General Notes

Three hundred years ago in 1700, Rev. Andreas Rudman reported in his bookof burials the death of Elisabeth Dalbo, aged 78, "born in Sweden, Anders Dalbo's widow, previously married to Matts Hansson."

Elisabeth died at the home of her youngest son in Gloucester Co., NJ. Shehad been a 19-year-old bride when she arrived in New Sweden in 1641, yetby 1671 she was twice a widow and lived for the remainder of her life with her youngest son, Olof Dalbo. Through her three married sons, she had 25 known grand-children and at least 114 great grand-children.

Her first husband was Matts Hansson, who was hired to be a gunner at Fort Christina. They departed from Stockholm on the Charitas among a group of new settlers that included Hansson's brother, Anders Hansson.
After five years of service at Fort Christina, Matts Hansson became a freeman on 1 December 1646. Like other freemen, he soon became unhappy with Governor Printz's harsh treatment of the settlers. On 27 July 1653, he and his brother joined other freemen in filing a complaint with the Governor. Printz, however, branded the complaint a "mutiny" and left for Sweden, leaving the colony under the rule of his son-in-law Johan Papegoja, threatening to take legal action against the mutineers on his return.

Fearing for their lives, many of the freemen who had signed the complaint fled New Sweden in the fall of 1653. Anders Hansson made it safely to Kent Island in the Chesapeake Bay, but Matts Hansson did not. Papegoja hired Indians to bring back the escapees, dead or alive. Two of the freemen were overtaken and killed, with the Indians bringing back their heads on stakes. One of those killed was Matts Hansson.

Widow Hansson returned safely to New Sweden with her two small sons. She then married her second husband Anders Larsson Dalbo from Dalsland,Sweden who had been sent to the New Sweden colony on the Kalmar Nyckel in1640 as punishment for a minor crime. After seven years of servitude, he secured employment with the New Sweden company as a provost (sheriff) on1 Nov. 1647 at a wage of 15 guilders per month and served in this capacity until Printz's departure in 1653. In 1654 he became a freeman.Two years later, when the Swedes were permitted to select their own government by the Dutch, Dalbo was named lieutenant of the Swedishmilitia. He made his home in Kingsessing, but died before 1671, when thefirst English census identified Widow Dalbo as the head of householdthere.

By her two husbands, Elisabeth had four sons and, through them, 25 grand-children, two of whom became wives of Gloria Dei's first pastors -Andreas Rudman and Andreas Sandel.