03/09/2026
Jacob & Catharina Van der Veer and their
Vandever Descendants
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 3, Number 10 Spring 2009)
Among the passengers on the Golden Shark when it left Göteborg on 15 April 1654 was a young woman named Catharina who expected, like the other passengers, to go to the New Sweden
colony. The ship had been scheduled to leave with Governor Risingh and the Eagle, but its departure was delayed by repairs. The ship never did arrive in New Sweden. Instead, it landed near
Staten Island on 12 September 1654 and was confiscated by Governor Stuyvesant three days later.
Catharina therefore found herself alone in Manhattan. She was soon befriended by a Dutch corporal, Jacob Van der Veer. After giving birth to a child by him, she was banished to the South River in 1657, probably because of adultery. Van der Veer deserted his Dutch family and followed her. Now a sergeant, he served under Willem Beeckman at the old Swedish fort at Christina (now Wilmington). In 1660, Jacob Van der Veer sought permission to return to the fatherland in the spring, but Stuyvesant persuaded him to stay.
Jacob bought a tavern in New Amstel, but after the English conquered the Dutch in 1664 and renamed the Dutch town New Castle, Jacob was banished from the town for his insolence toward the court. He sold the tavern in 1665 and purchased over 100 acres of land north of the Christina River from a former Dutch soldier, Walraven Jansen de Vos. who then occupied the former land of Governor Johan Risingh at “Timber Island.”
Jacob Van der Veer was granted a patent for this new land by Governor Francis Lovelace of New York on 25 March 1669 and later expanded it to 535 acres through an additional grant from the
New Castle court in 1677, which was confirmed by a new survey under William Penn on 29 January 1684/5.
Jacob and Catharina made their home on the island (renamed Jacob Van der Veer’s Island) on the north side of the Brandywine River – an area later known as Brandywine Village. Disputes with
the Stedham family, who claimed part of this land, were finally resolved in favor of the Van der Veers by arbitration on 12 May 1688. A week later Jacob was granted the right to build a grist
mill, using the water of the Brandywine.
Until his later years, Jacob Van der Veer was in frequent trouble with the New Castle court. The justices wrote in 1679 that he had “always been a troublesome, mutinous person and one of a
Copyright Swedish Colonial Society 2012
turbulent spirit, from the beginning, always contending with and opposing authority, for which various and other his misdemeanors he formerly was banished from this town and his wife from New York.” In 1675, he was accused as being the “ringleader” in the refusal of the Swedes and Finns to improve the d**e of Justice Hans Block. He and his two eldest sons were fined 20 guilders apiece for their refusal to work on the d**e. In 1679 he was fined 200 guilders for fraud, having sold a bag of feathers to which he added a stone to falsify the weight. He was constantly in debt and at one time, in 1686, his goods were seized and he and his family were turned out of their house for non-payment of debts.
The will of Jacob Van der Veer, dated 15 April 1698, was proved on 31 March 1699. It required that Catharina be allowed to stay on the land which was divided among three of his sons William, Cornelius and John – provided that each of them pay £10 to his son Jacob, Jr., who had settled across the Delaware River in Salem County. In addition, the three sons should pay “every one of their sisters” (not named) £10 apiece. His “creatures” were also to be divided equally
among all of his children.
On 24 June 1699, the widow Catharina Van der Veer “on the island” was assigned a pew at the new Holy Trinity Church. She also gave £1 to the church. A year later, she and her family prosecuted a case before William Penn and the Pennsylvania Provincial Council, complaining of encroachment by their neighbor Cornelius Empson.
Catharina Vandever died at the home of her son Jacob in Penn’s Neck in February 1720. She was the mother of four sons and an unknown number of daughters. Four sons and two daughters have been positively identified:
1. William Vandever was born in 1656 in Manhattan and died 8 October 1718 on Van der Veer’s Island. He had no children. He married Alice Smith [English], daughter of Francis Smith of
Kennet Township, Chester County, Pa. The will of William Vandever, innkeeper, of Brandywine Ferry, proved 13 October 1718, bequeathed £5 to the Swedes’ church and left all of the remainder
of his estate to his wife Alice. She then married Samuel Kirk on 8 January 1720. In her will of 12 March 1731/2, she devised to her husband Samuel Kirk the ferry and adjoining lands for life, after
which they were to go to Jacob Vandever, Jr., son of Cornelius. The tombstone of Alice Kirk states that she died 13 March 1732 at the age of 63 years.
2. Cornelius Vandever was born about 1658. His wife Margareta, whom he married by 1681, was probably the daughter of Olof Fransson of the Bought [Verdrietige Hook]. When old Olof
Fransson conveyed 50 acres of his land to his grandson, Cornelius Vandever signed a bond on 20 July 1687 to give his personal security to the transaction. The will of Cornelius Vandever, dated 18 December 1712 and proved 18 February 1712/13, bequeathed his dwelling plantation to his wife Margareta, but if she remarried it was to be rented out for the children's benefit until the youngest was 21. His son John was to receive the tract on the Brandywine between Spring Run and William Vandever. His two youngest sons, William and Henry, were to receive the dwelling plantation after the death or remarriage of Margareta. All movables were to be divided among all of the children. His widow Margareta did marry again, 19
April 1720, to the widower William Lerchenzeiler of St. Georges Hundred, New Castle County. She was still living in February 1727 when she was one of the sponsors at the baptism of one of
her many grandchildren. The children, all named in the will of Cornelius, were:
Jacob Corneliusson Vandever (c.1682-1739) married Maria Stedham, daughter of Adam Stedham. He lived on the Brandywine and, by the will of his aunt, Alice Kirk, inherited the Vandever property at the Brandywine Ferry in the vicinity of present Market Street. The will of Jacob Vandever of Brandywine Hundred, yeoman, dated 19 October 1739 and proved 8 December 1739, provided for his wife Maria during her widowhood, gave to his two eldest surviving sons John and Cornelius 5 shillings apiece, and to Jonathan Stilley and his wife Magdalena 5 shillings. He gave to his son Tobias the ferry and half the land belonging thereto and the “upper” [westerly] half of the land to his son Peter. One third of his
movables went to his wife; the other two-thirds were to be equally divided among Tobias,
Copyright Swedish Colonial Society 2012
Peter, and his daughters Catharina and Elisabeth. Elisabeth subsequently married John bWelsh in 1745. Jacob's widow survived him by many years. She was still listed in the 1764 church census.
Philip Vandever (1684-1750) had four wives. The first one, Elisabeth, was buried 5 February 1728. He then married, on 13 May 1729, Brita Stille, who died 1 November 1730. In 1731 he married Christina, who died by 1744 when he married Beata Hoffman, daughter of Andrew and Maria Hoffman and widow of John Vanneman. The will of Philip Vandever
of Brandywine Hundred, dated 1 March 1747/48 and proved 15 August 1750, provided his 4th wife Beata with one-third of the personalty and one-third of the income from his real estate for life. All of his real property was devised to his sons John and Peter equally, except for six acres of marsh which went to his son-in-law Joseph Jackson, husband of Magdalena, for life. He also was survived by five other daughters: Maria (the second wife of Timothy
Lulofsson Stedham), Elisabeth (married to Peter Schmidt), Susanna, Rachel and Rebecca.
After his death, his widow Beata married Edward Graham.
John Corneliusson Vandever (c.1689-c.1718) was married on 14 January 1714 to Maria Stalcop, daughter of Peter and Catharina Stalcop. On 29 June 1714, they sailed to Sweden with Pastor Ericus Björk, who had married Maria's elder sister, Christina. John died in
Sweden, after which his widow married Hans Georgen Schmidt. They returned to Delaware in 1720. Maria Stalcop Vandever Schmidt died 19 November 1750 at the age of 53. Her only
child by her first marriage was Catharine Vandever, born in Sweden in 1715, who married Simon Johnson in Cecil County, Maryland, 4 November 1738.
Elisabeth Vandever (1695-1738) married Timothy Lulofsson Stedham 7 June 1715 and bore five children before her death on 5 March 1738.
Margareta Vandever (c.1699-1733+) married John Wilder, 30 April 1719. They had six children baptized at Holy Trinity, 1720-1729, of whom three died in their infancy. Margareta appeared as a baptismal sponsor up to 1733.
Catharine Vandever (c.1701-1735) married Hendrick Stedham, 10 November 1719 and bore ten children before her death on 21 October 1735.
William Vandever (c.1703-1739) of Brandywine Hundred acquired, for a nominal £3, one half of his uncle Jacob Vandever Jr.'s share of the Vandever plantation on the Brandywine on 4 November 1726. A year later, on 7 December 1727, he married Margareta Colesberg,
daughter of Sven Colesberg and Elisabeth Anderson. William Vandever died in Brandywine Hundred on 12 October 1739, survived by two children who reached adulthood: Elisabeth, who married John Taylor of Red Lion Hundred, and Sven, who conveyed all of his father’s property to John and Elisabeth Welsh.
Henry Corneliusson Vandever, born c.1705, and his wife Margaret deeded the land he inherited from his father to John and Elisabeth Welsh on 14 March 1749/50. Henry apparently had one son, also named Henry Vandever, born c. 1734, who was living on the Brandywine with his wife Sarah at the time of the 1764 census with “small children” who were not further identified.
3. John Vandever, born by 1665, was married and had one child by 1693 when three persons were listed in his household in the Crane Hook church census. He died intestate before 1713 when Judith Vandever, described as the daughter of the late John Vandever, was a sponsor at the baptism of Zacharias and Helena Derrickson's child. Subsequent deeds conveying his former land to Philip Vandever identify four married daughters. His known children were:
Jacob Johnsson Vandever (c 1691-c1724) was married to Jane, widow and administratrix of John Gill of Baltimore County, Maryland, by November 1718. He died there without issue before 1725, when his sisters began to sell their father’s land in Brandywine Hundred. Jane Vandever, his widow, died in 1730 in Baltimore County.
Judith Vandever, born c. 1693, married Jonas Stalcop of New Castle County, 5 January 1716. They had three children (John, Annika and Carl) before her death in June 1721.
Catharine Vandever, born c. 1695, married John Scoggin of Penn’s Neck, 22 January 1717.
They had five children (John, Jonas, Maria, Jacob and Elisabeth) before her husband’s death
Copyright Swedish Colonial Society 2012
in 1729. Not further traced.
Maria Vandever, born c. 1697, married Henry Vanneman of Penn’s Neck, 21 October 1724. She had children John and Elisabeth born in 1725 and 1728. No further record.
Anna Vandever, born c. 1699, married Samuel Fowdrie of New Castle County, 8 December 1724. They had a daughter Susanna born in 1726. Not further traced.
4. Jacob Vandever was born by 1668. He moved to Boughttown in Upper Penn’s Neck, Salem County, New Jersey, c. 1692 when he married Catharine, the widow of Andrew Bartlesson. She was buried 1 December 1716. He next married Catharine, the widow of Stephen Tussey, on 12 December 1717. The will of Jacob Vandever of Penn’s Neck was dated 15 August 1726 and proved 7 December 1726. His widow Catharine died before 23 January 1727/8 when the inventory of her estate was filed. Jacob’s surviving children were:
Judith Vandever (c. 1693-after 1732), married c. 1710 Michael Homan of Gloucester County, New Jersey. They had six sons: Jacob, Peter, Gustaf, Johannes, Olof and Abraham Homan.
Magdalena Vandever (c. 1695-1748), married c. 1712 William Vanneman of Piles Grove, Salem County. They had twelve children, six of whom grew to adulthood: Jacob, John, William, Elisabeth, Rebecca and Andrew Vanneman.
Jacob Vandever (c. 1696-1729) was married on 2 November 1720 to Margaret, daughter of Peter and Catharine Månsson. They resided in Upper Penn’s Neck until their deaths during a smallpox epidemic in 1729. The inventory of Jacob Vandever was filed 5 May 1729, that of his widow on 17 October 1729. They had three children who grew to adulthood: Henry (c. 1721-1761) who married by 1742 and left one surviving daughter; Jacob (c.1725-c.1757), who married Maria Connoway 13 July 1748; and Margaret Vandever (c. 1728 - ?), who married William Smith of Penn’s Neck on 4 August 1763.
Henry Jacobsson Vandever was born 13 January 1725. On 29 October 1747 he married Sarah Barber. They lived in Upper Penn’s Neck, Salem County, on land inherited from his father. Henry died there shortly after making his will, dated 22 February. 1748/9, which
directed that his estate be sold to support his only child, Jacob. His widow Sarah sold the land as directed and then married Henry Peterson, 10 January 1751. No further record has been found relating to his son Jacob.
5. Helena Vandever married Zacharias Derrickson, son of Olle Derrickson, c. 1701. Over the next sixteen years she had nine children, all of whom grew to adulthood and married. She died about 1734. Her husband remarried and died in 1748. Their children:
Jacob Derrickson (1702-1728) married Annika Justis 9 June 1728. No children.
William Derrickson (1704-1766) married Maria Peterson in 1735 and had eight children.
Helena Derrickson (1706-after 1776) married Jonas Stedham in 1727. They had nine children.
Kerstin Derrickson (1708-1738) married Peter Anderson in 1728. She died in October 1738 as the result of childbirth after bearing six children.
Elisabeth Derrickson (1709-after 1737) married John Smith in 1727. He died one year later.
Catharine Derrickson (1711-after 1764) married 1st Robert Robinson by 1730, 2nd John Loinam in 1745. She had six children by her first marriage and three children by her second
marriage.
Zacharias Derrickson (1713-1776) married Sarah (surname unknown) in 1735 and had eleven children.
Peter Derrickson (1715-1753) married Margaret Stille in 1740 and had five children.
Cornelius Derrickson (1717-1787) married Mary Vanneman in 1756 and had four children.
Copyright Swedish Colonial Society 2012
6. Another daughter, name unknown, married Johannes Casperson of Upper Penn’s Neck about 1695. He was described as German in 1714 when he gave land on which the Swedish church was
to be built. His will of 14 November 1733 was proved the following January, naming seven children:
John Casperson, born c. 1694, married Maria Baner 1 October 1719. She was the daughter of Isaac Baner, a native Swede, who had died in Penn’s Neck in 1713. Isaac Baner’s family in Sweden arranged for Maria and her two unmarried brothers to return to Sweden in 1727.
Susanna Casperson, born c. 1697, married David Straughan in 1717.
Tobias Casperson, born c. 1699 married Brita Mink in 1724 and, after her death, Judith Corneliuson by 1726. He died in Penn’s Neck in 1734. Catharine Casperson, born c. 1705, married Thomas Nixon in 1725 and, after his death, became the second wife of Peter Enloes.
Maria Casperson became the wife of — Boerd by 1733.
Anthony Casperson, baptized in 1713, married Elizabeth Redstreak in 1739.
Rebecca Casperson, baptized in 1717, was unmarried when her father wrote his will.
![Timen Stiddem [and his Stidham/Stedham Family]by Dr. Peter Stebbins CraigFellow, American Society of GenealogistsFellow,...](https://img3.findhealthclinics.com/733/571/1348250137335710.jpg)
