The Swedish Colonial Society, 97 Wanamaker Avenue Essington PA, Philadelphia, PA (2026)

06/08/2026

We had a busy first Saturday on June 6th with new members visiting and volunteers caulking at Governor Printz Park. Thanks to Norm and Tim! Plus it was the National Day of Sweden holiday.

The next Farmstead opening (Governor Printz Park, 200 W 2nd St, Taylor Avenue, Essington, PA 19029) will be this Wednesday June 10th, 4:30 to 7:30, for the first Tinicum Farmers Market of the season.

Then three days later we’ll be open again on Saturday June 13, 9 to 3, for the annual Tinicum Historical Society Flea Market and Antique Car Show. Hope to see you there!

06/06/2026

Tomorrow, June 6th!
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The Swedish Farmstead: Open House
The Swedish Farmstead at Governor Printz Park, Tinicum Township, Pennsylvania

Saturday, June 6 from 11 to 2: First Saturday at both the Farmstead and the History Gallery in the Lazaretto will be open.

WHERE: Governor Printz Park
Taylor Avenue and W. 2nd Street
Essington PA 19029

05/28/2026

Johan Printz

by Dr. Eric G. M. Törnqvist
Former Governor, Swedish Colonial Society

Adapted from an article written for the
Chatauqua Institution of New York and presented at Scandinavian Day in August, 1987.
originally published in Swedish Colonial News,
Volume 1, Number 7 (Spring 1993)

Few Americans have ever heard of Johan Printz or New Sweden, yet, the establishment of this colony turned out to be of utmost importance to the expansion of European civilization in North
America and eventually also to the development of the United States. Even though, during its short existence, 1638-1655, New Sweden never became as well known as some of the other European colonies or settlements in America, the accomplishments of Johan Printz during his years as governor, 1643-1653, have caused him to be compared favorably with such contemporaries as
John Winthrop in New England and Peter Stuyvesant in New Amsterdam. It is therefore proper to focus our attention on him in this 350th year commemorating his arrival in America.

John Printz was appointed governor at the age of 50 in 1642. At that time he could look back on a very interesting life and a somewhat checkered military career. He was born in Bounaryd, County of Jönköping in the province of Småland. His father was a Lutheran minister and Printz received the best possible education in Sweden with the intent that he also enter the church. A lack of
means forced him to discontinue his theological studies after only one year at the age of 26. He then shifted his attention to a military career and served under King Gustavus Adolphus both in Poland and in the Thirty Year's War. However, due to a tactical error in judgment, he was removed from office in 1640 and, though exonerated, it halted his military career of over 20 years and he went into retirement.

In July, 1642, Printz's military career resumed when he was knighted and appointed Royal Governor of New Sweden.
In 1641, the Swedish government had decided to buy out the Dutch participants. New Sweden was now a wholly Swedish venture with the government of Sweden as one of the stockholders.
A new charter was drafted with 28 articles. The Instruction deals in great detail with the treatment of the various groups living within the territory of New Sweden. Most remarkable is the article dealing with the treatment of the Indians. As a consequence of these instructions, the Swedes enjoyed far better relations with the Indians than did any other European group and never experienced the massacres of the type visited on the Dutch and the English.
Copyright Swedish Colonial Society 2012
The last article of The Instruction states that Printz' s appointment is for three years. He would then be free to return home.
The ships, the Fama and the Swan, left Gothenburg early in November and arrived at Fort Christina in February. On his arrival, Printz was assisted by Commander Ridder in surveying the colony and becoming familiar with its operation. The survey was very thorough and went the full distance from Cape Henlopen to Sankikin (Trenton Falls). He noted particular points that would be
of importance for defense of the colony and areas that were suitable for agriculture.
He built a new fort near present Salem and called it Elfsborg. The heaviest cannon available were positioned there and by early May 1643 any foreign vessel trying to pass had to strike its flag before being allowed to proceed. The garrison,13 men under Sven Skute, was the largest in the colony.
Printz wasted no time selecting a new place for his residence as authorized in the Instruction. He chose Tinicum Island just south of the present Philadelphia Airport. He built both a residence with
supporting buildings and a fort, New Gothenburg, for their defense. The fort was ready by early May.
The first buildings have been described in some detail, but all of them, except for the storehouse, were destroyed by a fire in November 1645. The residence was rebuilt shortly thereafter. Peter
Lindeström , who arrived in New Sweden in 1654 tells us that Printz had a hall built "for himself and his family, which is called Printzhof - very splendidly and well built with a pleasure garden, summer house and other such things." Tinicum therefore became the first seat of government in what is now the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Printzhof can be considered its first State
House.
In addition to living quarters for the governor and his family, the building contained one or more rooms for office use, for record keeping, and for court proceedings, as well as for receiving
commissioners from adjacent colonies and other prominent visitors. It is known that some of the interior wood work came from Sweden as did at least some of the bricks used for the construction
of two or more fireplaces. Many windows of glass added to the luxury.
Printzhof also became the first seat of a court and Printz the first chief judge in present Pennsylvania.
Fort Christina was also repaired during the summer of 1643, and a blockhouse was built to the north at Upland (now Chester), an area in which many of the Finns settled. Printz also assigned land to the freemen and he renewed commercial and political relations with the Indians. As instructed, Printz also paid great attention to religious matters and, in addition to the church at Christina, he built a "new beautiful church" at Tinicum which was consecrated in 1646.
However, above all he made every effort to assert the Swedish rights to the New Sweden territory against the counter claims of the Dutch and the English.
The colony prospered, but the problems with the surrounding Dutch and English gradually increased in severity. Both nations claimed the Swedish territory by virtue of the first discovery.
However, neither had ever established a permanent settlement in the New Sweden territory and neither had purchased the land from the Indians. Printz made every effort to keep peace with both
groups.
Commercially, the colony began to suffer a setback in the beginning of 1644. The ships that brought Printz to New Sweden carried only a small cargo and hardly anything for Indian trade. As
a consequence, Printz could not prevent the Dutch and the English from almost monopolizing the beaver trade. Finally the Fama arrived with a large cargo in March 1644. Now the Swedes could
resume the Indian trade and the ship left for Europe with a large cargo of to***co and skins.
Copyright Swedish Colonial Society 2012
Printz had become greatly encouraged by the progress made during the first year of the new administration, but he was also keenly aware of the great problems associated with a lack of
manpower. He therefore sent an urgent request for 1,000 colonists and additional supplies.
Nearly two and one-half years later in October 1646 the next ship, the Gyllene Haj (Golden Shark), arrived with a large cargo both for the Indian trade and the needs of the colony which gave rise to considerable joy in New Sweden where despite the lack of manpower and fresh supplies, considerable progress had been made since the Fama left. A grist mill was constructed on Cobbs
Creek which was the first manufacturing facility within the limits of present-day Pennsylvania and can be considered a forerunner of the huge industrial establishment that eventually grew up within
the Commonwealth. A brewery was also erected. In addition, Printz constructed a wharf at Christina, where he built several ships, one of 100 tons burden. He also built a pleasure yacht, causing Printz to be considered "the first yachtsman of America."
When the Gyllene Haj arrived, Printz expected to be recalled since he had been in charge of the colony for more than three years and under very difficult conditions, years "that were longer and
more arduous to him than all of the previous twenty-four during which he had served his dear fatherland". He "'became sad" when he was instructed to stay a few years longer because no suitable successor could be found. However, he accepted the extension of his appointrnent and proclaimed a special day of Thanksgiving. The settlers assembled in the new church and gave praise to God with a holy "Te Deum".
After the arrival of the Gyllene Haj, the outlook was better in New Sweden. Printz's report showed the colony was still very small, 183 souls in all, but the conditions were greatly improved. Besides
Printz' report was a list of needed articles and a request for skilled workmen needed to complete a barge.
Preparations were already underway in Sweden for a new expedition. The Swan was selected and left Gothenburg with one of the largest cargoes ever for the Indian trade and arrived in good
condition in January 1648.
With the arrival of the Swan, Printz had again hoped to be relieved of his duties but was directed to remain. The conditions would now have given rise to considerable optimism in New Sweden, were it not for the increasingly aggressive stance of the Dutch exacerbated by the arrival of Peter Stuyvesant as Director General of New Netherlands.
The letters and reports from New Sweden apparently made a major impression when read in Stockholm. It was now decided to send a new expedition - the Katt (Cat). This ship and its passengers never arrived in New Sweden but were shipwrecked and ended in atrocities at the hands of the French and Spaniards from which only 19 survived and returned to Sweden.
In New Sweden the situation grew increasingly worse. In May of 1651 Stuyvesant sent a ship with cannon and people "well armed from New Amsterdam." Printz readied his little yacht and ordered
it with soldiers, cannon, and ammunition down the river to meet the Dutch. The ship withdrew to Manhatten.
On June 25 Stuyvesant returned with 120 men on foot and 11 ships. He sailed his fleet up and down the river "drumming and cannonading." Obviously Printz could not do anything but follow
at some distance. Again the Dutch returned without incident.
Soon Stuyvesant, however, obtained title to the land Minquas Kill (Christina River) down to the Bay, land that had already been purchased by the Swedes. Protests and copies of deeds were sent
to Stuyvesant but he ignored them. Instead he built a fort called Ft. Casimir (New Castle) which was strategically placed so all traders were compelled to pay duty to the Dutch.
Copyright Swedish Colonial Society 2012
Printz had no choice but to accept the fact that the Dutch were masters of the Delaware, at least for the time being. Ft. Elfsborg was abandoned and the garrisons of some of the other forts were also withdrawn so he could concentrate his forces.
At this time, Printz had had "absolutely no orders nor assistance - for three years and nine months." He was not a man to give up, however. The carpenters were kept busy repairing and improving the forts and building boats. Heavy rains did damage to the grain in 1652 and the situation in the colony grew steadily worse.
Printz continued to send pleas for help to Sweden, but without response.
The colonists themselves were dissatisfied and many deserted. The situation continued throughout the winter, spring and summer of 1653. By the fall of that year it reached a crisis point and a
"revolt" broke out against Printz, who had been ill and unable to exert his former energy during much of the year. Several severe grievances against the governor were presented in a written
supplication of eleven articles signed by 22 settlers. This invoked the wrath of the governor, who had the leader of the opposition arrested, tried and executed on a charge of treachery.
Finding his position untenable, Printz finally decided to go to Sweden in the fall of 1653. Elaborate preparations were made for his departure. In September, Indian chiefs were called to Printzhof,
speeches were made, gifts presented, etc. Above all, Printz assured the Indians that large new supplies would arrive within a few months, because he himself was going to the fatherland to care
of the matter. After a farewell service in the church, Printz turned the command of the colony over to his son-in-law and left for New Amsterdam.
Ptintz, being 62 years old when he returned to Sweden in 1654, spent the next three years without an official position. However, in 1658 he was appointed Governor of Jönköping County. While
traveling from his estate, Gunillaberg, not far from his birth place, Bottnaryd, to Jönköping in the spring of 1663, he was thrown from his horse and died of injuries on May 3rd, at the age of 71.

The horse carrying Printz must have been very strong, because Printz was a physically most impressive man, something that unquestionably was to his advantage when he dealt man-to-man with the Indians as well as with the Dutch and the English. He is supposed to have weighed close to 400 pounds and, among
the Indians, he went under the descriptive name, "Big Belly." It is said, "No governor before or since has weighed as much as Johan Printz."

Picture: Riverfront on the Christina River, Wilmington, Delaware Source: Alamy.com.

05/25/2026

Memorial Day 2026

05/23/2026

Jonas Nilsson

by Dr. Peter Stebbins Craig
Fellow, American Society of Genealogists
Fellow, Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania
Historian, Swedish Colonial Society
originally published in Swedish Colonial News,
Volume 1, Number 7 (Spring 1993)

Among the many soldiers accompanying Governor Printz on the Fourth Expedition to New Sweden was Joen Nilsson of Skåning hundred, Skaraborg län, who was later better known under
the name of Jonas Nilsson.

Born in 1620, Jonas, a tailor by trade, started his voyage to New
Sweden from Stockholm in September 1642. After arriving at Fort Christina, 15 February 1643, he was one of many men assigned to help build Fort Elfsborg, where he was subsequently stationed.
Jonas Nilsson served the governor faithfully as a soldier for eleven years. But, when Printz returned to Sweden in 1653, Jonas did not go with him. He obtained his discharge, became a Freeman and married Gertrude, the daughter of Sven Gunnarsson.
For reasons that are not entirely clear, Jonas left his young bride in mid-July, 1654 to return to Sweden on the Eagle. While there, he collected the back wages that were due and returned to New
Sweden on the Mercurius, which arrived in March 1656. Meeting the ship were his wife and eldest son, who had been born during his absence.
By family legend, Jonas Nilsson was six and one-half feet tall and an active Indian trader. Neither claim is supported by contemporary records: the only Swede of remarkable height was "Long Nils," a name given to Nils Matsson, a later immigrant. Although Jonas' son Måns Jonasson (Mounce Jones) and two sons-in-law (Peter Petersson Yocum and Måns C**k) were active Indian traders, no record supports that claim as to Jonas Nilsson himself.
Jonas Nilsson lived for his entire married life in Kingsessing (West Philadelphia), where he was a successful fanner and raised eleven children. He also acquired 270 acres of land at nearby Aronameck from Peter Yocum, land which he divided among his three eldest sons. Jonas died in October 1693 at the age of 73; his wife died shortly thereafter. Their children, in order of their birth, were:
1. Nils Jonasson, born May, 1655, married Christina Gästenberg, daughter of Olof Nilsson, c. 1683. They had eight children. Nils died at Aronameck in January 1735.
2. Judith Jonasdotter, born c. 1658, married Peter Petersson Yocum, son of Peter Jochimsson, by 1676. She died in Amity township, Berks County, in 1727. They had ten children.
3. Gunilla Jonasdotter, born c. 1661, married Måns C**k, son of Peter Larsson C**k, by 1680. In the 1690s they moved across the Delaware to Senamensing, Burlington County.
Copyright Swedish Colonial Society 2012
She had seven known children.
4. Måns Jonasson, born 1663, married Ingeborg Lycon, daughter of Peter Nilsson Lycon, c. 1690. After building a stone house at Aronameck (the core of the present Bartram's Gardens mansion), they moved in 1704 to Manatawney (Douglasville) in Amity township, Berks County, where the Mouns Jones house still stands in his honor. He had six known children and died in April 1727.
5. Anders Jonasson, born c. 1666, married Catharine Boon, daughter of Anders Svensson Bonde, by 1691. He died in November 1728 at Aronameck and had nine surviving children.
6. Christina Jonasdotter, born c. 1668, married twice: Frederick King in 1686 and, after his death, Nicklas Lindemeyer by 1700. Her family, raised in Senamensing (Cinaminson, NJ) included five children by her first marriage and two sons by her second marriage.
7. John Jonasson, born c. 1670, married Catherine Lock, eldest daughter of Pastor Lars Carlsson Lock, in 1693. They separated by 1697. Nevertheless, all five of her daughters were named Jones. John was still living in 1738 when he became administrator of his brother Jonas' estate.
8. Peter Jonasson, born c. 1673, was living with his sister Christina in 1697; not further traced.
9. Jonas Jonasson, born c. 1675, married an English servant, Anne Amesby, in 1702. A shoemaker, he died in Kingsessing in May 1738, survived by seven children.
10. Brigitta Jonasdotter, born in 1678, married Mårten Garrett of Blockley township in 1703 and had at least five children. She died near the Falls of the Schuylkill in December 1753.
11. Jonathan Jonasson, born. c. 1681, died in Kingsessing in June 1748. His will named a wife Mary and two children.
The male descendants of Jonas Nilsson started with the patronymic of Jonasson, which became shortened to "Jones" and, in this form, became the family surname.

Picture: (1). Plan of the Town and Fort of Christina, published in 1834, Wiki. (2). Model of Fort Christina at the American Swedish Historical Museum in Philadelphia. https://www.americanswedish.org/

05/22/2026

The Swedish Colonial Society DNA project turned 10 this year!

😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Your participation in the SCS DNA project will help us learn what the DNA of each Forefather tells us.

I am concentrating right now on the Big Y DNA test, but as always all descendants who have taken any DNA test are welcome to join the project.

We have at least 2 sets of Forefathers who are very distantly related on their direct paternal ancestry, where they both share the same ancestor much further back. This was revealed via Big Y DNA tests.

We found our first mtDNA descendant of the wife of a Forefather and he is Swedish as in born and died in Sweden. The Foremother is Brita Mattsdotter, wife of Peter Gunnarsson Rambo. The connection is through their daughter Catharina and through the daughter of Andreas Sandel. Rev. Andreas Sandel, as you probably know, was in New Sweden for a while, took a wife and moved back to Sweden where his daughter Magdalena married and her daughter carried the mtDNA down to the tester.

These are just 2 of the interesting facts that have come out of 10 years of DNA testing in the SCS DNA project.
Becky Griswold, Administrator
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So far, the SCS New Sweden DNA Project is going very well, even better than we expected!
For those of you who have tested at Ancestry DNA or 23andMe and want to transfer your results to Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) and join the SCS DNA Project, we have good news! Now it is FREE to transfer your DNA results to FTDNA. After transferring you can unlock all Family Finder Features,which include the Chromosome Browser, myOrigins and ancientOrigins for only $19.

Please email Becky Griswold, [email protected] for more information.

For additional information:
https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/swedish-colonial-society/about

05/20/2026

Coming soon--dinner and a show and so much more!

Saturday, June 6, 2-4pm
Register by June 2

New Sweden Centre "Annual Swedish Day"
The Lutheran Church of St. Ambrose
443 S Broadway
Pennsville, NJ 08070

Many ways to reserve your meal:
Call 302-753-7770
email [email protected]
visit www.ColonialNewSweden.org
mail NewSwedenCentre, PO Box 12001, New Castle, DE 19720

05/15/2026

Olle Matthiasson, alias Olof Isgrå, alias Oliver
Caulk and his Caulk/Calk Descendants

by Dr. Peter Stebbins Craig
Fellow, American Society of Genealogists
Fellow, Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania
Historian, Swedish Colonial Society
originally published in Swedish Colonial News,
Volume 2, Number 8 (Spring 2003)

Among the soldiers arriving in New Sweden on the Eagle in 1654 was a young man named Olle Matthiasson, who had recently been drafted into the Swedish army. As was the custom, he was
assigned a soldier's name befitting his appearance or personality. In this case Olle was assigned the name of Isgrå, meaning "ice-gray," probably because of his prematurely gray hair.

Olof Isgrå at New Castle
Olof Isgrå first saw military action on 21 May 1654 when the Dutch surrendered Fort Casimir at present New Castle to the Swedes without firing a shot. (The small garrison there had run out of
gunpowder.) The fort was renamed Fort Trinity by Governor Rising and placed under the command of Captain Sven Skute.
Fearing that the Dutch Governor Petrus Stuyvesant might attempt to recapture Fort Trinity, Governor Rising assigned Captain Sven Skute the task of rebuilding and strengthening that fort and assigned half of his soldiers, including Olof Isgrå, to assist in this endeavor. However on 31 August 1655, a Dutch fleet of seven ships passed by and landed north of the fort, cutting the fort off from Rising's remaining troops at Fort Christina. Stuyvesant demanded that Skute surrender the fort, but he initially refused.

When word reached the soldiers in the fort that the Dutch troops outnumbered the Swedes by a 10:1 margin many soldiers, including Olof Isgrå, decided it was hopeless to try to defend the fort.
Captain Skute then addressed his soldiers and demanded, "Whoever wants to be a loyal fellow and serve his ruler like an honest man, step forth from this rebellious lot and come with me." During this confusion, Olof Isgrå jumped over the wall of the fort and surrendered himself to the Dutch, also informing them of the division of opinion within the fort. Lacking the support of his own
soldiers, Skute surrendered the fort to Stuyvesant the next morning.
Copyright Swedish Colonial Society 2012
The ill feelings between Isgrå and Skute carried forward for a considerable time. In January 1656, Olof Isgrå accused Captain Skute of having confiscated the poor tax for his own use. Skute denied the charge and claimed Isgrå threatened to kill him. In the summer of 1656 Olof Isgrå agreed to sell his plantation north of the fort at Swanwick to another former New Sweden soldier, Constantine Grönenberg, and in February 1657 he appeared at the Dutch fort again to promise he would pay his debt to Isaac Allerton, a New England trader, within a year. After that time, the name of Olof Isgrå disappears from the record. The reason, it turns out, was that he had fled to the Sassafras River in present Cecil County, Maryland.

Olle Matthiasson in Maryland
Among the things Olle left behind in the New Castle area was his soldier's name. Reverting to his patronymic, Olle Matthiasson, his wife Anna and their three small children were granted head rights in Maryland in 1664 and 200 acres, which he called "Sweedland," were surveyed for him on the south side of the Sassafras River in 1665. Later, about 1670, he moved with his family to a tract on the north side of the same river, called "World's End." The English scribes in the area had some difficulty with Olle's first name and often entered it as Olive or Oliver.

The Naturalization and Death of Oliver Caulk
The name of Olle Matthiasson disappeared from Maryland records after 1671. Thereafter the owner of "World's End" became known as Oliver Caulk. The name, quite obviously, came from the fact that his once ice-gray hair was now chalk white. ("Calk," now spelled "kalk" in Swedish, means "chalk.")
On 6 June 1674, Oliver Calk, described as a native of Sweden, became a naturalized citizen of Maryland, meaning that he could convey or will his land to his children or others. By 1683, Oliver
Caulk had been named a Commissioner in Cecil County. Oliver Caulk died at "World's End" shortly before 30 May 1685, when his widow Ann and his eldest son Isaac Caulk were named administrators of his estate. The inventory, filed 20 days later,
showed that his estate included a horse, a mare, 2 yearlings, 8 cows, 4 steers, 2 heifers, 38 hogs, 5 deerskins, 2 guns, a number of beds, tools for the carpenter and cooper trades and two indentured
women servants.
Among the children of Oliver Caulk and his wife Anna were four sons: Isaac, Peter, James and Jacob. It is likely that they also had daughters, but their names are not yet known.
1. Isaac Caulk, the eldest son, inherited the "World's End" plantation on the north side of the Sassafras River. He married, before 1691, Mary Finch, an English woman, daughter of Francis and Mary Finch of Kent County, Maryland. He died at "World's End" in 1702. His widow, Mary then married Daniel Pearce of Kent County. She named five children by her first husband in her will of 26 May 1740:
Oliver Caulk, baptized in Cecil County on 30 September 1692, was past 60 before he married Phoebe Brown, a Quaker, in 1752. He died at "World's End" 22 December 1781, survived by three children: Mary, Isaac and Oliver.
Isaac Caulk, born c. 1693, married Temperance (surname unknown) and died at "World's End" in the winter of 1748/9. They had nine children: John, Isaac, William, Oliver, Jacob, Benjamin, Richard, Mary and Sarah.
Mary Caulk, born c. 1696, married George Wilson.
Sarah Caulk, born c. 1699, married John Kennard.
Jacob Caulk, born in 1702, never married and died in Kent County, MD, in 1758.
Copyright Swedish Colonial Society 2012
2. Peter Caulk, the second son, moved south to Talbot County to earn his livelihood, acquiring part of "Lostock" in 1706. A successful planter, he died there c. 1727. The name of his first wife, who died c. 1710, is unknown. His second wife, Sarah Cartwright, died in 1738. Peter's children by his two wives were:
Mary Caulk, born in February 1698, apparently died young.
Peter Caulk, born in 1700, married Mary Sockwell in 1725 and died at "Lostock" in 1756.
He had five children: Mary, John, Henry, Dawson and Daniel.
John Caulk, born c. 1704, died unmarried in 1728.
Lawrence Caulk, born c. 1709, married the widow Mary Camper in 1744 and died in Dorchester County in 1772. His children included John, Elizabeth and Peter.
Sarah Caulk, born c. 1714, married Bartholomew Roberts.
Alice Caulk, born c. 1716, married Edward Collison.
James Caulk, born in 1718, married Judith Tribbles in 1740. He died before 1783 at his plantation called "Lewis" in Talbot County. His children included a son named Peter.
Francis Caulk, born c. 1722, apparently died unmarried after 1745.
Charles Cartwright Caulk, born c. 1723, died before 1743.
3. James Caulk, the third son, was married by 1695 to Sarah Allum, daughter of Nicholas and Ann Allum. Sarah's mother had been born Anna Wheeler, the daughter of John Wheeler and Catharina Lom of New Sweden. They lived in Talbot County, where James Caulk died c. 1706.
One child has been identified:
James Caulk, born c. 1700, in Talbot County, moved as an adult to Northumberland County, VA, and then to Prince William County, VA, where he died in 1776. By his wife Eleanor, he had two known sons: James Calk, born 5 July 1729, and William Calk, born 7 March
1740.
4. Jacob Caulk, the youngest son, became a shoemaker in Cecil County. On 7 February 1713/4 he married Sarah Joce, widow of Thomas Joce of Kent County, MD, and mother of three children.
Later, Jacob married Mary Freeman, daughter of William Freeman of Cecil County. They had two children: Elizabeth, born 23 November 1716, and William, born 11 February 1723/4. The will of
Jacob Caulk, who died 11 February 1724/5, left his entire estate to his widow Mary during her widowhood, but if she remarried, his estate was to be divided between Elizabeth and William. His
widow married Thomas Ward in 1729. No later trace has been found of the two children.

Picture: 1. Sassafras River, Cecil County MD
tide-forecast.com
2. Sassafras River, Facebook Shorerivers

05/12/2026

Here are two photos from the First Saturday Open House of May 2 at the Swedish Farmstead in Governor Printz Park in Tinicum Township PA.

John Tepe and Joe Mathews were docents at the Farmstead, while Bill Moller, Ruth Rizzi, and Kim-Eric Williams all were docents at the History Gallery at the Lazaretto. It was an enjoyable day.

Photos: Joseph Mathews

The Swedish Colonial Society

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