Peter Andersson of Siamensing
and his Longacre Descendants

by Dr. Peter Stebbins Craig
Fellow, American Society of Genealogists
Fellow, Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania
Historian, Swedish Colonial Society

originally published in Swedish Colonial News,
Volume 2, Number 9 (Fall 2003)

Anders Olsson was at the docks when his son, Peter Andersson, went on board the Kalmar Nyckel on its second voyage to New Sweden in the fall of 1639. The lad had agreed to try his luck in the America and had been hired as a laborer by the New Sweden Company at a wage of four Riks--daler per month (10 Dutch guilders). Among his shipmates were several other new settlers who would become his friends and neighbors in future years ­ Peter Gunnarsson (Rambo), Sven Gunnars-son, Peter Larsson (Cock), Anders Svensson Bonde (Boon) and Anders Larsson Dalbo. After his arrival in America, Peter Anders-son sent part of his wages (20 Riksdaler) home for the use of his father, Anders Olsson.

Initially, Peter Andersson probably worked for commander Peter Hollender Ridder, but when Governor Johan Printz replaced Ridder in 1643, Peter Andersson was among the settlers chosen by Printz to help him at his Printzhof estate on Tini-cum Island. The 1644 census of the New Sweden colony reported that Peter was employed cutting hay and sailing with the Governor on his little yacht. By 1648 Peter Andersson was shown as the skipper of the Governor's yacht.

When Governor Printz returned to Sweden on a Dutch ship in 1653, Peter Andersson was among his entourage. After arriving in Amsterdam, Peter collected 50 guilders of his back pay from the Swedish ambassador in April 1654. He then proceeded to Sweden where he collected additional back pay on 24 May 1654.

During his year and a half in Sweden, Peter Andersson not only collected the balance of his wages but also agreed to return to the colony, for which he was advanced two months' wages. More important, he also found a wife. The new couple were among the passengers on the Mercurius, which headed out to sea on 25 November 1655.

After 3_ months at sea, the Mercurius arrived before former Fort Trinity (New Castle) on 13 March 1656, only to find that the Swedish colony was now in Dutch hands. At first, the Dutch refused to allow the ship to unload its passengers and cargo. However, the native Indians interceded and -the Mercurius finally went upriver and discharged its passengers and cargo at Tini-cum Island.

Peter Andersson and his wife joined three of his old colleagues (Peter Rambo, Sven Gunnars-son and Anders Dalbo) at the village of Kingsess-ing in present West Philadelphia. In May 1660, Peter Andersson successfully represented the residents of Kingsessing in their effort to prevent the Dutch from ordering all the Swede to live in one protected community. The Swedes did not believe they needed any protection from the local Indians.

In 1664, when Peter Rambo moved to Passy-unk, Peter Andersson acquired Rambo's 1/4 interest in Kingsessing. However, Peter also eyed land adjoining the Schuylkill River and settled there on a tract named Siamensing. A 1677 tax list showed him then residing at Siamensing with one other tydable male (aged 16-60), namely his son. Peter Andersson probably died the following year.

Peter's widow, Gunilla, then married Henry Jones, a Welsh hatter.-- She appeared in the Upland Court in a lawsuit against Jonas Nilsson in 1680, accusing the latter of having wrongfully taken some of Peter Andersson's land at Kingsessing and won her case. The will of Henry Jones, dated 8 October 1683, witnessed by Peter Rambo, gave a legacy to his nephew in Wales and left the balance of his estate to Gunilla.

Anders Petersson Långåker

The only known child of Peter Andersson was Anders Peterson, who was described as 26 years old in a census taken in the spring of 1683. This suggests that he was born during the year following the arrival of the Mercurius in America. He married c. 1680 Magdalena, one of six daughters of Peter Larsson Cock.

Anders Petersson inherited his father's lands at Kingsessing and Siamensing. In 1680, the Up-land Court granted him an additional 100 acres adjoining Siamensing. He then sold his Kingses-sing land to his brother-in-law Lasse Cock, who resold it to James Hunt, an Englishman. Unfortunately, with the transfer of sovereignty to William Penn, there was no survey made of Anders Peters-son's expanded Siamensing estate. It would not be patented officially by Pennsylvania until more than fifty years later. It further appears that a part of Anders Petersson's land was sold or rented to Robert Longshore, an English surveyor who had married Lasse Cock's sister, Martha Cock.

In a 1684 survey of adjoining land owned by the Swedish Justis family, we find the first public record of Anders Petersson's adopted surname ­ Långåker in Swedish (meaning "long field"), Longacre in English. It is uncertain whether this was descriptive of his land or a play on words, mimicking his new brother-in-law Robert Longshore.

Anders Petersson and his wife Magdalena Cock were active members of the Swedish log church at Wicaco. As "And. Persson," he was listed among the persons pledging contributions to that church in 1684. When that congregation and its counterpart at Crane Hook were without Swedish ministers or Swedish Bibles and hymn books, they petitioned the King of Sweden on 30 May 1693 asking for help. To the petition was appended the names of the two congregations. The 34th entry of the Wicaco congregation was the name of Anders Pärsson Långåker with "seven souls" in his household. On 30 October 1697 the leaders of both churches signed a letter to William Penn thanking him for allowing the Swedish clergymen to come to Pennsylvania. Among the signers for the Wicaco congregation was Anders Långåker, apparently written in his own hand.

Church records also show that in 1697 Anders Långåker pledged ^1.5 annually for Rudman's salary and also gave ^5 towards the construction of Gloria Dei (Old Swedes) Church at Wicaco, which was dedicated in 1700. In return, Anders Långåker was assigned a favorable pew, in the second row of the second quarter. On 14 May 1702, he was elected a vestryman and on 20 September 1717 he was elected a church warden.

On the tenth of October in 1718, Andrew Longacre of Kingsessing Township wrote his will, directing that his eldest son Peter receive "the place whereon he now dwells," 60 acres; that his second son Andrew, receive "all the land on which he now liveth on the north side of the King's Road," and that his youngest son Gabriel receive
"the place wher-eon I now live" after the death of Magdalena. He also bequeathed to Gabriel two oxen, two cows, one horse, a bed and furniture. The will directed that his daughter Helena was to be "maintained on the plantation whereon I now live for life." He named as executors his wife and his son Andrew. The will was proved two months later, on 10 December 1718.

Andrew Peterson Longacre and his wife Magdalena Cock had ten children, as follows:

1. Peter Longacre, born in 1682, married Barbara Friend, 10 Nov. 1705. She was the daughter of Nils Larsson Frände. After his marriage, Peter was given 60 acres of Siamensing lying next to the Schuylkill, which remained his home until he died on 7 May 1739. He was survived by five children

• Peter Longacre, born c. 1710, married his cousin, Sarah Sträng, daughter of Lars Sträng and Rebecca Friend of Gloucester County. He and Måns Justis acquired title to his father's lands, but lost the same to creditors. Peter died in poverty at the Sträng plantation on Oldmans Creek, Gloucester County NJ, 26 Novem--ber 1770, survived by his widow Sarah and five daughters.
• Sarah Longacre, born in 1713, married Måns Justis, son of Charles Justis and Margaret Boon, on 4 August 1739. They had two known children (Rebecca and Israel) before Måns deserted her to become a "vagabond." Sarah died 13 May 1754 at the age of 43.
• Israel Longacre, born c. 1715, moved with his younger brothers to Calcon Hook, Lower Darby Township, where he initially lived on the land of his uncle Anders Geörgen. In 1766 he moved to Ridley Township, where he acquired land adjoining the Morton Homestead, near the ferry to Tinicum Island. He was a charter member of St. James (Old Swedes) Church of Kingsessing, founded in 1762, and served as a vestryman of that church from 1772 until his death 23 September 1784. By his wife Susannah, daughter of Peter Justis and Helena Lock of Gloucester County NJ, Israel had five children, including Peter Longacre (1757-1830), father of James Barton Longacre, who became the Engraver of the Philadelphia Mint.
• Andrew Longacre, born c. 1718, appears to have died in Ridley Township by 1774.
• Gabriel Longacre, born c. 1720, appears to have died in Lower Darby Township by 1768.

2. Andrew Longacre, born in 1684, married Elizabeth [parents not identified] about 1705. His father gave him that part of Siamensing lying north of the King's Road (Woodland Avenue). He also acquired Gabriel's share of Siamensing lying south of the King's Road. He and his wife Elizabeth sold all of this to Peter Stille of Philadelphia on 24 December 1736 for ^133. The family then moved to Calcon Hook to live on the Geörgen plantation. Andrew apparently died soon thereafter. His widow Elizabeth died at Calcon Hook 14 February 1758 at the age of 78. They had two known children:

• Elizabeth Longacre, born c. 1706, married Peter Tussey of New Castle County c. 1725. Their sole surviving child, Elizabeth Tussey, married her cousin Anders Geörgen (Urian), Jr., of Calcon Hook.
• Andrew Longacre, born c. 1712, married Hannah, daughter of Richard Ireson c. 1737. They joined a group of Quakers moving to Frederick County, Virginia, in the 1740s. The family was active in the Hopewell Friends Meeting in Winchester, Va. Hannah died 4 August 1793 and Andrew died three years later. They had six children (Joseph, Mary, Richard, John, Andrew and Benjamin) and became the forebearers of the "southern" Longacres.

3. Margaret Longacre, born in 1688, was living at home in 1697. She was not named in her father's will and probably died before reaching adulthood.

4. Helena Longacre, born in 1690, was disabled and living at home in 1718; she died unmarried shortly thereafter.

5. Maria Longacre, born in 1692, married Andrew Geörgen [Urian] at Gloria Dei Church in 1717. Her husband was born in 1690, the son of Hans Geörgen and Elisabeth Johansdotter Grels-son. The couple made their home on the Geörgen plantation at Calcon Hook, Lower Darby Township, Chester County, which Andrew inherited from his father. They had two children, Benjamin Geörgen or Urian, born c. 1720, and Anders Geörgen or Urian, Jr., born in 1723. Maria died, probably in the late 1720s. Her husband remarried and died in 1753 at Calcon Hook.

6. Catharina Longacre, born in 1696-7, was not mentioned in her father's will and probably died in childhood.

7. Gabriel Longacre, born c. 1700, died unmarried in 1723. His will devised his father's home plantation to his four surviving sisters (Maria, Anna, Magda-lena and Brita) after the death of his mother.

8. Anna Longacre, born c. 1702, married Christopher Lindemeyer (sometimes Linmire) by 1725. He was the son of Niclas Lindemeyer and Christina Jonasdotter [daughter of Jonas Nilsson] and lived on a nearby plantation then owned by his mother Christina and her third husband, Friedrich Schaffenhausen. After the death of her brother Gabriel Longacre and her mother, Ann Linmire was named to administer Gabriel's estate on 7 April 1729. The Schaffen-hausen estate having been sold to John Bartram at public auction in 1728 to satisfy a debt to Christopher and Anna, they collected the money and moved to Kent County, Delaware, where they were living when they conveyed their rights under Gabriel's will to Andrew Longacre, 19 August 1735. Next they moved to Verdrietge Hook, Brandywine Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware, where Christo-pher's mother Christina was living with her daughter Anna Maria Schaffenhaus-en, wife of Olle Tussey. Anna Long-acre Linmire was buried by the pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Wilmington on 25 November 1740. She was survived by two children, Andrew Linmire, born 26 Jan. 1732, and Jöran [George] Linmire, born 5 February 1739. In 1743 Christopher moved to Upper Penns Neck, Salem County, N.J., where he married widow Ann Hays. They joined the Moravian Church on Old-man's Creek. Christopher Linmire died in Upper Penns Neck on 7 November 1756.

9.. Magdalena Longacre, born c. 1704, married John Townsend. On 14 August 1735, John Townsend of Kent County, Delaware, and his wife Magdalen joined Christ-opher Linmire of Kent County, Delaware, and his wife Ann in conveying their rights under the will of Gabriel Longacre to Andrew Longacre of Philadelphia County, husbandman, for ^20. On 12 January 1744/5, Magdalene Townsend, widow, was grant-ed administration of the estate of her late husband, John Town-send. On 19 August 1749, Magdalen Townsend, widow, formerly Longacre, quit-claimed any interest in Gabriel's former property to Peter Stille, for five shillings.

10. Brita Longacre, born c. 1708, conveyed her share of Gabriel's estate to her sister Ann and Ann's husband Christopher Linmire on 1 March 1729. On 15 September 1729 she married Joseph Tetlow in Chester, Pennsylvania. Not further traced.