The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1878-07-06
Historical Researches that Quilp Made
as Bohemian,
CHAPTER NNNII.
Elk TON.

TUssOCK--HIs HOUSE --swEDEsTowN-
JOHN HANS sTEELMAN-F RENCHTowN- /
SMITHS MILL BRIDGES OVER THE ELKs
ROADS TO NEW CASTLE AND CHRIS .
TIANA ERIDGE---THE HoLILNGswOKTH
AND GILpIN FAMILIES.
The land upon which Elkton is built is
part of tract of fourteen hundred acres
which was patented to Nicholas Painter i'll
1851. 1t afte, wards came into the posses
sion of Philip Lynes as did the large tract
of Btllrconneil, which, as before stated,
was patented to George Talbot two years
later Philip LyueS devised these tracts to
his wife Anne Lynes, his cousin Mary Con
tee. and his friend William Bladen by his
last will dated in 1909, and they by deco
executed in III conveyed it to John Smith,
the son and heir of William Smith, to sat
isfy claim which his father had against
Philip Lynes for money loaned him by said
William Smith in his life time. This deed is
for three parcels of land, comprising about
one thousand acres, parts Of Friendship and
Beleconnell. Reference is made in it to
the mans tenement, known and called by
aye name OF old Simon" This Simon
was surnamed johnson, and he owned a
tract Of land that extended from what is
now known as the j." Hollow but was for
merly called "Simon's Gut ~ as far down
the river as the bridge at the causeway, and
far enough north to include fifty acres of
land.
We crave our readers pardon for using
a word that may seem indicate to polite
ears, and beg to inform them that the word
"gut" is of Dutch origin and may be prop
erly applied to small water courses leading
through marshy places. cod Simon" is
evidently the man whose name has been
given to Simon's Tussock, which is mas
sive tussock situated on the north side of
the river a short distance from where Ben's
gut emptieS into the river. eye tenc
ment' in which he lived probably stood
on or near the east end of the depot lot.
We learn frcm the records Of the court that
old Simon lived to be eighty years of age,
and that this plantation was in the posses
sion Of his son Simon in 1142, when the
land on the west side Of Bow street
decided to the PIesbyterians. The records
of the court show that, although this land
was decided by William Alexander and
wife, that Simon johnson always claimed
they had the credit Of giving land to the
church that belonged to him.
Friendship and Belleconnell are described
in the deed from Lynes and others to Smith
as lying at ye Swedestowp, but inasmuch
as those tracts contained three Thousand
four hundred acres, it is hard to fix the
location of the town.
Away back in the time of the early
Swedish settlement on the Delaware 1G97),
two Swedish missionaries sailed up the
Chesapeake bay and Elk river and landed
at what is now known as Frenchtown, but
was then called Transform, which may
mean either Cranetown or Troubetown, if
of Swedish origin; but if derived from the
Latin, it probably meant town where there
was crossing place or ferry, which we have
reason to believe was kept at Frenchtown
at that time and for some years afterwards.
The plantation immediately above French
town was long known, and called in the
legal writings of subsequent period by
the name of New Castle back landing, and
there is path mentioned in some of the
deeds for land near the Head of Elk lead
ing from that landing to New Castle. Ira
dition says the Swedes from the Delaware
a.
Elk river for the purpose of fishing, and
that the village of Swedestown was built
by them; and there are some reasons Tor
believing that this town was located at the
junction of the two Elks, that place being
subsequently called Fishing Point.
In 17l5 Henry IIollingsvorth bought tif-
teen acres of land from Gabriel Clements
for one shilling per acre. This land was
on the east side of Little Elk, and is de
scribed in the deed as being bounded on
the southeast by the plantation of John
Hans Steelman on the banks of Elk river,
who was no doubt the Steelman who con
trbuted Goo in 1898 for the building of
the old Swedes Church yet standing in
Wilmington. for in 1106 he released the
Rev. Ericus Biorck, then pastor of that
church, from bond dated on Elk river the
Both of June, 1868, for 600 silver money
for the use of the congregation in building
that church. Steelman states in the re
lease that he was a merchant, which indi
Gates that the site of the Swedestown might
! L,.., Io,, ,o,r Eli
There is an old book among the records
of the land Office at Annapolis which con-
tains the proceedings of the councils for
the year 1905, which has been copied, in
which reference is made to John Hans TIL
man, who was then an Indian trader at the
mouth of the Susquehanna, and the writer
is of the opinion that he is the same per
son referred to as being merchant in this
county. He probably had branch of his
mercantile business at that place. John
| Hans Steelman was naturaized by act of
the General Assembly in 1895, and his
name was probably misspelled in transcrib
ing the old council book, which was a very
common occurrence at that time.
| There is one inexplicable mystery con-
nectcd with this subject-that is, why Au-
| gustine Herman and his party, when trav
cling from New Castle in 1863, went
through an unexplored wilderness in
northwest direction from New Castle, and
afterwards took a southerly direction and
struck the Elk river, or probably the North
East, many miles west of the Swedestown.
This can only be explained upon the theory
that the Swedish settlements at or near the
| Head of Elk were not made till after that
time. However, it is a matter of little
Importance where the Swedestown was, for
it probably consisted of only few fisher
mems huts that We're only used for short
time in the fishing season and were then
abandoned.
The land upon which Frenchtown stands
is part of a tract Of five hundred acres that