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My DNA test also
indicated the likely orgin of the family in the
Åland
Islands. The Åland
Islands are located midway between Sweden and modern Finland, and
Historical records indicate the Åland
Islands were settled by Vikings. They have also indicated a
Viking presents from the Åland
Islands westward to England and eastward into Russia, and on down to
the Black Sea.
Before the Kingdom
of Sweden was established the islands and coasts around Åland was
called Ros (probably a word related to the word “rowing”). Today the
coast and islands on the Swedish side are called Roslagen. The
Vikings also established a state along the rivers between the Baltic
Sea and the Black Sea called Rosia. Over time the spelling of Rosia
has evolved into Russia. It is possible that some of our ancestors
took part in the founding of Russia.
Documentation that can be used to confirm genealogy for most
families begins in the late 1500’s and early 1600’s. It is very
difficult to document most families prior to 1600. Without a
time-machine, DNA indications are about the only thing we have. DNA
is accurate for making near time connections but is does not indicate timing
or names. Reliable written documentation is necessary for that.
Prior to about 1600 the only people that produced written records
useful for genealogy purposes were the Nobility, Royalty and Clergy.
Those groups represent a very small portion of the total population.
Discovered Stalcop family written documentation appears in
Strangnas, Sweden in the year 1640 and in the New Sweden Colony in
America in 1641. There may be earlier written records but so far
none have been discovered.
Because the Stalcop name was created in America in 1683 there ARE NO
OTHER persons in the entire world using the Stalcop surname that
could emigrate into America. We are a single-family unit. All blood
members born with the name can trace their ancestry back to one
couple, Johan Anderson, “Stalkofta/Stalcop” and his wife, Christina
Carlsdotter. All current members of the family are their descendants
and we are all related to each other.
WE ARE ALL COUSINS.
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LUCIA CELEBRATIONS IN SWEDEN
Hans Ling *
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Larry,
You asked me to tell
you about
my memories of the Lucia celebrations in Sweden. That
turned out to be difficult without a possibility to show a lot of
pictures, play different music and tell about the old folklore in
different parts of Sweden.
As you know Sweden is situated far north – Stockholm
at the same latitude as southern Greenland and Alaska. In central
Sweden the sun is up only a few hours a day at Christmas time, but
hardly sets during the nights at the end of June. In northern Sweden
the sun does not raise at all during the midwinter. People have
always tried to find an explanation to that phenomenon and connected
it to activities of good and evil forces like gods and devils,
hobgoblins and witches. The distance between the south and north of
Sweden is around 160 kilometres and those explanations varied from
place to place. Several local ceremonies and actions were developed
to help and honour the good forces giving light and as defence
against the evil dark ones. Different sorts of local actions
developed, at some places like spectacles with people in fancy
dresses.
Very little is known about the early winter
celebrations. But they varied between different homes and villages
and they were most common in the southwest of Sweden – from where
many of the immigrants to New Sweden came.
During the 1100s a calendar was adopted telling that
the darkest night of the year was the 13th December - the
day devoted to the Christian Saint Lucia. The name Lucia comes from
the Latin word Lux, meaning light. But it also became linked to
Lucifer, the name of the devil as ruler of the darkness.
The local traditions to celebrate the return of the
sun at the Lucia day varied very much. But in the early 1800s a
tradition became widespread among the upper class in many parts of
Sweden. At the morning the 13 December the husband and his wife
should become wake up and served breakfast in the bed by a servant
appearing as Lucia in a white dress and carrying a crown with
burning candles as a glory on her head. If possible she should be
supported by singing girls – Lucia-maids - with candles in their
hands and singing boys – star-boys - with golden stars.
In the middle of the 1800s the Italian song Santa
Lucia became known in Sweden. It is about a fisherman waiting in his
boat for the morning so he can sail to the island Santa Lucia. In
the early 1900s that melody got a Swedish text about saint Lucia
bringing the light in the morning. It became very popular and many
congregations, associations and organisations began to arrange Lucia
celebrations for their members, using that song.
In
1927 a newspaper in Stockholm arranged a beauty and
song contest where the winning girl dressed as a Lucia was
taken on
a parade through the town to a public concert. She was escorted by
singing girls and boys carrying lights and yellow star. It became
very popular and soon spread all over the country. The Lucia
celebration became a sort of start of the Christmas and New Year
holydays.
My personal oldest memory of Lucia is from the middle
of the 1940s when I was about 5 years old. I and my parents, uncles,
aunts and cousins assembled at the evening the 13th December
in my grandparent´s living room. No electric light was on, but there
were several burning candles. After a while my grandmother entered
the room. She was dressed in a long white vest and had a crown with
burning candles on her head. She was carrying a tray with drinks and
cakes which she treated to us. Then she left the room. When we had
drunken and eaten her gifts we all went
into the dining room, where grandmother met us in her
ordinary dress and invited us to take place at the tables for a big
dinner.
That habit continued until my grandfather´s death.
But the role as Lucia was taken over by my aunts and eldest female
cousins.
After some years my parents began also to bring me to
the main street of the town before we went to my grandparents. At
the main street we saw a Lucia parade organized by the city.
When my younger sister became older we also had some
simple ceremonies at home with her as a Lucia.
Already during the middle of the 1600s schoolchildren
had begun to walk around in groups in the villages singing and
collecting money at the 13th December. That had ended
when I began school, but there each class learned to perform a Lucia
appearance to our parents invited to the class room at the afternoon
of the Lucia day. The teacher elected one of the girls to be the
Lucia. We others were Lucia-maids and star-boys.
Higher up in school the pupils studying music gave a
Lucia performance early in the morning the 13 December to all the
teachers and the other pupils assembled in the big hall of the
school.
At the university the Lucia day was the most
important day for festival next to the last day of April. At Lucia
the studies for the autumn ended and at the last of April the summer
began. Then it was drinking, eating, singing, dancing and feasting
all the day and night in combination with Lucia parades and other
entertainments at the student organisations.
After finishing my studies I have had about ten
different jobs. At them all Lucia has been celebrated, generally in
rather simple form such as something extra served at a common coffee
break and often a Lucia and some singers walking around between the
different divisions. It was always a guessing “which one shall be
the Lucia this year”. It also happened that parents brought a young
daughter and friends of her to sing at a coffee break.
It has also become rather common that children in the
afternoon dress up as Lucias and walk around to their neighbours and
old relatives where they get some sweets.
Now the public Lucia parades at the streets have
ceased and become replaced by programs about Lucia at TV.
Well, that is what I today can tell you about Lucia.
There is much more written about her in many books.
Hans
"I took this photo - the second girl to the right is my
granddaughter Nellie Ling Belin"
* Hans Ling is
a descendant of Christina Stallcop, wife of Rev. Ericus Bjork, the
builder of Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) Church in Willington. DE.
Christina was the daughter of 2nd generation Pietter
Stallcop. He and his wife Meta live in Uppsula, Sweden.
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THE
MEN BEHIND THE NEW SWEDEN COMPANY
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Samuel Blommaert and Pieter
Minuit: Dissatisfied with the Dutch West
Indies Company they see a chance for
revenge. Pieter Spierinck, art dealer and
merchant, equally at home in Sweden and in
Holland, the diplomat who had Oxenstierna’s
confidence and became the Swedish ambassador
in The Hague.
Clas Fleming, governor of Stockholm,
enterprising admiral, New Sweden Company
director. Axel Oxenstierna, the legendary
Chancellor, Sweden's undisputed leader
between King Gustavus Adolphus and Queen
Cristina.
During the 1600s Sweden was a European
“Great Power” and one of the major military
and political combatants during the Thirty
Years' War. By mid-century, the Swedish
kingdom included part of Norway, all of
Finland and stretched into Russia. Sweden's
control of portions of modern Poland,
Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Germany made
the Baltic Sea essentially a Swedish lake.
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Strängnäs is about 35 miles west of
Stockholm. It is the probable
birthplace of Johan Anderson Stålkofta. |
Perhaps inspired by the riches
other Great Powers gathered from their overseas colonies, Sweden too
sought to extend its influence to the New World. In 1637, Swedish, Dutch
and German stockholders formed the New Sweden Company to trade for furs
and tobacco in North America. Under the command of Peter Minuit, the
company's first expedition sailed from Sweden late in 1637 in two ships,
Kalmar Nycke and Fogel Grip. Minuit had been the governor of the Dutch
colony, New Netherland, centered on Manhattan Island, from 1626 to 1631.
The ships reached Delaware Bay
in the spring of 1638, and the settlers began to build a fort at the site
of
present-day Wilmington, Delaware. They named it Fort Christina in honor of
Sweden's child queen. It was the first permanent European settlement in
the Delaware Valley.
During the next seventeen
years, thirteen more Swedish expeditions left the homeland for New Sweden.
All but one expedition survived the voyage. A total of eleven vessels,
several more than once, and 600 colonists safely reached their
destination. The colony eventually consisted of farms and small
settlements along both banks of the Delaware River into modern Delaware,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
New Sweden rose to its greatest
heights during the governorship of Johan Printz (1643-1653). He extended
settlement northward from Fort Christina along both sides of the Delaware
River and improved the colony's military and commercial prospects by
building Fort Elfsborg on the New Jersey side of the river, to seal the
Delaware against English and Dutch ships. He built Fort Korsholm, a
trading fort, at the mouth of the Schuylkill River to deny Dutch fur
trading on the west side of the river. Despite these steps the colonists
lived peacefully with their Dutch and Lenni Lenape neighbors.
In 1654, the colony's last
governor, Johan Risingh, succeeded Johan Printz at a time when the
Governor-General Peter Stuyvesant ruled the Dutch capitol of New
Amsterdam. Immediately upon arriving in New Sweden Governor Risingh
foolishly attempted to remove the Dutch from the colony by seizing Fort
Casimir (Dutch), downstream of Fort Christina on the western shore of the
river at present-day New Castle, Delaware. With little ammunition and no
gunpowder, the Dutch garrison of Fort Casimir surrendered without a shot.
It was re-named Fort Trinity.
New Netherlands Governor
Stuyvesant mounted an invasion the following summer when seven armed Dutch
ships carrying 317 soldiers appeared on the Delaware River. Realizing that
resistance would be useless the vastly outnumbered Swedes surrendered Fort
Trinity. Fort Christina and the entire colony were surrendered by Governor
Risingh two weeks later.
Our first Stalcop ancestor was
deeply involved in the affairs of New Sweden. It was immediately after his
falling under Dutch rule that the Stalcop family was begun. Christina
Carlsdaughter arrived some months after the surrender on the last ship
sailing from Sweden in support of the colony. She was soon to be the bride
of Johan Stålkofta.
Swedish sovereignty over New
Sweden was at an end, but the Swedish presence was very much in evidence.
Governor Stuyvesant permitted the colonists to continue as a “Swedish
Nation” and allowed them to be free to be governed by a court of their own
choosing, practice their own religion, organize their own militia, take
title to their land holdings and continue trading with the native people.
This independent “Swedish Nation” continued even after the Dutch lost out
to the English in 1664 under the Duke of York until 1681 when another
Englishman, William Penn, received his charter for Pennsylvania and the
three lower counties, the present-day Delaware.
The colonist and their
descendants continued to reside in the former New Sweden Colony area until
just a few years before the start of the Revolutionary War. Then a general
exodus from the former New Sweden Colony took place. Not only the Stalcop
family but the majority of the original New Sweden settler families moved
out of the area.
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NEW SWEDEN IN AMERICA
The majority of the Stalcop
family resided in the immediate area of Fort Christina during the first
century of the family in America. |
During the exodus the Stalcop
family split between two different migration routes. One group went west
toward the Ohio River and points westward. The other group went south into
North Carolina with members of later generations heading in the general
direction of Texas. The promise of free, or very cheap, land was the lure
for both groups.
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THE GOVERNORS OF NEW SWEDEN
Larry S. Stallcup |
Six men served as governor of the
New Sweden Colony in America. Four were appointed as official
Governors. The first one may or may not be considered as an
official Governor in the traditional meaning of the title. Peter
Minuit was the Commander of the expedition that founded the
Colony. He may or may not have lived in the Colony as a resident.
The historical records are cloudy on that point. Some stories have
him was lost at sea, If so then he never resided in the Colony. If
he was not lost at sea as other records indicate then he lived in
the Colony for about a full year and may have served as governor.
Johan Andersson “Stålkofta” was
in the Colony serving under the last five governors. He arrived as
a boy to work as a farm hand and in the end became the owner of
all of the New Sweden Colony reserve land at Christina and even
owned the Fort itself. |
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PETER MINUIT |
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Peter Minuit was a Walloon whose protestant parents moved from
Doornik, Henegouwen in the southern Netherlands, which then
included present-day Belgium, to Wesel in Germany, in order to
escape from the Catholic Spanish. Minuit's birth year is not
exactly known but probably was before 1589. Peter Minuit married
Gertrude Raedts on August 20, 1613. Gertrude came from a wealthy
family. That probably helped Peter in establishing himself. In a
legal document, a will written in the Dutch City of Utrecht in
1615, he is described as a diamond cutter.
Peter Minuit joined the Dutch West
India Company, probably in the early1620's, and was sent to New
Netherland in 1625 to search for tradable goods other than the
animal pelts which were then the major product coming from New
Netherland. In 1626 he was appointed by the Dutch West India
Company to become the new Governor-General of New Netherland,
taking over from Willem Verhulst. Minuit arrived in New Amsterdam
on May 4, 1626.
Although Peter Minuit was
Governor-General of the colony for five years he is best known for
his purchase of Manhattan Island from the Indians for 60 guilders.
The price was estimated to be about $24 in 1926 dollars, probably
equivalent to about $6 to 7 hundred dollars today. The purchase
was made either in May or July of 1626.
Peter Minuit's tenure as
Governor-General was uneventful compared with other
governor-generals of the Dutch colony. Upon his arrival in 1626,
he proposed a plan to establish an advisory body to the governor
general. The advisory body would be a council of five members,
which would advise the governor general, and would jointly with
the governor general develop, administer and adjudicate a body of
laws to govern the colony. In addition he proposed the institution
of what today would call an attorney general to enforce the laws.
In 1631 or 1632 Minuit was relieved
of his duties as governor-general. What the reasons were for his
termination is not clear, but the directors of the Dutch West
India Company were business people and Minuit may have made
decisions that were, in their view, not in the interest of the
Dutch West India Company organization.
Of the governor-generals of the New
Amsterdam colony only two are well known.
Peter Stuyvesant is best known.
Following his orders he conducted the invasion of New Sweden. In
turn Stuyvesant had to surrender to the British because he found
himself in much the same position as had placed the Swedes. He was
faced with overwhelming military force.
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Peter Minuit is well known probably largely because he made the
historic purchase of Manhattan. He may also be remembered because
of the relative peace that existed in the colony during his
tenure. There was peace among the population of New Amsterdam, but
there was also relative peace with the Native Americans who then
still lived in close proximity to the Dutch settlers. This changed
drastically after he was replaced.
Peter Minuit is remembered today
with a number of public mementoes. On Manhattan there is a Peter
Minuit Plaza, a small park in lower Manhattan. There is also the
Peter Minuit marker in Inwood Hill Park commemorating the purchase
of Manhattan. Then there is the Peter Minuit Flagstaff Base in
Battery Park and the Peter Minuit School. The DAR has named one of
their chapters the Peter Minuit chapter. Finally, in Wesel
Germany, there is a Peter Minuit Memorial on Moltkestrasse.
After his governor-generalship of
New Netherland ended Minuit applied to the Swedish Government to
establish a settlement, called New Sweden, near what is now
Wilmington, Delaware. It was in territory claimed by both the
Dutch and English.
The instructions given to Peter
Minuit are interesting, to say the least. According to his SECRET
orders he was instructed to sail south “behind” England and
Scotland, that is, to sail through the English Channel, to the
latitude of 44 degrees. From there he was to turn west and sail
across the Atlantic Ocean to the first destination, Sable Island,
if this course was possible. Sable island is off the coast of
Nova Scotia. For a 17th century sail powered ship
sailing against the prevailing winds and ocean currents, this
route across the Atlantic would have been very difficult. Once
arriving at Sable Island he was ordered to take soundings all
around the island and make maps and sketches of the island showing
all rivers, harbors and roads (ship anchorages). Sable Island is
classed as a sand bar. It is crescent shaped, 26 miles long and
less than a mile wide and very low in relation to sea level. There
is no record of the course the ships actually followed or if they
made it to Sable Island.
A second instruction named Jan
Hindrickson van der Water as skipper of the Kalmar Nyckel and
Michel Symonssen as First Mate. Both were Dutchmen. If any mishap
befell Peter Minuit making it impossible for him to continue with
his duties them Symonssen was take his place. This instruction
appears to contain the seeds of what might have happened to Peter
Minuit.
It was reported by the officers of
the Kalmar Nyckel that during his return from New Sweden in 1638
Minuit in the Kalmar Nyckel and sailed south to the Caribbean to
trade for a load of tobacco. The story goes that while having
dinner aboard a nearby Dutch ship a hurricane suddenly forced all
ships out to sea. The crew reported that Minuit was never seen
again however the Kalmar Nyckel did, under Symonssen, make it back
to the Netherlands and then on to Sweden without him.
The story the ship’s crew told
about what happened to Peter Minuit is most unlikely.
First. Tobacco was available
in large quantities in Virginia, and from the Native Americans. It
generally was not available in the Caribbean. The trade goods
supplied to Minuit by the voyage backers are reported to have been
dress shoes and French wines. If that cargo could have been traded
at all for tobacco in the Caribbean he probably would have traded
it on the way to New Sweden because he knew from experience the
cargo was not suitable goods for trade with the Native Americans.
Second. The trip from the
South River to the Caribbean would be a very, very slow, hard trip
if it were possible at all. The ship would be sailing the entire
distance against both the prevailing winds and the strong
northbound current of the Gulf Stream. It was a nearly impossible
trip for an unpowered sailing ship that had a hull speed of only
about five knots and could not sail very close to the direction of
the wind. The combination of wind and current would be greater
than the hull speed of the Kalmar Nyckel. The ship would have to
tack, that is, sail a zigzag pattern at an sharp angle to the wind
and current back and forth across the intended course, for nearly
the entire voyage. That makes the voyage length many times the
length of a straight-line course. That is why the usual route to
New Sweden was first south down along the African coast and then
west across the Atlantic at the latitude of the Caribbean and then
back northward. This southern route took advantage of sailing with
both the wind and the ocean currents for the entire voyage.
Third. The National
Hurricane Center of the U S National Weather Service has conducted
an enormous amount of research tracking and documenting historic
hurricanes by examining ships logbooks in archives all over he
world. The problem is that there is no record of any hurricane
that forced a number of ships out to sea to match the story told
by the crew of the Kalmar Nyckel. Their story of the sudden
hurricane appears to be total fiction.
Forth. Hurricanes have high
wind speeds inside them but slow forward speeds. The build up to
hurricane force winds takes place over a period of several days.
Large waves, rough seas and rain bands appear well ahead of the
storm. The crew of the Kalmar Nyckel would have us believe that a
hurricane snuck up and struck full force upon an entire harbor of
ships very quickly while Peter Minuit was aboard another ship
having dinner. That is simply not creditable.
Fifth. Rev. Israel Acrelius
says that Minuit stayed at Fort Christina(1)
and died there in July 1639(2).
Mans Kling continued as Governor until Peter Hollander Ridder took
over as New Sweden Governor in 1640. Later in his history Acrelius
states that when Rev Eric Björk arrived in 1697 Peter Minuit’s
grave was pointed out to him.
It seems far more likely that the story told by the
ship’s crew upon their return to the Netherlands is a cover-up. It
seems much more likely that they deliberately sailed away from New
Sweden leaving Peter Minuit stranded ashore and they concocted the
hurricane story to hide what they had done.
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MANS NILSSON KLING
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The first appointed
governor
of the
Colony
of
New Sweden,
which he administrated from
Fort Christina,
was Måns Nilsson Kling.
The first expedition to North
America began with two ships, Kalmar Nyckel and the
Fogel Grip, sailing from the city of Gothenburg in 1637. Peter
Minuit had proposed planting a Swedish colony on the South (now
Delaware)
River. The expedition became a
joint Dutch and Swedish venture following the recommendations of
Willem
Usselincx, one of the directors
of the
Dutch West
India Company. It was organized
and overseen by Swedish Admiral
Clas Fleming.
Samuel
Blommaert, a
Dutch colonial patron, assisted with the fitting-out.
Swedish Chancellor
Axel
Oxenstierna appointed
Peter Minuit
to lead the expedition. The expedition reached the location now
known as
the Rocks
in present-day Wilmington, Delaware on March 29, 1638. Peter
Minuit directed the erection of Fort Christina and established the
beginnings of the trade with the Native Americans. He then left
the colony on June 15, 1638 to attempt to trade the ship’s cargo
of shoes and wines for tobacco in the Virginia Colony. What
happened to
Peter Minuit
afterward is a matter of some conjecture.
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Måns Kling, who had been
promoted to Captain, was sent out on the first expedition as
commander of the soldiers. Kling is believed to have been from the
military lists of the times, serving in Adolf Hård's Regiment in
Jönköping,
Småland. He served first as a private and then later as an
officer, before being discharged in 1636.
Kling surveyed the land upon
arrival in New Sweden and made a map of the whole river area. This
is one of the tasks Minuit was charged with doing. Kling’s map is
reported to be in the Royal Archives of Sweden. Mans Nilsson Kling
was placed in command of 23 other members of the expedition
staying in New Sweden Colony upon the departure of Peter Minuit.
Mans Kling carried out the duties of governor until Lieutenant
Peter
Hollander Ridder,
of the Swedish Navy, arrived in New Sweden on April 17, 1640.
Kling went back to Sweden in 1640.
He returned to the colony on the
Kalmar
Nyckel
in 1641, to serve
as lieutenant at a salary of 40 florins (Dutch money) a month
beginning on May 1, 1641. He brought with him his wife, a servant
girl and a small child. Of particular importance to us is that
Mans Kling was sent on a recruiting trip to find colonist to go to
New Sweden. He signed up Johan Andersson, a boy, on the steps of
City Hall even before he left Strängnäs on the recruiting trip.
This is the same Johan Andersson who in New Sweden later became
known by the name of “Stålkofta”/Stalcop.
Kling took on various tasks for
Governor Printz. One of these was the command of Fort New Korsholm.
He and his family returned to Sweden on the ship Swan in
1648.
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PETER HOLLANDER RIDDER
Ken Peterson |
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Peter Hollander Ridder was born about 1609 in either Holland or
Germany, the son of Hans Hollender and Anna Robertsdotter. The
boarder was rather fluid. His father later became a merchant and
customs officer in Ekenas, Nyland, Finland where Peter was raised.
He entered Swedish Naval service perhaps as early as 1635 or as
late as 1639.
Ridder arrived in New Sweden on 17
April 1640 aboard the ship Kalmar Nyckel and replaced Mans Kling
as commander of the colony at Fort Christina. He served as
Governor of the New Sweden colony from 1640 to 1643.
As governor, Peter Hollander Ridder
purchased from the Indians land on the Jersey side of the South
river from Narraticon Kill [Raccoon Creek] down along the coast to
Cape May, increasing the colony geography considerably.
The Swedish writer Aft Aberg talked
about Ridder;
Ridder had
expanded the colony, building 3 houses inside Fort Christina for
the new inhabitants. And he had a windmill built next to the fort
where corn was ground in fall and winter. Skilled craftsmen were
lacking in the colony. This caused Ridder to unfairly remark “It
would be hard to find more inept people in all of Sweden.” There
were only 20 soldiers in New Sweden in Ridder’s time.
Ridder sailed
upriver in a sloop and refused to halt at Dutch Fort Nassau even
though the Fort fired warning shots (3 cannon and a musket). Above
Fort Nassau Ridder met Indians and purchased the land from the
Schuylkill to present Trenton. Back south he purchased from the
Indian Wikusi the land from Duck Creek to Cape Henlopen.
In November
1640 the ship “Freedenburgh” with 50 Dutch colonists were given
permission to settle 20 (Dutch ?) miles above Fort Christina. This
Dutch colony simply vanished.
Ridder
protested the landing and settling of the New Haven English at
Varken’s Kill (Mill Creek) under Lamberton and Turner. Gregorius
Van Dyke was sent to lodge a protest. Lamberton ignored the
protest, uprooting the Swedish coat of arms and sent it back to
Fort Christina. All members of this English colony eventually just
left.
The Swedish government may have
felt the need to replace Ridder with an experienced soldier due to
the mounting tension between New Sweden and the Dutch. Johan
Printz replaced Ridder as Governor in 1643. When he arrived Ridder
gave Printz a tour of the entire river to show the extent of the
New Sweden possessions. Ridder returned to Sweden on the ship Fama.
He rejoined the Swedish Navy and served at the castle in Viborg,
Finland, for most of the rest of his career. When he died his son
reported that he had served the Swedish government for 56 years.
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JOHAN BJORNSSON
PRINTZ
Adapted from a article by
Dr. Eric G. M. Törnqvist
Former Governor,
Swedish Colonial Society
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Few Americans have ever heard of Johan Printz or New Sweden, yet,
the accomplishments of Johan Printz during his years as governor,
1642-1653, have caused him to be compared favorably with such
contemporaries as John Winthrop in New England and Peter
Stuyvesant in New Amsterdam.
He was the son of a Lutheran pastor, Björn Hansson, and Gunilla
Svensdotter. Printz received his early education in Sweden
followed in 1618 by theological studies at German universities.
While on a journey in about 1620, he was pressed into military
service. The involuntary change in occupation turned out to suit
him.
During the Thirty Years' War he initially became a mercenary for
Archduke Leopold of Austria, Duke Christian of Brunswick, and King
Christian IV of Denmark. Printz entered the Swedish army in 1625
rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel under King Gustavus
Adolphus of Sweden. He was born in Bounaryd, County of Jönköping
in the province of Småland, Sweden. 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 of Sweden in Poland and in the Thirty
Year's War. However, due to a tactical error in judgment he was
dismissed from service for surrendering the Saxon town of Chemnitz
in 1640 and, though exonerated, it halted his military career and
he went into retirement. In July 1642, Printz's military career
resumed when he was knighted and appointed Royal Governor of New
Sweden.
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In
1641, the New Sweden Company had decided to buy out the Dutch
participants. Afterward New Sweden was a wholly Swedish venture
with the government of Sweden as one of the stockholders. John
Printz was appointed governor at the age of 50 in 1642.
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. The last article of The Instruction states
that Printz's appointment is for three years. He would then be
free to return home. He ended up staying years longer.
Two ships, the Fama and the Swan, left Gothenburg,
early in November and arrived at Fort Christina in February. On
his arrival, Commander Ridder assisted Printz 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 below 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. He erected a second large
fort, used for the Indian Trade, Fort Korshom, on an island near
the mouth of the
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 Governor’s
residence with supporting buildings and a fortified house, New
Gothenburg, for their defense. The fortified house was ready by
early May.
The first buildings have been described in some detail, but a fire
in November 1645 destroyed all of them except for the storehouse.
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 several 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 woodwork 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.
Printz had his private residence at Upland, a farm known as
Printzdorf.
Printzhof also became the first seat of a court and Printz the
first chief judge in present Pennsylvania.
Fort Christina was 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 assigned land to the
freemen and he established commercial and political relations with
the Indians. As instructed, Printz paid great attention to
religious matters and, in addition to the church at Christina, he
built a "new beautiful church" at Tinicum that was consecrated in
1646. Above all he made efforts 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 tobacco and skins.
Printz had become greatly encouraged by the progress made during
the first year of his 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 that gave
raise to considerable joy in New Sweden where, despite the lack of
manpower and fresh supplies, considerable progress had been made
after the Fama left. A gristmill was constructed on Cobbs
Creek that was the first manufacturing facility within the limits
of present-day Pennsylvania and can be considered a forerunner of
the huge industrial establishments that eventually grew up within
the Commonwealth. Printz constructed a wharf at Fort Christina,
and he built several ships, one of 100 tons burden.
One of these ships was outfitted using a “yacht” type sail
arrangement. This name has cause all sorts of confusion with claim
that he had built himself a “pleasure yacht” within the modern
meaning of the term. He used his yacht-rigged vessel to haul cargo
up and down the river. It had movable sideboards rather than a
fixed keel for directional control so it could sail in shallow
water up some of the creeks that joined the South, or Delaware,
river.
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 appointment and proclaimed a special day of
Thanksgiving. The settlers assembled in the new church and gave
praise to God with a holy "Te Deum" (Latin, an expression of
thanksgiving or exultation.)
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. Printz' sent a report of the past activity. He also sent
a list of needed articles and a request for skilled workmen to
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. The Swan 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 Katten (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.
The situation in New Sweden grew increasingly worse. In May of
1651 Stuyvesant sent a fleet of eleven ships with cannon and
people "well armed from New Amsterdam." Printz readied his little
yacht and sailed it with his entire force of 30 soldiers to trail
after the Dutch fleet. The Dutch fleet made several long loops up
and down the river firing salutes, banners and flags flying and
drummers beating at the rail of all ships.
Printz could not do anything but follow at some distance. Failing
to entice an armed response from Printz to justify an invasion
Stuyvesant landed at Sandhook (New Castle) and used 200 men to
build a fort. He named Ft. Casimir. The fort was strategically
placed to disrupt communications with Fort Elfsborg so it could
not be reactivated.
Stuyvesant soon 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. 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 had been abandoned and the garrisons of some
of the other strong houses were withdrawn so Printz could
concentrate his forces. Heavy rains did damage to the grain stores
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
"protest" 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. Printz had the leader of the
opposition arrested, tried and executed on a charge of treachery.
Printz finally decided to go to Sweden in the fall of 1653 to
obtain help himself. 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 soon arrive
because he himself was going to the fatherland to take care of the
matter. After a farewell service in the church, Printz turned the
command of the colony over to his son-in-law, Johan Papegoja, and
left for New Amsterdam.
Printz lay in a sickbed in the Netherlands as his replacement,
Johan Risingh, on his way to New Sweden passed by without
stopping. Being 62 years old when he returned to Sweden in 1654,
he spent the next three years without an official position but he
was made a general. 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 age
of 71. His first wife, Elizabeth von Boche, who he had married in
1622 and his son, predeceased him. Five daughters and his second
wife, Maria von Linnestau, who he had married in 1642, survived
him.
|
|
JOHAN PAPEGOJA
Acting governor of the New Swedish
Colony |
Johan Papegoja had been one of the early Swedish settlers on the
Delaware. Papegoja is the Swedish word for parrot.
He served as a Lieutenant at New Sweden under governor Johan
Björnsson Printz. During 1644, Johan Papegoja was married to
Armegott Printz, one of the daughters of Governor Printz.
Since it was an arranged marriage, Armegott Printz demanded
certain concessions. One of these is the big red house located
inside of Fort Christina as shown on the 1654 Lindeström map. She
and her children lived there until Governor Risingh confiscated it
for his own use and force her to move.
Johan Papegoja made several voyages between Sweden and the
Delaware River New Sweden Colony. He traveled back and forth
during 1643 aboard the Fama, in 1647 on the Swan and
during 1655 on board the Mercurius.
Papegoja was named the acting governor of New Sweden by Governor
Johan Björnsson Printz when he departure for Sweden October 1653.
Printz was intending to procure aid for the New Sweden Colony.
Papegoja remained Acting Governor for about eight months until the
arrival of Johan Classon Risingh during May 1654.
Papegoja was assigned by Risingh the duty of sailing to Sweden to
obtain additional settlers to the colony. The Mercurius
left Sweden during November 1655 and arrived in the Delaware River
during March 1656. By the time the ship arrived, Risingh had
surrendered New Sweden to the Dutch. In a short time, Johan
Papegoja had a falling-out with the Dutch and he departed for
Sweden in 1656 leaving his wife and children behind.
The date and place of his birth is unknown. Johan Papegoja is
believed to have died at Ramstorp manor, Ångarp parish, Skaraborg,
now in Västra Götaland, Sweden, March 23, 1667.
During 1662, Armegott Printz sold Printzhof, the estate that
Governor Printz had owned on Tinicum Island. She received partial
payment with the promise of the remainder to be paid later.
However, subsequent payment was refused. She brought suit for the
recovery of the estate. Ten years later in 1672, Armegott Printz
recovered the estate. She subsequently sold the property a second
time and returned to Sweden. She died on November 25, 1695 at
Läckö Castle.
|
|
The Loss of New Sweden and RISINGH’S DECEPTIONS
© 2012 All rights
Reserved - Larry Spencer Stallcup
|
Johan Classon Risingh was the last governor of the Swedish colony
of New Sweden.
He was born in 1617 in Risinge, Östergötland, Sweden. After
gymnasium (a school that prepares pupils for university entrance.)
at Linköping, he attended the University of Uppsala and University
of Leyden. From 1651 to 1653, he held the office of secretary of
the Commercial College of Sweden. He wrote the first treatise on
trade and economics ever compiled in Sweden in the autumn of 1653.
He was ennobled just before he set out from Sweden early in 1654,
to take up duties in New Sweden. His orders read that he was to
assist Governor Printz but if Printz was dead or no longer in the
Colony he was to assume the office of Governor.
Risingh was specifically directed in his orders to AVOID any and
all confrontations with the Dutch at Fort Cassimir. He was
directed to sail by avoiding any contact. He was directed to
reactivate Fort Elfsborg and to build a new fort on the west bank
of the main river directly opposite of Fort Elfsborg.
Risingh made no attempt to follow his orders. He seemed only
intent upon improving his own condition of superiority. He behaved
more like a dictator than a governor.
Risingh’s first blunder occurred on the other side of the Atlantic
Ocean. Before sailing Risingh learned Governor Printz was lying
sick in Amsterdam. He deliberately ordered the Skipper of the Örn
(Eagle), Jan Jansson Bockhorn, not to dock in the Netherlands
where voyage repairs were normally preformed prior to setting out
across the ocean. Rising deliberately deprived himself of a
briefing from Printz who would have told him about conditions in
New Sweden.
Had Risingh followed his clear orders he would have reestablished
Swedish control over shipping on the river without ever having any
direct conflict with Fort Cassimir. Had Risingh followed his
orders Stuyvesant would not have had Risingh’s "military capture”
of Fort Cassimir his first day on the job to use as the excuse to
invade and take over all of New Sweden. Governor Printz was smart
enough not to get caught in the trap but Risingh eagerly leaped
right into the shark's mouth. Risingh probably realized he had
blundered badly right away when he, or perhaps Swen Skute, walked
into the captured fort and discovered that all of the Dutch
cannons were inoperable.
Fort Cassimir was a decoy fort because none of it’s cannons could
be fired. During the three years since it had been built it had
never been supplied with cannonballs and gunpowder. Thanks to
Risingh’s senseless acts the baited trap worked. In late May 1654,
only about three weeks after his arrival, Risingh received a
letter from Stuyvesant telling him that the Dutch were coming in
force to take over all of New Sweden in direct response to his
military attack and capture of Fort Cassimir. At that moment, just
weeks after his arrival and capture of Fort Cassimir, Risingh knew
without any doubt whatsoever that he alone was responsible for the
lost of the entirety of the New Sweden Colony. Contrary to his
later claim that the Dutch invasion was unexpected he knew it was
coming sixteen months in advance. Rather than trying to negotiate
a settlement with the Dutch or prepare defenses Risingh set about
to find someone he could blame for his blunders. He went farther
in trying to ensure that some of his fellow colonist and soldiers
would likely be killed during the Dutch invasion.
In reply Rising sent a letter to Stuyvesant saying that it was
agreeable to him if the Dutch killed everyone south of the
Christina River if he, Stuyvesant, would stop the invasion at that
point and leave him and his "estate" alone. Stuyvesant did not
reply to this letter. From his silence Risingh apparently assumed
that Stuyvesant agreed with his death proposal. Risingh apparently
had the idea that if everyone at Trinity died then no one would be
left alive who knew how badly he had blundered by disobeying his
orders.
Risingh again violated his specific orders when he directed Swen
Skute to build Fort Trinity in front of Fort Cassimir thereby
blocking sight of the river from the Dutch fort and rendering it
completely useless. Risingh’s orders read that he was to build a
new fort ten miles downstream opposite Elfsborg. Even worse,
Risingh ignored all advice and ordered Skute to build Trinity out
of timber. As a trained military officer Swen Skute knew that
timber forts became lethal when hit by cannon fire. This is
because wood tends to shatter into long splinters and fly out in a
cloud in all directions. That is why earth is mounded up against
the outside walls of timber forts. The earth tends to dampen the
flight of the splinters. Fort Cassimir and Fort Christina are both
examples of this precaution.
Skute knew how Risingh’s orders read. He knew Trinity was
structurally inadequate, militarily useless, lethal to the men
manning it and located in the wrong place. It would have made much
more sense to put the four available cannons inside Fort Cassimir
in place of some of the non-usable Dutch cannons and not build the
timber fort at all. That long, narrow, two-story, all timber
bulwark fort Risingh ordered Swen Skute to build, purely and
simply, was a death trap. No doubt Risingh had been told this
again and again.
When Fort Trinity was completed apparently two of the four cannons
available, odd-sized captured Danish 14-pound cannons obtained
from the ship EAGLE, were placed on the gun deck and test fired.
Because the second level structural arrangement was completely
inadequate, built the worst possible way in a stacked log manner
similar to a log cabin the recoil force from the firing
predictably pushed over a section of the back wall. This caused
the collapse of part of the gun deck where the cannons were
located. The cannons were destroyed during their plunge of about
24 feet down through the wreckage to the ground. It seems likely
Swen Skute, who probably was well aware of what would happen,
arranged the test firing without Risingh’s knowledge. Apparently
no member of the gun firing crew was caught up in the collapse of
the gun deck. That implies that the cannon (s) were fired from
some safe distance.
This left only two serviceable weapons available at Fort Trinity.
During the siege visiting Dutch officers were blindfolded with arm
scarves so they could not see the damage. To make a bad situation
even worse Risingh next ordered Skute to mount the two remaining
weapons in trenches dug in front of Fort Trinity. Timber which
would shatter into splinters standing at the gun crew’s back make
that decision lethal. It also gave the Dutch gunners on the ships
a very large target. Had the trenches been located north or south
without a big wall behind them the gun emplacements would have
been a more difficult target to hit.
The drumming and sail dipping on the Dutch ships as they sailed
past probably did not cause any confusion. Skute knew that if the
Swedes fired even a single musket shot at the Dutch fleet
Stuyvesant would have leveled everything and Stuyvesant had the
massive firepower on his ships to do it. Later Stuyvesant told
Skute that is exactly what his orders to the Dutch fleet said. He
told Skute that not even a chicken could have lived through the
planned bombardment had the Swedes fired at the ships.
With only two serviceable 14-pounders available just one side of
one Dutch ship sailing by out gunned the Swedes about 9 to 1.
Dutch soldiers, not counting the sailors, outnumbered the Swedish
defenders about 10 to 1. One or two cannonball hits on that timber
fort probably would have killed the entire Swedish garrison from
flying splinters. Nearly all 37 members of the garrison were
either standing on top of, or standing in the gun trenches in
front of, Fort Trinity as the Dutch ships sailed by. After the
munity that first afternoon only 16 defenders signed the
affidavits at the surrender. The rest were disarmed and locked up.
After the munity the remaining defenders were outnumbered about 20
to 1.
Skute soon received unexpected orders, written by Risingh himself,
to surrender Fort Trinity.
The covert canoe messenger, Anders Dalbo, took Swen Skute’s report
of the arrival of the Dutch fleet to Risingh’s and returned with
written order to Skute during the first night of the siege.
Risingh ordered Skute to delay as long as possible and then
surrender. Skute followed Risingh's orders precisely. He delayed
for three days before he surrendered. During the Court Martial
hearings Risingh tried to imply that surrendering the fort was all
Skute’s idea and that his surrender caused the loss of all of New
Sweden. Skute prudently kept Risingh’s written orders, and kept it
secret, for presentation to higher authorities should he be forced
to stand trial in Sweden.
Risingh probably realized that he had to create a lot of confusion
and misdirection to cover up his blunders and violations of his
orders. He did that by vigorously pointing his finger at Swen
Skute who had been correct about everything all along. To create
confusion Risingh included all the officers serving at Fort
Trinity - except Lindeström - in his blame-shifting scheme and
brought all of them to trial in his Court Martial hearings.
Concealing the Fort Christina ammunition inside the Fort Christina
walls and claiming he had sent it all to aid the men at Fort
Trinity was simply a part of Risingh’s deception plan. The
cannonballs at Fort Christina were the wrong size for the 14-pound
cannons at Trinity. Risingh apparently did not understand that.
This deception involved the concept of ‘out of sight-out of mind”.
There is no doubt that Risingh was actively working on his
deception/misdirection plan long before he surrendered because he
had negotiated the article allowing him to hold his Court Martial
hearings several days before he surrendered. Stuyvesant blocked
part of Risingh’s plan in that he only allowed Risingh to hold the
hearing. Risingh could not reach any verdicts or punish (execute)
anyone as a result of the hearing.
In addition Risingh negotiated an entire secret article in the
surrender treaty. This secret article appears only in the Dutch
copy of the treaty and does not appear in the Swedish copy.
Risingh “sold” Fort Christina’s nine bronze cannons to Stuyvesant
in a thinly disguised, impossible to pay back on time, loan
scheme. Actually Risingh never mentioned the “loan” when he
returned to Sweden. He and the bookkeeper were put ashore in
northern England and they traveled overland to London to cash the
draft Stuyvesant gave Risingh. That draft is estimated to be worth
about a million dollars in today’s currency. The loan was not
recorded in either New Sweden or Sweden at all and the money never
appears in Sweden. After collecting the money in London Risingh
and the bookkeeper went on to Amsterdam and parted there. The
bookkeeper went directly to Sweden and fades out of sight. Risingh
went to Germany to give a report of the lost of the Colony to the
King.
The “loan” was duly foreclosed on for non-payment and the nine
Fort Christina bronze cannons were shipped to Fort Amsterdam one
day after the due date. They had already been removed from the
Fort and were sitting on the dock awaiting shipment. Rev. Eric
Björk was astonished to find Swedish cannons from Fort Christina
in New York during his visit in 1703. The English considered them
prizes of war when they captured New York from the Dutch in 1664.
After he surrender the Colony, Risingh, other officials and some
soldiers, a total of about 37 men, were taken back to Europe on
Dutch ships and at Dutch expense. Risingh had Peter Lindeström
completely rewrite his official Journal during the voyage home
across the Atlantic. He also rewrote the Court Martial Hearing
record. The altered copies Lindeström created for him all survived
the voyage across the ocean without problem but the original
documents, on the same ship, did not survive the voyage.
Risingh died, seemingly in poverty, at Stockholm seventeen years
later in 1672.
This is not a complete recounting of all of Risingh’s blunders and
deceptions. Most of Governor Risingh's cover-ups and deceptions
have worked for him for more than 350 years. They seem to be
mostly still working for him. Some parts of his plans, however,
went badly astray. Thanks to Swen Skute not firing at the Dutch
ships nearly everyone serving at Fort Trinity during the Dutch
invasion, including Johan Andersson Stålkofta, survived.
Stuyvesant’s policy allowing all of Risingh’s intended victims to
stay in New Sweden under Dutch rule as Freemen meant that none of
the officers were compelled to return to Sweden to take the blame
for Risingh’s blunders. That forced Risingh to play the roll of
victim for the rest of his life. He was also forced to pretend to
be very poor when he was immensely wealthy from his illicit cannon
sale. He could never enjoy the luxuries his stolen money could
provide for him.
Strange as it may sound had Governor Rising followed his orders
and the 1655 invasion by the Dutch avoided then when the English
and Dutch clashed nine years later the English probably would have
avoided any confrontation with New Sweden. England and Sweden were
at peace with each other. One of our states today may have been
based on the territory of the former New Sweden Colony.
|
|
RISINGH’S ANGER AT CAPTAIN SVEN
SKUTE
© 2012 All rights Reserved - Larry Spencer Stallcup |
From the moment the ship Eagle arrived and anchored off
Fort Elfsborg in New Sweden Captain Sven Skute and Governor
Risingh were at loggerheads. Skute was designated to be the
military commander but Risingh immediately usurped all military
command authority from him. To make the situation worse Risingh
ignored all advice from both Sven Skute and the Eagle’s
Captain from that moment onward. He seemed determined to do the
opposite of what Skute recommended. Risingh immediately leaped
into a Dutch trap from which there was no escape. Risingh’s big
leap caused the loss of the entire New Sweden Colony to the Dutch
his first day in the Colony.
Stuyvesant soon sent a letter to Risingh telling him the Dutch
were coming to take over all of New Sweden in response to his,
Governor Risingh’s, military attack and capture of the Dutch Fort
Cassimir. Rising sent a letter back to Stuyvesant saying that it
was agreeable to him if the Dutch killed everyone south of the
Christina River if he, Stuyvesant, would stop the invasion at that
point and leave him and his "estate" alone. Stuyvesant did not
reply to this letter. From his silence Risingh apparently assumed
that Stuyvesant agreed to his death proposal. Risingh apparently
had the idea that if everyone at Trinity died then no one would be
left alive who knew how badly he had blundered by disobeying
his orders. That was one of the reasons Risingh was so upset
about Skute not firing on the Dutch ships. Skute and everyone
south of the Christina River stayed alive.
Skute and the Fort Trinity garrison were brought to Fort Christina
to witness Risingh surrendering of the Colony. That was probably
embarrassing for Risingh but worst was to come. Three days after
the surrender Stuyvesant made everyone in New Sweden a Freeman and
started handing out land patents. He offered to let Risingh stay
on as Vice-Governor reporting to him. That offer destroyed
Risingh’s entire plan for his own future. Risingh had all sort of
perks in his contract including that he be furnish with an estate,
he had selected Timber Island, and that a number of servants be
provided for him to operate his estate. Risingh’s special free
privileges suddenly vanished.
Risingh was furious at Skute. In his mind Sven Skute staying alive
was the cause of the loss of his “estate”, his job as an
independent governor and for the loss of all of his special
privileges. Even if Risingh stayed on in New Sweden as
Stuyvesant’s Vice-Governor he would have to pay the cost of
running his estate and his servants out of his own income. The New
Sweden Colony operated on the “books” as a “Company Store”
non-cash type of system. That system had suddenly ended and the
Dutch cash system had replaced it. Like everyone else Risingh had
no cash income in New Sweden.
Skute destroyed Risingh’s grand plans at every turn without even
knowing it.
|
BRIEF HISTORY OF NEW SWEDEN IN AMERICA |
|
JOHAN ANDERSSON från Strängnäs (John, the
son of Andrew, from Strängnäs), the
primogenitor of the entire Stalcop family,
arrived alone in the Colony of New Sweden in
1641 as a young boy or lad about age 13. He
had taken a job as a farm hand to work on
the tobacco plantation the Colony intended
to be located at Upland (now Chester, PA).
By age 19 he gave up farming and became a
soldier. He soon acquired a nickname, or
early form of soldier’s name, Stålkofta, the
Steelcoat, to separate him from other men
named Johan Andersson.
The following is provided to give some
background to the origin of the Stalcop
Family in America. |
|
THE HAZARDS OF 17TH CENTURY TRAVEL
THE FATE OF THE CAT
|
The neighbor of Johan Andersson Stålkofta, TIMEN STIDDEM of Gothenburg,
Sweden, a barber-surgeon for the New Sweden Colony and his family were
aboard the ship “CAT”. Stiddem’s first wife and children all perished in
the incident.
The following is quoted from the Pennsylvania Magazine of
History and Biography, Volume 8, p. 28-32.
____________________________________________________________
| "On
the 24th of March, 1649, Queen Christina issued orders to the
College of the Admiralty to "make ready and equip" the ship Kalmar
Nyckel, then lying at Gottenburg, consigned to the West India
Company for the removal of "the cargo, which the Company had stored
there." She was to be supplied with the necessary crew, and twenty
pieces of cannon, and furnished with provisions for ten months,
deducting the amount which the Company might claim from the
Admiralty, and was to start upon her voyage as soon as possible.
Finding she could not be prepared in time, the College of the
Admiralty ordered, April 13, the equipment of another vessel called
Katlan (the Cat), on which embarked the eighth expedition to New
Sweden. The cargo consisted principally of materials of war and
implements of every sort, from the inventory of which we may cite "
two six-pounder brass cannon, two three-pounder, twelve six-pounder,
and two four-pounder iron cannon, powder, lead, grenades, muskets,
pistols," etc., besides rope and tackle, and everything needed for
the outfit of a ship, with a considerable supply of food. Commandant
Hans Amundsson was appointed head of the expedition, and Cornelius
Lucifer captain of the vessel. The former was accompanied by his
family. Among the emigrants (who numbered seventy persons), we may
name, particularly, the preacher Matthias Nertunius (Rosenbechius?)
and the bookkeeper Joachim Lycke; some criminals, also, appear to
have been included. Seeing that no fewer than three hundred Finns
applied to the government this year for permission to go to New
Sweden, there was probably no lack of colonists on this occasion.
After a long delay at Gottenburg, the ship set
sail on the 3d of July. At first the voyage was prosperous, and on
the 20th of August she touched at the island of Antigua in the West
Indies to take in water. Not obtaining enough here, she steered next
day to St. Christopher's, where the emigrants were received with
great kindness by the Governor, and supplied with water and
provisions. She procured salt at the island of St. Martin, and the
following day coasted about some others in that unfamiliar sea, the
captain, "ex mala prcESumtione," says the narrator, "ac incredibili
obstinacia" bearing full sail, in spite of admonitions of the
Commandant and other companions to lie to. Early on the morning of
the 26th she struck a rock, two miles from an island fourteen miles
distant from Porto Rico; but, after she had been lightened of
ballast, water, etc., she was brought to shore, fortunately, without
loss of life. The victuals and a great part of the stores of the
ship were carried to the beach, and, after some repairs, she was
ready to continue her journey. The shipwrecked mariners, needing
water, besought assistance of the inhabitants, who happened to be
Spaniards, and who sent them water, indeed, but, observing their
desperate situation, plundered them of what they had carried ashore,
and took them on boats, as prisoners, to Porto Rico, where Amundsson,
who meanwhile had recovered his sword, was brought before the
Governor, Don Fernando de la Riva. The latter, after questioning him
as to his intentions, from whence he came, and whither he was going,
made excuses for the violence towards his company, saying, this
would not have occurred, had he been present. Amundsson considered
they would have to answer for behaving as they had to friendly
strangers. In the mean time the emigrants were liberated, and
permitted to leave the place as they found opportunity; but, being
robbed of their ship and private property, they had to work to
support themselves, or beg for sustenance. The Commandant was
furnished by the Governor with a small monthly allowance to maintain
himself and family.
Amundsson communicated these facts to his
superiors in Sweden; but, some time necessarily elapsing before the
news could be received and aid arrive, his company were grievously
afflicted. Being forbidden to celebrate their form of religious
worship, many through sickness and necessity, others by promises and
force, and some through matrimonial alliances were converted to the
Catholic faith, by which means their lot was somewhat improved. The
Governor himself procured the baptism of one of the Swedish women,
and took her to live with him. Soon after he left the island. Others
of the shipwrecked people eagerly sought means to get away, and
especially the crew of Kattan, who time and again appealed to La
Riva to send them home. Lest their arrival in Sweden, in their
forlorn plight, might discredit the colonial enterprise of the West
India Company, the Swedish Commandant persuaded them to dispatch
Joachim Lycke (who was accompanied by the preacher Nertunins), and
wait a year for orders or assistance. This they agreed to,
therefore, but, the year expiring without news, many finally left
the island, one by one, getting home in various ways.
Many, however, remained behind. Presently
arrived a new Spanish governor for Porto Rico, Don Diego de la Vera,
who, not hearing of any Swedish ship destined to remove the
strangers, whom he either would not or could not maintain or help,
especially without orders on the subject from his government,
determined that all should leave the island. In expectation of this
the Swedes assembled to sail with a General Francisco Visante.
Nevertheless, directly contrary to promise and agreement, only
Amundsson and his family were permitted to accompany the officer.
The former besought that he might stay upon the island, if his
people might not go with him, but was compelled, by menaces, to
remain upon the ship. His children were forcibly detained by the
people left upon the beach, and had to be seized by Spanish Boldiers
and conveyed on board the vessel, which afterwards (probably April
13,1651) set sail for Spain, where they arrived the following July.
From Cadiz Amundsson wrote a letter to the Swedish agent at
Amsterdam, Peter Trotzig, to be forwarded to Sweden, but this
communication never reached its destination. Notwithstanding, he
succeeded in getting to that city, in a destitute condition, and,
procuring the needful documents, wrote to the Swedish Ambassador,
Matthias Palbitzsky, at Madrid, desiring him to speak to the Spanish
government, and obtain help for the distressed Swedes at Porto Rico.
After the departure of Amundsson his people
petitioned the Governor for aid to leave the island, and were told
they could purchase a little "bark," that came there a few days
before, and was taken as a prize. This they did, then, and, La Vera
furnishing them with provisions, quitted Porto Rico, May 1, 1651,
numbering no more than eighteen souls. Their design was to get to
New Sweden, if possible, but the very next day, off Santa Cruz (St.
Croix), they were captured by a frigate, which compelled them to
accompany her to that island, then in the possession of France. The
Governor met them with some soldiers on the beach, and, immediately
taking them into custody, robbed them of their money and what other
valuables he could discover. The women having sewed some of these in
their clothes, the Governor, by some means, finding this out, on
their refusal to give them up, "had them taken one by one, and,
screwing their fingers with pistol-locks until the nails came off,"
forced them to yield what was concealed, and even went further with
his tortures in the hope of getting more. The rest were heavily
laden with iron fetters and ill-treated, and two of them were killed
in a most horrible manner. Finally, they were distributed in various
quarters of the island, to work, being prohibited to have
intercourse with one another under penalty of death. In the course
of a few weeks nearly all succumbed to misery and disease.
Meanwhile, a Dutch captain, who was sailing in these waters,
happened to hear of their misfortunes, and contrived to send a boat
from St. Christopher's, to bring the wretched people away. At that
time there were only five alive, the mate, Johan Jonsson Ruth, two
women, and two children, of whom all but the first-named person
died, either on the voyage or immediately after their arrival at
that island. Ruth, the sole survivor, was brought by the captain
spoken of to Holland, where he found opportunity to send a letter to
Sweden, reciting the events we have narrated.
This expedition, therefore, accomplished
nothing for the Swedish colony, and the report of its ill fate,
which reached the settlers in the summer of 1650, could not but have
depressed their spirits, and increased the difficulty of Governor
Printz's situation."
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When he was hired in 1640 to go to New Sweden his
starting salary was set at 10 R.D. (Riksdalers per year) and he was
advanced 10 dalers copper money just prior to sailing. This advancement of
pay, probably in hard currency, was not typical. Only a relatively few of
the colonists to receive a salary advancement. Most received nothing at
all. At the time one Riksdaler was worth about two and a half dalers
meaning that his annual starting salary was 25 dalars. His hefty 40
percent advancement on his first year salary was probably paid so that he
could buy supplies for his journey and things that were not likely to be
available in New Sweden.
It is nearly impossible to determine the equivalent value of what he was
paid in terms of today’s money. Suffice it to say that as a very young,
about age 13, farm laborer it probably was equal to a minimum wage. For
comparison the pay of the priest serving the colony was set at 10 dalars
per month or twelve times his rate of pay.
Johan Andersson probably received the 10 dalers copper money advancement
in the form of copper coins called an Öre. See the photo on the PICTURES
page. In general at the time thirty-two of the smaller öre coins made up
one daler. These 10 dalers, or 320 Öre, paid and likely spent in Sweden,
was the only Swedish money Stålkofta was ever paid. This strange fact
became highly significant years later when New Sweden was surrendered to
the Dutch.
In July of 2004 Hans Ling of Uppsala, Sweden kindly provided this
explanation.
“Öre is a Viking pronunciation of the Latin word “or”. It was a
measure of gold. Until the meter system was introduced it was often used
to tell the size of land. A farm could consist of, for instance, an amount
of land valued at 10 Öre. In the 1500s the value of a Öre
had decreased so that it was possible to make coins with the value of one
Öre. As the devaluation continued other coins were introduced such
as the mark and daler. In the 1700s it was decided that the
Swedish coins should only be the riksdaler (national daler) and the
skilling (change). One riksdaler was 48 skilling. In
the beginning of the 1800s the riksdaler was renamed to krona
(crown) and the skilling replaced by a new öre. One krona
is 100 Öre. Today (mid-2004) one Öre is of so little value
that the smallest coin is 50 Öre”.
The operating primus of the New Sweden Colony was the classic “Company
Store” model. Everyone who went to the colony was expected to deal only
with the Company. The colonists were forbidden to privately trade with the
natives, the Dutch or the English. Needless to say there was a lot of
backdoor trading going on anyway. The Company owned everything. The use of
everything; land, tools, farm animals, etc., was on a rental basis and
could only be rented from the company.
No money was sent over to pay wages and salaries. To receive pay each
person had first to return to Sweden and then to petition the company for
his back pay. Of course, anything purchased or rented from the Company
Store, either aboard ship coming or going, or while in New Sweden, was
carefully recorded and deducted from any pay earned. Settlement often was
a long delayed process, years in some instances, as the company waited
until the books were returned from New Sweden.
This currency system, or total lack of, was based upon the assumption that
all jobs in New Sweden were temporary. That is, that everyone, including
the settlers were simply Company employees and all would eventually return
to Sweden. It was not considered that anyone would make the colony into a
permanent home.
Depending on which bookkeeper was making the record entries in the company
books were kept either in terms of Dutch or Swedish money. Dutch
bookkeepers translated everything into terms of Dutch guilders. Later,
back in Sweden, the accounts were re-translated back into Swedish
currency. Dutch guilders were the only hard currency actually in
circulation in the New Sweden area. For trade there seems to have been at
least three prevalent mediums of exchange, Dutch guilders, sewant and
beaver pelts. Some years later tobacco and grain was added to the list.
Sewant is more widely known as wampum or Indian money. It was strings of
small, white cylindrical beads. The Printz 1646 to 1653 account books show
his bookkeeper was Swedish and the amounts are given in Swedish
riksdaler terms. This record begins when Stålkofta became a soldier
and ends when Printz returned to Sweden.
At the Dutch invasion Stålkofta had long since left farm work and had
become a soldier. He had advanced rapidly in rank to that of Gunnery
Sergeant. He had a similar rapid advancement in pay up to a salary of 144
Riksdalers per year.
Since Johan Andersson Stålkofta, like most, elected to remain in America
under Dutch rule and never returned to Sweden it follows that he never
received any hard currency pay for his fourteen years of service. The only
exception was the 10 dalers he was advanced in Sweden, and surely spent in
Sweden, just before he went aboard ship to begin his journey to the New
World. Being a young boy this advanced money may have been the only
Swedish money he ever held in his hands.
It follows that when he returned to Fort Christina in 1655 at the
surrender he was again in a very poor financial condition. His assigned
house and his garden at Bee Island, actually both owned by the Company,
was reported by Governor Risingh both badly damaged if not completely
destroyed. His employment as a Swedish soldier had just come to an abrupt
end. The entire Company Store purchase/charge system no longer existed.
Governor Risingh threats to hold all the officers serving at Fort Trinity
responsible for the loss of the entire colony made it unsafe for him to
return to Sweden to petition for his pay.
He must have realized that he would never receive any of his back pay.
Stålkofta, and everyone else, were suddenly flat broke and faced with
having to do business on a cash basis in the Dutch currency system. What
was he to do?
Well, from the wreckage of his house he managed to salvage several pieces
of furniture, a table and a wardrobe. He quickly sold them, and perhaps
other items, to a Dutch sergeant to raise immediate cash. Maybe some of
the others colonists facing the same dilemma did the same. These two
pieces of furniture were soon to be in the center of an argument between
the Dutch sergeant and the new Dutch Vice-Governor which is why we know
about the sale.
Governor Risingh also had a money problem. He had no money in his pocket
for his return to Sweden. Having lost the entire colony he surely knew he
would have a difficult time trying to collect his pay. He did not have a
Swedish ship to use on the return trip but that was not a worry. By treaty
arrangement the Dutch paid all travel expenses for everyone returning to
Sweden, including the Governor, and the trip was made on a Dutch ship.
Risingh could not take with him any of the company property, the supplies
on hand, or any of the goods he had available for trading with the
Indians. He held a “Going Out of Business” sale to get rid of the goods
and stores of the colony.
Johan Andersson Stålkofta was one of the largest purchasers of these goods
during the sale. Stålkofta surely realized that if he could never receive
his back pay then he would never actually have to pay for any of the items
he purchased. They were simply being charged to his pay account that would
never be settled. One of the items he purchased was the entire stock of
shoes, forty plus pairs. One could speculate Stålkofta probably
immediately resold most of these goods, probably to Dutch soldiers, to
raise money.
The ‘Going Out of Business Sale’ idea did not work out well for Risingh
because it did not produce a single öre of cash for him. Risingh then did
something no one else in New Sweden could do. He wrote a secret article,
No. 10, into the surrender treaty. He took out a loan from the Dutch by
putting up the nine cannons from Fort Christina as collateral. The loan
amount, 300 Pounds Flemish, was to be repaid within six-months. This was
an impossible condition because no one could travel to Sweden and return
to New Sweden with money within the six months. The loan could have been
repaid in Amsterdam but this was not done and even if it were paid in
Amsterdam notice of the payment could not reach Stuyvesant before the due
date. Stuyvesant dutifully foreclosed on the loan and moved the Fort
Christina cannons to New Amsterdam about seven months after the surrender.
An interesting side of this story is that apparently Risingh was very
successful in keeping the entire article, and the loan money, very secret
in Sweden. It apparently was not among the documents he arrived home in
Sweden with when he returned. In accordance with the terms in the Secret
Article Risingh and his bookkeeper were put ashore in England and the two
traveled together overland from where they landed to London. This
apparently was to exchange the draft Stuyvesant had given him for the 300
Pounds Flemish. From London the two men traveled to Amsterdam. From there
Risingh went to northern Europe to make his report on the loss of New
Sweden to the King. The bookkeeper went directly to Sweden.
So far no mention in Sweden has been found of the document containing the
Secret Article (See Gehring, NYHM 18:19), or any record of anything
relating to Risingh mortgaging the weapons of Fort Christina. Likewise
there is no record of what Risingh did with the money he collected except
that it appears he clearly did not turn it over to the Company.
It is difficult to accurately determine the present day value of the loan
money Risingh collected in London but one estimate put the amount at
approximately $860,000.00. The amount he split with the bookkeeper is
unknown.
While the available records do not directly address the currency problem
the New Sweden settlers faced after the surrender it is clear they adapted
quickly and thrived in the Dutch monetary system. Having title to their
own property and being able to trade directly with the Indians and with
English and Dutch traders surely made life easier for them. By the time
the 1693 Census was conducted, less than forty years later, the population
of New Sweden had nearly tripled.
The patronymic naming system - the name of the
father - was used in all of Scandinavia and most
of northern Europe. The system added sen, son,
datter, dotter, or dottir to the name of the
father. It formed a patronymic name. A person
named Johan Andersson was literally "John, the son
of Anders (Andrew)." Christina Carlsdotter was
literally, "Christina, the daughter of Carl
(Charles)." Because of this system there could be
many people living in the same place at the same
time with the same name who were completely
unrelated to each other. Seven different Johan
Anderson’s have been identified as being
associated with the New Sweden Colony. There were
two more who were Dutch. The sons of all of them
would be “Johansson’s” but would be related to
only their siblings but not to the sons of the
other men.
The patronymic naming system is very different
from what we're used to and Americans are prone to
forcing them into being English style surnames.
The system was the best for the times and for the
culture. Because of the short life expectancy it
was rare that three generations in a family were
living at the same time. Most given names were
chosen to honor either a Biblical figure or an
older member of the family hence lots of names
were repeated generations after generation.
Scandinavian females did not assume the name of
their husband when they married. They carried
their maiden name for life. If you find an Olof
Andersson and a Christina Andersdotter married to
each other she is not "Mrs. Olof Andersson" in the
traditional American sense. The record simply
means that Olof was the son of an "Anders", and
Christina was the daughter of an "Anders" and they
were unrelated before their marriage.
Record keepers recorded what their ears heard and
they spelled what they heard the way they thought
it should be spelled in their own language. In the
case of New Sweden three different languages,
Swedish, Dutch and English, were heard and spelled
each in its own way. A Dutchman trying to use the
English language wrote out Johan Anderson
Stalcop’s Will. The spelling of Swedish patronymic
and the phrasing he used has a decided Dutch
influence.
The Swedes followed the laws of the government in
control so after William Penn took over the naming
system was ordered changed. The English surname
system came into use among the New Sweden settler
families after about 1682. A person could chose a
surname to be known by out of thin air, their
father's nickname, patronymic or perhaps a trade
mentor's name. Rarely was it a place name. Some
families split with some family members taking one
surname and others taking a different surname.
In Sweden the patronymic system gave way to
surnames about 1880.
Every family has myths
made up about their past and we are not an exception. More than a usual
number seems to be associated with our origins so this is presented to
shatter some of them. They serve only to waste a lot of valuable research
time and miss-lead those not inclined to verify such stories. Sorry if I
take away some of your favorite colorful stories but I think the true
origins are far more interesting than these made-up and erroneous myths.
THE
SEACOOK MYTH
In
1846 historian Benjamin Farris published his History of the Original
Settlements on the Delaware. In it he included a story about the
origin of the Stalcop family name. Farris said that the founder of the
Stalcop family was a Dutchman who worked for his passage to the new world
as a cook aboard a Dutch ship. He wore a woolen cap that he often used as
a towel. The cap was supposed to have been so saturated with grease that
it took on the look of polished steel. The greasy woolen cap made the
seacook the butt of jokes with the Dutch sailors. They supposedly called
the seacook 'Staelkappe', meaning ‘steel head’ or ‘steel cap’.
Farris' Dutch seacook story is colorful and seems logical which probably
accounts for its ready acceptance. This story has spread far and wide all
across the country. Lawrence Dillon (LD) Stallcup repeated it in his 1937
outline of the family only changing the seacook to a Swede aboard a
Swedish ship. The story is still widely quoted to this day.
The
Dutch seacook/greasy cap story is completely false! Farris simply made it
up in 1846. It has no basis in fact.
The
first Stalcop was not Dutch. He did not arrive in America aboard a Dutch
ship and he was not a seacook. The Dutch seacook story does
not relate in any manner to the origin of the Stalcop family or the family
surname. Farris' complete fabrication is supported only by his own
imagination. Farris' false story has been repeated and passed on, and even
worse, it has been believed by entire generations of Stalcops. Exactly a
century after Farris fabricated his seacook story Harry G. Staulcup
completely demolished it in his 1946 thesis for his Masters Degree from
the University of Delaware. This thesis, Notes on the Early Stalcop
Family, has not received wide distribution, at least not nearly wide
enough to stop the spread of the false Dutch seacook/greasy cap story.
PARENTS OF
JOHAN ANDERSSON
In the
early twentieth century some family researchers found a couple in the
area, Anders Andersson the Finn, and his wife Christina Coolbrant, who had
a son named John Andersson alias Cock (cook). In an effort to force this
younger John Andersson into becoming the founder of the Stalcop family and
to fit into the false Dutch sea cook story they changed Anders Andersson
into a Dutch spelling, Andres Andriessen, and invented birthdates for the
couple that are at least 30 years too early. Anders Andersson the Finn,
and his wife Christina Coolbrant, are not, and never have been, related in
any way to the Stalcop family. Pietter Stallcop sued Anders Andersson and
won his case. The court judgment was settled by a transfer of 390 acres of
land from Anders to Pietter.
THE
GOLD-LACED UNIFORM
The
story about Johan Andersson Stålkofta wearing a gold-laced uniform about
town to impress the ladies is a complete and very modern invention. This
story dates back only to 1940. It was published in a book called THE
DELAWARE by Henry Emerson Wildes.
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“Johan Anderssen, a
gunner nicknamed Stalkofta, or the Steelcoat, and John Coleman,
wirepuller from behind the scenes, were members of the inner circle.
Each had secret motives. Just as Armegot (Armegot Printz, daughter
of Governor Johan Printz) wished to recover Big Belly's (Johan
Printz) brewery and to regain his pleasure yacht, so Anderssen and
Coleman, none too successful farmers, coveted the estates of
Englishmen. The Steelcoat, it was whispered, looked lecherously at
lovely ladies and dallied with the thought that he could have a
harem. His trim, gold-laced uniform, especially designed to set off
his best features and to divert attention from a certain physical
peculiarity, was always glittering where the women of the colony
were wont to congregate. It was, in fact, his longing for the wives
of other men that first caused his fellows to band together for the
overthrow of Jacobsen's intrigue." |
Johan
Andersson Stålkofta never wore any sort of uniform, military or otherwise.
None of the Swedish soldiers in his era wore a uniform any sort. Arm
scarves of distinctive colors were used to identify troops.
There
are a large number of errors in Wildes invention. It was Hendrick
Coleman, not John Coleman, involved. The phrase, 'wirepuller' probably
would not have been used at the time since metal wire was nearly unknown
in the colony. It is hard to imagine that Armegot Printz could have the
'secret motives' ascribed to her. Governor Printz's account books are
extant. There is no mention of a brewery lost by her father and commercial
breweries did not exist in the colony at the time. Governor Printz did not
own a pleasure yacht. Such things did not exist in the colony.
The
only place in the Colony where ladies ever gathered was at weddings,
funerals and for Church services. The Church had wardens to make sure
everyone behaved themselves inside and outside. Stålkofta's son John was a
warden. The wardens were the community police force and had arrest
powers.
|
Swedish Army
Museum diorama of soldiers of the period getting ready to go into battle.
Not a uniform in sight. Only the pike men have helmets.
|
|
HERALDRY MYTH SHATTERED
No Coat of Arms - No Family Crest - No Meaning
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|
From time to time commercial companies appear and use very carefully
crafted generic stories about a family coat of arms or a family
crest. They say, for a price, they will tell you the origin (or
history) of your family and the meaning of your family name and will
supply you with the family Coat of Arms and Family Crest. Their way
out of such a grossly inaccuracy come-on is that they never actually
claim that anything they tell you is true. They only say that it
‘may’ be the story. They never state that anything they say is
actually true.
They are in the business of selling brick-a-brac and their sales
gimmick is they will apply a fictitious Family Crest or fictitious
Coat of Arms to just about anything if you are will to pay their
price for their brick-a-brac.
As it states on the Group Lineages Page the Stalcop family, and all
associated spellings, did not originate in a foreign country. The
family surname was created in America and has never existed anywhere
outside of America. There is never been any heraldry of any sort
associated with the family. There is no background of royalty, no
coat of arms, no family crest. None of that has ever existed in the
Stalcop family.
The written name “Stalcop” has no meaning in English or any other
language. Because of how the family surname was derived it is merely
a transliteration, or approximation, of the spelling of the sounds
of the name as it passed through several other languages into
Colonial English and then on into American English. The only place
it has any meaning is in the parent language as it existed, not
today, but over three and a half centuries ago in early colonial
days.
Simply stated the Stalcop Family is All AMERICAN.
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THE DAUGHTER
THAT NEVER WAS
Larry S. Stallcup |
Christina Stalcop, supposedly a daughter of the first family and
married to William Cobb of Philadelphia, never existed. Dr. Peter
Craig and I, Historian of the Swedish Colonial Society, had many
long discussions about her that spanned years until I finally
convinced him that she did not exist.
First of all there simply was not a birth slot in Johan Andersson
family for this mythical daughter to be born. Either that or she had
to be a twin. Twins are very rare in the Stalcop family. Before I
managed to convince Dr. Craig that Cobb’s wife was not a Stalcop he
had incorrectly assigned the name of Christina Stalcop as the wife
of William Cobb to the Gloria Die charter member list and published
it in two books and a newletter article.*
William Cobb attended a wedding at Timen Stidham’s home and he later
gave a court deposition about an argument involving Christina
Carlsdotter that took place at the wedding. The argument was about a
bonnet stolen from Christina Carlsdotter. From William Cobb’s
deposition Dr. Craig concluded that William Cobb, not Stidham, was
the groom and was marrying the mythical Stalcop daughter in the
Stidham home because her parents had disowned her. Dr Craig believed
William Cobb to be an Englishman and not Lutheran but he turned out
to be Lutheran and a charter member of the Gloria Dei Lutheran
Church. Dr Craig assigned the name Christina to his mythical wife
simply because there was no other daughter named Christina in Johan
Andersson Stalcop's family.
Later court documents proved that the wedding William Cobb attended
was Timen Stidham's third wedding, not William Cobb's wedding. There
were, in fact, two weddings involved in the stolen bonnet argument
separated in time by about six months. The first wedding, and
argument, was in the Stalcop household and the second was in the
Stidham househod. The court records finally convinced Peter he had
it wrong but by then it was too late. The books and articles had
already been published. This is one of the very few times Dr. Craig
was wrong about anything at all to do with the New Sweden settlers.
It is not know whom William Cobb married but it was not a daughter
of Johan Andersson Stalcop and Christina Carlsdotter. Cobb’swife may
have been named Christina, at that time a very popular female name
in the community, but she was not a member of the Stalcop family.
_______________________________________________________________
* The 1693 Census of the Swedes on
the Delaware, Peter Stebbins Craig, SAG Publications, 1993
Swedish Colonial News, Volume 2, Number 1, Winter 2000, Charter
Members of Gloria Dei Church, Peter Stebbins Craig.
Colonial Records of the Swedish Churches in Pennsylvania, Vol. One,
The Log Churches at Tinicum Island and Wicaco, 1646-1696, Peter
Stebbins Craig and Kim-Eric Williams. 2006
|
NOVEL DISCOVERY
Thanks
to our cousin, Hans Ling, an exciting recent discovery has come to light.
While it has not been all that far back in time, only about three quarters
of a century, it was written a continent away and in a different language
making it obscure in America. Please keep in mind that the following
discussion concerns a Swedish language novel, a complete work of fiction.
Some, but not all, of the characters are fictional. The real persons
mentioned are doing fictional things. On the other hand the setting for
the novel, the New Sweden Colony, is quite accurate. Johan Printz was
Governor of the New Sweden Colony from February 15, 1643
to October 1653.
* * *
* * * * * * * * * * *
The
following report is from e-mail messages exchanged between Hans Ling and
Larry Stallcup. A wonderful Christmas present for all Stalcops.
December 15, 2008
Dear
Larry,
A
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to both of you. In 1932 Maths
Holmström published a novel for children/teenagers with the title Lasse
Stålkofta, berättelse från Nya Sverige (Lasse Stålkofta, a tale from New
Sweden). The book is very rare. I have not been able to find it elsewhere
that at The Royal Library in Stockholm, the Dioceses Library in Skara and
the municipal library in Umeå. You may not borrow it from Stockholm and
Skara, but I have today asked the municipal library here in Uppsala to
order the book from Umeå. Let us see what happens.
Hans
(Ling of Uppsala, Sweden)
December 22, 2008
Dear Larry,
Now I
have got the book Lasse Stålkofta – Berättelse från Nya Sverige I have not
read it, and I doubt that I will ever do it. The story is about the young
man Lasse Stålkofta who has come to New Sweden with his parents Anders
Stålkofta and his wife. Her name is never told. She is just called “mother
Stålkofta”. Some of the Swedes have hidden away from Printz around
Schokill River and Printz has heard that they plan to conquer a ship and
become pirates. He sends Lasse to spy at them and find out what is going
on. After a lot of adventures among the bandits and the Indians Lasse
finds a cave where Indians have been buried long ago and where he finds a
box filled with gold coins. After still more adventures he can return to
his parents as a rich man. He falls in love with Kristina Printz and
together they go to Sweden to start a new life with all the money.
Obviously Maths Holmström has found it fun to write the book. He has also
written long songs he says were used in New Sweden and also some poems
connected to the text. And the characters talk in different dialects from
the time. Also he seems to have studied New Sweden rather well and tries
to give a correct historic surrounding to his story.
But
the book has nothing [to do] with the real Stålkoftas. Holmström has just
found the name and got fond of it. It modern Swedish the name sounds funny
because stål/steel and kar/cardigan are two so very opposite things.
I
attach illustrations from the book.
Hans
(Ling of Uppsala, Sweden)
|
The illustration on
page 98 shows Governor Printz giving the spying assignment to Lasse.
Governor Printz says: I have called you here because I wanted to
have an important discussion with you.
Page 163 shows
Lasse when he returns. The caption says: When they discovered
they were alone Kerstin threw her arms around Lasse Stålkofta's neck
and kissed him. |
|
Page 179.
Lasse returns to his parents home after his mission for the
Governor. The caption says “Lasses” shouts Mother Stålkofta
and runs toward her son with outstretched arms.
Page 191.
The caption says “Their (Mats Pipare & Lasses Stålkofta's) canoe was
well hidden in a small creek by reeds and overhanging trees.” |
December 28, 2008
Dear Larry,
I have
now had a little closer look in the book about Lasse Stålkofta. His
father Anders has a very poor farm in Småland and heard about the
possibilities to get a better life in New Sweden. He emigrated with his
family on Kalmar Nyckel. One son died but his wife Barbara, son Lasse and
daughter Gertrud who came over. At first Anders worked at a tobacco
plantation at Christina, but after some time he got his own farm at New
Upland. Lasse became friends with the Indians after having saved the life
of White Falk, who was attacked by a bear.
Later
he won a competition in wrestling between different tribes arranged by
Johan Printz. He defeated the strongest Irokes (I do not know if that is
the correct English name for the tribe) Hissing Snake and was then by his
friends the Lanape given the name Strong Panther. After a lot of
adventures together with his friend Mats Pipare (piper) during his job to
spy on the deserters and bandits he went back to Sweden on Gyllene Hajen.
Standing on the deck hand in hand with Kerstin Printz he saw New
Gothenburg disappear. Her eyes were wet by tears thinking of Mats Pipare
who had been killed by Hissing Snake. That was the end of the book.
I have
tried to find out something about the author Maths Holmström and been
asking about him. Perhaps when I can get some information I will let you
know.
Hans
(Ling of Uppsala, Sweden)
HOW
MANY STALCOPS?
Back about 1980
when Earl E. Jones was wrapping up his monumental Stalcup Family record he
estimated he had recorded 95 percent of all Stalcops. The missing 5
percent were almost all living in 1980 but did not provide information to
be recorded. Earl documented slightly over 9600 of us at that moment
meaning there probably were about ten thousand Stalcops by 1980.
Twenty-eight years, or more than a full generation, has passed since Earl
made his count. In the normal course of events population tends to double
each generation. That means you have about twenty thousand, or more,
cousins running around. Consider this. All Stalcops everywhere
today are grandchildren of Johan Anderson Stålkofta and Christina
Carlsdaughter. Boy, that is a lot of grandkid’s names and birthdates to
remember. And that is only the ones named Stalcop.
WHAT IS NORMAL?
As time passes and community circumstances evolve so
do the standards of normal behavior. When Johan Anderson Stålkofta was
born the normal life expectancy was about 48 years. Unless he was a member
of the royalty or the clergy his formal education ended at about age
twelve. At that age he was expected to leave home, find a job, and fend
entirely for himself. That is probably why, all on his own, he took a job
as a farm laborer in the New Sweden Colony across a vast ocean. Hard to
imaging kids of today conforming to that standard of normal behavior.
Once he arrived in New Sweden he faced some other
norms we today probably would find equally as far outside of the realm of
possibility. Here are a few:
Men tended to marry first at about age 30 to 33 years
old and have only one wife. Stålkofta was about age 29 or 30 when he
married. Girls tended to marry first at age 14 to 16, most outlived their
first two husbands and died at about the same time as their third husband
died.
Christina Carlsdaughter is listed as a child on the
ship’s passenger list during the voyage to New Sweden but married within a
few months of arrival. Half a century later Rev. Björk was 33 when he
married Christina Stalcop. She was 14 when he proposed and 16 when they
married in 1702. Christina underwent two years of intense education before
the marriage to prepare her to enter the social status of the clergy. The
clergy was second only in status to Royalty.
Wives did not inherit anything from their husbands.
Her children could literally throw her out of the house if they wished as
soon as their father died. A husband could, however, provide for his wife
until her death or until she remarried if he wished. He had to write such
provisions into his Will. Unmarried daughters were usually provided for in
their father’s Will. Married daughters, on the other hand, were considered
the responsibility of their husband so were often not mentioned in their
father’s Will. Stålkofta did not mention his eldest daughter by name in
his Will but did leave property in her husband’s, Lylof Stiddem, name.
All too often family researcher of
today try to interpret past events using current norms. Always a grave
mistake.
|
TRAGIC STALCOPS
|
|
So far only two serious criminals are known in the Stalcop family.
Both paid the ultimate price for their crimes. There have been
lots of others that committed lesser crimes of one sort or another
but for the most part the crimes were not of a violent nature.
|
EDWARD STALCOP
|
|
In 1803 Edward
Stalcop came home and found his wife in bed with his cousin, Asa
Mounts. He let his anger overcome his good judgment and used his
rifle to shoot and killed Asa Mounts. About fifteen months later
he was hung for murder in Chillicothe, Ohio. Edward Stalcop was
the first person executed in Ohio.
It is believed his wife remarried about one week after Edward
died. Edward’s children later moved to Wisconsin and on the way
they changed ancestry. They magically became Germans fresh off the
boat. Apparently once they arrived in Wisconsin it made no
difference that none of them could speak German. All could speak
English and that was a more important skill in the community. |
|
|
A GRIM PLACE FOR A WEDDING
|
Not all weddings are preformed in glorious settings. This Stalcop wedding
was reported in the Baltimore Sun
newspaper in 1897. |
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
Gertrude Stalcup. Who Escaped from the House of Refuge, Secures
Final Release by Marriage |
|
Gertrude Stalcup, who, in company with Olivia Granruth, escaped from the Female House of Refuge January 6, was married to Edward Abt Saturday
Night at the institution by Rev. Richard Schmidt, pastor of Peace German Lutheran Church, on Gough street, near Washington street. She was returned
to the institution early last week from the eastern police district.
Her companion, Olivia Granruth, was married before being recaptured to Wm. Wyatt, captain of an oyster boat, and is now living with him.
The marriage of Gertrude Stalcup to Mr. Abt was brought about by Attorney William P. Noonan, who was engaged by Mr. Abt to get his sweetheart out of the institution for that purpose. Mr. Noonan secured the license and, in company with the groom and the minister, went to the
institution. Superintendent Bibb readily consented to the ceremony being preformed after he was satisfied that the groom was a suitable person for the girl to marry.
After the ceremony Mr. and Mrs. Abt went to the home of the groom, 329 Eastern Avenue, where they will in future reside. Abt is a driver for a coal and wood firm and bears a good reputation. He did not know the girl until she went to the house, where he was boarding after she had escaped
from the House of Refuge, and he states that he immediately fell in love with her. |
|
|
IN THE WRONG PLACE
Mountain Meadows, Utah 1857 |
Charles
Stallcup (1832-1857) - Married to
Winnie Wood and living in Marion County, Arkansas. Father of two
young children, Rachel and James. Mother and children stayed at
home when Charles Stallcup set out on a journey to California with
brother-in-laws William and Solomon Wood. The three men were
thought to have been hired to help care for the large cattle herd
that was accompanying a wagon train. Their plans were to check out
the prospects in California.
William Edward Wood (1831-1857)
- Born in Arkansas to George Washington Wood and Nancy Jane
Coker, Wood was married to Manerva Jane Hudson about 1850. The
couple had one small child and Manerva Jane was pregnant with
their second child. Solomon R. Wood (1937-1857) was the younger
brother of William Edward Wood, and brother-in-law of Charles
Stallcup. He was not married.
All three men died at Mountain Meadows, Utah in September, 1857.
They appear to have simply been in the wrong place.
The so-called Mountain Meadows massacre has been the subject of
150 years of spin doctoring and cover-ups. Nearly a dozen years
passed before any sort of inquiry was undertaken. The reports are
nearly all hearsay and speculation. It is impossible to know what
may have actually happened.
Mormons had undergone years of intense persecution. Faithful
Mormons had moved west to Utah to escape that persecution. For a
decade the Utah Territory existed as a theocracy led by Brigham
Young and was located outside of the boundaries of the United
States. Young established settlements along the California Trail
and Old Spanish Trail. Mormon leaders had been mustering militia
throughout Utah Territory to defend themselves against raids and
arracks. In 1857 the United States Army was to be sent into Utah
to establish US authority. The Army let it be known, true or not,
that it was to be a full-scale hostile invasion and military
attack on the Mormon population. From July to September 1857
Mormons prepared. The people were required to stockpile grain and
were enjoined against selling food and grain to wagon trains.
Brigham Young also sought to enlist the help of Indian tribes in
fighting the "Americans".
In early 1857 a group of emigrants from northwestern Arkansas
started toward California. They were soon called the Fancher party
after their leader. They went through Salt Lake City but were not
sold any food or grain. The wagon train had been joined by a group
who called themselves "Missouri Wildcats," whom reportedly
taunted, vandalized and "caused trouble" for Mormons and Native
Americans all along the route. The Fancher train was alleged to
have poisoned a spring near Corn Creek, Utah.
Some accounts say they were taunting Mormons saying they had the
gun that "shot the guts out of Old Joe Smith" (the founder of the
Mormon Church). A few months earlier, popular Mormon leader Parley
Pratt was murdered in Arkansas and authorities refused to charge
the killer. Stories of Pratt's murder had begun to arrive in Utah.
The Fancher party continued to Mountain Meadow, a widely known
stop over, where they found water and fresh grazing for their
livestock.
Some accounts say the Fancher party decided to raid the nearby
Mormon farms and settlements for fun. Another account says the
wagon train was then attacked and besieged by Paiute Indians. They
are reported to have encircled and lowered their wagons, wheels
chained together, along with digging shallow trenches and throwing
dirt both below and into the wagons, to made a strong barrier.
(This was not a spur of the moment defense. It would have taken
many hours to accomplish. It may indicate the Fancher party was
expecting retaliation from an attack they had made.)
Supposedly on September 11, 1857, two Mormon militiamen approached
the Fancher party wagons with a white flag and were followed by
Indian agent and militia officer John D. Lee. Lee is reported to
have told the emigrants that he had negotiated a truce with the
Paiutes whereby they could be escorted safely the 36 miles to
Cedar City under Mormon protection in exchange for turning all of
their livestock and supplies over to the Paiutes. Accepting this,
the emigrants were led out of their fortification (It is difficult
to believe the wagon train emigrants would suddenly give up their
weapons and everything they owned and just walk out among their
attackers on the word of someone they had never seen before.) The
report says a signal was given and the Mormon militiamen escorts
turned and executed the male members of the Fancher party standing
by their side. (This is beyond belief. The Mormons are an
exceedingly gentle people that live by the Bible. How they could
suddenly find many cold-blooded murderers is very hard to
believe.)
John D. Lee was the only person charged. It was said that he was
charged only because someone had to be charged as part of the US
Army’s coverup. After two trials he was finally found guilty. He
was taken to Mountain Meadows and executed.
The Mountain Meadows event put an end to the attacks on Mormon
people simply because they were Mormons. All the fun goes out of
persecution if the persecuted fight back. Charles Stallcup and his
Woods brothers-in-law were at the wrong place when an historic
turning point was reached.
VIRGIL STALCUP
Virgil Stalcup was a Depression era robber who ran up a very long list of
petty crimes before he was caught. He reportedly had sentences that
totaled 254 years in jail if served consecutively. His cellmate, Clarence
Brown, had amassed 66 years in sentences.
Brown's wife smuggled the gun into the jail but it was Virgil Stalcup that
used it to shoot and killed the Dickens County, Texas sheriff, Oct 27,
1934. Brown and Stalcup then escaped from the jail, stole the sheriff's
new Ford V8 car and drove out of the county. Later they stole another Ford
car and ran the sheriff’s car into a river in an attempt to hide it. They
soon had every police officer in Texas looking for them. It was the
largest manhunt in Texas history. Brown and Stalcup split up and went
separate ways but both were caught after about three weeks on the run.
Brown’s wife was sentenced to two years in jail for smuggling in the gun.
In court the man who traded the gun to her described it as “a .45 single
action thumb-buster”. It was a big, heavy revolver. Brown had another 99
years added on to his sentence. Virgil Stalcup was found guilty of
first-degree murder and was sentenced to be executed. The sentence was
appealed to the Texas Supreme Court and was upheld.
Virgil Stalcup died in the Texas electric chair, May 4, 1936, about
nineteen months after he shot and killed the sheriff.
In 2000 the sheriff, W. B. "Bill" Arthur, had a memorial marker
dedicated to his memory by the Dickens County Texas Historical Commission.
He is the only peace officer ever killed in the line of duty in Dickens
County, Texas.
Published: October 12, 2009 3:00 a.m.
Steuben stroke
victim vanishes
Silver Alert out; he has diabetes but no insulin |
Holly Abrams The Journal Gazette, 600 w. Main Street,
Fort Wayne, IN 46802
A Silver Alert was issued Sunday afternoon for a man who went missing from
his family’s Steuben County lake home the same day. Meanwhile, his family
said they have few answers as to why 48-year-old Stuart Stalcup went
missing. Stalcup disappeared from his family’s home along Snow Lake in
Fremont between 12 and 6 a.m. Sunday, authorities said.
Stalcup is 5-foot-8 and weighs 160 pounds. He has balding dark hair and
green eyes. He was last seen wearing a plaid flannel shirt, blue jeans and
a blue and yellow vest. He was last seen traveling on foot, according to
Steuben County sheriff’s deputies. Stalcup, of Wichita, Kan., has been
living in Fort Wayne with his parents since suffering from a stroke in
December, said his father, Robert Stalcup. The family was staying at their
lake home in Fremont this weekend, he said.
The last time they saw their son was at bedtime Saturday night, Robert
Stalcup said. His son, who has severe diabetes, was scheduled to eat
breakfast and take an insulin shot at 6:30 a.m. Sunday.
When Robert awoke, his son was missing from his bedroom. The family does
not suspect any type of entry to the home – saying Stalcup left on his own
accord. He does not have insulin with him, Robert Stalcup said. Robert
Stalcup said the family does not know why he would leave or where he went.
“I don’t know for sure if he has identification on him,” he said,
adding that “it would be a little difficult for him to convey where he
lives. Stuart Stalcup, who had not been found as of 10 p.m. Sunday, has a
speech impairment, his father said.
The Silver Alert system mirrors the current Amber Alert system for
missing children. Activated in July, the Silver Alert covers adults with
dementia who go missing – along with anyone else considered to be an
endangered adult. That could be someone incapable of returning without
assistance because of a mental illness, mental retardation or another
physical or mental incapacity. High-risk missing people, those who require
medical attention, are also covered under Silver Alerts.
Authorities have launched a mounted search and rescue and a K-9 search to
try to find Stalcup. Anyone with information on Stalcup’s disappearance
should call deputies at
260-665-3131.
Stuart Stalcup's body was found a week or so after the alert. I have never
met them and was not aware anyone with the last name of STALCUP/Stalcop
was in our area here in northeastern Indiana (the little village of
Fremont is about 30 or so miles from where I live). This area is about 10
to 15 or so miles from both Ohio and Michigan and is the far north
east corner of Indiana. Have you any contacts from that area? I noticed
they also used the U like your family line.
Larry E. Baker
610 East Hill St
Garrett, IN 46738
[descendant of Maria (Stalcop)
SMIDT/SMYTH the daughter of 2nd generation Pietter Stallcop]
STALCUP VS. STALCUP SLANDER SUIT
We
are grateful to Stephen J. Stalcup of Greenwood, Indiana for these
stories. Isaac Stalcup, Sr (1765-1841) was a brother to our ancestor Peter
Stalcop (1763-1835), both being sons of William Stalcop (1741-1819) This
slander suit involved brothers, two of Isaac Stalcup, Sr’s sons.
CIRCUIT
COURT - GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA
FEBRUARY 1823 TERM
We may think of pioneer days
as very different from the litigious environment of advertising lawyers we
live in today. The following story shows that human nature hasn’t changed
much.
“Isaac
Stalcup, Jr. and Polly, his wife, (plaintiffs) complain of
James Stalcup and Margaret, his wife, (defendants) in custody do
in an action and the cause. For that whereas the said Polly is a
good, true, honest, chaste, and faithful citizen of the State of
Indiana, and as such from the time of her nativity hitherto, hath
behaved and carried herself and during all that time hath been held
esteemed and respected of good name, fame, behavior and character
and free from all vices of Larceny and from all suspicion of
committing such crimes, by reason whereof said Polly the love and
affection of her said husband and the favor, good will and esteem of
all her neighbors and others to whom she was known deservedly did
acquire and gain. Nevertheless, the said Margaret, not being
ignorant of the premises, but contriving and maliciously intending
the said Polly, not only of her good name, fame, credit and esteem
to deprive, but also the same Polly infamies and scandalous amongst
her neighbors aforesaid to render and also the same Polly to bring
into the dangers of the penalties of the laws of this State made
against those who commit Larceny.
Declare on the first day of December in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred twenty two at County Circuit and State
aforesaid within jurisdiction of this Court, the false, feigned,
infamous, malicious and scandalous following of said Polly in the
presence and hearing of the said Isaac Stalcup, and of other good
and worthy citizens of this State maliciously and unjustly did say,
speaking with a loud voice proclaim in public, to wit, “ She
(meaning the said Polly) took my shift” (meaning the said shift of
the said Margaret) and stated it and that “She (meaning the said
Polly) was a thief and that Isaac Stalcup (meaning said Isaac)
upheld her (meaning the said Polly) in it.” Meaning that Polly is
guilty of Larceny.
And whereas also said Margaret. Out of her further malice and made
to effectually injure and aggrieve the said Polly and her good name,
credit and reputation to deprive afterwards, heretofore to wit on
the same day and year last aforesaid at the County Circuit and State
aforementioned and within the jurisdiction of the Court, in certain
other discourse then and there had in the presence and hearing of
aforesaid good and worthy citizens of this State of and concerning
the said Polly other false, feigned, scandalous, malicious and
defaming words in English in the presence and hearing of said
citizens with a loud voice did openly publish falsely, wickedly and
Maliciously utter the substance and to the effect the following, to
wit: “Polly Stalcup (meaning said Polly) is a thief (meaning said
Polly) she stole my shift (meaning the shift of said Margaret)”
meaning that said Polly is guilty of Larceny.
And whereas also the said Margaret out of her further malice and
more effectually to injure and aggrieve said Polly and her good
name, fame, credit and reputation to deprive afterwards, therefore
to wit on the same day and year last aforesaid at the County Circuit
and State aforesaid in certain other discourse then and there had
with the aforesaid good and worthy citizens of the State of and
concerning the said Polly, there and then false, feigned,
scandalous, malicious, and hearing of said citizens, with a loud
voice did openly and publicly, falsely, wickedly and maliciously
utter, pronounce and declare of and concerning the said Polly in
substance and to the effect the following, to wit: “ You (meaning
the said Polly) are a thief.” “You (meaning the said Polly) stole my
shift.” Meaning thereby that the said Polly is guilty of Larceny. By
means of the speaking and publishing of which said false and
scandalous words the same Polly not only in her good name and fame
aforementioned is grievously hurt and injured; but also the same
Isaac and Polly in performing their lawful business are much the
worse. To the damage of said Isaac and Polly two-thousand dollars
and therefore they bring suit.”
|
|
WITNESSES SUMMONED FOR THIS TRIAL
Thomas Osburn & Polly Osburn
John Craig & Wife
Thomas Stalcup & Elizabeth Stalcup
Alexander Craig
John Wilson & Wife
Elmer Craig
John Davis
Eli Adams
Benjamin Hashaw |
The March 1823 Term of the
Greene County, Indiana Circuit Court was presided over by W.W. Wicks,
with Martin Wines, Associate Judge. Thomas Warnick, Clerk;
John Lemon, Sheriff; and Smith Elkins, Prosecuting
Attorney, also served.
After being continued and delayed until all of the witnesses could be
brought into court, the case was tried during the May 1824 Term, before
Judges Jacob Call, Thomas Bradford, and Martin Wines. The
Jury selected for this case included Elias Crance, Morris R. Barnet,
Peter Herrington, John Kelly, William Buckles, John Baty, James
Johnston, John Hill, John Van Vorst, Robert Bailey, John Mason, and
William Bland.
After a long and laborious trial spanning seven days the Jury was given
case.
|
|
The Jury awarded the Plaintiffs a payment of six
cents. |
|
The outcome of this case, a six-cent judgment for a
two thousand dollar claim for a damaged reputation, reflects the relative
standing of these two sons of pioneer settler Isaac Stalcup, Sr in the
community.
|
“James Stalcup, probably
born in Sumner County Tennessee, from whence he married Miss
Margaret Mar[t]lin, an Irish lady. They came to Greene County in the
year 1818, and settled on the hill just east of where Worthington
now stands. He established the first blacksmith shop in this
neighborhood. Mr. Stalcup afterwards moved over on the east side of
White River, and lived there fifty years. He made the best axes and
Cary plows of any blacksmith in Greene County. He also built the
first [brick] house in the county.....James Stalcup and wife had
eight children--three boys and five girls.....He died at the age of
eighty-six years and is buried on the old homestead farm....” |
Isaac Stalcup Jr. was not such a pillar of the
community.
|
“At all elections and
general musters, the candidates must and did treat the people to
whiskey’ and when they succeeded in getting up a big fight at any
place here, big Isaac Stalcup Jr and Benjamin Stalcup [another
brother] were in it....”
It is said that Mr. Stalcup was a drinking man and a widower,
having sold his first wife to another man for a new fur hat and
ten gallons of whiskey. This first wife that was supposedly sold
for whiskey and a new fur hat would be the Polly Craig Stalcup
whose honor was deemed worth six cents in the 1824 Slander Case.
Isaac Stalcup and Polly Craig were issued a marriage license on
September 18, 1816 in Harrison Co., Indiana.
“The first weddings in this locality [Highland Township, Greene
Co. IN], included Isaac Stalcup Jr. and Miss Mournen Martin. The
man and woman then floated down White River in a water craft...” |
Isaac Stalcup Jr. is virtually
invisible in subsequent years, not appearing in any Greene County Census
enumeration, even though he is supposed to have lived there until his
death in 1872.
During the same May 1824 Term of
the Greene County, Indiana Circuit Court which heard the Slander case,
the following indictment was issued for Isaac Stalcup, Jr.
|
State of
Indiana
vs.
Isaac Stalcup
Indictment for Assault and Battery on Henry Martin
|
The Grand
Jurors for the State of Indiana come and are sworn to inquire in
and for the body of the County of Greene at the May term of the
Greene Circuit Court held in the year of our Lord Eighteen hundred
and twenty-four. In the name of, by and under the authority of the
State of Indiana upon their oath present that Isaac Stalcup of the
said County, did on the tenth day of July in the year of our Lord
Eighteen hundred and twenty-three with force and affray at the
County aforesaid did therein come upon one Henry Martin in the
Peace of the State of Indiana, then and there being an assault did
make on the said Henry Martin then and there beat, wound and treat
contrary to the form of the Statute in such case made and
provision and against the Peace and dignity of the State of
Indiana. Abel Burlingame, Foreman of Grand Jury.
|
Smith
Elkins
Prosecuting Attorney
Greene County
|
|
The outcome of this indictment is unknown.
Mary
Stalcup Markward
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Mary R. Stalcup Markward, born February 10, 1922, died
November 23, 1972 [1] in Silver Springs, MD, was for seven years a
member of the Washington, DC "District Communist Party" as director
of the party's membership. She was a beauty shop operator but
actually was working undercover for the FBI. [2]
Biography
 She
was born as Mary R. Stalcup to Maria and Benjamin Stalcup.
[3] Benjamin Stalcup worked as a government bookbinder. She lived in
Fairfax County, Virginia and was recruited by the FBI in 1943, just
a week after her wedding. Her husband, George A. Markward
(1912–1969), had been sent to Europe to fight in World War II. She
was working in a beauty shop on Massachusetts Avenue. [2][4]. She
may have been approached to spy because several of her clients were
thought to be Communists by the FBI. Her daughter believed that her
mother's essay written about her pride in being an American brought
her to the attention of the FBI. The essay was published in a local
Virginia paper. [2] Markward worked undercover for almost seven
years, a time that was stressful for her because she was shunned by
friends and family because of her activities with the Party. [4][5]
Markward testified before the House Committee on Un-American
Activities on July 11, 1951 that Annie Lee Moss and about 240 other
people were Communist party members. [5] She provided the names of
their spouses and gave the exact dates of party meetings. While her
memory of membership and Party activities was largely accurate,
Markward did not provide evidence that the Communist Party had any
strength in the DC area. At one point in her testimony, she even
joked about the Party's inability to recruit young, new members. In
the list of members she did provide, there appeared to be a
connection between Party membership and Civil Rights activism;
several people whom Markward accused were less involved with
communism and more concerned with picketing segregated areas of the
city. Her accusation of Annie Lee Moss is the most remembered; Moss
categorically denied membership or collusion with Communists,
despite Markward's confirmation of Moss' address and registrations
with the party. Later historical accounts show Moss did have some
interest in social justice, belonged to a cafeteria workers' union,
and may have had friends who took her to leftist meetings. [8]
Mary Stalcup Markward contracted multiple sclerosis early in her
life—the primary reason she left the service of the FBI. FBI
officials refused to acknowledge her later on, and went so far as to
tax retroactively the income she received as an undercover agent.
Her daughter has called herself and her mother patriots who
supported the US government, but she admits that the FBI could have
treated her better after she came forward. She died on November 23,
1972 in Silver Spring, Maryland at age 50. [1][6] She was buried in
Baltimore National Cemetery.[7]
References
1 - "Mary Markward, FBI Informant, Dies.". Washington Post. November
25, 1972. "Mary Stalcup Markward, a
beauty shop operator who became an FBI
informant and identified more than 200 persons as Communists during
congressional hearings in the early 1950s,
died of heart failure Thursday at her home in Silver Spring,
Maryland.
She was 50."
2 - "Pointing the Way in the Hunt for Communists.". Washington Post.
July 5, 1999. Retrieved 2007-09-25. "Mary
Stalcup Markward appeared nervous as she
made her way into the cramped hearing room on the morning of
July 11, 1951. ..."
3 - 1930 US Census with Stalcup in Fairfax, Virginia
4 - "Woman Tells of Outwitting Reds In Seven Years as Agent for
F.B.I.". New York Times. July 7, 1951, Saturday.
Retrieved 2008-03-11. "Mrs. Mary Stalcup
Markward, 29-year old former beauty shop worker, told today how
she worked for nearly seven years as an
undercover agent for the Federal"
5 - "F.B.I. Woman Limns Hard Lives of Reds. Agent Discloses
Communist Party Tactics.". New York Times.
July 12, 1951, Thursday. Retrieved
2008-03-11. "A Communist's life is not a happy one, the House
committee on
Un-American Activities was told today by a
young woman who had spent almost seven years as a rank-and-file
member of the party while an undercover
agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation."
6 - Social Security Death Index; Mary Markward; b. 10 February 1922
- d. November 1972
7 - "Mary S. Markward". Findagrave. Retrieved 2008-03-12.
8 - "Witness Insists Officer was Red. Thierman Belonged to Party if
She Processed His Card, Ex-F.B.I. Woman Says."
New York Times. May 2, 1953, Saturday.
Retrieved 2008-06-21. "Mrs. Mary Stallcup Markward, a former
undercover agent for the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, asserted today it would "not be even remotely
possible"
for her to have processed the Communist
party application card of Lieut. Sheppard Carl Thierman without his
already having been accepted as a member."
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JESSE STALCUP - FELL OFF WAGON |
Benton Co., Arkansas
Rogers Democrate newspaper Aug 23, 1917
Jesse Stalcup, 20-year old son of J. W. Stalcup died
yesterday morning after a very brief illness at the home of his
father in the north part of town. It is understood that death was
the result of a rupture of a blood vessel, the result of a fall
from a dray wagon on which he had been working. He had lived here
many years and his death was a great shock to the many friends and
relatives.
Benton Co., Arkansas Obit of Jesse Stallcup:
Rogers, Democrate newspaper Aug 30, 1917
Jesse Stallcup: Funeral services for Jesse Stallcup,
20 year old son of John W. Stallcup, who died August 2,
1917 were held last Thursday afternoon at three o'clock at the
home of his father and were conducted by Rev. C. A. Rogers.
Interment was in the Rogers Cemetery. Among those who came to
attend the funeral were a brother, Nim Stallcup of Kansas City,
and two sisters, Mrs. Malissa Stallcup Skaggs of Gravette and Mrs.
Minnie Stallcup Brown of Fayetteville.
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SUICIDE BY POLICE
FRANK CREWS, Deputy Sheriff,
Killed in the line of Duty. Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma,
Sheriff's Office. |
About 9 P.M. on Saturday night, September 5, 1953, Deputy Crews
and Undersheriff A. I. Rutherford went to the Denham Hotel at
Ninth and Union in Shawnee concerning a man pulling a gun on
another man. As the officers approached the west entrance to the
hotel they were met by 75-year-old Jess Stalcup, coming out
of the hotel. The officers stopped him and questioned him about
the incident. While they were talking to Stalcup, the
complainant, Mr. Ewers, came out of the hotel and indicated to the
officers that Stalcup was the man with the gun.
Stalcup then drew a concealed .45 automatic pistol and
emptied it toward the officers. Deputy Crews was hit four times in
the stomach and side. Rutherford and two bystanders were also
wounded but not as seriously. Rutherford shot Stalcup three
times in the neck and chest. Both Deputy Frank Crews, 54, and
Jess Stalcup, 75, died at the scene. Deputy Crews was survived
by his wife.
From: http://www.oklemem.com/C.htm
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INTERESTING STALCOPS |
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There are many interesting members
of the Stalcop family. They are scattered in time and over all
parts of the country. Here are a few of them.
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MR. COLONEL B. STALLCUP’S STORY
Stories of the Pioneers
From the White River Leader - 1916 or Thereabouts
Volume 2, No. 9 Fall 1966
by E.J. and L.S. Hoenshel |
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Incidents, Adventures and Reminiscences as
told by some of the Old Settlers of Taney County, Missouri, 1915
White River Leader, Branson, Missouri
Riding to the house of C. B. Stallcup about
sundown one evening a short time ago, we saw a tall, erect old man
at the barn, who greeted us with a pleasant "good evening". "Is
this Colonel Stallcup?" we asked. "It’s what is left of him," was
the answer.
"Well Colonel I am on my way to Branson, but
as it is too late to get there tonight, I should like to stay all
night with you." "All right, if you can put up with what we have,"
"Well", said I, "I have lived a good many years in this world, and
have had some tough times, so I think I can stand it." After
looking at me for an instant in his earnest way, he laughingly
said, "All right, Come in".
After supper we sat by the old time
fire-place and talked about the topics of the day, the Colonel
smoked a corn-cob pipe when the conversation lagged. When bed-time
came the genial host showed me to my room saying, "I am glad you
came to stay all night with me."
During our conversation, Mr. Stallcup
occasionally told an event or some interesting incident of his
life, and from these reminiscences we get the story of his life:
I was born in Independence, Missouri, the
night Thomas Benton (US
Senator-MO profiled in J F Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage)
spoke there in 1844. My grandfather went from North Carolina to
Tennessee in an ox-wagon, and after staying there about fifteen
years, moved to Jackson County, Missouri. My grandfather fought in
the Revolutionary War and died at the age of 109.
My father came to Taney County when I was
five years old, and settled on what is now the Clinkbeard farm. I
have lived in Taney County ever since, except while I was in the
army.
When we came here, there were a post office
and one little store at Forsyth. There was a mill where Kissee
Mills now is, known as Nelson’s Mill. There were not many people
here—only a few families between our place and the Arkansas line.
Schools didn’t amount to much then—all were
subscription schools, and we had only three months of school in a
year. The school houses were built of logs, with split logs for
benches and puncheon floors. Old Jimmie Benton and my brother,
Colbert, were among our teachers. All the teachers were men—no
women teachers in those days. Sometimes we locked out the teacher
to make him treat. Because people lived far apart, many of the
children had to walk a long distance to get to school.
At that time the river was full of fish. I
have helped to catch several hundred pounds at one haul with a
seine. Some of the fish were big fellows, weighing twenty-five
pounds or more. There were buffalo fish, drum, catfish, and many
others.
I have often seen 100 to 200 turkeys in a
flock. One could go out any morning and get a wild turkey or two
before breakfast. Other game was plentiful. I counted thirty-five
deer in one bunch near where Cedar Creek Post Office is now.
Our first year here father got his meat by
shooting bears in the pineries, a few miles south of us.
There were lots of wolves here then (and it
was not uncommon to see them after a pig). A wolf would run around
in a circle until a small one would get separated from the rest,
when he would grab it and run. Once when Bob Raines, the
grandfather of the present sheriff of the county, was herding
cattle in the timber, he was driven into a shanty by the wolves,
and had to stay there all night.
There were no sawmills here in those days,
and no lumber. Roofs were made of split clapboards and we had
puncheon floors. Layton’s saw mill was the first in the county.
I enlisted in the Third Missouri cavalry of
the Confederate army, July 4, 1861, at Forsyth and was paroled at
Shreveport, May 27, 1865. Ike Moore, Joe McGill, Bill and Marion
Ellison were in the same company, and Lafayette Snapp was our
lieutenant. After enlisting we stayed at Forsyth a few days. We
were there the day General Sweeney of the Federal Army came with
his soldiers, but as there were only a few of us we left town. A
cannon ball was shot through the courthouse at Forsyth that day.
We went from Forsyth to Springfield, and got
there the day after the battle of Wilson’s Greek. We were in
Price’s army and a part of Marmaduke’s brigade. Most of the time
we were in Arkansas, but were in Texas part of the time. We were
in many fights and skirmishes, but were never in any of the great
battles of the war.
Yes, we had some hard times in the army
often not much to eat. I have often taken ears of corn and parched
them in the ashes for a meal.
In 1864 Uncle Bill Ellison and I came home
on a furlough, and when we got close to our homes we had to keep
pretty close because there were bushwackers and prowlers over the
country. One night we were lying under a cliff with a big fire to
keep us warm. One of my shoes got too close to the fire and was
burned. There was a big snow that night, and I had to ride out the
next morning with one shoe and the other foot wrapped in cloth.
There were about the same number went to
each army from this county, and the regular soldiers of both sides
were friendly. The bad ones were the guerillas and the bushwackers.
They had no discipline except their own, and that was to steal
everything they could.
No, I was not a colonel—didn’t know enough
to be a colonel. I went in as a private and came out a private. My
given name is Colonel.
When I was home on a furlough I was married
right here where I am now living. My wife’s name was Mary J.
Coulter. I went back to the army the same day, and did not see my
wife until the next June. We had six girls and four boys---ten
children, but two of them died young. My wife died four years ago.
Yes, I am glad to see the progress that has
been made since we came here, but I sometimes think people are not
as hospitable and honorable as they were then. A man very seldom,
then, went back on his word, no matter whether it was in writing
or not.
_____________________________________________________
Colonel
Benton “C B” Stallcup
b-Nov 23,
1840 Independence, Jackson County, Missouri d-July 23 1915
Oliver, Taney County, Missouri. Burial: Brittain Cemetery,
Forsyth, Taney County, Missouri
Father:
Soloman Stallcup Mother: Mary Saunders Stallcup
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RUBEN STALCUP
(From a 1924 Missouri newspaper obituary)
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Passes to His
Rewared at Advanced Age Suffered a Stroke of Appoplexy While Busy
at His Home, Tuesday Morning.
Reuben Stalcup,
aged 79 years, died at his home in the Hickory Flat country
Tuesday night (April 8, 1924) from a stroke of appoplexy, which he
suffered a few hours before.
Mr. Stalcup
owned the farm where he had lived during the whole of his life and
is perhaps the only man every born in Simpson County who lived to
such a ripe old age without having at some time lived at least
temporarily at some other abode. He was never married.
The deceased
was a man of high moral character, strict integrity and possessed
of common honesty to a pronounced degree. Despite the fact that
he owned a farm worth $10,000 and was universally known as a
shrewd and practical man of affairs, he never deposited a penny in
any banking institution, always paid cash in every transaction,
and it is not probable that the executor of his estate will find a
farthing owing by him save and except the expenses incident to his
burial.
Funeral
services were conducted Wednesday by Rev. Wilson, after which
burial followed in the church cemetery at McKendrie Chapel. |
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Ruben Stallcup was the
son of Swen Jr. (Swain) and Rachel Northam Stallcup. He was a
grandson of Swithin and Barbara Miller Stallcup. This article is
rendered exactly how it was printed in the newspaper including
misspelled words and colorful phrasing. |
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JESSE BRYSON STALCUP
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The
Family of Rev. Jesse Bryson and Alice Florance Kelly Stalcup |
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The Jesse
Bryson Stalcup Collection at the Mountain Heritage Center, located
on the campus of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C.,
consists of nearly one hundred artifacts, primarily woodworking
tools and hand made furniture, either used or made by
Jesse Bryson
Stalcup
(1860-1931). Born in that part of Macon County, N.C. that later
became Swain County, Jesse was the son of Thomas Belew and Charity
Jane Starnes Stalcup. The family lived near Whittier on Conley's
Creek where Jesse grew up and became a carpenter.
In 1881, while working in
Haywood County, Jesse met and married Alice Florence Kelly
(1862—1948), the daughter of Rufus Pierce and Dorothy Edmonston
Kelly. Seven of their eight children were born in or near
Waynesville, NC. The family moved briefly to Hiawassee, GA,
before finally settling in Macon County, NC.
where Jesse worked as a
carpenter, millwright, and Baptist preacher.
Thomas Belew
Stalcup was the brother to John Stallcup and uncle to the first
Lucius Harvey Stallcup of Swain County. Jesse Bryson and Lucius
Harvey were cousins. |
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LAWRENCE DILLON (L D)
STALLCUP
Larry Spencer Stallcup
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Lawrence Dillon Stallcup was the
earliest known amateur genealogist that attempted a comprehensive
research of the Stalcop Family.
L D, as he was called, was a salesman
for a jewelry company. He travelled extensively all around the
country into lots of small towns at a time when there were few
attractions to occupy his non-working time. It was, however, at
the time when the telephone system was being extended far and
wide. L D hit upon an idea that he was curious about and
could be most interesting. He searched the new telephone
directories everywhere he went and contacted everyone that had his
surname and a telephone. He found that by asking questions of how
family members happened to arrive where they were and the names of
family group members was an easy way to meet his far-flung
relatives. It had a second valuable benefit as well. It often got
him an invitation for a nights lodging rather than have to pay to
stay in a not too pleasant hotel. It also got him lots of free
meals that were probably much tastier than what he could get in a
small town’s restaurants.
Eventually L D had travelled enough
and had learned enough that he began to have a fairly good idea of
the extent of the Stalcop family and some comprehension of the
scope of the family. But there is evidence that he did not have a
solid understanding of the very early family and of their Swedish
origin. It is clear that he did not understand the patronymic
naming system our ancestors used. That led him to miss an entire
range of early first and second-generation records. He also
misunderstood some of the relationships between members of the
early New Sweden community. He had a hard time distinguishing
family myths from facts. He was taken in by several of the myths.
The infamous Sea cook-greasy cap origin story, invented in 1846,
is only one of those myths.
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AN OUTLINE OF THE LINEAGE AND MIGRATIONS
OF THE STALLCOP (STALCUP - STALLCUP - STAULCUP) FAMILIES.
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All-in-all L D achieved a remarkable
result. Keep in mind that L D was doing his family
investigations as a hobby and in a random fashion. His most
difficult handicap was that he was operating in a period when you
had to personally go visit or write to every courthouse in every
county in every state where your kinfolk may have lived. In order
to record family groups he almost had to visit each one of them.
At some moment L D decided to
consolidate all that he had learned and compile it into a book. To
aid in this work he created a number of pedigree type charts that
connected parent to children. Easy to miss some of them,
especially if they did not have a telephone. And very easy to make
incorrect lineage connections. Being a travelling salesman
certainly gave L D far more opportunities to visit in
family homes and county courthouses than the average person but it
still was a sort of random, hit or miss, process rather than being
a systematic, planned, approach. His Outline is a 16 page series
of charts that trace those members of the family L D was
able to find and identify. He placed copies of his outline in
several public repositories so copies have survived and come down
to us. He sent copies of some of the charts as enclosures within
his letters to help explain lineage connections. CHART “A”,
showing the early family, found its way into a number of letters
that traveled all over the country. The copy above is known to
have traveled across the country twice. L D mailed it from
Florida to the State of Washington on the west coast. Years later
it was given to the writer’s uncle, Fred Stallcup, who
carried it back across the country to Norfolk, Virginia where he
eventually gave it to Larry Stallcup. Notice the Dutch
spelling of the primogenitors’ name at the bottom. The manual
corrections in the chart are a combination of English and Swedish
spellings of his names.
The ink
notations and corrections on the chart are in L D’s hand.
Chart “A” has a number of omissions and
lineage errors. For example, Johan (17) and Johan (19) appear to
be interchanged so are connected to the wrong father. A number of
people are omitted, particularly in the fifth and sixth
generations. L D mixed up William (83) and William (53).
The William identified here as (53) lived most of his life in
North Carolina, was married twice and had two families totaling
sixteen children. Peter (27) had nine children and lived the last
30 year of his life in southwestern Virginia. His son named
William (83) moved to Missouri and never lived in North Carolina.
There are other errors and omissions.
The fate of the manuscript for L D’s
book is a tragic story. L D soon learned a little known but
harsh fact. Publishers will not finance the publication of books
that have a very small chance for sales. Family histories and
genealogies are at the top of their list of books to avoid. On the
other hand publishers are very willing to have someone pay them to
publish such books. Getting his manuscript into print was going to
be a most expensive burden for L D. But he was, after all,
a very experienced salesman. He found a person that was convinced
that the collection of correspondence, books and pamphlets and the
manuscript were just the opposite of reality. This person was
eager to purchase them and was convinced that they were worth a
great pile of gold. L D apparently did not try to convince
him otherwise and sold him just about everything. This led to the
tragic loss of the entirety of L D’s work.
The man who purchased the manuscript and the
back-up collection jealously guarded his purchase. Several offers
were made to re-purchase the material to make it available for
research purposes. One offer was of double the original purchase
price, but all offers were scoffed at. There was another obstacle
involved. The buyer believed he was descended from Swithin
Stallcup, one of the more elusive members of the family at that
time. No one was allowed to examine the manuscript unless they
could provide the complete history of Swithin and his descendants.
No one could do that because Swithin was still hidden in the mist
of time. Swithin’s Will only recently, a quarter century later,
has been discovered in a different state, and a decade after, his
last known place of residence. Everyone had been looking for
Swithin in the wrong state and in the wrong era.
The son of the buyer had a strong dislike of
the entire subject. He mentioned to several people that he would
destroy the entire collection if he ever gained control of it.
Soon after the last offer to purchase the material was made it was
revealed that his father was suffering from cancer. He died a
short while later. His son apparently quickly made good on his vow
to destroy all of the material. No trace of any part of it has
been seen since.
Nearly the entirety of L D’s
lifework, except for his Outline, has been lost to the Stalcop
family. Earl E. Jones of near Nashville, TN, the son of a Stalcop
daughter, became the second great chronicler of the Stalcop
Family. Earl spent more than twenty years recording and compiling
as many of the family members that he could find. He began with
L D’s OUTLINE and worked from there. Unlike L D he did
his compiling by the postal service. When published in 1983 it
consisted of three volumes of over 1900 pages. It is not a family
history bur rather a compilation listing of family members. Earl
passed away soon after it was published. Copies of his work are
available in several large libraries all across the country
including the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, UT
Families are dynamic in nature and
continually change. The Stalcop family has been growing and
evolving no matter that Lawrence Dillon Stallcup and
Earl Jones stopped recording family members. The total number
of Stalcop Family members has no doubt increased since their work
stopped and it will continue to do so on into the future.
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WILLIAM B. STALLCUP JR.
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William B. Stallcup Jr., who rose through the academic ranks to
serve as president ad interim of Southern Methodist
University during one of the most crucial periods in its history,
died Saturday, June 7, at his home in Ranchos de Taos, N.M.,
following a long illness. He was 87.
A
biology professor who never intended to be an administrator,
Stallcup served in various administrative positions for half of
his four decades at SMU. The most critical of these was when he
was named SMU’s president ad interim in 1986 following the
sudden retirement of SMU President L. Donald Shields and SMU’s
sanctions for NCAA football rules violations. Stallcup provided
leadership and integrity during this period by presiding over
sweeping reforms in SMU’s athletics programs and governance
structure, and helping restore public confidence in the
University.
“A
dedicated teacher, Bill Stallcup repeatedly answered the call to
serve as an administrator in times of special need,” said SMU
President R. Gerald Turner. “He provided leadership most
importantly as interim president during a troubled time. SMU’s
transition to brighter days would not have been possible without
his leadership, integrity and dedication. He also was instrumental
in helping to develop SMU-in-Taos as a unique educational
resource. In the history of SMU, he stands out as an exemplary
steward of positive change.”
Born in Dallas, Stallcup was an Eagle Scout, graduated from Forest
Avenue High School in 1937 and received scholarships to SMU,
working summers as a laborer for the Dallas Railway and Terminal
Company. He originally planned to attend medical school, but a
weekend job testing lake water in East Texas to determine the
cause of a dwindling fish supply kindled his love of the outdoors
and the challenges of applying biology to ecological problems. He
graduated from SMU with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology in
1941 and became an aquatic biologist and chemist for the City of
Dallas. He married Marcile (Pat) Patterson in 1942, also a biology
student at SMU, who provided unfailing care and support for 65
years.
When World War II started, Stallcup joined the U.S. Air Force. He
was a waist gunner and radar counter-measure specialist, stationed
with the Royal Air Force in England and flying in B-24 bombers and
P-38 Lightning’s over western Europe. A first lieutenant, he
received the Air Medal and several oak leaf clusters. Following
the war, he was a biology instructor at SMU until the start of the
Korean War in 1950, when he was recalled to active duty. Instead
of placing him again in combat, however, the Air Force decided his
services were needed teaching pre-med students at the University
of Kansas. While there, he earned his Ph.D. in zoology. He
returned to SMU as an assistant professor of biology in 1954 and
was promoted to full professor in 1962.
In
the years that followed his return to SMU, Stallcup served as
chair of the Department of Biological Sciences, associate dean of
faculty in Dedman College, associate provost twice, special
assistant to the president, acting provost twice and interim
president from November 1986 to August 1987. He also taught summer
classes at SMU-in-Taos for more than 20 years and was a civic
leader in the Taos community, serving as Chairman of the Board of
the Ghost Ranch Living Museum and the Taos Institute of Art, and
overseeing development of a new facility for the Taos Humane
Society.
Stallcup wanted to retire from the University as a teacher, so
after serving as president ad interim, he returned to
teaching until his retirement in 1989. Still, SMU asked him to
serve in one more capacity. As he and his wife, Pat, planned to
move to Taos, he agreed to serve as resident director of SMU-in-Taos
in New Mexico from 1990-1992.
“Bill Stallcup’s passing is monumental in terms of his
contribution to SMU,” said Marshall Terry, professor emeritus
of English and an authority on the history of the University. “He
was a person of intelligence, integrity and quiet courage. His
interim presidency during the trials of the football scandal made
all the difference, because the faculty, staff and students
believed in him as a person and leader. He was a gentle man who
represented the best in SMU.”
Echoing Terry’s sentiments was James E. Brooks, provost
emeritus of SMU, who named Stallcup as associate dean when
Brooks was dean of Dedman College, and as associate provost when
Brooks was provost. He said, “Bill Stallcup was a quiet,
unassuming person who contributed to SMU in many ways over many
years. It is for his very effective handling of the presidency and
the University in the time of crisis that he will most be
remembered – but that is only a partial measure of the ways in
which SMU is in Bill Stallcup’s debt!”
While at SMU, Stallcup received numerous research grants,
professional honors and awards for service. In appreciation of his
service as president ad interim, the SMU Board of Trustees
established the Dr. William B. Stallcup Jr. Scholarship in Biology
in 1987. He was honored in 2002 as a recipient of SMU’s
Distinguished Alumni Award.
Most recently, the SMU Board of Trustees honored Stallcup with the
Trustee Distinguished Service Award at its meeting May 9, 2008. In
its resolution honoring him, the board commended “the strength of
his integrity and earned respect. . . His conduct of the
University’s affairs . . . restored the confidence of the faculty,
students, staff and alumni in the administrative leadership of the
University.”
Stallcup had been a member of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, Sigma Xi scientific research society,
American Society of Mammalogists, American Ornithologists’ Union
and Texas Ornithological Society, and was a past president of the
North Texas Biological Society. He also had been listed in
American Men of Science.
Stallcup is survived by his wife, Marcile “Pat” Patterson Stallcup
of Ranchos de Taos; a brother, Robert A. Stallcup of Houston;
three daughters, Lisë Stallcup Engel of Dallas, Cathy Melanie
Stallcup of Albuquerque, and Jerre Ann Stallcup of Encinitas,
Calif.; two sons, Michael R. Stallcup of Los Angeles and William
B. Stallcup III of Encinitas, Calif.; and six grandchildren. |
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JACKIE STALLCUP
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Jackie Stallcup, chair of the
Department of English,
still can’t believe she gets paid to do something she loves as
much as teaching at California State University, Northridge. She
said it’s particularly hard to believe because her career
trajectory has been anything but direct to teaching.
After high school, Stallcup was accepted into Cal State Los
Angeles’ honors business program. But she didn’t know much about
careers in business beyond that business people wore suits and
carried briefcases. Stallcup went to Cerritos Community College
instead and then redirected her energy toward a major in animal
science at Cal Poly Pomona. But she second-guessed that option
when she heard that students were required to castrate a
pig—perhaps, rumor had it, with their teeth.
It wasn’t until Stallcup’s junior year at Pomona that she took
freshman composition — a mystery she really can’t explain. After
receiving positive feedback on her writing, she felt that perhaps
she had finally found her niche. She changed her major to English
and upon graduation worked in publishing for six years. Eventually
turned off by the grind of working at a monthly magazine, she
became attracted to the idea of teaching and entered a doctorate
program in literature at UC Riverside.
It was in an 18th century literature course at Riverside that
Stallcup wrote a paper on “Gulliver’s Travels,” responding to the
story’s elements as a work of children’s literature. “It was
another moment of aha! I’ve finally found my place!” she said.
Stallcup was fascinated with what children’s literature can tell
us about popular conceptions of childhood.
Still, one last hurdle remained in her career path: her first,
observed student teaching session. She recounts, “I hauled myself
to the top of the stairs and stood there for a moment. Off to my
left was the classroom and straight in front of me was the women’s
room. It was a moment of decision. I could go teach my class, or I
could go puke.” Stallcup chose the former. She said her
nervousness almost instantly melted away. She has loved stepping
in front of a class ever since.
Doctorate underway, she practically forced herself on Cal Poly
Pomona, convincing English department officials that they needed a
children’s literature specialist. “While there were faculty
members teaching children’s literature, people who would help me a
great deal, there was no one there for whom it was a ruling
passion,” Stallcup said. Once she graduated from Riverside, her
experience teaching at Cal Poly helped her to earn the job as a
children’s literature specialist at CSUN. Though scholarship in
children’s literature has come a long way over the past two
decades, there are still professors who doubt that it bears
academic scrutiny or they simply dismiss the point of analyzing
what they refer to as “cute kiddie books,” Stallcup said. She
encourages academics to look past the juvenile humor—or, more to
the point, the poop jokes—in Dav Pilkey’s “The Adventures of
Captain Underpants” to “reconsider some of the [literary]
boundaries that have marked our world.”
Knowing that students are often dogged by the same level of
judgment about their academic and career choices, Stallcup is
enthusiastic about mentorship. She considers it a benefit that she
grew up in southeast Los Angeles. She attended some of the same
community colleges, shares some of the same cultural references
and faced some of the same indecision about college as many of her
students. “I have had so many incredibly patient, kind and
encouraging mentors to help me figure out who I am, what I want to
do and how to do the things that I want to do,” she said.
“Connecting with a mentor is one of the most important things that
I think anyone can do.”
In fact, as pleased as she is to have been elected as English
chair earlier this year, she’s not sure how she’s going to get
through the next several years without teaching, perhaps in part
because she feels she learns as much from her students as they
learn from her.
Stallcup, who has taught at CSUN since 1999, lives in Ontario,
Calif., with her husband, Wade, an artist, as well as a menagerie
of pets including five cats, one dog and two horses. She says that
caring for the horses is a soothing exercise for her.
Another “therapeutic” activity is knitting.
“I knit in meetings because, believe it or not, it really helps me
to focus,” she said. “So, if I’m in a meeting with you and I’m
knitting away at a hat or a pair of baby booties, you know that
I’m really listening and absorbing with all my might.” That said,
Stallcup said please don’t take it personally if she doesn’t knit
when she’s meeting with you. |
|
|
|
SHANE STALCUP
September 21, 1961 - May 11, 2011
|
|
Saying Goodbye
May 24, 2011
|
|
Back in the early 80's I met a young
man named Shane Stalcup who tied flies commercially for Colorado
Anglers in Lakewood, Colorado. He had given up his study of
Architecture and switched, instead, to designing and tying those
amazing flies of his. Over the years he proved to be an angler who
continued to grow in the industry. He was one of the fastest tiers
that I ever met, capable of tying thousands of flies each year
that made the development of physical problems in his latter years
so tragic.
Regularly in those early years,
though I would go over to his house or he would come over to mine
and we would share ideas about ways to design, redesign and
perfect our flies.
Shane was a quite man - he never ran
around telling the world he was the greatest. He allowed his work
to do the talking for him.
He and I went on many an escapades
fishing the famous South Platte River, located south of Denver.
When he wasn't tying, Shane loved to
play golf or go fishing. I would always kid with him and tell him
not to try and reinvent the game of golf! He would always tease me
and suggest I check my cholesterol since I had been working on a
system of using oils to fill hollow tubing tied on my flies. We
had a great relationship. Perhaps only the folks closest to us
knew this.
Shane had taken classes from John
Betts, Archey Best, Tim England and myself, who were working with
tubing in the design of flies. This exposure to so many techniques
and the craft of his friends, led him to develop a very individual
style as a tier.
He never really asked for much. In
fact, he was more than happy to help if asked to do so. One year,
I developed a video entitled, “Mike Tucker's Liquid Filled Flies,
Volume One”. Prior to production, I asked Shane if he would help
me develop the coloration for a shrimp pattern that I'd developed.
I hadn't even finished my sentence before he asked, “How can I
help”?
Together, we designed a color phase
for the scud that I entitled Shane's Sand Scud.
He had a knack for working with
colors, dyeing feathers for shops and working with markers. He
understood the blending and how light worked which helps trigger
responses from the fish. We used to talk long into the night about
different synthetics and the mechanics of using them.
Shane Stalcup was not only a friend
but also a brother. Through fly tying and the processing of
related ideas we eventually developed a lifetime bond. He and I
were going to write a book together on synthetics this coming
year. The first book he wrote, "Mayflies", was a masterful piece
of work. He would not release anything unless he was sure the
biology contained all the correct facts and that the patterns were
flies that truly worked! He was also working on a new book about
Caddis.
I will miss Shane Stalcup.
The fly-tying world has lost a great
member that we all cherished.
I know Shane was in a lot of pain but
now is running, fishing and playing once again. I hope our paths
shall meet again, for I have more ideas to share with him.
God Bless you Shane, and sleep well.
Michael A. Tucker |
|
Posted on the
Internet by Andy Huber
HOOK FLYFISHING
2030 E. County Line Rd.
Highlands Ranch, CO 80126 |
RICH STALLCUP [Richard W.
Stallcup]
|
|
Rich Stallcup is a legend in his own time,
one of the most famous and prolific birder in California. He was a
teenager when he began bird watching and he has continued to play
a significant role in the State's birding world ever since.
In 2002, the American Birding Association
presented Rich with the Ludlow Griscom Award for outstanding
contributions to American ornithology. Rich was a founder of and
is a current naturalist at Point Reyes Bird Observatory (PRBO). He
was among the first team of birders to visit the Farallones, with
both spring and fall visits in 1967. He was president of Western
Field Ornithologists (1975-1978), and was an American Birds
Regional Editor for 11 seasons. He served on the California Bird
Records Committee for 8 years. He was one of the original founders
of the "Wings" birding tour company in the late 1980s and has led
bird tours throughout North America.
Rich has been birding California for almost
the entirety of his colorful life. He discovered many of the top
vagrant traps on outer Pt. Reyes and elsewhere along the
California coast. His birding on Pt. Reyes is the stuff of
mythology; he found or co-found about 90 first Marin County
records. Rich has long held the highest lists for both Marin
County and for Northern California as a whole. He has also
participated in innumerable Big Days and Birdathons and has held
numerous monthly and county Big Day records.
He has had a major impact wherever he has
lived. Drafted in the Vietnam War era and posted to Monterey for a
short time, he was soon a force there. He is associated with 18
first Monterey County records from as far back as 1967 to as
recent as 2002 He has always had a serious interest in seabirds,
and his Pelagic Birds of Monterey Bay (Stallcup 1976) is a
classic; the paper has been reprinted as a booklet and is still
in-print. His Ocean Birds of the Nearshore Pacific (1990) is an
exceptional introduction to sea-birding. Rich also took what he
learned from teaching bird classes and leading bird tours to
self-publish Birds for Real (1985).
|
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========================================= |
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MUSICIANS
GLENN STALLCOP
|
|
Glenn Stallcop is
an active pianist, composer, and double bassist based in Phoenix,
Arizona. He was born in 1950 in Vancouver, Wash., and grew up in
Seattle. As a pianist, he has been primarily active in
improvisation and the performance of his own compositions. He has
written many works for solo piano as well as chamber music works
including the piano. Most of his solo piano compositions were
written before 1990, after which his solo piano interests turned
to improvisation. His 1998 CD of solo piano improvisation,
Dreamcatcher, was nominated for a Grammy.
He has been a
double bassist with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra since 1973. He
is a successful classical composer with over 75 published
compositions. Symphonies, festivals, and chamber musicians
throughout the United States have performed his music. The Phoenix
Symphony Orchestra alone has performed nine of his orchestral
works including Sunscape in 1987, commissioned by the Arizona
Diamond Jubilee Commission. His orchestra works have been
performed by the Seattle Symphony, along with other professional,
college, festival and youth orchestras. His composition for bass
and piano, Vision Quest, won the 2004 David Walter
Composition prize from the International Society of Bassists. He
founded and directed the Arizona Composers Forum from 1983-89. He
was awarded the Performing Arts Fellowship in Composition from the
Arizona Commission on the Arts in 1995.
He received a
bachelor's of music degree from the University of Washington in
1976 and a master's degree in music from Arizona State University
where he was awarded Outstanding Graduate in Music History,
Theory, and Composition in 1993. In 1973, Stallcop moved to
Phoenix to take a position as double bassist with the Phoenix
Symphony. BassScores and the American Composers Alliance (ACA)
publish his written music. He has been a member of Broadcast
Music, Inc. (BMI) since 1977, and was elected to ACA in New York
in 1982.
At the keyboard,
Stallcop has been active in popular music, jazz, free
improvisation and the performance of his own music. After
extensively playing rock-and-roll in his teens, he turned to jazz
in the 1970s. Since 1977, he has performed almost exclusively in
free improvisation, both as a soloist and in ensemble. In 1998
Arizona University Recordings released his CD of solo piano
improvisation, Dreamcatcher (AUR/Horizon CD 3007). It received
Grammy nominations in two categories.
|
|
JACK STAULCUP
|
|
The Jack
Staulcup Orchestra
was a Midwestern territory band that operated out of
Paducah,
Kentucky.
Jack
Staulcup was a resident of
Metropolis,
Illinois.
In 1950, the band members, traveling in a school bus with seats
that didn't recline, played many one-nighters, with the musicians
sleeping overnight on the bus. At one point, the band played 30
one-nighters in a row. In the summer of 1950, the band recorded
for
Oriole Records
in
Chicago.
The session took place at a radio station in a skyscraper in the
Loop. The orchestra is reported to have played play often at the
Purple Crackle. a well known supper club, in
Cape Girardeau,
Missouri
over a span of 17 years totaling about 850 appearances.
Many mid-Western
musicians played at one time in the Staulcup Orchestra including
trumpeter Jerry Ford who now runs his own orchestra. |
|
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J. ROY STALCUP
|
|
Western North Carolina banjo player, J. Roy Stalcup (1903-1990)
was one of many Appalachian musicians documented in Hutchins
Library's sound recordings collections.
J.
Roy was born in the Martins Creek area of Cherokee County, North
Carolina, near the town of Murphy, December 3, 1903. His father,
Marcus Edgar Stalcup, was a farmer who supplemented the family
income with work in the copper mines in nearby Copper Hill,
Tennessee. J. Roy’s mother was a member of the Hatchett family
from the Bellview area on the North Carolina-Georgia line. Her
family had come from Alamance County in the 1850’s, headed west by
wagon, but ended up settling in the Murphy area, working at
farming, gold and talc mining.
J.
Roy’s schooling included Murphy High School, the academy at north
Georgia’s Harris College, and Kentucky’s Berea College where he
discovered an aptitude for engineering. Upon leaving Berea in
1930, he went to work for the United States Forest Service as a
surveyor, working on establishing the boundaries of what was to
become the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Further education
in civil engineering led to a twenty-year stint with the U.S.
Forest Service in Mississippi and then several more years in the
private sector that took him to Japan, Cambodia, Iran, and
Iceland.
Musically, J. Roy followed the lead of his father and two uncles,
all banjo players. He well remembered his father’s banjo as having
“a cat skin head and a slick (fretless) neck.” Of the neighborhood
dances they played for, he remembered, “they’d clear the floor at
one of these houses down here and get a fiddle and banjo, that’s
all they wanted…they could just dance to a fiddle if they didn’t
have a banjo, but they preferred to have a banjo for rhythm…"
J.
Roy got his first banjo in 1915 at age twelve, paid for in part
from the door-to-door sale of homegrown vegetables around Murphy.
The distinctive playing style he developed was something of a
departure from the two-finger (thumb and forefinger) style he had
seen and heard from his father and uncles. It didn’t require
picks, “just naked fingers” as J. Roy once put it. The finger
action which he called a strum was marked by picking up with the
forefinger rather than down with it. He once explained, “I didn’t
learn it from anybody, I just took it up. I couldn’t ever learn to
play that way, (thumb and fore-finger) so I got on just dragging
this finger across the strings.” |
_________________________________________________________________________________
adapted from Lee Knight’s articles about J. Roy Stalcup that
originally appeared December 13 and 20, 1979, in The Cherokee
Scout & Clay County Progress, Murphy, North Carolina. |
|
|
OLD SETTLERS’
FOURTH OF JULY
CELEBRATION
July
4, 1875
GREENE COUNTY,
INDIANA
|
|
Worthington, Indiana, Times - July 8, 1875
|
|
The Old Pioneer
Settlers’ meeting and Basket Picnic, on Saturday, July 4th, 1875,
in honor of the 99th anniversary of American Independence, was a
splendid success. Early in the morning the people took up their
line of march, and began to gather at the Picnic grounds, just
west of town, by the hundreds; and at ten o’clock the
“Stalcup
Martial Band” arrived
and began to play.
Old Jimmy
Newsome was the oldest man present, and was the first to take
a seat in the stand. He was in feeble health, and said he would
never be at another celebration. By request of Uncle Jack
Baber, the exercises were opened with prayer by Rev. John
Laverty, following which was a very nice little speech of
fifteen minutes’ length, by the same gentleman, in which he
explained to the young people the reasons why the fourth day of
July was made a national holiday. The Declaration of Independence
was read by Benjamin
Stalcup, after which Rev.
Robert Blount came to the front and occupied about ten
minutes in the delivery of a very interesting oration. Capt.
E.E. Rose excused himself very agreeably to all, by making a
five minutes’ speech and then announcing to the people that it was
dinner time, and the old folks could talk and be social, while the
young folks might court and enjoy themselves for a couple of
hours.
The old people and young
folks fully enjoyed the pleasures during recess, and at two
o’clock the audience reassembled at the stand, and while the band
played “Jay-Bird”, the following named old pioneers took their
seats: Elias Dayhoff, George T. Taylor, William
Griffith, William J. McIntosh, William Huey, William
Dyer, Cyrus Conant, Ira Danely, James
Harrah, Rice Elgan, David Heaton, Alfred
Kutch, J.F. Allison, Virgil Crance, and
others.
We could not determine
just who was managing the Picnic besides the old settlers, as we
noticed Captain E.E. Rose, Mahlon Neal, James
Beach, Dr. William L. Green, Dr. J.S.R. Benefield, Reverend
James Hughes and others on the stand. During the afternoon
short speeches were made by Elias Dayhoff, William J.
McIntosh and Colonel E.H.C. Cavins; and at three
o’clock the people were dismissed by Uncle Jack Baber, who
promised them a big centennial and old-fashioned barbeque, July 4,
1876, just west of Worthington. The crowd numbered about two
thousand, and be it said to the credit of all present, that no man
was seen drunk on the grounds.
|
|
________________________________________________ |
|
This newspaper article has been
contributed by Steven J. Stalcup of Greenwood, IN. Steven is an
indefatigable Stalcop Family researcher. He has made innumerable
discoveries that have contributed greatly to our family history.
Permission also from Link:
http://www.countyhistory.com
|
|
|
|
Stalcop Ireland, Ltd.
Underhill Industrial Estate,
County Cork
Dunmanway,
Ireland
|
|
Apparently not a single Stalcop, Stalcup or Stallcup is, or was,
involved in the formation or operation of this company. The
company is totally separate from the Stalcop family. The company
name was derived from a combination of beginning letters from the
metals the company initially used. |
|
Steel = St,
Aluminum = al
Copper = cop
|
|
COMPANY OVERVIEW
|
|
The
Stalcop Company manufactures custom engineered copper and plastic
components for the electrical, computer, health care, automotive,
and leisure industry. In addition to copper and plastic, parts are
fabricated from steel, brass, stainless steel, aluminum, and
silicon bronze. Its products are available under two categories:
metal products and plastic products.
The
Stalcop Company was founded in 1981. The company has manufacturing
facilities at Thorntown, Indiana, Germany and Ireland. Stalcop
serves diverse markets throughout North America, Europe and
Northern Asia. |
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TWENTIETH CENTURY MILITARY HEROES
THE
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS
|
|
Stalcup, James,
U.S. Army - World War I
|
|
CITATION: |
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act
of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the
Distinguished Service Cross to Private James Stalcup (ASN:
1314522), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action
while serving with Company C, 114th Machine-Gun Battalion, 30th
Division, A.E.F., near La Haie, France, 17 October 1918. During
the attack of the enemy position, Private Stalcup, although
wounded in the shoulder by a shell fragment, continued to go
forward with his section for seven hours until severely wounded by
a trench-mortar shell. Due to his second wound, he lost his left
arm. The courage and fortitude displayed by Private Stalcup
enabled his section to reach its objective with all its guns. |
|
|
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Stallcup, Odie T.,
U.S. Army - World War II
|
|
CITATION: |
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act
of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the
Distinguished Service Cross to First Lieutenant (Infantry) Odie T.
Stallcup (ASN: 0-532119), United States Army, for extraordinary
heroism in connection with military operations against an armed
enemy while serving with the 1st Battalion, 137th Infantry
Regiment, 35th Infantry Division, in action against enemy forces
on 27 September 1944. On that date, during an enemy counterattack
near Pettencourt, France, Lieutenant Stallcup, an anti-tank
platoon leader, was wounded by artillery fire. Disregarding his
wounds he rallied his men and personally manned an anti-tank gun
until the enemy attack was stopped. Then, having established
contact with a group of riflemen, he courageously led them in a
determined attack, inflicting heavy losses upon the enemy. Not
until he reorganized his troops in a defensive position did he
permit himself to be evacuated. Lieutenant Stallcup's inspiring,
heroic leadership and supreme devotion to duty exemplify the
highest traditions of the military service and reflect great
credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army. |
|
WW2 The
Forêt de Grémecey Battle
Odie T. Stalcup
|
General Patton's decision, on
20 September, (1944)
to fix a new boundary line between the XII and XV Corps provided
some protection for the south flank of the 4th Armored Division
salient. But in addition the XII Corps commander was anxious to
secure a firmer grip on the supply lines leading to the 4th
Armored and suggested to Patton that the Forêt de Grémecey,
commanding the main highway east of Nancy, should be occupied. The
forest already had been used as an assembly area for CCB, 6th
Armored, when, on 22 September, General Grow was sent with his
armored infantry, some cavalry, and artillery to occupy this area
and screen between the 80th Infantry Division and the 4th Armored.
Grow's troops pinched out the 35th Division and threw a line north
of the woods between Fresnes and the western angle of the Seille.
The 6th Armored was in the midst of preparations for an attack
north toward Delme when word arrived that the Third Army was to go
over to the defensive. On 25-26 September the 35th Division
relieved Grow's troops in the Forêt de Grémecy sector and CCB, 4th
Armored Division, which had held a blocking position in the
Fresnes area.
Since any continuation of the XII Corps advance appeared to be
indefinitely postponed by General Eisenhower's order placing the
Third Army on the defensive, the 35th Infantry Division settled
down in anticipation of some respite from the interminable
slogging that had marked the advance east of the Moselle. The 35th
held a front some twelve miles in length, the Nancy-Nomény and
Nancy-Château-Salins highways marking the left and right
boundaries respectively. The larger part of this front (a distance
of some eight miles) outlined a salient or bridgehead north and
east of the Seille River. The apex of this salient was formed by
the Forêt de Grémecey. Following the edge of the forest as it did,
the American front line bent sharply, almost at a right angle, in
the northeast corner of the woods. The Germans would attempt to
exploit this disposition, for the forest angle lay only about two
thousand yards from the Forêt de Château-Salins, which was still
in German hands, provided ample cover for large-scale troop
concentration, and was the dominant ground in this area. The right
wing of the 35th Division was close to the junction of the two
important enemy-held roads coming in from Morhange and Dieuze.
General Baade placed two of his regiments along the 35th Division
main line of resistance, the 137th Infantry on the right and the
134th Infantry on the left. The 320th Infantry, which had returned
from the 4th Armored Division, was assigned to the XII Corps
reserve. The right regiment had hardly dug in when, on the evening
of 26 September, the German guns opened fire from the Forét de
Château-Salins and a sharp attack drove in the American outpost
line. This was the prelude to a sustained and desperate enemy
attempt to recover the Forét de Grémecey.
The First Army's failure to brush aside CCB, 4th Armored Division,
in the earlier attack to effect a junction between the First Army
and the Fifth Panzer Army, had brought General Knobelsdorff into
General Balck's disfavor, although this was somewhat mitigated by
the reverses suffered in the Fifth Panzer Army attack.
Knobelsdorff was anxious to avoid a repetition of the First Army
failure and ordered General Priess, who, as commander of the XIII
SS Corps, was directing operations in this sector, to throw
everything he had into a resumption of the attack on 27 September.
Priess selected the village of Moncel, on the Nancy-Dieuze
highway, as the initial objective--apparently hoping to punch a
hole in the 35th Division line through which Manteuffel's Fifth
Panzer Army could roll toward Nancy. To make this attack Priess
had available the 559th VG Division (Generalmajor Kurt Freiherr
von Muehlen), the 106th Panzer Brigade--elements of which already
had been used against CCB in the fight at Fresnes--and the 59th
Regiment of the 19th VG Division. Both of the infantry formations
were new and relatively untried as units; both were somewhat under
regulation strength. The 559th VG Division had a large number of
veterans and, unlike many of the other VG divisions, most of its
infantry came from the younger mobilization classes. The officers
and noncoms were young and able veterans from the Eastern Front.
The artillery regiment of the 559th was at average strength, with
two light battalions and one medium. One company of tank
destroyers replaced the conventional assault gun battalion as
antitank defense. The 106th Panzer Brigade had been re-equipped
but did not yet have a full tank complement. Balck had tied a
string on the 106th by ordering Priess to send it to the
Nineteenth Army the moment the combined First Army and Fifth
Panzer Army attack reached the Moncel-Arracourt line.
The 559th VG Division and 106th Panzer Brigade launched their
attack on the morning of 27 September as scheduled, although
Priess had to be satisfied with a piecemeal commitment since some
elements of both these formations had not yet arrived in the XIII
SS Corps area. The 2d Battalion of the 1127th Regiment (559th VG
Division) led off in an attack down the Chambrey-Pettoncourt road
which took the Americans completely by surprise. The German tanks
and infantry wiped out a road block east of Pettoncourt manned by
troops of the 1st Battalion, 137th Infantry, overran four antitank
guns, and drove on into the village of Pettoncourt, where the main
American supply route crossed the Seille River. At Pettoncourt a
scratch force made up of a battery of light antiaircraft
artillery, some pieces from the 219th Field Artillery Battalion,
and an antitank platoon from the 137th Infantry brought the German
attack to a halt, although the enemy grenadiers were close enough
to bring the gunners under rifle fire. (During this fight 1st Lt.
Odie T. Stallcup, 1st Battalion, 137th Infantry, led his antitank
platoon with such bravery that he received the DSC.) When reserves
arrived from the 320th Infantry the German force withdrew slowly
toward Chambrey, but lost the entire rear guard platoon when the
American artillery located the range and began time fire. A second
enemy column, with a few tanks and half-tracks, drove toward
Grémecey, but was checked about a mile east of the village by
artillery fire.
At the northeastern edge of the forest the enemy filtered in from
the Forêt de Château-Salins during the morning and at some points
broke through the position of the 3d Battalion, 137th Infantry.
This attack drove as far as the regimental reserve line, where a
company from the 737th Tank Battalion and the 752d Field Artillery
Battalion--firing its 155's at point-blank range--helped the 3d
Battalion to retake most of the lost ground. During this fight the
Germans attempted to reinforce their assault force in the forest,
but the 35th Division brought four artillery battalions into
action to interdict the clearing between the Forêt de Grémecey and
the Forêt de Château-Salins, and few of the enemy got through.
|
|
Stallcup's Crew - 601st Squadron - 4 August 1944 |
|
|
Harold Stallcup was from Rutherfordton County, NC and flew 30
combat missions. Of significance is the target of Mission 61.
Peenemunde is where the German V-1 and V-2 rockets were developed.
|
|
Back Row (viewer's left to right):
1
2nd Lt. Ernest
A. Schoen, Co-Pilot
2. 2nd Lt. Bernard T. Laizer, Navigator
3. 2nd Lt. David M. Duncombe, Bombardier
4. 2nd Lt. Harold K. Stallcup, Pilot
|
|
Front
Row (viewer's left to right):
1.
S/Sgt. Sidney K. Trigher, Engineer
2.
Sgt. Emmett F. Ahlborn, Waist Gunner (flew as Ball Turret Gunner
this mission)
3.
Sgt. George Gouveia, Ball Turret (flew as Waist Gunner this
mission)
4.
Sgt. Solomon Hatkoff, Tail Gunner (normally Waist Gunner)
5.
T/Sgt. Harold P. Loveless, Radio
|
|
Comments:
1.
398th Mission No. 61 Peenemunde Germany, 4 August 1944
Crew Mission No. 22
2.
On this mission the Stallcup crew flew in the High Group
3.
Aircraft flown: 42-97394 3O-P, (B-17) Kentucky Colonel
4.
Aircraft in photo: probably 42-97394, Kentucky Colonel
5.
Photo Date: 4 August 1944
6.
Photo Location: Nuthampstead
7.
Photo Reference No. A9221
Information compiled by UK Friends of the 398th with thanks to
Harold Stallcup & Gary Goveia, son of George Gouveia. |
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ORAN H. STALCUP
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First
Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces, Service No. O-766749, 354th
Fighter Squadron, 355th Fighter Group, killed in action when
ditching in the Channel 10th February 1945 flying P-51D serial no.
44-13571 354 Squadron. Entered the Service from California.
Awarded Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart.
No known grave. Commemorated on Tablets of the Missing at
Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, England.
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STEEPLE MORDEN
355th - Roll of Honour |
World War 2 - Roll of Honour
with detailed information compiled and copyright © 2005 Martin
Edwards. The memorial stands outside the old Steeple Morden
fighter base (AAF Station F-122). This was manned by USA personnel
during World War 2 and from here flew P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51
Mustangs. The centre section describes the various squadrons
making up 355th Fighter Group. This is flanked by two columns, one
giving the history of the group and the second the units assigned
to the station. The outer columns name those men who died from the
base; the left most column being the American servicemen
and the right most column Commonwealth servicemen.
The airfield started its career as a satellite for nearby
Bassingbourn in late 1940 and was occupied by Wellingtons. Plans
were drawn up by Fighter Command to use alternative airfields
should the invasion of Southern England take place. Steeple Morden
was selected to take aircraft from Northolt. The airfield was
bombed twice with Wellingtons being damaged in the process. The
base was used more for training while Bassingbourn's concrete
runways were being laid. Eventually they moved away and the base
was handed over to the Americans who carried out construction work
to make it into a bomber station. The 5th Photographic Group were
the first Americans to see service at the base and they were
commanded by Colonel Elliott Roosevelt, the US President's son.
They used converted P-38s.
It was realized that Steeple Morden was not really suitable for a
Class A bomber airfield so it was relegated to a fighter station.
The 355th Fighter Squadron was activated 15th November
1942, at Hamilton Field, CA, flying the P-39 Airacobra. The unit
trained in California, Nevada, Oregon, and New York before
transferring to the 9th Air Force in England in November 1943. The
355th Fighter Group moved into Steeple Morden with P-47Ds although
it took some time for the unit to become operational because of
the short supply of aircraft. After a slow start they were
re-equipped with P-51s and went on to become one of the most
successful fighter units of the war, strafing aircraft on the
ground. Aircraft from here were also used to escort B-17s on a
bombing mission on Polish oilfields, made possible by the use of
drop tanks. The 355th's last mission was on 25th April 1945 by
which time they had recorded 868 victories.
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First Lt. Wayne L. Stalcup
Company A - Tank Platoon
The 42nd
Tank Battalion of the 11th Armored Division was led
with honor and distinction in combat. |
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Wayne L.
Stalcup was born in Midland, IN 1921. He served in the U S Army
during 1942-1946 and saw combat during WW-2 in France, Belgium and
Germany. He participated in the Battle of the Bulge, and campaigns
in Alsace, Rhineland and Central Europe.
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Below is a portion of the 1944-45 history record of the 42 Tank
Battalion of the 11th Armored Division recorded in the Library of
Congress, American Folklife Center, Veterans History Project. One
problem facing historians when the unit histories were released is
that after more than half a century the meaning of a lot of the
abbreviations and acronyms has been lost. A taste of the problem
is illustrated in this excerpt. This is combat action during the
Battle of the Bulge.
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27-28 December - The battalion remained in
concealed bivouac and conducted maintenance of vehicles, radios,
and weapons in preparation for further action. Track extensions
were received, and installation began immediately. At 2300, the
battalion received an order that it would move at 0215 on 29
December to an undisclosed destination over a route which would be
marked by guides. Additional information of the move would be
received enroute. Radio silence was stressed. The battalion was
alerted and the march order was issued to Company and attached
unit Commanders.
29 December - Preceding elements of CCA were late in reaching the
initial point due to icy road conditions and as a result the
battalion did not leave bivouac until 0220. The battalion marched
a distance of 78 miles, most of it during darkness to a new
concentration area north of Tornquay, Belgium. Bivouac security
was immediately set up and contact was established with the 63rd
AIB which was located on our east flank. The preparation of
vehicles and weapons for immediate action was stressed.
30 December - The 42nd Tank Battalion was assigned to the mission
of seizing the villages of Remagne, Tillet, and the high ground NE
of Flamierge, Belgium by CCA order at 0130.The 42nd Tank Battalion
(except for Company A which was attached to the 63rd AIB) was to
be known as Task Force Blue and to be composed of the following
troops:
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Task Force (TF) Blue:
42nd Tank Battalion (minus A Company); Company A 63rd AIB; Company
B 602nd Tank Destroyer (TD) Battalion; and 1st Platoon Company A
56th Engineer Battalion
The plan of attack was that TF Blue would follow TF White (63rd
AIB Reinforced) until terrain suitable for a tank attack was
reached, at which time TF Blue would pass through TF White and
continue the attack. In the case that TF Blue was held up by
ground that was too soft for tanks and would require Engineer
work, TF White was to pass through TF Blue and continue the
attack. At 0745 TF Blue proceeded North to the vicinity of
Leneville, Belgium where it deployed behind TF White. When the
advance of TF White was held up by strong enemy resistance
consisting of SA, AW, and AT fire South of Remagne, TF Blue sent
patrols to both flanks to determine enemy positions and possible
routes for envelopment. Also Company B 602nd TD was sent to
protect the left flank of the Task Force and later one platoon of
Company B, 42nd Tank Battalion was sent to give additional
protection.
31 December - On order of CCA, TF Blue at 0145 marched to a new
assembly area located SE of Morhet, Belgium, where the Battalion
prepared immediately for action. At 1230 the Battalion Commander
briefed Company and attached unit Commanders on the plans for the
attack. The mission of the 42nd Tank Battalion was to seize the
high ground in the vicinity of Renuamont, Belgium. At 1800, the
village of Rechrival was taken and due to darkness the town was
organized for defense. During the night the village of Rechrival
was the target of very intense enemy artillery, mortar, and rocket
fire causing numerous casualties to the infantry and personnel not
in tanks. An enemy infantry counterattack at 2200 was repulsed
with considerable loss to the enemy. No further counterattacks by
the enemy were made. Harassing and interdictory fire by friendly
artillery was conducted throughout the night. During this period
considerable German activity could be heard. A German equipped
with a radio was captured on the outskirts of the village at 2400.
1 January 1945 - During the early hours of the morning all
buildings were checked over and 15 Germans were taken prisoner.
While this check was being made tanks were moved up from the
village in order to forestall any possible counterattack by the
enemy. Though coming under strong Anti-Tank (AT) and S/A fire the
tanks knocked out several enemy SP guns which had been moved into
position during the night. Several were destroyed by 88mm AT fire
at this time. At 1130 an enemy counterattack of approximately a
reinforced company of infantry supported by five tanks, artillery
and mortars developed North and Northeast of Rechrival, but were
repulsed by the Battalion with heavy losses to the enemy both in
personnel and material. At 1515, the 42nd Tank Battalion with Air
Support and all available artillery made a coordinated attack
against AT guns, infantry and AW fire in the Millomont-Hubermont
area. In spite of the large number of Anti Aircraft (AA) weapons,
SP guns and tanks, the objective was taken, but due to the lack of
troops to hold the ground gained and keep supply lines open the
42nd was ordered by CCA to withdraw to Rechrival and organize at
the town for defense. The town was immediately organized for
defense and no counterattack was made by the enemy. Between 1930
and 2000, one enemy airplane bombed Rechrival three times scoring
a near miss on one tank which was not damaged. However, two men
standing near-by were killed. The rest of the night was marked
with scattered artillery fire which did no damage.
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4 January - On order
of CCA, the 42nd moved to Jodenville, Belgium where it became part
of the mobile reserve for the 17th Airborne (AB) Division.
8 January - Company B 602nd TD Battalion, was disposed along the
North edge of the woods SW of Millomont.
9 January - The 42nd moved from the vicinity of Jodenville to
Villeroux, Belgium, in order to perform its mission more
effectively. The Battalion closed into bivouac at 1645.
10 January - During the day extensive reconnaissance was made. In
order to improve the camouflaging of the tanks and halftracks, all
combat vehicles were painted white. 11 January - Liaison with the
193rd Infantry Regiment of the 17th AB Division was established
and minefield information was secured. At 1500 Company C 42nd Tank
Battalion was moved to bivouac 800 yards north of Isle La Hesse,
Belgium, and established liaison with the 513th Infantry Battalion
of the 17th AB. The Assault Gun Platoon continued firing missions
with the 490th AFA during the night.
12 January - During the morning the Battalion Commander and the
Executive Officer went on a reconnaissance for routes and areas to
the North and NE of Bastogne, Belgium. The Battalion moved from
bivouac in the vicinity of Villeroux to the vicinity of Longchamps,
Belgium. There it relieved at the 101st AB Division. The Battalion
Commander received the attack order from CCA and returned and
issued it to the Company Commanders and attached unit Commanders
at 0030. Company C 811th TD Battalion was enroute to Longchamps
from a position South of Bastogne.
13 January - The 42nd attacked at 1030 and when the 63rd AIB was
held up by S/A, AW, and mortar fire the Battalion passed through
the Infantry and continued the advance for about 500 yards when
the leading Company was held up by a minefield. First Platoon
Company A 56th Engineers was rushed forward and gapped the field.
The advance was continued until the high ground 500 yards South of
Bestogne was reached where the attack was stopped. Heavy mortar,
artillery, and high velocity weapons fire was received during the
night inflicting several casualties. A searchlight located North
of Bertogne was used by the enemy most of the night lighting up
the area for evacuating vehicles and withdrawing from the area.
Friendly artillery fired harassing and interdictory fire
throughout the night. Numerous white and red flares were sent up
by the enemy most of the night over the Bertogne-Compogne Road.
the lighting up of these flares was followed by German Aircraft
flying over this area, however, no attack was made by them.
14 January - Company B 42nd Tank Battalion was attached to the
55th AIB which had been assigned the mission of clearing the woods
and high ground to the SE of our position. During the day tanks,
assault guns, and mortars fired on enemy personnel and vehicles
located along the Bertogne-Compogne Road and the Pied du Mont
woods which were 1200 yards NE of our position. The enemy fired
mortars during the night inflicting casualties. Enemy mortar fire
during the day killed three enlisted men and one officer while
wounding eight other enlisted men. One tank was knocked out of
action due to a direct hit in the turret by enemy mortar fire.
15 January - The 42nd Tank Battalion (-C Company) was attached to
Task Force Bell with the mission of supporting by fire the attack
of Task Force Stubbs on Pied du Mont woods. Company C was to make
the Tank-Infantry attack on Pied du Mont woods after air support
and a fifteen minute artillery preparation. Companies of the 42nd
were disposed at first light so as to be able to give fire support
to the attack. The objective was taken at 1130, and the command
was reorganized in preparation for continuing the attack on
Compogne, Belgium. Company C 42nd Tank Battalion was moved to the
high ground SW of Compogne from which position it could give fire
support if necessary. During the attack on Pied du Mont woods no
casualties were suffered by the 42nd. From the light opposition it
was apparent that the preparation fire of the artillery and the
air support had driven the enemy from the woods. At 1300, the 42nd
and the 63rd AIB attacked the villages of Compogne, and Rastadt,
Belgium. At 1530 Compogne and Rastadt were taken and the town was
organized for defense. The action resulted in heavy casualties to
the enemy in personnel and equipment. 17 enemy officers and
350-400 enlisted men were taken prisoner. The 42nd had one
casualty and two tanks were temporarily out of action when their
suspension systems were damaged by an enemy minefield. At 1630
Task Force Bell issued orders to the 42nd to continue the attack
to Villeroux, Mabompre, and Houffalize, which was the Division’s
objective. The Battalion immediately started the attack and ran
into very heavy enemy AT and Tank fire in the vicinity of Mabompre.
At 1700 Villeroux was seized and the supporting infantry of
Company C 63rd AIB started to clean out the town. The enemy
immediately launched a strong counterattack consisting of one
company of infantry and 10-15 tanks. Due to darkness, Company C
42nd Tank and Company C 63rd AIB withdrew to high ground on the
West edge of Villeroux and reorganized for defense. A Company 42nd
advanced along the Compogne-Mahompre road to the outskirts of
Mabompre, encountered heavy AT gun fire, but continued the advance
to the outskirts of Mabompre. The 42nd and the 63rd organized the
Compogne-Rastadt area for defense. Unobserved enemy mortar fire
landed on this area during the night, however, no casualties were
suffered. During this action, Company C 42nd Tank suffered no
personnel or material losses. A Company 42nd Tank had six tanks
put out of action by enemy fire during this action. Three of these
tanks were later returned to action; the other three burned when
hit. Light casualties were suffered and one Officer and five
enlisted men of Company A are missing in action as a result of
this attack.
16 January - The 42nd and 63rd attacked at 1000 with the mission
seizing the high ground South of Houffalize, Belgium. The
objective was taken at 1320 and organized for defense. Enemy
resistance consisted mainly of S/A, AW. and mortar fire. No
casualties were suffered during this action. At 1600 the 42nd was
relieved and withdrew to a position on high ground South of
Houffalize.
17 January - Orders were received that the 42nd would move at 0800
on 18 January to the vicinity of Longchamps, Belgium.
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January - The 42nd marched from bivouac at 0800 to Longchamps. Due
to icy condition of the roads the Battalion did not close in
bivouac until 1500. The balance of the day was spent in
maintenance and cleaning of vehicles and equipment.
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THE CASE OF EDWARD STALCUP
Report on Homicides of
Adults in Ross County, Ohio, 1798-1900
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Both men were
Swedish and were cousins. The court record identified Edward as
German. Family stories passed down have it that Edward came home
and found Asa Mounts in bed with his wife and that was the cause
of their argument. No confirmation of this has been found.
Edward’s widow apparently remarried a very few days after his
death. His children later moved to Wisconsin maintaining that they
were German and had immigrated directly into Wisconsin from
Germany. |
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SUSPECT(s):
VICTIM(s):
Weapon:
Circumstances:
Inquest:
Indictment?
Term?:
Court proceedings:
Legal records: |
Edward Stalcupp
Asa Mounts
[hand]gun
An argument in their room [at a tavern?]
Yes, murder
DEATH. Hanged 8/3/1804.
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Newspaper: |
SCGA (apparently initials of a newspaper)
AS, 1/2/1804 (M): HOM: Edward Stalcup of Ross Co. arrested on
Th[ursday] evening, 12/29/1803 for murder of Asa Mounts the night
before. He confessed to Thomas Scott. The circumstances are
printed. "Thursday evening last, Edward Stalcup of this county,
was committed to jail for the murder of Asa Mounts, the preceding
evening.
On examination before Thomas Scott, Esq.
previous to his commitment, he voluntarily confessed, that Mounts
and himself had had a difference, soon after which Mounts lay down
upon a bed in the room; that he (Stalcup) asked the deceas'd a
question, which he not answering, Stalcup told him that if he did
not answer the second time asking, he would kill him (having then
a loaded gun in his hand;) the question being repeated and the
unfortunate deceased still remaining silent, Stalcup immediately
shot him through the body. An inquest was held on the dead body
the day following, who returned their verdict, willful murder, by
the hands of Edward Stalcup."
SGCA, 5/21/1804 (M): HOM: note about the
trial of Edward Stalcup for murder of Asa Mounts in the Supreme
Court. Also the trial of John Brandy for the murder of Joseph
Fitzgerald at the salt works. ES: T last, fG of murder. Sentence
not yet passed. JB: Th following, fG of manslaughter. Sentence:
branded with the letters M S--"which was executed the same
evening."
SGCA, 5/28/1804 (M): HOM: Edward Stalcup
sentenced to death for murder of Asa Mounts. Will be executed
Friday, 8/3/1804. [info as it appears in the paper]
SGCA, 8/6/1804 (M): HOM: Edward Stalcup
executed in Chillicothe, F, 8/3, for murder of Asa Mounts. [same
words]
SGCA, 8/13/1804 (M): HOM: Michael Baldwin
writes letter to editor regarding the confession of Edward
Stallcup for murder of Asa Mounts. Stallcup gave Baldwin letters
to his brother and wife just before the execution.
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"Mr. Willis,
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As several false reports are in circulation respecting a
confession made by Edward Stallcup, a short time before his
execution, I deem it my duty to correct such reports, by a
short statement of facts. The day before the execution I
was in the prison with the deceased--he informed me that he
had been requested to make a confession, and requested my
opinion. I told him, that he ought to devote his whole time
to making his peace with the Almighty: He was of the same
opinion. The next day, a short time before he went to the
place of execution, he gave me a bundle of papers through
the grates of the prison, observing at the same time, that
when I looked at them I would know what to do with them. I
did not peruse them until after his death, when I found them
to be letters to his brother and wife, with a request that I
should deliver them. They contained nothing of the nature
of a confession. When I was in prison with him as before
mentioned, I asked him for my own satisfaction concerning
the death of Asa Mounts. He acknowledged that he shot
Mounts, and that he at the time of the death of Mounts, knew
good from evil. This is the substance of the verbal
confession he made to me, and the only one he ever made of
any kind, to my knowledge. |
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MICHAEL BALDWIN Aug. 11, 1804."
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This article is reported to have
appeared in the Russellville, Russell County, Kentucky newspaper
on July 31, 1809. The Peter Stalcup involved has not been
identified. |
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JOSEPH STALCUP
Western Weekly Review
(Newspaper)
August 1842 Franklin, Tennessee
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MURDER OF WILLIAM
KOPMAN. -- Mr. Wm. Kopman, of the firm of Hayward & Kopman, of
Fulton, Ark., was murdered at Batson's stand in Humphrey's Co.,
Tenn., on the 2d Aug. Mr. Kopman was on his way to Winchester, and
spent a day or two in Memphis as he came on from Fulton. He was
known to have in his possession several thousand dollars, for
which he lost his life. Mr. Kopman was a relative of M. Sidney
Kopman, merchant of Memphis; was born in Vienna: he had resided
for the past 12 years in New York, and Columbus, Ga., and has a
brother living in New Orleans, a sister living in Pensacola, and
near connexion residing in New York, all of high respectability.
The deceased is represented to us as having been an accomplished
gentleman, of fine education, and a most estimable man.
We have been put in possession of the following particulars of the
murder, from a gentleman residing at the place where it occurred.
Mr. K. put up at Col. Hunt's, 11 miles east of Waverly, on Monday
night, the 1st day of Aug. He left there the next morning after
breakfast, and in a few hours afterwards his horse returned to
Hunt's, stripped of saddle, bridle, &c. On Thursday evening, the
3d of August, he was found about 4 miles from Hunt's, some twenty
steps from the road. The next day a jury of inquest was held over
his body, and the verdict of the jury was, that he came to his
death by the discharge of a large pistol, rifle or yager (*) the
ball of which took effect in his head, greatly fracturing the
skull, by some persons to them unknown. He was buried near the
place where he was found, on the roadside. Search was then made by
the jury and persons present for his saddle-bags, hat, saddle,
&c., which were found three or four hundred yards from the road.
A man by the name of
Joseph Stalcup
is suspected of having committed the murder. He stayed at Hunt's
on Sunday night. He said he was from Washington, Ark. Kopman saw
his name on the register, and said he knew him. The same man was
supposed to have been seen sitting on the road-side where Kopman
was murdered on Monday evening. Some persons think they saw
Stalcup
pass on the Nashville road 5 or 6 times from the place on Tuesday
evening — his yager rendered him rather more conspicuous than he
would have been, almost every person that saw him being attracted
by it. Several persons have gone in pursuit of him.
Since writing the above, we learn that
Stalcop
has been arrested and brought back. Also that when he arrived at
Hunt's he remarked to Hunt: "You say I am the murderer, you d---d
villain. You are the murderer, sir."
(Mr. Stalcop has been honorably acquitted at Gallatin. — Ed. Whig)
We also learn that Hunt is under arrest. Suspicion was aroused
against Hunt from the circumstances of the deceased's horse
finding his way back to his stable, and he saying nothing about it
for two or three days, or until the murder was known.
By reference to our advertising columns, it will be seen that his
brother (of William Kopman), residing in New Orleans, offers a
reward of $200 for the discovery of the murderer. --- Fort
Pickering Eagle.
* A 19th
century German made rifle used by Light Infantry, Hessian troops
brought them over during the Revolutionary War. German gunsmiths
in PA evolved it into the PA rifle and later into the KY rifle.
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Larry:
This tragedy occurred on the Fourth of July 1905 in the hamlet of
Park Indiana in Greene County, Indiana. Ira Stalcup was 31, his
wife Lillian Dobbins Stalcup was 29 and daughter Helen 5. They had
lost a baby son Paul in 1898. Ira was the Grandson of pioneer
Hance Stalcup who did the initial survey for the town of the
county seat Bloomfield in 1821; and Great Grandson of "Honest
John" Stalcup, a founder of the Orange County, Indiana Stalcup line
in Southern Indiana.
Steven J. Stalcup. |
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MURDER
SUICIDE AT PARK
(Extract from “THE BLOOMFIELD NEWS”
dated July 5, 1905)
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“Ira Stalcup
commits suicide after killing wife and daughter. Terrible
ending to a prominent farmer family...woman shot while asleep,
girl’s head almost severed and top of man’s head blown off.
One of the most
terrible tragedies in the history of Greene County was committed
at an early hour Monday morning when Ira Stalcup, a highly
respected farmer, wiped out three lives.
Almost within the
shadow of the Richland Church, occupying a little cottage of four
rooms all their own, the family of three lived a life of domestic
happiness, which the neighbors considered ideal.
When a neighbor
stopped at the Stalcups to use the telephone, she found Mr.
Stalcup near the center of the sitting-room in a pool of his own
gore, his almost headless form with the weapon of destruction by
his side and the entire room, including the furniture, presenting
the appearance of a slaughter house.
The most generally
accepted theory and one that is backed up by the strongest
evidence is that about 4:30 am, when the neighbors heard the
report of a gun, Mr. Stalcup arose in a fit of insanity, seized
his shotgun and, taking deadly aim at the head of his wife, ten
feet away, pulled the trigger....and the first act in the horrible
drama was finished.
One stray shot struck
the little daughter, Helen, in the neck and instantly she sprang
up and started to get out of bed, when she was seized by her
father, who with a razor in hand almost severed her head from her
lifeless form, when found, was lying face down across the feet of
her lifeless mother.... this ending the sickening story of the
second act.
This done, the
destroyer stepped into the sitting-room, removed from the gun the
empty shell, which was on the floor, put in the fresh shell,
rested his forehead on the muzzle and likely with his toe, touched
the trigger and his entire head above the eyes was blown off and
fragments of skull and brains were scattered not only over that
room but every room of the house....thus ended the last act of the
fearful tragedy.
He was inclined to
brood and was dejected and gloomy, taking a rather dark view of
life. Some time ago, Mrs. Stalcup told her sister that her
husband had been acting strangely, and she would not be surprised
if he did something desperate. She said that upon two occasions
recently she had awoke and found him standing over her bed and
gazing at her with a wild look, and, when she asked what was the
matter, he said, ‘I don’t know unless the devil has got the upper
hand of me.’ But she insisted that her sister not tell her
parents nor anyone else. He was reported to have said to some
neighbors that there isn’t much in life but trouble.
One of the causes of
his brooding, it is believed, lay in the fact that several years
ago, while handling a gun, it discharged, killing his little
brother. Also, he had a son die. The funeral services were held
from Walnut Grove, Wednesday at 3:00p.m. in charge of P.H. Fulk
and was the most largely attended funeral ever known in the
community. Three hearses carried the remains to their resting
place---the Mood Cemetery near the church---and all three were
laid to rest in one grave....thus ended the terrible and pathetic
story.” |
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STALCUP MARRIAGE GONE BAD
Steven J Stalcup
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Larry:
Another Stalcup
Saga.... Stephen Stalcup was the son of Eli Stalcup who migrated
from Tennessee with his father to what became Greene County
Indiana at about the time Indiana became a state in 1816. This
Stephen has about a dozen Children, several of them boys, by three
wives before he died in the 1860s. There would not have been the
nearly as many Stalcups in Indiana if he had remained married and
stayed in Tennessee.
Steve Stalcup -
Greenwood, Indiana |
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Sumner County, TN Lawsuit #10039
From the Loose Records of Sumner Co, TN
Stalcup, Stephen vs. Stalcup, Peggy, 1818
(Cavitt, Pill/Pull, Stalcup)
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1818‑
To
the Honorable Thomas Stuart of the of the county in and for The
State of Tennessee.
Your Petitioner Stephen Stalcup who is a citizen of this
state and has been a resident therein from his nativity to this
leave represent to your Honor that sometime in January 1818 he
intermarried with a certain Peggy [Margaret] Pitt of the
county of Sumner and State aforesaid; that they lived together a
few months, perhaps about four when he discovered that the said
Peggy kept up an unusual intercourse with one Andrew Cavitt;
that he always to said Peggy tenderly and affectionately before
said discovery; that he was not guilty of adultery or any offense
that was with the matrimonial vow after said marriage until he
discovered that the said Peggy was guilty of the crime of adultery
with the aforesaid Cavitt. That his life and never since admitted
him in to his as a wife; that after your Petitioner remained
absent from this country about four months and on his return
found the said Peggy actually cohabited with the said Andrew as
husband and wife and says she is married to him; that he and
believes that she has a child by the said Andrew: all of which
deeds are with the matrimonial vow and have your petitioners
conditions intolerable please your Honor to dissolve the bonds of
matrimony subsisting between your Petitioner and the said Peggy.
Signed
Stephen Stalcup
State of Tennessee
Sumner County
This day, Stephen Stalcup _ personally appeared before me,
John Rutherford, and acting Justice of the Peace for said county
and made oath, that the facts contained in the petition are true
to the best of his knowledge and belief and that said complaint is
not made out of levity or by collusion between husbands and wife
for the purpose of being freed and so separated from each other;
but in sincerity and truth for the causes set forth in said
petition.
Signed
Stephen
Stalcup
Sworn to me
this 20th day of Sep 1819
Signed John Rutherford |
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Stephen Stalcup vs.
Peggy Stalcup
Petition filed 18 Sept 1819
April term 1820
Be it remembered that on the 19th day of April 1820 the
last day of the above Term of Sumner Co. court the above case came
on for in part the said Peggy Stalcup was called to come into
court and answer the petition of the said Stephen for a divorce
but came not; that it appeared to the satisfaction of The court
that a copy of the said petition and delivered by the sheriff of
This county; that the said Petitioner Stephen Stalcup also proved
to the Satisfaction the court that the said Peggy was guilty of
adultery as set Forth in his petition, it therefore ordered,
judged, and decreed by the court
That the marriage
subsisting between the said Stephen Stalcup and Peggy
Stalcup the
above named parties be dissolved and the said Stephen Stalcup pay
The costs of
this suit. |
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RELATED
FAMOUS OR INFAMOUS PERSONS
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All families
have people that are related via marriage. Often there is a person
in the attached family that becomes well known for one reason or
another. Below are several that are in this category and so
connected, for better or worse, to the Stalcop family.
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JOHN MORTON
(1725 – April 1, 1777)
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John Morton was a farmer, surveyor, and
jurist from the
Province of
Pennsylvania. A delegate to the
Continental
Congress, he provided the
deciding vote that allowed Pennsylvania to vote in favor of the
Declaration
of Independence. He was a signer
of the Declaration of Independence and chaired the committee that
wrote the
Articles of
Confederation.
John Morton was a cousin to Maria “Mary”
Morton who, about 1711, married John Stallcop, son of Pietter
Stallcop, as well as a cousin to her brother, also named John
Morton, who married Margareta Stalcop. |
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John Morton was born in
Chester
County, Pennsylvania, now part of
Delaware
County. He was a son of John
Morton a colonist who came from Sweden with his great-grandfather,
Mårten Mårtensson. The family originated in Finland and had
migrated into Sweden several generations earlier. Finally Mårten
Mårtensson moved on from Sweden to New Sweden across the Atlantic.
The family name eventually was
anglicized
as Morton. His mother was Mary Archer.
His father died before he was born. When
John was about seven years old, his mother remarried to John
Sketchley, a farmer of English ancestry, who educated Morton.
About 1748, John Morton married Ann Justis, the
great-granddaughter of Johan Gustafsson from Kinnekulle,
Skaraborg, Sweden who
came to
New Sweden on the ship Swan in 1643 on the Fourth
Expedition and was initially stationed at Fort Elfsborg. Governor
Risingh promoted Gustafsson to the rank of gunner, transferring
him to Fort Trinity at Sand Hook, present New Castle, Delaware. He
was there during the Dutch Invasion.
Gustafsson was anglicized to Justice, Justis and Justus due
to the difficulties non-Swedes had in pronouncing and spelling the
name. The couple had nine children.
John Morton was an active member of the
Anglican
Church in Chester County. He was
elected to the
Pennsylvania
Provincial Assembly in 1756. The
following year he was also appointed
justice of the
peace, an office he held until
1764. He served as a delegate to the
Stamp Act
Congress in 1765. He resigned
from the Assembly in 1766 to serve as sheriff of Chester County,
PA. He returned to the Assembly in 1769 and was elected
Speaker
in 1775. Finally he was appointed as an associate justice of the
Supreme Court
of Pennsylvania in 1774.
Morton was a member of the
First
Continental Congress in 1774 and
the Second in 1775. He helped move Pennsylvania towards
independence but he opposed the radical
Pennsylvania
Constitution of 1776. When
Congress began the debate on a
resolution of
independence the Pennsylvania
delegation was split, with
Benjamin
Franklin and
James Wilson
in favor of declaring independence, and
John Dickinson
and
Robert Morris
opposed. Morton finally sided with Franklin and Wilson. When the
final vote was taken on
July 2,
Dickinson and Morris abstained, allowing Pennsylvania to
unanimously support the resolution of independence. Morton signed
the Declaration on
August 2.
Morton was chairman of the committee that
wrote the
Articles of
Confederation, but died, probably
of Pulmonary Tuberculosis – TB, before the Articles were ratified.
He was the first signer of the Declaration of Independence to die.
He is was buried in the Old Swedish Burial Ground, also known as
St. Paul's Burying Ground, in the city of Chester, Pennsylvania on
Rt. 291 across from the old courthouse. |
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OLIVER EVANS
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Oliver Evens, the son of Charles and
Annika Stallcop Evans, was born Sept. 13, 1755, near Newport,
Delaware—died April 15, 1819, New York C, NY, Annika Stallcop
was the daughter of John and Maria Morton Stallcop.
Oliver Evens was an inventor who pioneered the high-pressure
steam engine
(U.S. patent, 1790) and created the first continuous
production
line (1784).
One of twelve children Evans was apprenticed
to a wheelwright as a teenager. Observing the trick of a
blacksmith’s boy who used the propellant force of steam in a gun,
he began to investigate ways to harness steam for propulsion but
soon became distracted by a number of other industrial problems.
Carding, or combing, fibers to prepare them for spinning was a
laborious process constituting a bottleneck in the newly
mechanized production of
textiles.
To speed this operation Evans invented a machine that cut and
mounted 1,000 wire teeth per minute on leather, the teeth serving
as an improved carding device.
In 1784, at the age of 29, he attacked
another major industrial production problem, the age-old process
of grinding
grain.
Building a factory outside Philadelphia and adapting five
machines, including conveyors, elevators, and weighing scales, he
created an automatic production line that provided all material
movement throughout the mill. Waterwheels supplied power, and
grain was fed in at one end, passed by a system of conveyors and
chutes through the stages of milling and refining, and emerged at
the other end as finished flour. The system, which greatly reduced
production costs, was widely copied in American flour milling.
When Evans applied for patent protection,
first to several
state
governments (1787) and later to
the new U.S. Patent Office (1790), he added a third invention, his
high-pressure
steam engine. He continued to
work on this for the next several years, envisioning both a
stationary engine for industrial purposes and an engine for land
and water transport. In 1801 he built in Philadelphia a stationary
engine that turned a rotary crusher to produce pulverized
limestone for agricultural purposes. |
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In 1806 Evans began to develop his noted
Mars Iron Works, where, over the next 10 years, he made more than
100 steam engines that were used with
screw presses
for processing cotton, tobacco, and paper. Evans’ last great work,
completed in 1817, was a 24-horsepower high-pressure engine for a
waterworks.
Oliver Even suffered a stroke and died in
New York shortly after being informed of a disastrous fire that
destroyed his Mars Iron Works. He is buried in Trinity Cemetery,
Broadway
at 154th Street, New York, NY.
During World War II, the United States
liberty ship
SS Oliver
Evans was named in his honor.
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JONATHAN BROWNING
Born: October 22, 1805 at
Brushby Fork, Gallatin, Sumner Co, Tennessee
Died: June 21, 1879 at Ogden, Weber Co, Utah
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Jonathan Browning was born on a Tuesday,
October 22, 1805 at Bushby Fork, Gallatin, Sumner Co, Tennessee,
son of Edmund Lloyd Browning and Sarah Allen Browning. He married
Elizabeth Stallcop (Stalcup) on November 9, 1826 at Bledsoe Creek,
Tennessee. |
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Jonathon Browning |
Elizabeth Stallcop Browning |
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The Browning name has been synonymous with
creative gunsmithing for generations. The Browning Arms Company
has distinguished itself in armaments for nearly 120 years. The
family tradition of creating exceptional firearms began with
Jonathan Browning, the inventor of a repeating rifle. Family
records and surviving guns evidence his unique gift as an
inventive gunsmith.
Jonathan Browning was born and reared in
rural Brushby Fork, Tennessee. Observing his father's struggle to
reap a harvest from the rocky hillside led him to conclude he
never wanted to be a farmer. But what else could he do? Brushby
Fork was a community in name only and lacked even a schoolhouse
and a church.
Employment opportunities were few and a
career other than farming seemed impossible however, in his early
teens a challenging opportunity presented itself when a neighbor
discarded an unusable flintlock rifle. Even though the gun was
missing parts and the lock was broken, Jonathan offered to work
for one week for the neighbor in exchange for the discarded rifle.
He later claimed that week was the only enthusiastic farming he
ever did. Jonathan took the gun home and made the missing parts,
repaired it, and then sold it to the neighbor for four dollars.
As word spread of his mechanical ability he
was invited to be an apprentice to a blacksmith. During the next
few years he learned the fundamentals of hand forging, welding,
brazing, tempering, and soldering. By age 19, six feet,
well-muscled Jonathan thought himself a competent gun maker, even
though he had never met a gunsmith. Anxious to learn from a master
craftsman, he borrowed his father's horse, rode thirty miles to
Nashville, and convinced a gunsmith to apprentice him without pay.
After three months of apprenticeship Jonathan Browning had
mastered the trade.
He returned home to the rural countryside,
married his sweetheart Elizabeth Stallcup (Stallcop) on November
9, 1826 at Bledsoe Creek, TN, and began a successful gun business.
His success in Tennessee ended when reports circulated in the
community of limitless land, free for the taking, in frontier
Illinois. One by one his customers and then family members joined
the westward migration to Illinois; and finally 28 year old
Jonathan closed his shop, loaded two wagons and moved his supplies
and family about 400 miles to Quincy, Illinois.
Quincy, favorably located on the Mississippi
River, was a small but flourishing abolitionist frontier town in
1834. Newcomers were heartily welcomed and the Brownings from
Tennessee quickly made new friends and acquaintances that were
anxious to barter for the talents of the young gunsmith. His shop
was an immediate success. However, he wanted more. He wanted to
create new firearms.
Living at the time when flintlock guns were
being eclipsed by the invention of the percussion cap and
pre-loaded paper cartridges, Jonathan believed a multi-shot gun
was possible and went to work. He invented a simple, practical
repeating rifle and a six-shot repeater. Today these guns are a
curio, but in the 1830s their continuous fire was unequaled by any
contemporary gun found along the frontier of Illinois.
His repeating rifle had a number of
ingenious features that became the trademark of Browning firearms.
The most notable features were simplicity and operating ease.
These inventions brought considerable local fame to Browning and
orders for many guns. As Jonathan was energetic, his business
thrived as he personally customized each lock, stock, and barrel
for the buyers. Although the lands and grooves were cleanly cut
and the locks worked smoothly, hammer marks from his hours of
pounding can still be seen on the rifles he made. It is estimated
that each gun took Jonathan two weeks to create from start to
finish. He worked hour after hour to make just one gun and then
bartered or sold it for a mere twenty-four dollars.
Nevertheless, the repeating rifle and
six-shot repeater brought him instant local prominence. Jonathan
enjoyed moving in the social circles of Quincy and having his
opinion valued on almost any subject. He was elected by his
constituents to the office of justice of the peace and relished
being called Judge Browning. This position put him in contact with
young lawyers, including Abraham Lincoln, who stayed overnight at
his home on at least two occasions.
On one occasion Lincoln said, Judge,
somebody told me that a youngster in the neighborhood broke his
arm yesterday and you set it. Do you fix anything that
breaks--plow, gun, bone? Jonathan laughed and nodded. It's a fine
life you're leading here, Judge, mending anything that breaks.
Looks funny at first glimpse to see a man welding a broken gun
part for a farmer one day and the next day setting a bone for the
farmer's son. Jonathan replied, Bone settings a lot easier. Nature
does most of that welding. But if it's two pieces of iron, you've
got to blow up the forge and pound. Nature won't help with that."
His position as judge also brought him into
contact with exiled Mormons who were daily arriving in Quincy in
the winter of 1839 from Missouri. These exiles had been subjected
to an Extermination Order issued by the Missouri governor stating
that The Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be
exterminated or driven from the state. Curious about Mormonism and
Mormons who were settling 43 miles north of Quincy in the dismal
swamp they called Nauvoo, Jonathan went upriver to see them.
His meeting of the Mormon Prophet Joseph
Smith led to his conversion to Mormonism. The reputation he had
enjoyed in Quincy took a dramatic turn for the worse when news
reached the community that Jonathan Browning was now a Mormon.
Neighbors shunned the judge and his family. Seeking happiness with
friends in his new faith, Jonathan sold his gun shop and home in
Quincy and moved to Nauvoo. He purchased a half-lot on the east
side of Main Street, where he and his family, including his wife
and nine children, lived in a two-room log cabin until their brick
house was built.
During his six years of residence in Nauvoo,
Jonathan was the famed gunsmith of Main Street. He made one rifle
after another for his customers, always experimenting with
improving mechanisms for the firearms. However, the most unique
feature of his Nauvoo guns was an engraved plate on the stock
reading “Holiness to the Lord - Our Preservation'' Acquiring one
of these valued antique guns today would be a great treasure for
any collector.
When friction ignited between the Mormons
and their near neighbors in 1846, Jonathan did not react by
loading his gun and retaliating. Instead, he and his family
followed the counsel of Brigham Young and fled from Nauvoo,
willingly abandoning their property without recompense. He merely
closed his shop and took his tools with him across the Mississippi
River. He trekked through marshy loess hills of Iowa with other
Mormon refugees, enduring the pains and sufferings of the wintry
days and the chilling nights. He settled temporarily in Council
Bluffs.
When the Mormon Battalion was being mustered
at Council Bluffs during their trek west into the United States
Army in 1846 to fight in the War with Mexico, Jonathan wanted to
volunteer and lined up with his friend James Brown and the other
recruits. Brigham Young took him by the arm and led him aside,
saying, ”Brother Jonathan, we need you here.” Brigham wanted him
to stay behind in Iowa to make and repair the guns necessary for
the migrating pioneers. Jonathan's advertisement in the local
Frontier Guardian newspaper read: “Improved Fire-arms revolving
rifles and pistols; also slide guns, from 5 to 25 shooters. All on
an improved plan.” It is estimated that he made 400 guns.
Children of Jonathan Browning and Elizabeth
Stalcup Browning: David Elias Browning b.1829; md
Charilla
Abbott, Barbara Browning b. 1831,
John Wesley Browning b. 1832; md. Annie Elizabeth Roper; James
Allen Browning b. 1833, Asenath Elizabeth Browning b. Nov 7, 1835,
Martha Browning b. 1838, Malvina Browning b. 1840, Nancy Browning
b. 1842, Jonathan Alma Browning b. 8 Oct 1845, Melinda Vashti
Browning b. 28 Nov 1847, d. 12 May 1926
Jonathan Browning and Elizabeth Stalcup
Browning were living in District Number 21, Pottawattamie, Iowa on
30 August 1850. It is believed that Jonathan Browning married a
second wife, Polly Rippy, sometime after 1830 or later. There is
little information to substantiate this marriage. It was not until
1852 that Jonathan was invited by Mormon Church leaders to
continue his journey to the West. He left his gunsmithing in Iowa
and trekked to the Rocky Mountains as a captain of one of the
pioneering companies. He arrived in the Salt Lake Valley with six
wagons and nearly six hundred dollars cash, carefully hidden
beneath a false bottom in a flour barrel. With that money he was
able to start his business ventures again and was soon considered
a prosperous Mormon.
Jonathan Browning married a third wife,
Elizabeth Caroline Clark at respective ages of 48 and 37 on
Friday, 17 March 1854 in Ogden, Weber Co, Utah. (The Pioneer, Feb
1953, Vol. 5, No. 3, Page 17 identifies this wife as Elizabeth B.
Cook.) Children of Jonathan Browning and Elizabeth Caroline Clark:
John Moses Browning b. 23 Jan 1855, Matthew Sandifer Browning b.
27 Oct 1859.
Jonathan, at the age of 52, married a fourth
wife, Sarah Ann Emmett on Monday, 29 March 1858 in Ogden, Weber,
Utah. Children of Jonathan Browning and Sarah Ann Emmett: Jonathan
Edmund Browning b. 26 Jan 1859, Thomas Samuel Browning b. 15 Apr
1860, William W. Browning b. 1862, Olive E. Browning b. 1864,
George E. Browning b. 1866.
Jonathan settled with his family in Ogden,
Utah, where he once again opened a gunsmith shop. He had a shop on
the east side of Washington Boulevard between 24th and 25th
streets. As a resident of Ogden, Jonathan Browning soon became a
leading citizen, being elected to Ogden City Council, served as
probate judge of Weber County, was a member of the Utah
Legislature and in the ecclesiastical sphere he was Bishop's
counselor, a member of the Weber Stake High Council, and president
of the High Priest's Quorum. Browning sharpened plows, shoed
horses, set wagon tires, and repaired guns, and he also made some
of the first nails, fire tongs, fire shovels, pokers, horseshoes,
hoes, shovels, and grubbing hoes used in Weber County. In addition
he developed the first iron-roller molasses mill made in Ogden.
Unfortunately, he never made another gun. His famous son John
Moses Browning, credited with over 120 patents for firearms,
worked with his father in the gun shop. He said, “We ridiculed
some of the guns we fixed, and I damned some of them when Pappy
wasn't near, but it never occurred to us to make better ones. He
was too old, and I was too young.
“Died of weariness,'' his son John said. “He
had worked so hard that, finally tired out, he went to sleep and
didn't wake up.'' |
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