1G64.] HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. 87 



Towards the close of the Dutch dynasty, tlie Swedes made an 

 eftbrt to supersede the Rev. Laers by the appointment of Albe- 

 lius Zetzcoven, or Selskoom, but the opposition made by tlie 

 Reverend incumbent was so strong that no permanent position 

 appears to have been assigned to him. This gentleman preached 

 at the Tinicum church on the last Monday of Pentecost, at the 

 request of the Swedish Commissaries. They desired to engage 

 him as a schoolmaster at the same salary given to the Rev. 

 Laers, but, the people of New Amstel, where it may be inferred 

 he was employed in the same capacity, would not dismiss him. 

 He never had charge of any congregation on the South river as 

 a regularly ordained minister.' 



While the city and the Company occupied the country jointly, 

 the seat of justice of the latter jurisdiction was at Altona. The 

 Swedes did not resort voluntarily to the court held there, pre- 

 ferring to settle their differences among themselves, and in one 

 or two instances they wilfully disregarded its processes. " 



Horses and cattle were sent over by the Company and by the 

 city in great numbers. These were distributed among the set- 

 tlers, to be returned at the end of four or five years with one 

 half of the increase. The Swedes constituting almost exclusively 

 the agricultural population of the river, a large proportion of 

 these animals was distributed among them. 



The time had now arrived, when the dominion of our favored 

 land was to be wrested from the Dutch, and with the exception 

 of a short interval — forever. The crown of Great Britain having 

 been restored to Charles II. he granted to his brother James, 

 duke of York, the territory embracing the whole of New York 

 and New Jersey, and by a subsequent grant, that which now 

 comprises the State of Delaw^are. 



To secure the possession of his newly acquired territory, the 

 Duke fitted out an expetlition consisting of four men of war and 

 four hundred and fifty men, whicli he placed under the command 

 of Col. Richard Nicolls. With the commander, were united Sir 

 Robert Carr, Sir George Cartwright and Samuel Maverick, Esq., 

 to act as commissioners, to receive possession, settle boundaries, 

 &c. The expedition reached the mouth of the Hudson in the 

 latter end of August, and after considerable negotiation. New 

 Amsterdam and its immediate dependencies, were surrendered 

 to the English on the 8th of September, without firing a gun. 

 The settlements on the Delaware, being now under a government 

 wholly independent of the West India Company, they were not 

 included in the capitulation of New Amsterdam. Sir Robert 

 Carr was immediately dispatched with a sufficient force to effect 

 their capture. Arriving there on the last day of September, he 



1 Acreliiis, 425 : Haz. Anu. 348-35.3. ^ Haz. Ann. 311. 



