Jan Albert van Eijken was the son of Gerrit van Eijken and Hendrina Johanna Harthoorn.
His father was an organist of the Grote Kerk in Amersfoort, Holland and gave Jan Albert his first lessons. He studied at the Leipzig Conservatory from 1845 to 1846 and in 1848 was appointed organist at the Remonstrant Church in Amsterdam. Jan Albert became the organist at the Zuiderkerk in Rotterdam in 1853. He received a position of organist after the death of the Elberfeld organist Johannes Schornstein in April 1854 at the Elberfeld Reformed Church. On 21 April 1854 he gave a farewell concert in Rotterdam.
Robert Schumann, who heard him on December 9, 1853 in Rotterdam was among his admirers. Schumann wrote this about Joseph Joachim on March 10, 1855: "He plays absolutely delightfully. In Rotterdam I heard him play Fugues by Bach, also BACH-Fugues [by Schumann], the first and the last on an organ, of which he was quirte capable."
Jan Albert van Eijken was the brother of the composer and organist Gerrit Jan van Eijken (1832-1879), who worked mainly in London.
