USA > Delaware > Narratives of early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware, 1630-1707 > Part 9
USA > New Jersey > Narratives of early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware, 1630-1707 > Part 9
USA > Pennsylvania > Narratives of early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware, 1630-1707 > Part 9
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"Smith's Island at Cape Charles, off the end of the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
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NARRATIVES OF EARLY PENNSYLVANIA
was half dead and black as earth) on board and brought him to Haakemak where he recovered again. But the people be- longing to the knight, and the bark, came to our Fort Elfs- borgh on May 6, 1643, and asked for ships to Old England. Then I asked for their passport and whence they came, and since I immediately observed that they were not right in their designs I took them with me (with their own consent, however) to Christina in order to buy flour and other provisions from them, and I examined them until a servant maid (who had been employed as washerwoman by the knight) confessed and betrayed them. Then I caused all the goods they had on hand to be inventoried in their presence, and I kept the people prisoners until the same English sloop which had saved the knight arrived here with the knight's letter, written not only to me but to all the governors and commanders of the whole coast from Florida northwards. Then I delivered the people unto him, bark and goods all together, according to the inven- tory, and he paid me my expenses, which amounted to 425 rix- dollars. The principal men among these traitors the knight has caused to be shot, but he himself is yet in Virginia and (as he represents) is expecting ships and people out of Ireland and England. He gives free commission to all sloops and barks which come from there to trade here in the river with the savages, but I have not allowed any one to pass by and will not do it, until I receive a command and order from Her Royal Majesty, my Most Gracious Queen.
The savages here in West India set themselves up against the Christians in one place after another. The Hollanders have fought the whole year with the savages around Mana- thans, as they are still doing, and although they have chased them from the one place to the other, yet the Hollanders have lost more than a thousand men at it and the company has re- ceived so great a damage from it that (as they themselves admit) it cannot be repaired with a few barrels of gold. In Virginia more than a thousand savages banded themselves to- gether about six weeks ago and attacked and fearfully mur- dered over six hundred Christians. The Marylanders have also suffered great damage from the Minquas and have lost two cannon and some people. Our savages also become very proud here in the river. I have told them the whole year
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that we shall receive much people with our ships, but three days after the ship arrived and they observed that there was only one ship and no people they fell in between Tinnakungh and Uplandh and murdered a man and a woman on their bed, and they killed a few days afterwards two soldiers and a ser- vant. When their commanders found out that I drew the people together in order to prevent a future and a greater damage, then they feared and came together from all places excusing themselves in the highest manner, and said that this had happened without their knowledge, and asked for peace, which was granted them on the following conditions: that in case they hereafter practised the smallest hostilities against our people then we would not let a soul of them live, upon which they gave their writing and all their sachems signed their names to it and (according to their custom) gave us twenty beavers and some sewant1 and we presented them with a piece of cloth. But yet they do not trust us and we trust them much less.
Nothing would be better than that a couple of hundred soldiers should be sent here and kept here until we broke the necks of all of them in the river, especially since we have no beaver trade with them but only the maize trade. They are a lot of poor rascals. Then each one could be secure here at his work, and feed and nourish himself unmolested without their maize, and also we could take possession of the places (which are the most fruitful) that the savages now possess; and then, when we have not only bought this river but also won it with the sword, then no one whether he be Hollander or Englishman could pretend in any manner to this place either now or in coming times, but we should then have the beaver trade with the black and white Minquas' alone, four
1 Wampum.
"These Indians were by race and language of Iroquoian stock. There were two divisions, the Black Minquas and the White Minquas. Black Min- quas, also called the Black Indians, believed to be the ancient Eries, or Nation du Chat (Cat People) of the Jesuit Relations and the Utchowig ("like a wild cat") of John Smith's map of 1608, had their general habitat in western Penn- sylvania, in the beaver region of the Allegheny River and its affluents, be- tween Lake Erie and the Allegheny Mountains. "The beavers," wrote Van der Donck in his New Netherland of 1655, "are mostly taken far inland, there being very few of them near the settlements-particularly by the black Minquas, who
.. -
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NARRATIVES OF EARLY PENNSYLVANIA
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times as good as we have had it, now or at any past time. And if there is some delay in this matter it must nevertheless in the end come to this and it cannot be avoided; the sooner the better, before they do us more harm. They are not to be trusted, as both example and our own experience show, but if I should receive a couple of hundred good soldiers and in addi- tion necessary means and good officers, then with the help of God not a single savage would be allowed to live in this river. Then one would have a passage free from here unto Manathans, which lies at a distance of three small days' journeys from here across the country, beginning at Zachikans.1
9. The Honorable Company is also not ignorant of the fact that if sevant is not always on hand here, together with the other cargoes for the savages, it is difficult to trade with the savages; but half or at least the one-third part of the cargoes must be sold for sevant (which also does not happen without
are thus named because they wear a black badge on their breast and not because they are really black." Augustine Herrman, a dweller near the Elk River in Mary- land as early as 1660, and an excellent authority, writing in 1670, calls the Ohio or its northern branch the Allegheny River, "the Black Mincquaas River," and states that the Black Minquas were accustomed to trade to the Delaware River by a water route which led, according to his description, from the Conemaugh River by the short portage over the Allegheny Mountains to the Juniata River, and thence down the Susquehanna River. The Swedes also, in their turn, made visits from their settlements on the Delaware to the Minquas country, even to the remote wilderness of the Black Minquas, in 1646, especially, when Huygen and Van Dyck with eight soldiers, as may be observed above, penetrated the Minquas land a distance of fifty German, or two hundred and thirty English miles, which would bring them to the Allegheny River about fifteen miles northeast of the site of Pittsburgh. The Swedes had no " trade or intercourse with any Indians farther in the interior than with the black and white Minquesser," writes Lindeström, in 1654, in his manuscript journal ("Geographia," in H. S. P.), "who don't know the limit of the country, although their nation or tribe has occupied the country such a length of time." The Jesuit Relations report the practical extermination of the Eries by the Iroquois proper in 1654-1655, yet as late as 1662 the White Minquas were expecting the assistance against the Iroquois, of "800 black Min- quas," "200 of this nation " having already arrived.
The White, True, or Southern Minquas, known to the Virginians and Mary- landers as Susquehannas, or Susquehannocks, and to the French as Andastes, occupied the lower Susquehanna River Valley and the country at the head of Chesapeake Bay. After prolonged conflict with the Iroquois they were driven from the Susquehanna to the Potomac, and in 1675 were almost wiped out by the English.
1 At the Falls of Delaware, now Trenton, New Jersey.
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REPORT OF GOVERNOR PRINTZ, 1644
profit to the Company). Now, as has been stated, our savages are poor, so that one can secure from them only little or hardly any sevant, hence we must buy sevant from Manathans and of the North English,1 where sevant is made, and it can be bought cheaply there from the savages. If we now had among the North English or at Manathans a faithful man stationed year out and year in, who could buy up sevant for us there so that sevant would not be lacking here in the river for the Swedish trade, the Company would have yearly a great profit. Like- wise one can secure beavers for gold and rix-dollars in Mana- thans as well as here in the river of the Dutch freemen, at the rate of seven florins apiece for the good ones, and the small profit would help to increase the capital at home without no- ticeable cost.
10. We have not been able to put into execution our plans concerning the keel-boat which we had in mind to build here, the reason being that two of the carpenters have been sick almost the whole year and one man alone has not been able to do such heavy work. Then the savages set a fire on the island in the night and burnt part of the material which had been sawed and cut for the boat. Yet the one carpenter who has been well has not been idle. He has built two fine gates, one at Elfsborgh the other one at Tinnakungh. But since the car- penters have recovered somewhat they have built two beauti- ful large boats, one to be at Elfsborg, the other at Christina, and they have likewise repaired and made ready both sloops. No pains shall be spared hereafter, to have them accomplish whatever they can. But the cordage, which was sent here for the keel-boat, since we do not need it so soon, would be good merchandise to sell for beavers and tobacco, but I do not know the price, therefore I have sold, for a test, a piece of it weighing 597 pounds, according to Holland weight, for 26 beavers, less two florins, paying seven florins apiece, or nine stivers a pound, according to Holland weight. I will not sell any more before I have been informed if I have done well or ill in this.
11. And since I often receive Latin letters from different places concerning this work and I can not properly do other- wise than to answer them in the same language, in which I now do not find myself very competent, but when need so re- 1 The New Englanders.
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NARRATIVES OF EARLY PENNSYLVANIA [1644
quires I must sit and laboriously collect together an epistle, and when it at last is accomplished it is only patchwork, especially since I have more often for the last twenty-seven years had the musket and the pistol in my hands than Tacitus and Cicero, I therefore humbly request that a man may be sent over to me who is not only able to prepare the mentioned writing but could also give good counsel and when it was necessary could be sent to foreign places.
12. It seems to me that it would not yet be advisable to recall Commissioner Hindrik Hugen1 and to appoint Carl Jo- hansson? to receive the cargoes and the trade, this for several reasons, but mostly on account of the language of the savages. But Hindrich Hugen has a Holland servant' who knows the savage languages and understands well how to carry on the trade. If the said boy could remain here together with Carl Johansson for the sake of the trade, then Hindrich Hugen could probably be recalled from here. Hindrich Hughen does not like to miss the servant (because he is his relative), but if the Honorable Company should find it convenient to command this with the arrival of the next ship, then indeed Hindrich Hugen will be satisfied, especially since he himself desires to leave here and will in no case remain longer than until the arrival of the next ship.
13. And since I sent home in 1643 not only a list of the people but also described the condition and opportunities of each and every one with the humble request to be informed what difference there was between the free people and those
1 Hendrick Huygen, a relative of Peter Minuit, was from Wesel, on the lower Rhine, in Germany. He came over with the first expedition in 1638 and on the departure of Minuit was left in charge of the civil and economic affairs of the colony. From the arrival of Governor Printz in 1643 and the establishment of the seat of government on Tinicum Island Huygen, as chief commissary, had the care of the stores of the colony deposited there. In 1646 he and Sergeant van Dyck penetrated the wilderness to the Minquas country to the westward, and induced further trade between the Indians and the Swedes. Returning to Sweden with Governor Printz in 1654, he brought out the last Swedish expedition, arriving in 1656 after the Dutch conquest. He then entered the Dutch service, settling on Tinicum Island, where he seems to have continued until 1663.
' Mentioned in Printz's later report of 1647 as the bookkeeper who had been sent over on account of some difficulty which had occurred at Kexholm, in Finland.
' Gotfred Hermansson or Gotfred Hermer (Harmer), a kinsman of Hendrick Huygen.
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REPORT OF GOVERNOR PRINTZ, 1644
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who had been sent here on account of crimes, how long each one of the criminals should serve here for his crime and when his time was past how he should either be sent from here or be kept here with salary and clothes, likewise what should be done with the free people who in nowise wish to remain here, and in like manner a part of the freemen, Finns, and others (especially those who have their wives in old Sweden) desire to leave, and since it is difficult for me to dispose both in this and other cases without orders, I now as before humbly ask that I may be informed about it.
14. I will not omit humbly to relate that when the emis- saries of the Hollanders and English arrive here on (as they imagine) missions of great consequence, concerning this work, they expect to receive a considerable entertainment, and are not ashamed to speak about it themselves, that they wish to be treated in a princely manner. There are also other ex- penses,' occasioned by the visits of merchants, with whom we trade, and of others, and we do not know who is to pay for such expenses. Therefore we have until now been as econom- ical as we could, yet have caused each one to be treated and entertained according to his rank. And we have used for this purpose the extra income, namely sixty beavers which the English paid as recognition, and twenty-one beavers which the savages presented at the peace-treaty. This, however, is not sufficient, as the bills show. I therefore humbly request that this in like manner may be taken into consideration and decided for my information.
15. The cattle, seven oxen and one cow (which I referred to in paragraph 7) were bought in Manatans for the Honorable Company, as the bill of the commissary shows, for [146]' florins, and although they are quite large beasts, yet when one adds the expense to it, it is very dear. But it is impossible to colonize the land without cattle. I ask humbly that I may be informed how this matter shall be conducted hereafter, and on what conditions the freemen shall be supplied with cattle by the Honorable Company. The rye and barley, which
" The Swedish copy is defective here, so that the translator has been com- pelled to use the German translation for the rest of this and the next paragraph. ? I. e., 124 florins for the oxen and 22 florins for the cow. Johnson, Swedish Settlements, p. 313.
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were sown here in the autumn and spring, stand, as has been remarked, in very fine condition, and I hope to be able to sow so much, that the Company's people and soldiers who are now here may, with the help of God, have their nourish- ment for the coming year. We should indeed have been able to sow more in the fall if the oxen had not come here too late.
16. In my former relation under date of April 13, 1643, and in paragraph 23, I humbly requested information concern- ing the privileges of the nobility and the common people who take up land here in New Sweden each one according to his quota, how they and their descendants should own, enjoy, use, and keep it. Also in paragraph 26 I asked how I should con- duct myself in the river against the Hollanders, who usurp to themselves all authority and advantage to such a large degree, as Her Royal Majesty my Most Gracious Queen can see from the enclosed resolution of Commander Kieft. They trade and traffic freely and will not even lower their flags and sails before the flags and forts of Her Royal Majesty, but one must remind them of it with a couple of cannon. All this I can easily forbid them to do at our fort Elfsborg, but not before I have received complete orders from Her Royal Majesty and the Honorable Company.
17. The expenses, which I had on account of the knight's people, being paid by my own means, as I have mentioned in paragraph 8, amounted to 425 rix-dollars, mostly paid me in tobacco. I have also bought some for cash from a Virginian merchant, and part of it I caused to be planted myself, so that the total amounts to 7300 lbs., in twenty-eight hogsheads, which I do not send to any other place (I will add), than to the Honorable Company, with the humble expectation and re- liance that the Honorable Gentlemen will agree to it, and allow it for my profit, especially since my expenses here are so great, that I indeed can not defray them with twice my salary. I will gladly do my faithful service for the furtherance of this work as far as the grace of God and my understanding will allow.
18. And as I have, here in New Sweden, in the short time since I came here and with this small and weak people, begun to lay the foundation, which I hope to continue during the time that remains for me here and to bring it so far that Her Royal Majesty shall get so strong a foothold here in New Sweden that (in case the means will not be lacking) it will in-
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crease more and more as time goes on through God's gracious help and will be incorporated as an everlasting property under Her Royal Majesty and the Swedish Crown, so I have likewise, in as good manner as I could, tried to oppose the pretensions of the Hollanders and the Puritans and the other Englishmen in this place and brought it so far that they suffer us now among themselves and have no more special foundation accord- ing to which they can act, or are able to stand by their former pretensions, but correspond and trade with us and do our will and bring to us what we ask for, we hoping that they in the future will not press so hard, but to be contented with what has passed. It is therefore my humble prayer and request that when this my term of three years is over I may be relieved and allowed to return again to Her Royal Majesty my Most Gracious Queen and my Fatherland, especially since I am no longer young and since the greatest part of my days have been hard and toilsome. Yet I do not desire to withdraw myself in any manner from the service of Her Royal Majesty and the Father- land, but I desire gladly to serve Her Royal Majesty and the Fatherland under other circumstances as long as I am able and as I live. I hope that, with God's help, the one who suc- ceeds me will have less toil than I have had.
19. The things which have been written for with this ship I have not referred to among the articles here, but have caused a special list to be made of them, and will allow it to remain this time with what has been referred to here. Only this I yet once again humbly repeat, that I might receive at least a hundred soldiers on account of the arrows of the savages, also twelve-, six-, four- and three-pound cannon-balls, more pow- der and lead. And this is thus ended, in humility. Dated at Christina. June 20, 1644.
JOHAN PRINTZ, manu propria.
P. S. One should not let it pass unnoticed that the Hol- landers at Manathans have this year had a privateer with ten cannon and 40 men in the sea between Spanniola' and Cribitz,' which has twice brought four Spanish prizes to Menathans this last year, worth (as they themselves admit) over 50,000
1 The island of Hispaniola or Santo Domingo, in the West Indies.
"The Caribbees or Lesser Antilles.
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rix-dollars, and since we are situated nearer to the Spanish places than they are, we have therefore much better oppor- tunity for such an advantage. We have here also, when need should demand it, a clean entrance and good ports as well as sufficient opportunity to provision the ship, year in and year out; and the booty, which God would grant, our ships could yearly bring away with the return cargo. The privateer could remain in these places as long as God would see fit to preserve it. It must be a well-fitted ship, manned with good people, and if one should be compelled to have a Holland skipper and mate, yet a Swedish captain should be in command to prevent fraud, for when skipper Adrian cruised about here for a few months with the sloop the Grip, it was for his own profit (as his acquaintances . . . admit and say).1
[List of the Colonists.]
List of all that people which is now in New Sweden, how they are distributed in all places and plantations, as specified below, for the year 1644.
[I] At Fort Christina.
The officers:
Johann Paapegaia 1
The commissary Hindrich Hugenn . . · 1 The pastor Mr. Johann Campanius' 1 1 MSS. defective.
" Rev. John Campanius Holm. (1601-1683), a native of Stockholm, had re- ceived his theological training at the University of Upsala, and had served as chaplain to the Swedish legation of Russia, as schoolmaster at Norrtälje, near Stockholm, and as preceptor and clergyman at the orphans' home of Stockholm. He arrived in New Sweden in 1643 with Governor Printz and remained more than five years acting as minister to the colonists and as missionary to the Indians. In 1646 he consecrated a Lutheran Church on Tinicum Island, the first house of worship erected within the present limits of Pennsylvania. Having learned the Indian language, he began in this same year the translation of Luther's catechism into the idiom of the Lenni Lenape or Delaware Indians, a work which later he completed in Sweden. Upon his return in 1648 he was for a short time preacher to the Admiralty on the island of Skeppsholm in Stockholm; then in 1649 was made rector of Frosthult and Hernevi, where he continued the remainder of life. See Amandus Johnson, Swedish Settlements, pp. 372-374, 678-679. Holm. is an ab- breviation of Holmiensis, meaning, " of Stockholm."
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REPORT OF GOVERNOR PRINTZ, 1644 111
The barber Mr. Hanns 1
The trumpeter Erich Andersonn 1
The constable Matz Hansonn 1 The blacksmith Mr. Hanns 1
The marshal-provost Johan Oluffzonn 1
The following people employed by the Company plant to- bacco on the plantation at Christina:
Knut Mårthensonn 1
Perr Gunnersonn Rambo 1
Mårthenn Göttersson
1
Lars Andersonn Ulff
1
Månns Andersonn
1
Lars Kackin
1
Svänn Gunnersonn
1
Mårthenn Glaasere
1
Joenn Torsonn
1
Oluff Torsonn .
1
Anders the Carpenter
1
The following are carpenters on the island:
Claas Claasonn
1
Tommas the Carpenter 1
The following are appointed to be on the sloop continually:
The skipper Andress
1
Lars Tommesonn 1
Bengt Torsonn 1
The laborers listed below make tobacco casks and other cooper's articles: 1
Lauriss the Cooper
Lukass Personn 1
The swineherd:
Anders Minck with his son
2
Claas Andersonn
The boy who herds the cattle:
Swenn Swensson . 1
The miller, who is continually at the mill:
Anders Dreyer
1
-
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NARRATIVES OF EARLY PENNSYLVANIA [1644
The servant of Com. Hindrick Hugen: Gååtfreedh Hermansonn . 1
Soldiers at Christina:
Erich Tåått
1
Mårthen Hansonn
1
Lars Jacobsonn
1
34
[II] At Fort Elfsborg.
Officers:
Lieutenant Swann Skuuta1 1
The watchmaster Gregorius van Dicke?
1
The gunner Johann Matzonn
1
The drummer Swann Andersonn
1
Common soldiers:
Nicklaus Bock 1 · .
Johann Gustaffzonn
1
Petter Meyer
1
Isack vann Eissenn 1
Constantinos Grönebergh 1
Petter Jochim
1
Anders Joensonn
1
.
·
·
.
·
1 Sven Skute, who next to the Governor was the foremost military leader in the later history of New Sweden, is first mentioned in this report of Governor Printz in 1644 as lieutenant in command of Fort Elfsborg. In 1648 he success- fully opposed the settlement of the Dutch on the Schuylkill. Returning to Sweden in 1650 he reported the condition of the colony before the Queen and Council in 1652. The next year he was engaged in enlisting soldiers and securing emigrants for another expedition to New Sweden. Receiving the commission of captain he came over with the expedition of 1654. Landing with his soldiers at the Dutch Fort Casimir, he captured the stronghold for the Swedes, its name being changed to Fort Trinity (Trefaldighets Fort). At the Dutch conquest of New Sweden in 1655 he surrendered the fort to Stuyvesant, but continued to reside on the Dela- ware, being mentioned by the Dutch in 1658 as holding the position under them of captain of the Swedes.
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