JAN DIJCKMAN from Amsterdam said to Marie, his wife: come on, let’s go to America. That was brave, for an ocean voyage of nearly two months could do a number on you, and Jan did not possess the best stamina in the world. He was what we would now probably describe as bi-polar. Sometimes, unusual circumstances such as stormy weather at sea can be a helpful distraction, but just as often they’re not. Anyway, it worked, they arrived and settled, Marie had a son, Jan got a job at Fort Oranje.
Today that’s called Albany, back then it was a fort that protected what at the time was known as the town of Beverwijck. Jan Dijckman was not given any military responsibilities, he became a kind of overseer. Commissary was the title, but in English it was called first clerk. All went well for four years, or at least well enough. Then he was declared incapacitated and that was the end of normal life. In between his attacks, he made Marie pregnant, siring son number two.
THOSE BOYS soon spelled their names Dykeman, and that started a family tree that would eventually result in the birth of William Tennessee Dykeman’s great-granddaughter, Carrie Fisher. The world knows her better as Princess Leia from Star Wars. She never got an Oscar or even a nomination, she never had her own star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. What she did have was a similar condition as what her ancestor Jan had. Carrie Fisher was bi-polar.
There is no indication that her condition was genetically related to his, but the fact was there, and she wrote about it in detail. Carrie went through manic episodes of depression, which she combated with drug use, at times excessive. Prescription meds, sleeping pills, heroin, cocaine, even when she was the opposite of depressed, over the top happy and energetic. After she died from a heart attack on a plane, doctors found ecstasy and hard drugs in her organs. She had an emotional service dog, bulldog Gary. He was by her side on that final flight from London.
CARRIE FISHER was a talented actress, which made sense. Her mom was Debbie Reynolds, who had her own show on TV, did Broadway, and starred in major movies – including one opposite Eddie Fisher, Carrie’s dad. Such success came at a price, in this case a divorce and an unhappy childhood for the daughter. Carrie withdrew into a self-made world, she read a lot, hid behind roles she played, first in her own mind, then for real on the stage. She was good at it, made her first movie when she was seventeen, followed soon after by Star Wars.
Everyone loved and loves Leia, the princess with the hair curled up by the ears, her cinnamon buns. When she passed away at Christmas, 2016, she had just finished shooting the latest Star Wars installment, The Last Jedi. In theaters, people watched it with tears in their eyes. And at Carrie’s daughter’s home, bulldog Gary watched the trailer with her; the director had also given him a brief cameo role as a space dog. As soon as Leia appeared on the screen, Gary perked up.
Mother Debbie died a day after daughter Carrie, both descendants of Jan and Marie Dijckman.
