Chapter XI · The Last Period of the Swedish Settlements Under the Dutch, 1656–1664.

As the Swedes and the Finns gave no trouble, Fort Christina was allowed to decay, and Papegoja says that it “was robbed of gates, windows and chimneys.” Elias Gyllengren, Sven Skute and Gregorius van Dyck (who remained) naturally became the leaders of their countrymen. They were farmers like the rest, and seem to have prospered. Disturbances of a milder kind arose from time to time, and sometimes murders and graver misdemeanors were committed (“the sister of Elias Gyllengren’s wife” being shot in the autumn of 1656). Madam Papegoja remained at New Gothenborg, and also retained Printztorp by consent of the Dutch; but she experienced some difficulty in finding people, willing to cultivate her land on the terms she offered. The grants of many of the other Swedes, some of whom had “deeds from Queen Christina,”[44] were confirmed by the New Amsterdam authorities. The Dutch achieved various improvements, which bettered the condition of “their subjects”; they caused bricks to be made, roads to be improved, bridges to be built, fences to be constructed, overseers and tobacco inspectors to be appointed, etc.

In the summer of 1656 the Dutch West India Company, for financial reasons, was compelled to surrender part of the South River to the City of Amsterdam.[45] The seat of government of the city’s colony was to be Fort Casimir, the name of which was changed to New Amstel,[46] while Christina (changed to Altena) was to be the center of power for the company’s colony, and Stuyvesant was ordered to garrison the latter place as well as Fort New Gothenborg with eight or ten soldiers.

Jacob Alrichs was appointed director of New Amstel and the Amsterdam colony in December; but, being delayed by a shipwreck and other misfortunes, he did not reach his destination before the spring of 1657. A considerable number of colonists arrived with him.

In the meantime complaints had been made against Jacquet, who was removed from office, and put under arrest, leaving the place open for Alrichs. With the latter’s arrival Fort Christina was restored to a state of defense, as the Swedes were still mistrusted, and the new director was commanded to watch them closely.

In the spring of 1658 Governor Stuyvesant went in person to arrange matters at the Delaware. The Swedes were required to swear a new oath of allegiance, but at their request they were exempt from taking sides, if trouble should arise between their respective nations in Europe. Under the supervision of certain officers, the country was divided into court jurisdictions. They were given a sort of self-government with headquarters at Tinicum Island, and Sven Skute was elected captain; Anders Dalbo, lieutenant; Jacob Svensson, ensign; Gregorius van Dyck, sheriff; and Olof Stille, Matts Hansson, Peter Rambo and Peter Cock magistrates. On May 8, (1658) these officers appeared before Stuyvesant with a petition for certain privileges. They requested instructions for their guidance, and they desired a court messenger; they asked for free access to Fort Altena, so that they could get assistance in case of necessity, and they petitioned that nobody should be allowed to leave the colony without the knowledge of the magistrates.

The Swedes and Finns gradually gained the confidence of the Dutch authorities and performed many valuable services for them as interpreters and guides. They cut masts and other timber and furnished bricks for buildings; and by their thrift were able to supply much of the provisions for the soldiers.

The crops were poor in 1658, due to an over-abundance of rain, butter, cheese and salt were scarce; and sickness was general. The total number of inhabitants was now about 600 souls, but it is not possible to say how many of these were Swedes and Finns. The cattle and horses belonging to the Dutch West India Company were given out for half of the increase to settlers, a custom employed by Rising as we have seen, but complaints were made that the horses were ill-treated.

On July 20 (30), 1658, Willem Beeckman was appointed commissary and vice-director for the West India Company at Fort Altena with highest authority over the company’s officers, “except in the district ... of New Amstel,” and his instruction in eight articles was given to him on October 18 (28). He was to have special oversight and supervision of the Swedes; he was to be the custom officer and the auditor in the country, and obliged to be present at New Amstel, when ships arrived there or whenever his duties so required.

Beeckman proposed a tax on the Swedes and Finns to the amount of 400 guilders a year, thus providing for the current expenses, and the directors of the Dutch West India Company disapproved of giving them officers of their own. Stuyvesant, however, replied to their orders for discharging these officers and appointing Hollanders in their stead, that he thought the hearts of the Swedes could best be won by methods of lenient government. They were also called upon to do military duty, but objected strongly, and the Dutch had no power to force them, while Beeckman reported that in an emergency “they would be more cumbersome than useful.” Troubles arose with the English as well as the savages, keeping the Dutch in constant alarm, who, as a consequence were forced to treat “their foreign subjects” with more respect and consideration than would otherwise have been the case.

Attempts were made from time to time to settle them in villages, so as to simplify the jurisdiction over them; and in the spring of 1660 the fiscal, De Sille, was instructed to engage some of them as soldiers, or to persuade them to settle near New Amsterdam as freemen, asking, “with all imaginable and kindly persuasive reasons,” the “help and intercessions” of the Swedish sheriff and commissaries. But the Swedes were opposed to removal, and De Sille was unsuccessful in his mission.

Jacob Alrichs died December 20 (30), 1659, and Alexander d’Hinoyossa was made provisory director in his stead. The Swedes and Finns who could bear arms now numbered about 130, according to the report of Van Dyck. Disputes as to the distribution of land arose among them about this time, perhaps largely occasioned by the fact that many of the Finns understood neither Swedish nor Dutch, making business transactions difficult. In the spring of 1660 some twenty Swedish and Finnish families desired to remove to the neighborhood of New Amstel, but it appears that they were forbidden to do so. Later, however, D’Hinoyossa invited others to settle there.

The Swedes and Finns contrived throughout this period of trade with the savages, but they were somewhat restricted in their freedom by D’Hinoyossa, giving rise to complaints and dissatisfactions. They were particularly successful farmers, and many of them attained prosperity. Hence they were very desirable colonists, and when requests for additional agriculturists were sent to Amsterdam, the comment was appended, “not Hollanders, however, but other nations and especially Finns and Swedes, who are good farmers.” A grist mill was built by Johan Stålkofta (Stalcop), L. Petersson and Hans Block in the summer of 1662 at the Falls of Turtle Kill, and the old mill erected by Printz was kept in repair.

In the autumn of 1663 the entire Delaware population[47] had erected about 110 good boweries, stocked with some 200 cows and oxen, 20 horses, 80 sheep and several thousand swine. Some of the Swedes as we have seen, wrote to relatives and friends in the old country, praising the land and inviting them over, and the Dutch authorities encouraged such migrations, often with good results. About thirty Swedes arrived with the skipper, Peter Lukassen in the summer of 1663, and thirty-two or more Finns and probably some Swedes came with Alexander d’Hinoyossa in December.

The settlers were peaceful, as a rule, also during this period. A few minor disturbances arose, however, and Evert Hindricksson, the Finn, was accused of maltreating Jöran Kyn, and other grave complaints were made against him. He was brought into court, tried and banished from the colony as a dangerous character. Peter Meyer was also accused of disturbance and assaults, and several other cases of like nature were taken into court. The Swedes and Finns continued to have their own officers and a few were even employed in the forts. Timon Stidden, who remained in the country, continued to act as barber-surgeon, and he treated the ill and wounded as far as he was able. Witchcraft also played its part, and Margareta Matsson was said to be a witch, as Henry Drystreet was told about this time. The fish in the river continued to be plentiful, and the settlers obtained some provisions from this source as well as from hunting. Many deserted the colony on account of debts or for other reasons and a number went to settle among the English in Maryland;[48] but a few returned from time to time.

Little is known about the religious history of the Swedes at this time. According to the articles of surrender they were allowed to retain a minister of the Gospel of their own confession and were to be undisturbed in their services, a concession which was later regretted by some of the Dutch. Rev. Lars Lock remained among them, and he seems to have conducted regular services in the church at Tinicum. He was given a salary by the Swedish commissaries, probably raised by voluntary collections. He had more than his share of troubles, and in 1661 his wife eloped with another man, causing inconvenience and law suits. Having obtained a divorce, he married again, but the marriage was declared null and void by the Dutch authorities, because he performed the ceremony himself. Later he was fined 50 florins for marrying a young couple without proclamation in the church and against the will of the parents. He as well as Olof Stille objected to the interference of the Dutch court, saying that the consistory of Sweden alone had jurisdiction over the case. At another time he was “fearfully beaten and marked in his face” by Peter Meyer, who was summoned to appear in court, but the affair was settled between the parties privately. Acrelius asserts that a priest by the name of Matthias came out here on the ship Mercurius, but he returned to Sweden with the vessel, according to the same authority. The many Lutherans residing at New Amstel engaged a young man by the name of Abelius Zetskorn or Setskorn to serve them. The Swedish commissaries at Tinicum desired him to preach in their church, but Rev. Lock objected “to it with all his influence.” Setskorn preached there on the second day of Pentecost, however, and received a call as schoolmaster with the same salary as the preacher enjoyed; but the people “of New Amstel would not let him go,”[49] and Rev. Lock remained the only Lutheran preacher north of New Amstel. The population, however, was now too large for one pastor and the language question complicated matters. Many of the Finns could not understand the Swedish language during the first years, and these were without religious instruction. As time went on, however, Swedish became predominant, the Finns and Dutch gradually acquiring it.

In the autumn of 1663 the entire Delaware district was transferred to the city of Amsterdam, and D’Hinoyossa was made commander. The Swedes and Finns were absolved from their former oaths and required to swear new allegiance. This they refused to do, unless they were granted “the same privileges in trading and other matters as they had had under the government of the Honorable Company,” being inclined rather to remove than to submit to the conditions offered them.

The customs and manners remained the same as in the former period, the bath-house, the Finnish and Swedish log-cabins, the splinter-sticks, and all other utensils and implements we have learned to know in previous chapters, continued to be used. The domestic animals had greatly increased, the fields were comparatively numerous and in many cases large, and the settlement had acquired a certain stability and form. The colony had not been a financial success from the Dutch point of view, however. Thousands of florins were borrowed and expended, and thousands more were needed.

In 1664 rumors of a Swedish attempt at recapturing the river were afloat in Holland, as we have seen, causing some uneasiness, until it was reported that the expedition had been wrecked. A large number of Finns had been “enticed” to migrate to the colony in the spring, and other measures were taken to build up the settlement. But Dutch rule, except for a short interval, was drawing to a close on the Delaware and in America. The English forces, sailing up the Hudson in the autumn, compelled Stuyvesant to surrender on September 3. On the same day Sir Robert Carre was commissioned to proceed to the Delaware for the purpose of bringing that colony under the power and authority of the English crown. Carre arrived in the river on September 30 and on October 1 (11), the articles of capitulation were signed. The inhabitants were to be protected in their estates under the authority of the English King; the old magistrates were to continue in their jurisdiction as formerly, and “the sheriff and other inferior” officers should remain in power for six months, until other steps could be taken; all the people were to enjoy religious liberty and be free “as any Englishman” upon the taking “of the oath,” and any one was allowed to depart from the settlement within six months after the date of the articles. We are now at the beginning of a new era and the following years belong to another treatise.