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.Steelman Genealogy website
Birth and parents
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,Mary Anne Royal, "The Abbey garden in Varnhem acquired by the Crown after 1527: The history of chopped down fruit trees 100 years later, a death sentence and the colony of New Sweden in colonial America - A very unlikely story," Varnhems historia - Skarke-Varnhems Hembygdsförening 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.Carlsson, Sten Carl Oscar. Swedes in North America, 1638-1988: Technical, Cultural, and Political Achievements. Sweden: Streiffert, 1988. 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.Peter Stebbins Craig, "Olof Persson Stille and his Family," Swedish Colonial News, Volume 1, Number 16, Fall 1997
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.
Marriage and family
John Hansson Steelman married Maria or Mary Stalcop in 1679, in New Castle, Delaware. She was born in 1666 to Johan Andersson Stålkofta and Christina Carlsdotter. They had at least five children,Peter Stebbins Craig, The 1693 Census of the Swedes on the Delaware: Family Histories of the Swedish Lutheran Church Members Residing in Pennsylvania, Delaware, West New Jersey & Cecil County, Md. 1638-1693. Studies in Swedish American Genealogy 3, SAG Publications, Winter Park, Florida, 1993 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.Nordström, Fritz. Olof Stille in New Sweden. Swedish American Genealogist, 1987 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.Stuart Fiedel, John Bedell, Charles LeeDecker, "Cohongorooto: The Potomac Above the Falls Archeological Identification and Evaluation Study of Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park, Rock Creek to Sandy Hook (Mile markers 0 to 59); Volume I, Final Report." The Louis Berger Group, Inc., December 2005 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.
On 1 June 1697, Steelman was called before a joint conference of the Council of Maryland and asked to give an account of the Susquehannock and other Indians living on Chesapeake Bay. He replied that he had visited these Indians and had collected some information about the different tribes, as the Council had directed. He reported:
"At Canistauga, the Susquehanna and Seneca Indians have about forty lusty young men, besides women and children; that the Shevanor [Shawnee] Indians, being about thirty men, besides women and children, live within four miles of Canistauga, lower down, and submit themselves and pay tribute to the Susquehannas and Senecas that the Delaware Indians live at Minguannan, nine miles from the head of Elk River, and fifteen miles from Christeen, and about thirty miles from Susquehanna River; are about three hundred red men, and are tributary to the Senecas and Susquehannas; fifty of them living at Minguanon, the rest upon Brandywine and Upland Creeks."
On 26 May 1698, a conference was held at Steelman's trading-house at Sahakitko between John Thompson and two other commissioners, sent by Governor Nathaniel Blakiston of Maryland, and the chiefs of the Susquehannocks, the Shawnees, and the Delawares. In the minutes of the Maryland Council it is noted that "In the evening came Meaurroway, king of the Shawanees, brought on horseback, by reason of his great age, together with one of his great men."Archives of Maryland, vol. 23: 426-431. Maryland Historical Society, 1903.
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."
On 29 August 1700, Steelman served as an interpreter at a meeting of Maryland colony delegates with the leaders of the Susquehannocks, Shawnees, and Delawares. The Shawnees were represented by their king, Ophesaw (Opessa Straight Tail). Steelman's name is signed as a witness to the treaty made between Penn and the Susquehannocks, on 23 April 1701, ceding their lands along the Potomac River to the English in return for protection and trade privileges.Eshleman, Henry Frank, Lancaster County Indians; annals of the Susquehannocks and other Indian tribes of the Susquehanna territory from about the year 1500 to 1763, the date of their extinction, Pennsylvania Historical Society, 1909 In October 1702, "John Hans Tillman" (Steelman) was ordered to act as interpreter in an investigation into robberies supposedly committed by some Conestoga Indians.William Hand Browne, ed. Archives of Maryland: Proceedings of the Council of Maryland, 1698-1731. Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore: The Friedenwald Co., 1905.
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,"Pew holders in Old Swedes (Holy Trinity) in 1699: Pew assignments made just 20 days after the consecration of Holy Trinity." New Castle, Delaware Community History and Archaeology Program 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. In June 1714, in a Cecil County suit by William Browne vs. John Hans Steelman, various properties on the home estate at Elk Landing were attached for a debt owed to Browne,Nils William Olsson, Swedish American Genealogist, vols 11-12, 1991. 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.Charles Augustus Hanna, The Wilderness Trail: Or, The Ventures and Adventures of the Pennsylvania Traders on the Allegheny Path, Volume 1, Putnam's sons, 1911 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.Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, vol. 2, T. Fenn, 1851."
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.
Conflict with the colonial authorities
Steelman became the most prosperous and successful Indian trader in northern Maryland, to the point where many Native communities preferred to trade with him rather than with the Pennsylvania traders. By 1701, this was affecting their profits, and William Penn felt that Steelman should obtain a Pennsylvania trader's license since he was doing so much business across the Pennsylvania-Maryland border. In April, 1701 Penn had Steelman's trade goods confiscated at Philadelphia while they were in transit to Lechay (Lehigh Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania). William Penn wrote to him on 12 April 1701, notifying him of the seizure of these goods. The letter was addressed to "John Hans" but in Penn's report of the matter to his Council, the name is written as John Hans Steelman. At a meeting held on 31 May, Governor Penn stated to his Council, that