22 NEW SWEDEN C:OLONIS'I'S I INI)I!l< '1'1 lII DUTCH to our nati<strong>on</strong> . . . I .~lrc.~dy IJC~III 10 I(..ICII scl1001 and have 25 children. Of <strong>the</strong> immediate New Alnstcl tow^^ ~ O I I ~ I ~ I ~ I IDirector I I ( ~ , Alricl~s had reported <strong>on</strong> May 25: The col<strong>on</strong>ists, free nlctha~~ich, civil ~CIV.III~\, wit11 <strong>the</strong> freemen who were here before our nrriv;~l, ;IIIL~ >OIIIC ICW WIIO have come and settled here since, may alnoullt, ;~ltogcrl~~l.. 10 ahout sixty men capable of bearing arms. In a letter written about Augirst first, Al~~ic-11s menti<strong>on</strong>ed "five and twenty men" sent to garribor) 1:or.t Altc.~);i, <strong>the</strong> former Fort Christina. He was disturbed tl~at tllc food <strong>on</strong> hand for those provided for by <strong>the</strong> company: solclicrs, Ii~hol-crs, new col<strong>on</strong>ists during <strong>the</strong>ir first year, had to be distril)~rtecl to "about 160 souls, am<strong>on</strong>g whom are many women."'.' 111 iidcliti<strong>on</strong> would bc <strong>the</strong> traders and planters and <strong>the</strong> laborcrs clnyloyccl by <strong>the</strong> col<strong>on</strong>ists. These numbers given by Alrichs overliip and arc incomplete, but <strong>on</strong> August 1, 1657, <strong>the</strong>re must have been close to 300 men, women and children in <strong>the</strong> City's col<strong>on</strong>y. Swedish col<strong>on</strong>ists formed an important secti<strong>on</strong> of this populati<strong>on</strong>. They served as soldiers13 and <strong>the</strong>ir cultivated tracts added to <strong>the</strong> food supply. Some living south of New Amstel extended <strong>the</strong> Lu<strong>the</strong>ran parish of Pastor Lokenius, though not <strong>the</strong> area of Lu<strong>the</strong>ran public worship. Above <strong>the</strong> Christina River in <strong>the</strong> summer of 1657, populati<strong>on</strong> can be roughly estimated from <strong>the</strong> lists previously noted for 1654-55, minus those who left with Rising but with <strong>the</strong> additi<strong>on</strong> of settlers from New Amsterdam and those <strong>on</strong> <strong>the</strong> Mefcrrviu~. This gives a possible 270 adult males. Assuming that two-thirds of <strong>the</strong>m were married averaging three per family <strong>the</strong> nurnber of people would be 540 and could have been more. To <strong>the</strong> estimated under 300 souls in <strong>the</strong> City's Col<strong>on</strong>y in early August, 1657, a large additi<strong>on</strong> arrived <strong>on</strong> <strong>the</strong> twenty-first in <strong>the</strong> ship De Waegh, "about 300 col<strong>on</strong>ists including farmers, free tradesmen, many families and women." On this expediti<strong>on</strong> came <strong>the</strong> first Dutch Reformed minister assigned to <strong>the</strong> <strong>Delaware</strong>, <strong>the</strong> Reverend Everardus Welius. On September 27, <strong>the</strong> following year, <strong>the</strong> ship De Ve~gulde Meulerz (Gilded Mill) arrived at 12 Ibid., 11, 157-58, 17. 16; XII, 188-89. 13 Pe~~~.r~l~~,i~~ia Archirer, 2d set, V. 314-15. Governor Jacob Alrichs in a letter to Governor Fendall of Maryland. Tune 25. 1659, menti<strong>on</strong>s am<strong>on</strong>g soldiers deserted to that col<strong>on</strong>y: "Cornelis Jurri;~ensen of Winserenin S\vedenV and "Hans Roloff of Stockholm." NEW SWEDEN COLONISTS UNDER THE DUTCH 23 New Amstel from Amsterdam bringing about 100 people. This ship brought no food to tide <strong>the</strong> new col<strong>on</strong>ists over <strong>the</strong> winter and arrived at a time when excessive rain and flood had ruined <strong>the</strong> crops, some north of <strong>the</strong> Christina as well as almost total ruin below. Illness of a virulent kind was epidemic in <strong>the</strong> summer and fall of 1658 causing many deaths in <strong>the</strong> New Amstel regi<strong>on</strong>: <strong>the</strong> miller, <strong>the</strong> surge<strong>on</strong>, many o<strong>the</strong>r useful citizens and many young children.14 In <strong>the</strong> spring of that year Director General Stuyvesant had visited <strong>the</strong> <strong>Delaware</strong> to investigate smuggling rumors and <strong>the</strong> reas<strong>on</strong> for requests of some residents of <strong>the</strong> New Amstel col<strong>on</strong>y to move into <strong>the</strong> West India Company's jurisdicti<strong>on</strong> above <strong>the</strong> Christina. The "arrangements" made by Stuyvesant up<strong>on</strong> his arrival here c<strong>on</strong>firmed <strong>the</strong> Swedes in <strong>the</strong>ir privilege of self-govern- men, under regulati<strong>on</strong>s made by himself and his council at New Amsterdam. The Swedish headquarters was to c<strong>on</strong>tinue at Tini- cum Island, where he c<strong>on</strong>firmed <strong>the</strong>ir chosen magistrates and granted <strong>the</strong> request of <strong>the</strong> people not to be obligated to take sides if any trouble should arise between <strong>the</strong> crown of Sweden and <strong>the</strong> Dutch government. Stuyvesant addressed "<strong>the</strong> Swedish nati<strong>on</strong>" as: our good and faithful subjects, to whom we hereby assure and promise our favor and all possible assistance, as if <strong>the</strong>y were our own nati<strong>on</strong>, pursuant to <strong>the</strong> oath, made before or still to be taken by those who may not have taken it. At Altena, <strong>the</strong> former Fort Christina, Stuyvesant had streets laid out west of <strong>the</strong> fort, no doubt with appreciati<strong>on</strong> of <strong>the</strong> value previously recognized by Rising and Lindestrijm, of having here "a staple town" to streng<strong>the</strong>n Altena as <strong>the</strong> capital of <strong>the</strong> West India Company's holdings <strong>on</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Delaware</strong>. Also, he arranged for <strong>the</strong> streng<strong>the</strong>ning of <strong>the</strong> fort and garris<strong>on</strong>. At New Amstel he found that col<strong>on</strong>ists and tradespeople had been bringing in goods in ships of <strong>the</strong> Amsterdam directors without paying <strong>the</strong> duty to <strong>the</strong> West India Company that was part of <strong>the</strong> c<strong>on</strong>tract between <strong>the</strong> company and <strong>the</strong> Amsterdam directors of <strong>the</strong> City's Col<strong>on</strong>y. Stuyvesant braced <strong>the</strong> morale of <strong>the</strong> discouraged Director Alrichs itnd returned to New Amsterdam. A letter from <strong>the</strong> directors of <strong>the</strong> West India Company of May 20, 1658 had authorized Stuyvesant and his Council to i~ppoint a capable pers<strong>on</strong> to live <strong>on</strong> <strong>the</strong> South River to have
24 NEW SWEDEN COLONISTS UNI)I