Yocum Family History
Page Three
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Prominent among these six names was the name of Peter Jochim
(misspelled Peter Hichim), indicating that even in absentia his word against his former governor was well-known, both among his contemporary freemen and with the new governor. When the ship "Orn" left Christina for Sweden on 15 July 1654, it carried this second complaint but not the Rev. Lock. As Rising explained in his report of 13 July 1654, "Lock has been here before, and is accused of mutiny, wherefore I have intended to send him home to defend and free himself, but he has now become very ill.
Almost a year later, reinforcements having arrived from Holland, Stuyvesant sailed with seven ships and several hundred soldiers to the Delaware River. The outnumbered Swedes surrendered their forts, ending the bloodless confrontation that had begun at Fort Beversreede seven years before.
PETER'S CHILDREN AND THEIR SPOUSES
Prior to his untimely death in New Amsterdam in July 1654 Peter Jochimson had married and started a family. His son, Peter Peterson, who later adopted the surname Jochim but became known as Peter Peterson Yocum, married and had ten children who were the progenitors of countless descendants living in America today. Peter Jochimson probably also had a daughter named Elizabeth Petersdotter, who later married John Ogle, one of the soldiers participating in the English conquest of the Dutch in the Delaware River valley in 1664.
Little study has been made of the early history of the Yocums of Philadelphia. There is sufficient documentation of the patrilineal line to establish without doubt that Peter Jochimson was the father of Peter Peterson Yocum and that the latter was indeed the father of the ten children attributed to him. Considerable confusion has existed, however, about the identity of the wives of Peter and his father.
Peter Peterson Yocum was born sometime during the twelve months ending in May 1653 as shown by the fact that Lasse Dalbo's tax return, due May 1683, identifies Yocum as then being 30 years old. His death occurred between 2 May 1702, when Rev. Bjork, pastor of the Holy Trinity Church at Christina (Wilmington), paid him six pounds at the request of John Hanson Steelman, and 4 June 1702, when Yocum's will was proved in Philadelphia.
Authors of published Yocum genealogies erroneously deduced that Peter Peterson Yocum's wife was Judith Hance because his will named as co-executors "my brother John Hance" and "my loving wife Judith". The authors apparently concluded that John Hance was Judith's brother, not Peter's. Inquiry would have shown them that "John Hance" was actually Captain John Hanson Steelman, the famous Indian trader, who was in fact Peter Peterson Yocum's half-brother.
The correct identity of Peter Peterson Yocum's wife is Judith Jonasdotter, daughter of Jonas and Gertrude (Svensdotter) Nilsson. (These were the maternal 10th great grandparents of Barb (Hays) Clayton). This was first established in unpublished research conducted by Dr. Amandus Johnson and Henry Douglas Paxson.
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It is verified by a deathbed deed executed by Jonas Nilsson in 1693 which describes his daughter Julia (Judith) as the wife of Peter Yocum.
Jonas Nilsson was born in 1620. Like Peter Jochimson, he arrived in New Sweden in 1643 and served as a soldier at Fort Elfsborg until 1648 when he became a freeman. He then established an Indian trading post on Kingsessing Creek southwest of the Schuylkill in present West Philadelphia. His first patent for this land was issued 18 May 1672. A friend and protector of Armegot Printz, daughter of the former governor, Jonas was a witness to her sale of a church bell to the Swedish church on 24 May 1673. An imposing character, he was reported to be six and a half feet tall. His home was the center of trade with the Minquas Indians arriving from the west via the Great Minquas trail. Jonas' wife Gertrude, was also a formidable woman. Her outspoken criticism of defamatory remarks by the English against the Swedes was at least once the subject of court notice.
SVEN GUNNARSSON'S FAMILY
It appears likely that Gertrude, the wife of Jonas Nilsson and mother of Judith Yocum, was the daughter of Sven Gunnarsson who arrived in New Sweden with his family on the Kalmar Nyckel in 1640. In 1644 Sven Gunnarsson was planting tobacco at the Christina (Wilmington) plantation; his son Sven, still a boy, was herding cattle at the same location. By 1654 Sven Gunnarsson and his family had moved to Kingsessing. He was one of the 22 complainants against Printz in 1653, one of the signers of the 1654 oath of allegiance to Rising and one of the six signers of the supplemental complaint against Printz in 1654. On 31 August 1655 Gunnarsson was one of the Kingsessing freemen volunteering to aid in the abortive defense of Fort Christina against the Dutch. After the Dutch takeover of New Sweden, Sven Gunnarsson and his family moved across the Schuylkill River to Wicaco in present downtown Philadelphia. On 5 May 1664 the Dutch Governor, Alexander D'Hinoyossa, granted him and his three sons 800 acres at Wicaco which was confirmed 31 May 1671 by a grant from Governor Francis Lovelace after the territory came under English rule.
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