Timen Stiddem
[and his Stidham/Stedham Family]

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

originally published in Swedish Colonial News,
Volume 1, Number 5 (Spring 1992)

Timen Stiddem of Gothenburg, a barber-surgeon for New Sweden, apparently crossed the ocean seven times before he finally settled in America. Based on a 1651 letter that he wrote to Oxenstierna, he was one of two barber-surgeons on the Kalmar Nyckel on its first voyage in 1637-38. He remained with the ship and, after its second voyage to the new world, Timen became the resident barber-surgeon from 1640 to 1644. Returning to Sweden, Stiddem married and departed again for New Sweden on the Kattan in 1649 with his wife and two small children. A third child was born at sea.

Unfortunately, the Kattan ran aground at Puerto Rico and Timen's wife and three children perished as prisoners of the Spanish. Timen Stiddem miraculously escaped and made his way back to Sweden by 1651. Marrying again, he sailed for a fourth time to New Sweden with Governor Rising in 1654. This time he stayed.

Initially Timen Stiddem settled at Fort Trinity (New Castle), but after the surrender of New Sweden to the Dutch in 1655, he moved to Christina (Wilmington) where he led an active life until his death in 1686. Being the only Swedish doctor in America, he periodically had to travel by canoe as far as Upland (Chester) to serve his patients.

In his will, Timen Stiddem wrote that he had been born in "Hammell" which may be a reference to Hammel in Denmark. Timen's father, Lulof Stiddem, formerly of Copenhagen, became a prominent burgher in Gothenburg and was buried there at the Kristina Kyrka, 3 July 1639.

Timen Stiddem's second wife (name unknown) died before 1679 when he married Christina Ollesdotter, the widow of Walraven Jansen DeVos. Timen was survived by nine children, all born by his second marriage. His male descendants eventually adopted "Stidham" as the preferred spelling of the family surname. The nine surviving children, in the order of their birth, were:

1. Lulof, born c. 1654, who married twice, first to the eldest daughter of Johan Andersson Stalcop. He died in 1704, survived by six children.
2. Lucas, born c. 1656, who married twice. The name of his first wife, mother of all his eight surviving chiddren, is unknown. Lucas died in 1726.
3. Erasmus (also called Asmund), born c. 1658, who married Margaret, the daughter of Samuel Petersson. He died in 1712, survived by seven children.
4. Adam, born c. 1660, who married Catharina (parents unknown) and had six children before his death in 1695.
5. Benedict, born c. 1662, who married Anna, daughter of Olle Ollesson Thorsson, and had five children before his death in 1699.
6. Ingeborg, born c. 1664, who married Peter Jaquet, son of the former Dutch governor, Jean Paul Jaquet, by 1686. She died before 1713 and was survived by six known children.
7. Elisabeth, born c. 1666, who apparently never married.
8. Maria, born c. 1668, who married Mårten Knutsson, son of Knut Mårtensson from Vasa, Finland, and had at least three sons before she died at Marcus Hook after 1732.
9. Magdalena, born c. 1671, who married Petef Andersson, son of Anders Jöransson and died after 1721, probably at Red Lyon Creek; number of children unknown.

For more information, visit The Timen Stiddem Society web site:
	The Timen Stiddem Society The Timen Stiddem descendants family association. http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~tstiddem/index.html