The Congregation of Crane Hook Church Built Holy Trinity Church 1698-1699

The Congregation of Crane Hook Church Built Holy Trinity Church 1698-1699. . , 1638: Peter Minuit with a crew of Dutch sailors and Swedish soldiers, landed the Kalmar Nyckel and the Fogel Grip at a natural outcropping of rocks on the Minquas Kill. They named the river and the fort they built for Sweden's Queen Christina and established the New Sweden Colony. Since 1938, an annual commemorative ceremony is held at those nearby rocks., 1640: Pastor Tokil, a missionary priest of the Church of Sweden, arrived in the colony with the Swedish and Finnish settlers. The Lutheran Church of Sweden ministered to a multicultural colony in the New World including the Lenape, the Dutch, and a former black slave, Anthony., 1655: In a bloodless skirmish, the Dutch took control of Fort Christina. The Swedes lost their worship space and worshipped at Swanwyck (near present-day New Castle)., 1664: The English took control of the colony., 1667: The Swedes and Finns built a blockhouse-style log church south of the Christina River on the Delaware River at a place called Cranehook, so named because of the abundance of cranes. At that time, the Swedish Lutherans on the Delaware are divided into two congregations: Wicaco (South Philadelphia) served people from Marcus Hook to Burlington, N.J. and Crane Hook served people from Delaware's New Castle County and adjacent of Maryland and New Jersey. The congregation included people of English, Dutch, and German origin. Lars Lock from Sweden was the first pastor. After his death in 1688, lay leader Charles Springer served the congregation., 1697: The Rev. Erik Björk, one of three Swedish Lutheran priests, arrived. With the help of the Crane Hook congregation, Björk immediately began planning construction of Holy Trinity Church., 1698-99: John Stalcop donated the land on which the church was built, and the stone came from the land of Armund Stidham. It took a year to build the church; members of the congregation from both sides of the river contributed funds or materials. On Trinity Sunday, June 1, 1699, Helga Trefaldighet Kyrka (Holy Trinity Church) was consecrated. John Stalcop, churchwarden, and his wife hosted a grand reception. Descendants of the Stidhams, Stalcops, Springers, and many other Swedish and Finnish settlers are buried in the hallowed ground of Holy Trinity., According to a 1690s pew list, about fifty percent of the congregants came from New Castle County, ten percent from Cecil County, Maryland, and forty percent came by boat across the Delaware River from New Jersey, often a dangerous journey., 1896: The Historical Society of Delaware erected this Crane Hook Church monument along the Delaware River near the site of the Crane Hook Church., 2012: New Sweden Centre with the co-operation of the Old Swedes Foundation, Delaware Historical Society, Trinity Episcopal Parish, Magellan Industries, and Cecil Monument Co. relocated the monument to this site.