a house and barn, for a total of £81.19.6. His wive Elizabeth survived him, and was still alive in 1724.

Dirck had five known children with his first two wives, only two of whom lived to marry: Dirck Jr and Peter Dirck. Peter Dirck had eleven children, but Dirck Jr was childless.

Children of Dirck and Elizabeth:

Dirck Jr, d. August 171627, naturalized in 1691, married a woman named Deborah. She is said to have been Deborah Op den Graeff, the widow of Herman Isaacs, but it is difficult to find proof of this.28 Dirck died without issue. His will, written in “Manahattwana”, Philadelphia County, named his wife Deborah and brother Peter.   Written in April 16, 1714, it was proved on  August 6, 1716.29 Manahattwana cannot be identified as a place; it may have been the name of his plantation or a small local settlement.  He was a cordwainer. His inventory included household goods, farm implements, tannery tools, twenty green hides, and “one mare in the woods if found”.30 It came to £57.

Elizabeth, b. 1673, d. June 1681, a month after the death of her mother Elizabeth and her aunt Anneken.

Peter Dirck, b. November 1676 in Amsterdam, d. September 1724 in Germantown, m. in 1700 Margaret Souplis, daughter of Andreas and Anneke. He was a shoemaker. Children: Dirck, Andries, Peter Dirck, Jacob, Abraham, Elizabeth, Anneke, Catelintje, Johannes, Margaret. Peter wrote his will a month before he died, left his “dear and loving wife” Margaret, all the estate, except one-third only if she remarried. Most of the children were under age. Margaret did remarry, to Michael Eccard. She died after February 1744, when she was named in a deed release.

Children of Dirck and Johanna:

Johanna, b. September 1683, d. September 1688 in New Jersey (between New York and Philadelphia)

Cornelia, b. April 1685, d. October 1686 in Amsterdam