New Sweden Genealogy

= History =

New Sweden (Swedish: Nya Sverige) was a Swedish colony on the Delaware River on the Atlantic coast of North America from 1638 to 1655. It was centered at Fort Christina, now in Wilmington, Delaware, and included parts of the present-day states of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. About 600 Swedes and 300 Finns, Dutch, and Germans built the colony for the purpose of producing tobacco and furs.

A lasting legacy of New Sweden was an interest among Swedish people in migrating to America. Another legacy was the log cabin, an idea from Sweden which became the most popular style of first-home on the American frontier. New Sweden also brought some of the earliest Lutheran believers and their ministers to America.

From the first, the leaders of New Sweden knew they were settling on land claimed by the Dutch of New Netherland (New Jersey), and the British Lord Baltimore of Maryland (that is, Delaware). In 1654 New Sweden captured Fort Casimir from New Netherland in what is now New Castle County, Delaware. The next year, 1655, the Dutch counter-attacked, conquered, and absorbed all of former New Sweden, but granted it some autonomy. In turn, New Netherland was conquered and absorbed by the British nine years later in 1664.

Websites

 * "New Sweden Settlers, 1638-1654" in Sweden Genealogy Links at http://www.genealogia.fi/emi/3d41indexe.htm (accessed 4 November 2008). Originally published in the Swedish American Genealogist vols. 16-19.
 * "List of the Swedish Families Residing in New Sweden in 1693 for Genealogy Research" in Colonial Ancestors at http://colonialancestors.com/de/families.htm (accessed 4 November 2008). 188 families, 932 persons.
 * "List of persons to the Colony of New Amstel, compiled from 'Return of Moneys paid for the Colonie on the Delaware River, November 18, 1659 - November 3, 1662'" in New Netherland and Beyond Delaware River Settlements 1637-1682 at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nycoloni/amsteld1.html (accessed 4 November 2008). 41 names.
 * Swedish Colonial Society - history, churches, and settlers.
 * Peter Stebbins Craig, "1671 Census of Delaware," in Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, 40 (Spring/Summer 1998): 197-231, and continued in Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, 40 (Fall/Winter 1998): 314-60. Biographical sketches of over 175 mostly Swedish and Finnish residents on the west side of the Delaware River from what is now New Castle County, Delaware, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Also includes a few families in Zwaanendael (now Lewes, Sussex, Delaware), and east of the Delaware River in present day New Jersey.

Maps

 * Amandus Johnson, “Detailed Map of New Sweden 1638-1655” attributed to a book by Amandus Johnson, Swedish Settlements on the Delaware (Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1911) in “Settlements on the Delaware River” in New Netherland and Beyond at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nycoloni/nswamap.html (accessed 8 November 2008). Best available map, but the labels are sometimes tiny and difficult to read on the Internet. The explanations on this map are probably the main source for ubiquitous lists of settlement dates for the forts, for the permanent settlements, and rivers and creeks of New Sweden. This map is not listed in the above book's table of contents or list of maps; perhaps it was a flyleaf pocket insert. An identical map is in Amandus Johnson, The Swedes on the Delaware 1638-1664 (Philadelphia: Swedish Colonial Society, 1915), 392. However, the digitized by Google 2008 version of page 392 is virtually blank.
 * “Kartskiss öfver Nya Sverige 1638-55 (Efter Amandus Johnson)” a map image in the article “Nya Sverige” in Nordisk familjebok. Uggleupplagan. 20. Norrsken - Paprocki (Stockholm: Nordisk familjeboks förlags, 1914; digitized by Projekt Runeberg, 2002), 153-54. Less detailed but much more readable on the Internet than Johnson's original. Shows forts and blockhouses only—no other settlements.
 * "Location of Fort Nassau" in Gloucester County, New Jersey History and Genealogy [Internet site] at http://www.nj.searchroots.com/Gloucesterco/fortnassau.htm#Location (accessed 8 November 2008). This map series emphasizes Ft. Nassau, but a few of them also show parts of New Sweden.
 * "Map of the New Netherlands" (Novi Belgii quod nunc Novi Jorck vocatur Novae q Angliae &amp; Partis Virginiae) from Arnout Montanus, De nieue en onbekende weereld, part II after p. 122 in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague, inv. nr. 1049B13_074; digitized in the Atlas of Mutual Heritage at http://www.nationaalarchief.nl/amh/detail.aspx?page=dafb&amp;lang=en&amp;id=5168 (accessed 11 November 2008). Includes most New Sweden settlements.
 * Peter Stebbins Craig, "1671 Census of Delaware," in Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, 40 (Spring/Summer 1998): 207. "1693 Service Area of the Swedish Log Church at Wicaco Showing Place Names Used in this Article." Clearest map of the populated islands in the Delaware River.

Large Forts

 * (New Netherland) Fort Nassau, now Brooklawn, New Jersey 1623-1651
 * Fort Christina, now Wilmington, Delaware 1638-1655
 * Fort New Gothenborg (Nya Göteborg, or Tenakung), now Essington, Pennsylvania 1643-1655
 * Fort New Elfsborg (Nya Älfborg), now west of Salem, New Jersey 1643-1651
 * Fort Nya Korsholm (Gripsholm?, Manäyungh), now Southwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1647-1653
 * (New Netherland) Fort Beversreede, now Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1648-1551
 * (New Netherland: Fort Casimir) (New Sweden: Fort Trefaldighets), now New Castle, Delaware 1651-1655



Blockhouses (single log cabin forts)

 * (New Netherland) Blockhouse "at the Schuylkill," now Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1633-1643 ( -1647?)
 * (English) Blockhouse at Varkens Kill, now Salem, New Jersey 1641-1643
 * (English) Blockhouse on Province Island, now Fisher's or State Island, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1642
 * Upland (Meckopenacka), now Chester, Pennsylvania 1643+
 * Province (Manaiping) Island or Druweeÿland, now Fisher’s or State Island, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1643-1647
 * Nya Vasa (Wasa), now Kingsessing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1645-1647
 * Mölndal, now Yeadon, Pennsylvania 1645-1651
 * Torne (Tårne), now West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1647?-1655
 * Blockhouse in front of Ft. Beversreede, now Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1648+

Permanent Settlements

 * Christina, now Wilmington, Delaware 1638
 * Finland (Chamassungh), now Trainer, Pennsylvania 1641
 * Upland (Meckopenacka), now Chester, Pennsylvania 1641
 * New Stockholm, now Bridgeport, New Jersey 1642?
 * Sveaborg, now Swedesboro, New Jersey 1642
 * Printztorp, now Chester, Pennsylvania 1643
 * Tequirassy, now Eddystone, Pennsylvania 1643
 * Tinicum Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania 1643
 * Province (Manaiping) Island or Druweeÿland, now Fisher’s or State Island, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1643
 * Minqua's (Boon's) Island, now Southwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1643
 * Kingsessing (Nya Vasa or Wasa), now Southwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1644
 * Mölndal, now Yeadon, Pennsylvania 1645
 * Torne (Aronameck), now West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1647
 * (New Netherland: Sandhook), now New Castle, Delaware 1651
 * The Sidoland (meaning the side land [of Christina], now Wilmington, Delaware 1654
 * Settlement above Ft. Christina, now Wilmington, Delaware 1654
 * Timber Island, now Wilmington, Delaware 1654
 * Strandviken (meaning Bay Beach), now Wilmington, Delaware 1654
 * Ammansland, now Darby, Pennsylvania 1654

Rivers and Creeks

 * (New Netherland): Zuydt, Södre [South], Nassau, Prince Hendrick, or Wilhelmus; (New Sweden): Swenskes Revier, Nya Sweriges Rivier; (British): Charles or Delaware River
 * Schuylen Kyl, now Schuylkill River, Pennsylvania
 * Minquas Kyl, now Christina River, Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania
 * Fiske Kyl, now Brandywine Creek, Delaware and Pennsylvania
 * Marikes Kill, now Marikens (Marcus) Hook, Pennsylvania