ISSUE 1 / SPRING 1998 NEWSLETTER THE FAMILY HISTORY NEWSLETTER FOR THE DESCENDANTS OF THE ORIGINAL IMMIGRANT ANCESTOR FROM SWEDEN IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY TO NEW SWEDEN (WILMINGTON), DELAWARE, ENCOMPASSING THE SURNAMES STIDHAM, STEDHAM, STEDDOM, AND STEADHAM, AMONG OTHERS. From the President’s Keyboard A word about the spelling. There are many varia- tions of the spelling of Timen Stiddem’s name in written reetings, cousins all. Welcome to the first edition of the records. His first name is spelled variously as Timen, Newsletter of THE TIMEN STIDDEM SOCIETY. The Society Tymen, Tymon and Timothy. In the early Christine is also brand new. It grew out of discussions and brain- Church records in Gothenburg, Sweden (1624-1725), Gstorming by several of us who are among the thousands of his family’s surname is recorded as Stitten or Stidden. direct descendants of one of the first Swedish immigrants In his own hand, Dr. Stiddem signed a 1651 letter to the in America, Timen Stiddem, who settled in New Sweden Swedish Chancellor, “Timen Stiddem, Barber.” On his (now Delaware) in the 1600s. original land grant or patent from the Duke of York, We saw the need to have an organization dedicated signed by Governor Frances Lovelace, his name is to gathering information about our immigrant ancestor spelled “Tymen Stiddem.” The land grant was dated May and his descendants. We recently met in Wilmington, 3, 1671. However, on a 1661 survey, his name was spelled Delaware, to congeal our ideas and to formulate bylaws. “Tymen Stidham.” You will find the contemporary spell- I agreed to be your interim president. Richard Stead- ing, Timothy Stidham, often used to ham from Woodbridge, Virginia, has generously agreed refer to our immigrant ancestor. to be treasurer and editor of this newsletter. My father, In later years, after the colo- Jack Stidham of Morristown, Tennessee, and author of nists pledged allegiance to the English the book The Descendants of Timothy Stidham, is the Crown, the family name was anglicized Society’s historian. from Stiddem to Stedham (with “ham”). Membership in THE TIMEN STIDDEM SOCIETY By the end of the 18th century, Stid- is open to all who have an interest in this fami- ham became the standard spelling for ly’s history. And, you can be a charter member most descendants, with a few excep- if you join in 1998. tions, most notable of these, the Quaker I am also keeper of the Society’s com- descendants who preferred Steddom. puter database. I have over 25,000 descen- We find that nearly all the male- dants and individuals from related line descendants of Timen Stiddem families on file. I will gladly add your (but not all) have surnames with vari- information to the database, and share ous spellings, but which “sound” the data I have with any researcher. I similar to the old, Swedish spelling. can also help you determine if you are a Living descendants spell their direct descendant, thereby qualifying names variously as Stidham, Stedham, for a Descendant Membership. Steadham, Stidhem, Steddom, Stidam, We hope to soon have a web page Stidom, Steddam, Steddum and more. on the internet for sharing genealog- However, there are some Stid- ical information and other Society hams in America who are not descen- news and family-related events. dants of Timen Stiddem, but from the 1 18th century Scottish immigrant, John Steedman. Steed- man took part in the war between Scotland and England, and fled Scotland after the Battle of Culloden in 1745. In order to escape capture by the English, he disguised his name as “Steidham” which was later spelled “Stidham,” I ssue 1 / S pring 1 9 9 8 “Stedham,” and “Steadham.” John went from Ireland to PRESIDENT Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Augusta Co., Virginia and eventually settled in South Carolina. To further confuse DAVID R. STIDDEM [email protected] future genealogists, several of Steedman’s descendants in South Carolina were neighbors of, and even intermarried T REASURER/ with descendants of Timen Stiddem. N E W S L E T T E R E DITOR Feel free to write or e-mail me or one of the other RICHARD L. STEADHAM officers with your comments and suggestions and offers HISTORIAN of help. We hope to make THE TIMEN STIDDEM SOCIETY JACK STIDHAM a useful source for genealogical research, family tree The Newsletter is the official publication of THE TIMEN information, and sharing ideas and current news among STIDDEM SOCIETY. It is published four times a year: Spring, us cousins all. —David Stiddem Summer, Fall, and Winter. It is distributed to all members as President a benefit of membership. The objectives of the Society are to encourage and pro- mote the accurate recording of family data, vital statistics, and individual accomplishments of Dr. Timen Stiddem and The First Known Stidham his descendants. Membership dues are $12 annually or four issues of the by JacK Stidham, society Historian Newsletter. All members joining the Society in 1998 are he first known Stidham was Luloff Stidden (b. designated as Charter Members and are classified as either Descendant or Associate Members based on lineage from ca 1580 and d. July 1639, Gothenburg, Sweden). Dr. Stiddem or not. Anyone with an interest in this Society is We do not know for sure where he was born. eligible to join as an Associate Member. TSwedish historians writing about Gothenburg referred to All members are encouraged to submit articles, photo- Luloff Stidden as a Dutchman, so he may have migrated graphs, or any other material that would be of interest to from the Netherlands (Holland). This has credence, since other Stidham* researchers for publication in the Newsletter. King Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden recruited Dutch- The Editor reserves the right if and when material submitted men in particular to rebuild and administer Gothenburg will be published. These can be sent to the Editor: Richard after the Kalmar War (1611-1613) with Denmark. A con- Steadham, 14085 Ryon Court, Woodbridge, VA 22193. siderable number of the earliest inhabitants of Gothen- The official address of the Society is: THE TIMEN STID- burg (founded in 1619) were foreigners, mainly Dutch. DEM SOCIETY, 41 Dellwood Road, Worcester, MA 01602. As a result of the Dutch influence, Gothenburg took on a Email address: [email protected]. certain Dutch quality which is evident today. Note, Stidham* followed by an asterisk, always refers to Notwithstanding the Dutch connections, Luloff most all spelling variations of the surname when speaking of Stid- hams in general. This spelling is the most commonly used likely migrated to Sweden from Copenhagen, Denmark. form of the name by Timen Stiddem’s descendants today. In 1604, a “Lijloff Stijdenn from Copenhagen” appeared Disclaimer: The Society and its officers disclaim respon- before the court in Lodose (predecessor of Gothenburg) sibility for any errors or omissions, although accuracy is over a charter dispute involving a ship from Copenhagen. always strived for. It is each researcher’s own responsibil- Others argue Luloff could have been German, since the ity to verify any data presented in these pages against the names of his children are Germanic. (My son recently e- original evidence, if that is of importance to them. Each mailed a Stedem in Saarbruecken, Germany.) contributor is responsible for their own material not violating There is no doubt, however, Luloff, and his son existing copyright laws. Timen, were faithful citizens and civil servants of Swe- Copyright © 1998, THE TIMEN STIDDEM SOCIETY den. Luloff was a “byggmastare” (master builder) and the first “skult” (sheriff or bailiff) of Gothenburg. He 2 (arriving twice). He went to New Sweden the first time in 1638 aboard the ship called the Kalmar Nyckel, the first of Sweden’s attempts to establish a colony in New Swe- den. The Kalmar Nyckel landed at the “Rocks” or Fort Christina (present day Wilmington, Delaware) on March 29, 1638. On July 20, 1644, Dr. Stiddem sailed from New Sweden aboard the Fama, which had left Gothenburg on December 29, 1643, taking him home to Sweden. For his services, he was paid 468.19 D. (worth about 80 cents per D.). The Ninth Swedish expedition left Sweden on Sunday, July 3, 1649 on the ship Kattan, with Dr. Stiddem and his family aboard (Ref: Johnson, p. 268-269). Had he known what was in store for him on this ill-fated voyage, he never would have left for New Sweden. More than 70 colonists, including many women and children were aboard. Among the more prominent colo- served the city of Gothenburg as its skult from 28 Janu- nists were Rev. Natthias Nertunius, bookkeeper Joachi- ary to 31 May 1622. He was a master builder from April mus Lyche and family, barber-surgeon Timen Stiddem 1624 until his death. (Nils Olsson, a prominent Swedish and family, Johan Rudberus, Hans Persson, and the com- genealogist, interprets this to mean Luloff was the city’s mander Hans Amundsson and family. master of shops, or the overseer or supervisor of manu- The course of the Kattan was close to England, facturing in Gothenburg.) through the Spanish Sea and the “Eastern Passage.” Luloff and his wife (name unknown) had seven chil- On the evening of August 27th, they entered dangerous dren. His first born was Timen Stiddem (b. ca 1610 in waters some 80 miles from Puerto Rico. About 2:00 a.m. Hamel, Denmark—not Sweden as many early historians the ship rammed a reef. After two more collisions, a large thought). Timen made several trips to New Sweden (now rock penetrated the hull and the ship became grounded. Delaware) as a barber-surgeon for the Swedish govern- The women and children were taken to a small, unin- ment.