Proclamation honoring the New Sweden 2003 Year of Jubilee

By the Salem County Commission

Below is a list of New Sweden Centre re-enactors ( and profile of the character they portrayed) who participated in the presentation of the Proclamation honoring the New Sweden 2003 Year of Jubilee, made by the Salem County Board of Chosen Freeholders on Jan 2, 2003 in Historical Salem County Court House, Salem. N. J.

Elisabeth Dalbo (Aleasa Hogate, Pennsville, N. J. ) Came from Sweden on the Charitas as the Young bride of Mats Hansson in 1641. Mats was one of 22 settlers who
put in a formal complaint again Governor Printz and fled to Maryland to escape
punishment. However, Gov. Printz's son in law Johan Papegoya engaged Indians to bring them back for punishment. He was one of two men captured and beheaded, leaving Elisabeth a widow with two sons. She remarried Anders Dalbo. One of their sons, Olaf later moved to West Jersey and became one of Jersey's first legislators, and also helped build "Old Kings Highway"

Anders Larsson Dalbo (Joe Hogate, Pennsville, N. J.) Was one of the first settlers to New Sweden who arrived on the Kalmar Nyckel in 1640. He was one of the soldiers
who cultivated tobacco at New Korsholm, the uppermost Fort at the conjunction of the Delaware and Schuylkill River. When the Dutch took over the colony in 1655, he was elected Lieutenant of the autonomous governing body of the Swedish Nation.

Anna and Olof Fransson (Martha and Ed Rogers, Pennsville, N. J.)
Were two members of the first Swedish Lutheran Church built in Salem County, at
Church Landing road, in Pennsville, St. George's established in 1714. Anna was one of four women and a baby who were drowned crossing the Delaware River.

Black Anthony (Noah Lewis, West Philadelphia, Pa.) was the first recorded black
in New Sweden Colony. Anthony was originally from Angola in Africa.
He came to the colony from the Caribbean Islands on the "Grip" in 1639.
He was left at Fort Christina, where he worked off his passage cutting hay.
He later worked for Governor Printz, on Printz's private sailing sloop.

Governor Johan Printz, (David Lewis of Ridley Park, Pennsylvania)
Was born in Sweden, the son of a minister, became New Sweden's first Governor
Arriving in the colony February 14, 1642. Printz was a former career army officer, a lieutenant colonel, and was knighted in 1642. A huge man, weighing approximately 400 pounds, called "Big Belly" by the Lenape Indians. . He was headstrong, arrogant, and unjust, but he was shrewd. One of his first acts was to have Fort Elfsborg built
near the mouth of the Varkins Kill (Salem Creek) on the eastern side of the Delaware River, to prevent unfriendly ships from ascending the river.

The proclamation was enacted at the request of Aleasa Hogate and Martha Rogers charter life members of Pennsville Township Historical Society and members of the Swedish Heritage Committee of the Swedish Colonial Society.


©2007 Computer Action Team and Aleasa Hogate