My name is Lucius Van Dyke III. The Van Dykes came from Amsterdam one hundred years ago this year. This year is our American Centennial.

My great-grandfather, Gregor Van Dyke was a son-of-a-bitch. He was an engineer on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad who was seldom home but when he was, you knew it.

He met my great-grandmother, Evaline, at a beer garden in an Ohio steel town. She mistook Gregor for her fiancé during a particularly rigorous polka. She didn’t notice any difference until the next morning. Nine months later, Lucius Van Dyke, my grandfather, was born. Read the rest of this entry »