USA > Delaware > Early clergy of Pennsylvania and Delaware > Part 3
USA > Pennsylvania > Early clergy of Pennsylvania and Delaware > Part 3
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PROVOST REV. JONAS LIDMAN succeeded Sandel at Wicacoa. His commission was dated 1719. "He was the first who brought a wife from Sweden." He lived lovingly with his people. In his time the church build- ing was improved. He returned to Sweden in 1730, and gave the care of the parish to Jno. Eneberg, "who was then preaching for the Germans," and in 1733 had the pastor- ship of Christina. He returned to Sweden in 1742.
REV. GABRIEL FALK succeeded Lidman, having the Royal Commission of King Frederick I. He bore a letter to the Bishop of London and to the Propagation Society. Bishop Swedberg desired the people to "receive him as
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an angel of the Lord of hosts." He was kindly received, and was zealous and edifying, catechizing the people at their homes. He was pastor in 1733.
REV. JOHN DYLANDER received the Royal Commission as pastor of Wicacoa, May 17th, 1737. John Malan - der a student of theology, accompanied him. The new pastor was well fitted for his office and loved by his flock. He also preached in German for the Germans in- Philadelphia, Germantown and Lancaster. He some- times preached in the English church (Christ Church). This good man died in 1741. Pastor Peter Tranberg preached his funeral sermon. "A great multitude of people" were present. "All laid this tribute of praise upon his grave : That he was a chosen teacher for the church, an ornament of his order, an honor to his coun- trymen, and an affectionate husband to his widow, the daughter of Peter Kock, of Passayungh."
REV. GABRIEL NAESMAN reached Philadelphia in 1743. He had charge of Wicacoa, but preached at various places throughout the country. He was faithful in visit- ing the sick and attending malefactors in prison. . After traveling in the West Indies and in Europe Mr. Naes- man returned to Sweden in 1751, where his wife, Mar- garetta Rambo, joined him. "He had the character and honor of a professor bestowed upon him," and was ap- pointed pastor of Christianstad, in Skane.
PROVOST OLAVUS PARLIN, formerly chaplain to the royal counsellor, Count Thure Bielke, was commissioned for American Mission work in 1749, and sailed in 1750. He gained the confidence of the Wicacoa parish, being prudent and seeking the spiritual interests of his hear- crs, adapting himself to their understanding, and being agreeable and edifying in his intercourse. He drew many to the Church, and insisted on "the proper use of
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the Holy Sacraments, and especially of the Lord's Sup- per." He died in 1757, "to the deep sorrow of his wife, Elizabeth Tranberg, and his two children, Peter and Anna Catharina." The widow was the daughter of Rev. Peter Tranberg. He is buried in the chancel of Gloria Dei Church.
PROVOST CAROLUS MAGNUS VON WRANGEL, D.D .- This clergyman was a very interesting and efficient man. He was made provost in 1759, and labored about nine years, returning in 1768. He was of the distinguished family of General Von Wrangel, who was in Gustavus Adolphus's army. He had studied at Westeras and Upsala, in Sweden, and at the German University of Gottingen, where he obtained the doctorate in divinity, and was court preacher in the royal chapel in Stockholm when Archbishop Samuel Troilius asked him to go to the American mission. He was active and influential here, and reorganized the churches. "He published in Dr. Franklin's printing office a translation of Luther's Shorter Catechism into English." He was zealous in instructing the young. He "gave the first impulse to the establishment of the Society for the Faith and Christianity in Sweden." Dr. Muhlenberg entertained him at The Trappe, and says, "I was greatly moved by his mild and humble manners and edified by his weighty conversation relative to the kingdom of God." Muh- lenberg also visited him at Wicacoa and joined in the Ministerial Convention. Dr. Von Wrangel preached on "The Importance of the Holy Supper, after which," Muhlenberg adds, "we made confession and received absolution." Provost Von Wrangel also preached a sermon in Swedish on Ps. 126: 5, "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." The Holy Supper was received "with deep solemnity." The provost's " unspeakable
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care and toil " to repair the church's "outward hedge" and to guard it against attacks (Ps. So) amidst suffering and victory, were shown in his report. He commended pastoral visiting and catechizing, and desired that the holy sacraments should be extolled in an evangelical manner, saying that he purposed to explain Christ's life in "private meetings and catechetical exercises with the children." Von Wrangel could preach in Swedish, German and English, and addressed the candidates for the ministry in Latin. He laid the corner-stone of St. James's Church, Kingsessing, in 1760. He caused that church and Christ Church, Upper Merion, to be set off as distinct parishes from Wicacoa, with the erection of churches for cach parish. Such crowds attended his eloquent preaching that he sometimes preached in the open air. He went back to Sweden in 1768 and died in 1786.
REV. MR. GEORGESON, in 1774, was in the Swedish churches, and had Rev. Charles Lute as assistant. IIc is mentioned by Dr. Clay and Miss Montgomery.
REV. ANDREAS GORANSON was sent hither in 1766, assuming charge of Wicacoa Church in 1767 or 1768. He returned in 1785 and died in ISoo. This clergyman officiated until 1779.
REV. MATTHIAS HULTGREEN was pastor from 17So to 1786. Professor C. J. Stille writes me that he found in Stockholm a report made by this clergyman to the Archbishop of Upsala.
PROVOST DR. NICHOLAS COLLIN was sent to America in 1770, and officiated at Swedesborough, N. J. In 1786 he became rector of Wicacoa and its associated parishes, which he held forty-five years. He married 3,375 cou- ples, making an average of about 84 annually, though in the beginning of his ministry the average was greater.
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In 1795 he married 199 couples and the next year 179. Park McFarland, Jr., a vestryman of Old Swedes' Church (Gloria Dei), Philadelphia, has copied these marriage records and those of other rectors from 1750 to 1863 with great toil, and had them printed in four pamphlets. He feared their loss in manuscript, but the church has now wisely built a safe in the porch. These are some of the most valuable church records in this country. Mr. McFarland also copied the record of bap- tisms and funerals. Dr. Collin noted the cause of death, at least in some cases. When he declined to marry he gave quaint notes of his reasons. Mr. McFarland well com- pares the record to what might have been made at Gretna Green. An aged lady told me that she went one even- ing to be married by the old rector, but as he came out to meet the bridal party he stumbled and fell over some bricks or debris in the rectory yard, and the gentlemen took him into the house, while the young bride sought the services of Rev. Joseph Turner elsewhere. The Uni- versity of Pennsylvania conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity on Nicholas Collin. He was a learned man, es- pecially in the languages. He died October 7th, A.D., IS31, at Wicacoa, in his eighty-seventh year. Dr. Collin constantly used the Episcopal Prayer-Book, and his assistant ministers were Episcopal clergymen. As the doctor served Kingsessing and Lower Merion he used to ride to these points on an old gray pony called "Tidy," and he kindly allowed it to take its own slow gait. Once he was thrown into the Schuylkill at Bridgeport by the lying down of the horse. He was beloved by children, who found his pockets stored with candy for their de- light. The doctor was sensitive about his age. A young gentleman once asked his age at table; the clergyman made no reply. He asked again and received
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SP. Pollin D.D.
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the answer, " Old enough to die." Once in baptizing a curly-headed boy the doctor compared him to an angel, and painters take children's faces for cherubs, and per- haps the angels who behold the Father's face above are near the little ones on earth.
Dr. Collin at one time announced each Sunday for three months that he would read an old document, and then read the names of those indebted for pew rents for twenty years, many of whom were present, simply closing with the words of Scripture, "Render unto Cæsar the things that be Caesar's." At Swedesborough, N. J., Anthony Wayne once spent a night at the doctor's house, and the colored man-servant entered the Gen- eral's room at night and told him the British were com- ing. Wayne departed, leaving his sword, and Dr. Col- lin was seized and carried away, but claimed that he was a subject of Sweden and was released.
In the Pennsylvania Magasine of History, July, 1888, pp. 253-55, is a Parochial Letter to the Swedish Churches in Pennsylvania, donated to the Historical Society by Dr. Alfred Stille. It begins : "Beloved in God, whereas it may please the Father of our immortal spirits to call me before I can convene a meeting of you, I deem it a conscientious duty to impress this solemn charge on your mind." He speaks of "the mixture of nations and religious denominations in this part of America" and " the gradual extinction of the Swedish language." There is an carnest exhortation to a more religious and moral life, which he thinks his eleven years of work in preaching and conversation has helped to advance. "The Godly and generous zeal of some pastors and the solicitude of" ancestors had provided an estate to sup- port divine worship, which Dr. Collin asked should be faithfully administered as by stewards of God. He
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wishes the people to have a Swedish clergyman, and speaks of Danish and Norwegian sailors, and others from those countries, as frequenting the Swedish church in Philadelphia, as being similar to those in their coun- tries. Two American ministers, he thinks, would suf- fice the three congregations for the present. When vacant lots of land became valuable he recommends the purchase of glebes "in Kingsess, and even in Upper Merion after a convenient period, as a clergyman must live among the people in order to be most useful." He writes "in the deepest affliction for the loss" of his wife, who died two days before the letter was penned, "in the language of affection and zeal " to his parish- ioners, on whom he prays that God's blessing may rest. The long cpistle is signed, Yr. faithful friend and servant, Nicholas Collin, and dated Philadelphia, the Ist of October, 1797. Mrs. Collin died of yellow fever, and was buried in the Old Swedes' churchyard.
There is a manuscript letter in the Pennsylvania His- torical Society Library, written in a bold and clear, but irregular hand, by Dr. Collin to the Moravian missionary, Heckewelder, at Bethlehem, Pa., asking him to send him some seeds of the sugar-maple tree. About 1832 an obitu- ary memoir of Dr. Collin was read in the Philosophical Society, as Aubrey H. Smith, Esq., informs me. He has also given me further aid in this work. When the doctor was eighty years old his mind and body were sound, and he was " performing his duties to the general satisfaction." His death occurred October 7th, 1831, at his rectory. He was a vice-president of the Ameri- can Philosophical Society, and one of the founders of the Society " for the commemoration of the landing of William Penn." "With his death ended the Swedish missions in this country." I notice Dr. Collin's name
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frequently in the reports of the Philosophical Society as in attendance. Bishop White was a member.
Once a year the doctor preached in Swedish at King- sessing. His English was broken. The nave of St. James's Church has echoed to his voice. Its corner- stone was laid in 1760. The date on the tablet is 1762. The stone horse-blocks yet stand as relics of a former day in the ample churchyard. Formerly two rows of square windows marked the church wall. In an altera- tion two windows were made into one.
The picture of Dr. Collin, which accompanies this sketch, was drawn by Rev. Dr. II. J. Morton, from Dr. Clay's description. Dr. Morton never saw him, and Dr. Collin did not wish to have his picture taken. Mr. Thomas Sparks, who was a relative of the Swedish divine, and Rev. Dr. Abercrombie and Bishop White recognized the likeness at once. The picture now appears by the courteous permission of Park McFar- land, Jr.
Copies of the works of Campanius and Acrelius, in Swedish, are at the Ridgway Library.
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CHAPTER V.
DELAWARE AND NEW JERSEY CLERGY.
P ROVOST ERIC BJORK .- (The varied spelling of proper names has been purposely retained.) Mr. Rudman selected Eric Bjork as his fellow- laborer. Trinity church, Wilmington, was built largely by his toilsome efforts, and that of his church warden, Charles Springer. The church was consecrated on Trinity Sunday, A.D., 1699. Mr. Bjork also built the rectory. He worked zealously and prudently, "scraping together" moncy needed for his work. John Stalcop gave the land for the church and churchyard. Bjork returned to Sweden in 1714, taking his American wife, whose maiden name was Christina Stalcop (being the daughter of Peter Stalcop), and five children. That was the first American family given back to Sweden. He died in 1740. Bjork closed his well-kept church-book with some lines. I add a portion of them :
"Grant now, O Lord, our God, Christina Church thy blessing, That there may never fail souls thy rich love possessing ;
Her shepherds grant thy grace, her sheep do thou so guard, That with thy flock in heaven they have their great reward." He closes thus :
"But Christ is all my trust, my everlasting song."
PROVOST ANDREAS HESSELIUS reached here in 1712, and in 1713 took charge of Christina. He exhorted the people to a regard for baptism and the Lord's Sup- per, and stirred up the vestry to oversee the lives of the flock. Hle served the English at St. James's Church,
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Stanton, monthly, and the English Propagation Society agreed to give him a stipend if he would do some work in vacant churches in Pennsylvania. He labored with the Indians who were among the Swedes. In 1723 he was recalled. After his return to Sweden he published a book on "The Swedish Church in America." He died in 1733.
SAMUEL HESSELIUS .- This clergyman was assistant minister at Wicacoa. He was ordained in the cathedral of Skara in 1718. For a time he officiated and resided at what is supposed to have been Molatton (now Morlatton), or Douglassville, in Berks County. In 1760 George Douglass was a vestryman here. An old church (St. Ga- briel's) long drew the attention of the railway. traveler, The Reverend John Long of late years erected a new one. Rev. Edward J. Koons has just resigned its rec- torship. The people of this parish tearfully besought Hesselius to come to them. The present rector, Rev. WV. Du Hamel, gave an interesting history of this parish in the Standard of the Cross, Febuary 15th, A. D., 18go. Rev. Gabriel Falk was the first regular pastor from 1735 to 1740; Rev. Henry Muhlenberg gave some care to the parish, Rev. Alex. Murray, an English Missionary, Rev. Jno. Wade, Rev. Jno. Armstrong, and Rev. Levi Bull, D.D., Rev. Caleb Good, Rev. George Mintzer, Rev. Wm. IIomman, Rev. I. F. Whitesides, and Rev. Messrs. George Barker, Oliver Shaw, Edward Jones and Edmund Leaf preceded Rev. John Long in the rectorship. This clergyman also served Matzony (Matson's Ford), now Conshohocken, with the other parish. In 1723 he was transferred to Christina, to succeed his brother Andrew. He was in America till 1731, and died in 1755.
REV. PETER TRANBERG came hither in 1726, and had the care of Racoon and Pennsneck, but in 1739 was
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transferred to Christina. His New Jersey parishes regretted his loss, but the English and Swedes welcomed him to Christina. He had mastered the English language, and officiated at St. James's English Church, Stanton, Delaware, and St. John's, Concord, Pa., and Marlborough, Pa., and other places. This "pious and meck" and warm- hearted man, after twenty-two years of labor in this country, after attending " the funeral of a married pair" at Pennsneck, was "taken deadly sick in the house of the deceased, and four days thereafter fell asleep in the Lord, in the same place, on the Sth of November, 1748." At the funeral, in Christina Church, the English mis- sionary, George Ross, preached. He was "the oldest minister in the country." A Swedish sermon was preached by Rev. Gab. Naesman, " at that time the only Swedish minister left in the country." A stone in the church covers the body of Mr. Tranberg. Acrelius added some verses to the close of Mr. Tranberg's church record in memory of this indefatigable man. They were versified by Malcolm Maccuen. The fol- lowing is a portion :
" How happy he who yields his breath, Secure of triumph over death, Who thro' the faith that Jesus gave Can gladly sink into the grave.
When the chief Shepherd shall appear, To call him from his labor here, Is he not happier, labor done, Than one whose toil has just begun ?"
Mr. Tranberg "had been loved by all, because he had ministered to all." He was buried in the aisle of Christina Church, near the pulpit. A poetic inscription closes thus :
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HOLY TRINITY (OLD SWEDES') CHURCH, WILMINGTON.
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"To hazard health, nay, life and pleasure too, His Lord's command with ardor to pursue, For which he rests with God, in bliss to be Freed from this world to all eternity."
His son Peter, a lad of nine years, is buried with him. Elsewhere a reference is made to another son as his only one, but perhaps this relates to the time of the death of the one last named.
PROVOST ISRAEL ACRELIUS (sent to America in 1749). -Acrelius is distinguished as the author of the "His- tory of New Sweden," which is longer than that of Campanius, and the last-named author did not visit this country. Dr. Collin translated a large part of this work for Rev. Dr. Samuel Miller, of Princeton, N. J., to aid in his Church History. It was published by the New York Historical Society. The Rev. Dr. William M. Rey- nolds made a complete translation for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, which has been largely used in these notes. Joseph F. Mickley, John Jordan, Jr., and Townsend Ward, all of the Historical Society of Penn- sylvania, gave valuable aid in carrying out the literary part of the work. Acrelius dedicated it to Queen Louisa Ulrica. He utilized the labors of Campanius and others in his book. The Provost, Rev. Dr. William Smith, of the Philadelphia Academy, gave Acrelius a letter to Dr. Secker, then Bishop of Oxford, afterward Archbishop of Canterbury.
Acrelius lived until 1800 ; the patriarch died in Swe- den at the age of eighty-six. "He sent his portrait to the widow of Petrus Tranberg, his predecessor ;" it is now the property of Trinity Church, Wilmington, and was engraved for the History, and by the courtesy of Mr. Frederick D. Stone, Librarian of the Historical Society, has been reproduced for these articles.
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The dedication of the History refers to "the churches among which, in a service of eight years, he offered up the powers of his life amid laborious official duties, toilsome journeys, and the endurance of severe sick- ness." Acrelius was appointed pastor of Racoon and Pennsneck, but after Mr. Tranberg's death was trans- ferred to Christina before leaving Sweden. We find him giving an oration to the clergy, at a meeting in Germantown, in Latin, "on the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace," Eph. 4 : 3. He prepared, in Latin, a narrative of the history of the German Evangelical congregations in Pennsylvania and " adjacent countries." He left to return to Sweden in 1756, with "mutual tears ". of pastor and people. He was much beloved. He preached his farewell sermon in six places, and the people followed him in large numbers. He became pastor of "Fellingsbro, in the Diocese of Westeras." He had been "Preacher Extraordinary to the Admir- alty " before he came to this country. Acrelius is said to have recorded more marriages than any other Swed- ish clergyman in Wilmington. Rev. G. C. Bird, rector of Marcus Hook, Pa., informs me that Acrelius and other Swedish clergy are on his church records as hav- ing performed services in that parish for a time.
REV. ERIC UNANDER was pastor in Racoon and Penns- neck, and became pastor in Christina. He arrived in Philadelphia in 1749. He was gladly received in Racoon, and was adapted for his work and loved by the people. He had an extended parish, and was obliged to preach both in Swedish and English almost every Sun- day, while he also catechized private families, and labored for "the English congregation in Salem," and the peo- ple on Timber Creek on weekdays. He toiled dili- gently, even when sick, and " did not eat the bread of idleness." In 1755 he was transferred to Christina.
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ST. GABRIEL'S, MORLATTON, (OLD CHURCH.)
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JONAS AUREN .- This clergyman was added to the company of Rudman & Biorck by the King's (Chas. XI.) order. He was to make a map of the new country, and describe its character and inhabitants. He remained some time with Mr. Rudman before traveling. Auren came in 1696. Charles XI. died and the wars of Charles XII. followed, and he was kept here ministering at Elk River, Maryland, and Racoon, N. J., and as an Indian missionary in Conestoga, Pa. He died in 1713.
REV. ABRAHAM LIDENIUS came in 1712 as "assistant at all the congregations." He served first at Christina. He became pastor at Racoon and Pennsneck. He returned to Sweden in 1724, and died in 1728. His sor, John Abraham, came back to this his native country and assisted Mr. Unander in these Jersey parishes and officiated elsewhere, and in 1752 went to reside at Man- athanim. He died in Pennsylvania.
PROFESSOR PETER KALM .- The student of American history finds the Rev. Professor Peter Kalm one of the most interesting of the carly travelers who have recorded impressions of this new land. He was a distinguished naturalist and a professor in the University of Abo, in Finland, then a part of Sweden. He labored for a time in the Swedish mission in New Jersey. . There was a little romance in that work. The widow of Rev. John Sandin was living in that strange land with two infant children. The professor passed from pity on to love, and served the vacant parish, and married the widow, and carried her back to her own country. The parish where the professor was a guest was that of Racoon Church, now Swedesboro. The marriage took place in Philadelphia in February, 1750. The professor traveled a year afterward, spending three years in this country. He wrote two volumes useful for science and history.
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The universities of Abo and Upsala, and "the Depart- ment of Manufactures of the Diet of the Kingdom," sent him to discover seeds and plants and transfer them to Sweden." Acrelius styles him, "the celebrated Professor Kalm," and "that learned man."
REV. JOHN WICKSELL succeeded Abraham Lidenius as rector of Swedesborough and Pennsneck in 1762. He was zealous for the temporal and spiritual concerns of his parish, and caused a rectory to be built at Swedes- borough, and the land to be improved, and interested himself "for the charity school-house." He returned in 1774, and died A.D., 1800.
The vinc planted by the Swedish Church centuries ago still bears precious fruit to the glory of God in Christ. Christ Church, Bridgeport, on the Schuylkill (Upper Merion), has long been faithfully served by the present rector, Rev. A. A. Marple. Trinity parish, Wilmington, has two church buildings, under the rectorship of Rev. H. Ashton Henry. The assistant, Rev. Martin B. Dunlap, has special charge of Old Swedes' Church, which the rail- way traveler may see from the car windows shortly bc- fore reaching the Wilmington depot, on the right hand in going from Philadelphia to that city. Swedesboro (Trinity) Church is under the pastoral care of Rev. Dr. George W. Watson. Rev. C. M. Perkins, rector of Salem, N. J., adds to the cares of that parish the over- sight of St. George's Church, Pennsville, formerly styled Pennsneck.
The writer of these sketches gladly endeavors to per- petuate the fact that Sweden kindly handed these dis- tant children over to the care of the American Episco- pal Church. If Sweden had sent Bishops hither before England did the reciprocity might have been more visi- ble between Swedish and English churches, and we can hardly imagine what would have been the result.
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REV. DR. JEHU CURTIS CLAY was the son of Rev. Slator and Hannah (Hughes) Clay, born February 3d, A.D., 1792, in Upper Providence, Montgomery County, Pa. He was elected rector of Gloria Dei Church in December, 1831, and entered on his work in January, 1832. He died in the rectory October 20th, 1863, holding the post nearly thirty-two years.
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