Sources-New Sweden

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: New Sweden
Surname/tag: New_Sweden

Välkommen! This page is part of the New Sweden Project.

The New Sweden Colony was located in the Delaware Valley from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, Delaware, and eastern Maryland. It was founded about 1638 by Swedes and Finns under the leadership of Peter Minuit. The colony was taken by the Dutch in 1655, but it retained essentially the same laws and type of governance until 1682 when the English Quakers arrived. Swedish culture remained significant in the region for some time; records of the Old Swedes Church in Swedesboro, NJ were in Swedish until as late as 1732 and Swedish language services continued into the 1780s.

Below are listed resources useful for historical background and genealogy of the New Sweden colony and its descendants. Please add more if you have them.

Contents 1 Primary Sources 1.1 Under Swedish Rule 1.2 Under Dutch Rule 1.3 Under English Rule 1.3.1 Census Records 1.3.2 Church Records 1.3.3 Court and Governmental Records 1.3.4 Other Records 2 Websites 2.1 Swedish & Finnish Language Websites 2.2 English Language Websites 3 Journals 4 Books & Articles 4.1 Swedish & Finnish Language Books & Articles 4.2 English Language Books & Articles 4.2.1 Family Genealogies 4.3 Museums, Historical Societies, and Historic Sites

Primary Sources

• A compilation of some online sources which present documents of the colonial period pertinent to the settlers of New Sweden
• Colonial Records of the Swedish Churches in Pennsylvania, (1646-1786). 6 volumes. Coverage includes Gloria Dei Philadelphia, St. Gabriel's Church in Douglassville, Berks County; Christ Church of Upper Merion, Montgomery County; St. James Church of Kingsessing in West Philadelphia; Holy Trinity Church in Wilmington; St. George's Church in Penn's Neck, Salem County, NJ
• Scandinavian Immigrants in New York, 1630-1674

Under Swedish Rule

• Account book for New Sweden 1637-1658 from Swedish National Archives
• Sweden, ed. Lists of Troops Stationed at the Swedish Forts on the Delaware River during the Period, 1637-1655, n.d. (copy of document from Sweden Archives, at NJSL)
• Risingh, Johan Cl, Stellan Dahlgren, and Hans Norman, The rise and fall of New Sweden: Governor Johan Risingh's journal, 1654-1655, in its historical context. (Stockholm, Sweden: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1988)
• Penn State's links to New Sweden primary documents

Under Dutch Rule

• Gehring, Charles T. (ed) and Holland Society of New York. Delaware Papers (Dutch Period): A Collection o f Documents Pertaining to the Regulation of Affairs on the South River of New Netberland, 1648-1664. New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, Volumes 18-19. (Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. 1981)

Under English Rule

Census Records

• Craig, Peter S.. 1671 Census of the Delaware. Philadelphia: Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, 1999.
• Craig, Peter S..The 1693 Census of the Swedes on the Delaware: Family Histories of the Swedish Lutheran Church Members Residing in Pennsylvania, Delaware, West New Jersey & Cecil County, Md., 1638-1693. (Winter Park, Fla: SAG Publications, 1993)

Church Records

• Burr, Horace. The records of Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) Church, Wilmington, Del., from 1697 to 1773. (Wilmington, DE: Historical Society of Delaware, 1890). hathi
• Minotty, Paul. The Records of Trinity Episcopal Church (old Swedes), Swedesboro, Gloucester County, New Jersey, 1785-1975. (Woodbury, N.J: Gloucester County Historical Society, 1979)
• M'Farland, Park, Jr. (comp). 1750-1863 Marriage Records of Gloria Dei Church "Old Swedes", Philadelphia. (Philadelphia: M'Farland & Son, Printers, 1879). Hathi.
• Philadelphia Congregations Early Records: Gloria Dei Church. Browse digiitzed parish registers (baptism, marriage, and burial records), as well as vestry minutes and other documents.
• Swedish Lutheran Church (Raccoon, N.J.), and Amandus Johnson. The Records of the Swedish Lutheran Churches at Raccoon and Penns Neck, 1713-1786. 1938. (Woodbury, N.J.: Gloucester County Historical Society, 2003)

Court and Governmental Records

• New Sweden, Josiah Harmar, Edward Armstrong, and Ebenezer Denny, eds. The Record of the Court at Upland in Pennsylvania, 1676 to 1681: And a Military Journal, Kept by Major E. Denny, 1781 to 1795. (Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, v. 7. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1860), https://archive.org/details/recordofcourtatu00harm/page/n7/mode/2up
• Colonial Society of Pennsylvania, ed. Record of the Courts of Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1681-1697. Philadelphia, Pa: Colonial Society of Pennsylvania, 1910. https://archive.org/details/recordofcourtsof01penn/page/n5/mode/2up
• Lapp, Dorothy and Chester County Historical Society. Records of the Courts of Chester County, Pennsylvania, Volume 2 [1697-1710]. Danboro, PA: [privately published], 1972. Ancestry: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/10698/images/dvm_LocHist000381-00221-1?ssrc=&backlabel=Return&lang=en-US&pId=437
• British Delaware River settlement administrative records, New York (Colony). Council within Digital Collections of New York State Archives
  This series contains legal and administrative records, in English and Dutch, documenting the period of English control over the Delaware region by colonial governors Richard Nicholls, Francis Lovelace, and Edmund Andros. The records include correspondence, reports, petitions, accounts, survey-returns, copies of local court proceedings sent to Fort James, letters, orders, warrants, instructions, and patents.

Other Records

• Collin, Nicholas, and Amandus Johnson. The Journal and Biography of Nicholas Collin, 1746-1831: The Journal Translated from the Original Swedish Manuscript. Philadelphia: The New Jersey society of Pennsylvania, 1936. http://www.familysearch.org/library/books/idurl/1/59907
• Kalm, Pehr. Travels Into North America... Warrington: William Eyres, 1770. Volume 1: https://archive.org/details/travelsintonorth01kalm/page/n5/mode/2up, Volume 2: https://archive.org/details/travelsintonorth02kalmrich/page/n3/mode/2up
• Kalm, Peter. Peter Kalm's Travels in North America: The English Version of 1770. (Wilson-Erickson Inc., 1937)

Websites

Swedish & Finnish Language Websites

• Wikipedia Emigrationen från Sverige till Nordamerika
• Bibliografi
• Nya Sverige Hans Högman
• ArkivDigital blog post: English-language examples of how to read Swedish records for birth, marriage and death from different time periods: http://blog.arkivdigital.net/church-book-record-examples/

English Language Websites

• Wikipedia New Sweden
• A Brief History of New Sweden in America
• 1938 Swedish-American Tercentenary President Roosevelt and Prince Bertil at the 1938 Swedish-American Tercentenary celebration in Wilmington, DE.
• Articles and Books about New Sweden Links to over 25 English-language articles on this FInnish Genealogy site.
• History of the Kalmar Nyckel and a New Look at New Sweden an Account by John R Henderson, with sources and links.
• The Swedish Colonial Society Chronology of Colonial Swedes on the Delaware 1638-1713
• Online Resources About New Castle maintained by the New Castle, Delaware Community History and Archaeology Program.
• Philadelphia Congregations Early Records Project Online records of 11 of Philadelphia's oldest congregations. Includes Gloria Dei (Old Swedes). Mostly images of manuscripts, unindexed. Free.

Journals

• Swedish Colonial News, published by the Swedish Colonial Society (citations listed below under Family Genealogies)
• Swedish American Genealogist published by the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center, Augustana College; not unique to New Sweden period; includes back issues with titles and authors for all content, 1981 to date.

Books & Articles

Swedish & Finnish Language Books & Articles

• Broberg, Richard "Finnbosättningar på Älvdals härads utskogar." [1] Finnish immigration to middle Sweden. The writings published by the Association for Värmland literature 7 Karlstad. ISSN 0347-1837. ISBN 91-85540-39-0] NOTE: Clement and Jacob to Delaware.

• Pehrsson, Lennart "Den nya världen" "Utvandringen til Amerika 2014, ISBN 978-91-0-013191-3

• Wieck, Friedrich Georg, Uppfinningarnas bok, "Sjunde bandet. Verldshandeln, dess utveckling, gång och medel", Stockholm,

• L. J. Hiertas förlagsexpedition. 1873-1875 page 291

English Language Books & Articles

• Craig, Peter Stebbins -- A bibliography of his works on New Sweden Lists over 60 works by Dr. Craig.

• Acrelius, Israel and Nicholas Collin. "New Sweden, Or, The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware." Collections of the New York Historical Society. 1 (1841). Print.

• Carlsson, Sten "The Colonists of New Sweden, 1638-1656: Their Geographical and Social Background." In Swedish American Genealogist, vol. 12:2 (June 1992), pp. 49-65.

• Clay, Jehu C. and Henry S. Henschen. Annals of the Swedes on the Delaware. (Chicago, Ill: John Ericsson Memorial Committee, 1938)

• Craig, Peter S. "The Delaware Finns of Colonial America" published in Wedin, Maud (ed): Rapport från Finnbygdskonferensen i Härnösand/Viksjö 26-29 augusti 1999. Rapporter från Geografiska Föreningen, Mitthögskolan i Härnösand 1/2000. note: link is broken Husted-87 20:39, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

• Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of New Jersey. "The Swedes and Finns in New Jersey" (Bayonne, N.J.: Jersey Print. Co.,:1938)

• Ferris, Benjamin. A history of the original settlements on the Delaware, from its discovery by Hudson to the colonization under William Penn. To which is added an account of the ecclesiastical affairs of the Swedish settlers, and a history of Wilmington, from its first settlement to the present time. Wilson & Heald, 1846. link

• Fur, Gunlög M. Colonialism in the Margins: Cultural Encounters in New Sweden and Lapland. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2006. This book is about New Sweden's interactions with indigenous people.

• Haefeli, Evan. 2006. “The Revolt of the Long Swede: Transatlantic Hopes and Fears on the Delaware, 1669”. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 130 (2). Historical Society of Pennsylvania: 137–80. link

• Hoffecker, Carol E. New Sweden in America. Newark, Del: Univ. of Delaware Press, 1995.

• Johnson, Amandus. The Swedes in America, 1638-1900. Philadelphia: Lenapé Press, 1914.

• Kostiainen, Auvo. “The Delaware Colonists and Their Heritage.” In Finns in the United States: A History of Settlement, Dissent, and Integration, edited by Auvo Kostiainen, np. East Lansing, Mich: Michigan State Univ. Press, 2014.

• Lindquist, Herman "Våra kolonier - de vi hade och de som aldrig blev av" ISBN 9789100139513

• Louhi, Evert Alexander. The Delaware Finns; Or, The First Permanent Settlements in Pennsylvania, Delaware, West New Jersey and Eastern Part of Maryland. New York: The Humanity Press, 1925. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Delaware_Finns_Or_The_First_Permanen/EPFYAAAAMAAJ?hl=en

• Scharf, John Thomas. History of Delaware : 1609-1888. Philadelphia: L.J. Richards, 1888. link

• Shorto, Russell. The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America. New York: Doubleday, 2004

• Thomas Jr, William W. "Från slott till koja. Minnen från en flerårig vistelse i Sverige" Chicago and New York Rand, McNally & Campany Förlag 1893, page 729

Family Genealogies

• Craig, Peter S. "Jürgen Schneeweiss, Progenitor of the Keen Family." Swedish Colonial News, 1, No. 11 (Spring 1995).

• Craig, Peter S. New Sweden Settlers, 1638-1664 "Swedish American Genealogist", multiple parts and volumes, 1996-1999.

• Keen, Gregory B. The Descendants of Joran Kyn of New Sweden, (Philadelphia: Swedish Colonial Society, 1913)

• Locke, Edith M. Davis. Descendants of the Reverend Larrs Karlsson Lock, 1604-1688, “Pastor in the Valley.” Woodbury, N.J: Gloucester County Historical Society, 1986.

• "The Mullica Family of New Sweden." Genealogies of Pennsylvania Families: From the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co, 1981, Vol. 2, p. 347-348

• Maull, Baldwin Springer. Charles Springer’s Family in Swedish History. (Wilmington, Del: Delaware Swedish Colonial Society, 1978)

• Werner, Charles J. Eric Mullica and His Descendants: A Swedish Pioneer in New Jersey; Together with a Description of the Mullica River Region in Burlington and Atlantic Counties, N.j., and an Account of the Early Generations of the Family in the Vicinity of Mullica Hill and Swedesboro, Gloucester County, N.J. New Gretna, N.J: C.J. Werner, 1930.

• ———. Hans Hanson of Red Lyon Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware. (Princeton, N.J: Maull, 1978)

• Swedish Colonial Society and Peter S Craig,. "Forefather Family Profiles", a searchable pdf file containing all forty-three of the profiles can be downloaded from the Swedish Colonial Society website on this page.

• Cox Family of Delaware River and Descendants of New Jersey. (Salem, Mass: Higginson Genealogical Books, 1987)

Museums, Historical Societies, and Historic Sites

• The Swedish Colonial Society
• New Sweden Centre, Wilmington, Delaware
• Gloria Dei (Old Swedes), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Holy Trinity Church (Old Swedes), Wilmington, Delaware
• Trinity Episcopal (Old Swedes), Swedesboro, New Jersey
• Fort Christina Park, Wilmington, Delaware