John Hansson Steelman

John Hansson Steelman, also known as "Hance" Stillman, Stelman, Tilghman, or Tillmann (1655–1749), the eldest son of Hans Månsson and Ella Olofsdotter Stille. He was a fur trader and interpreter who traded with Shawnee, Susquehannock and Piscataway Indians in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Steelman made substantial donations to support the construction of the Holy Trinity Church (Old Swedes) Church, probably covering as much as a third of the building costs. He died in 1749 in Adams County, Pennsylvania at the age of 94.

Birth and parents

The relative locations of New Netherland (magenta) and New Sweden (blue) in America; modern state boundaries and postal abbreviations are shown. Steelman was born to Hans Månsson (1612-1691) from Skara Municipality in Sweden. His father served as a cavalryman in the Västgöta Regiment during the Thirty Years' War, 1638-1640, and came to New Sweden in 1641 as a criminal after being convicted of cutting down eight trees in the Royal Garden at the Varnhem Abbey which was owned by the Swedish Royal family. After serving six years on a tobacco plantation, he was freed and became a respected leader in Dutch New Netherland, serving as a spokesman for the settlers and commanding officer of the militia at Wicaco. Steelman's mother, Ella Stille (1634-1718), was a widow and the oldest daughter of Olof Persson Stille.

Steelman was born Johan Hansson in Aronameck or Grays Ferry, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1693 he changed his name to John Hansson Steelman, from a combination of his mother's maiden name Stille and her husband's patronym, Måns. including three sons, John Hans Steelman, Jr., Måns (sometimes spelled Mountz) Hans Steelman, and Peter Hans Steelman.

Career as Indian trader and interpreter

In the mid-1670s John Hansson moved with his parents to Senamensing (now Cinnaminson Township, New Jersey) in Burlington County. He married 13-year-old Maria Stalcop in 1679, and in 1687 Steelman bought 200 acres on Red Clay Creek, in partnership with Peter Stalcop, his brother-in-law. In 1693 Steelman and his family moved to Sahakitko, later known as Elk Landing in Cecil County, Maryland, where Steelman embarked on an Indian trading career.

Steelman and his oldest son John were naturalized as residents of Cecil County by an act of the Maryland General Assembly in October 1695. By 1697 he was Maryland's chief interpreter in its dealings with the Indians of the upper Chesapeake Bay and Pennsylvania. He is called John Hance Tillman, or sometimes Tilghman, in the Maryland records. Steelman also established trade with the Shawnees at Pequea on the Susquehanna, and at Pechoquealin (now Smithfield Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania) on the Delaware, before 1697.

An entry in the Maryland Council Records, dated 23 July 1698, states that

"Capt. John Hans Tilman [Steelman], an Indian Trader at the head of the [Chesapeake] Bay, being asked concerning the Indians that live there, what nations they are, he says they are Chauhannauks [Shawnees], Susquehannahs, & Delaware; that the Chauhannauks are about forty men & live at a Town fifty miles from his house; the Susquehannahs are about fifty men, live two miles further up, at Caristauga, and came from the Seneques; that the Delawares live at White Clay Creek; are about forty men."

Wealth

By the late 1690s, Steelman appeared to have considerable wealth. He donated £320 for the purchase of land and for the construction of the Holy Trinity Church (Old Swedes) (completed in 1699), including £220 in loans and £100 as a gift, receiving in return use of the best pews, and the promise that he and his wife would be buried within the church. Between 1704 and 1711, Steelman acquired over a thousand acres in Cecil County. In October 1704, Steelman bought 150 acres east of the Susquehanna between what is now Port Deposit and Perryville, Maryland. In February 1705, he purchased 400 acres at Octoraro Creek. In September 1705, he acquired 200 acres near Conowingo Creek. By 1707 he owned 100 acres to the northwest of Elk River, and in April 1711, he bought 200 acres west of Principio Creek. He established a second trading post about this time at Octoraro Creek. suggesting a sudden decline in Steelman's wealth.

The death of Francis Le Tort, 1711

Francis Le Tort (often erroneously referred to as "Francis de la Tore"), the son of explorer Jacques Le Tort and the younger brother of French-Canadian Indian trader James Le Tort, was apprenticed or indentured to Steelman. In 1711 he stole (or tried to free) several slaves (probably other white bond-servants) and fled into the forest. Steelman offered bounty to some Shawnee warriors to bring him back dead or alive, and Francis was killed. According to testimony provided for an investigation led by Deputy Governor Charles Gookin, when Steelman discovered that Le Tort and the slaves were missing, he went to the home of Shawnee chief Opessa Straight Tail at Pequea Creek, who later testified that

"John Hans came to his cabin, when [Opessa] and his young people, who were then going a hunting, were in council; [Steelman] told him that some of his slaves and dogs (meaning La Tore and company) were fled; therefore desired him forthwith to send some of his people to bring them back or kill them, and take goods for their trouble. At which motion, Opessa, being surprised, told him that he ought by no means to discourse after that manner before young people who were going to the woods and might by accident meet these people; and therefore ordered him to desist, utterly denying his request. "

Opessa Straight Tail was absolved by Governor Gookin for the murder, and all but one of the Shawnee warriors responsible for killing Le Tort were hunted down and killed. There is no record that Steelman suffered any consequences. Opessa was forced to abdicate as Shawnee chief and fled to Shamokin for several years, to escape repercussions. The house at Elk Landing was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The entire Elk Landing site has been protected and developed by the non-profit Historic Elk Landing Foundation that was created in 1998 by the town of Elkton. It was structurally restored in 2009 at a cost of over $400,000 raised through donations.

The first log cabin that Steelman lived in was adjacent to the later stone house and survived until at least 1905. Steelman began building a house of locally-procured fieldstone about 1693. The 1693 New Sweden census shows his family living at Sahakitko. The building was probably originally oriented to the west, toward the creek. By 1730 he had returned to Adams County. In 1737 he was one of the signers of the infamous Walking Purchase treaty between Pennsylvania and the Delaware Indians. as it was a landmark supposedly defining the southern border of the Province of Pennsylvania. Steelman's oldest son, John Hans Steelman Jr., is noted for having testified against John and Edmund Cartlidge after they were charged with the murder of Sawantaeny in 1722.

Memorialization

In November 1924, a historical marker honoring Steelman was erected by the Pennsylvania Historical Commission and the Swedish Colonial Society in Liberty Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania, on the land that Steelman had received as a gift following his testimony in 1740. After the original 1924 monument was stolen in 1973, a second monument was placed there in 1977, located near the Maryland State Line, on Steelman Marker Road in southern Adams County, Pennsylvania.