Laurentius Carels
{{Short description|Swedish Lutheran clergyman and American settler}}
Laurentius Carels (1624–1688) was one of the first settlers of Delaware County, Pennsylvania and one of the first Swedish Lutheran clergyman in New Sweden.Martin, John Hill. Chester (and its Vicinity,) Delaware County, in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia : WM H. Pile & Sons, 1877. 7. Print.[https://books.google.com/books?id=5Kg-AAAAYAAJ&dq=Chester%20(and%20its%20vicinity%2C)&pg=PP9] As was typical among Swedish ministers, he generally used a Latinized version of his name Laurentius Caroli Lockenius. He is listed in historical records under several different names, most commonly as Lars Carlsson Lock.Martin, John Hill. Chester (and its Vicinity,) Delaware County, in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia : WM H. Pile & Sons, 1877. 10. Print.[https://books.google.com/books?id=5Kg-AAAAYAAJ&dq=Chester%20(and%20its%20vicinity%2C)&pg=PP9][https://web.archive.org/web/20041111193642/http://www.lcms.org/ca/www/cyclopedia/02/display.asp?t1=L&word=LOCK.LARSCARLSON Lock, Lars Carlson (Christian Cyclopedia)]
Biography
Lars Carlsson was born in Sweden during 1624.Martin, John Hill. Chester (and its Vicinity,) Delaware County, in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia : WM H. Pile & Sons, 1877. 10. Print.[https://books.google.com/books?id=5Kg-AAAAYAAJ&dq=Chester%20(and%20its%20vicinity%2C)&pg=PP9] In September 1647, at the age of 23, Lars Carlsson sailed from Gothenburg to New Sweden. He subsequently adopted the surname Lock from his place of origin, Lockerud, near Mariestad, in Skaraborg County, Sweden. In the colony, he replaced the veteran minister, John Campanius. He was based at a church built by Johan Björnsson Printz, governor of New Sweden on Tinicum Island.Jenkins, Howard M. (ed.). Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal: A History 1608-1903 Philadelphia : Pa. Hist. Pub. Assoc, 1903 .176. Print [https://books.google.com/books?id=YksMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP1] At the start of his ministry, he served about 200 members.Bente, Friedrich, 1858-1930. [https://books.google.com/books?id=A4oSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA11 American Lutheranism Volume 1: Early History of American Lutheranism]: Lutheran Swedes in Delaware. Concordia: 1919, p.11.
The Swedish colony of New Sweden ended during the summer of 1655. The Swedish settlement was incorporated into Dutch New Netherland on September 15, 1655. the Swedish settlers were allowed to retain a pastor of their confession. Reverend Lars Lock remained, but the other pastors returned to Sweden. His congregation was widely scattered, extending from the Schuylkill River on the north to Christina River on the south.
His role as the only minister on the Delaware River did not end until 1677 when the Swedish settlers living northeast of Darby Creek built a new log church at Wicaco (now Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church) and invited [http://nc-chap.org/cranehook/fabritius.php Jacob Fabritius] to be their pastor. Jacob Fabritius, a native of Grosglogau in Silesia, had arrived in New York in 1669 to serve the Dutch Lutheran churches along the Hudson River.The German Pietists of provincial Pennsylvania: 1694-1708 (Julius Friedrich Sachse. Cornell University Library. 2009) Lars Carlsson Lock continued to serve in the pulpits of both the Tinicum church and the [http://nc-chap.org/cranehook/ Crane Hook church] until his death at Upland Creek in September 1688 at the reported age of 64.Martin, John Hill. Chester (and its Vicinity,) Delaware County, in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia : WM H. Pile & Sons, 1877. 10. Print.[https://books.google.com/books?id=5Kg-AAAAYAAJ&dq=Chester%20(and%20its%20vicinity%2C)&pg=PP9]{{Cite web |url=http://www.sagebrushcentral.com/family.html |title=The Stille Family in America, 1641 – 1772 (Swedish American Genealogist - Vol. 6 No. 4 Dec 1986) |access-date=15 October 2010 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120909161514/http://www.sagebrushcentral.com/family.html |archive-date=9 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}
Legal matters
In 1674 Lars Lock bought the former Tequirassy estate of Olof Persson Stille in what is now Eddystone, Pennsylvania. Lars Lock was involved in several legal disputes and was rumored to have had an "overfondness for intoxicating drinks."Martin, John Hill. Chester (and its Vicinity,) Delaware County, in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia : WM H. Pile & Sons, 1877. 10. Print.[https://books.google.com/books?id=5Kg-AAAAYAAJ&dq=Chester%20(and%20its%20vicinity%2C)&pg=PP9] Lars Carlsson Lock also got into trouble for selling liquor to Native Americans and was involved in at least one lawsuit over a horse.Martin, John Hill. Chester (and its Vicinity,) Delaware County, in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia : WM H. Pile & Sons, 1877. 10. Print.[https://books.google.com/books?id=5Kg-AAAAYAAJ&dq=Chester%20(and%20its%20vicinity%2C)&pg=PP9]
On September 20, 1661, another early settler, Jacob Jough, ran away with his first wife, Catharina, which led to Lars Carlsson Lock (in his words) to fall "from one misfortune to another."Martin, John Hill. Chester (and its Vicinity,) Delaware County, in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia : WM H. Pile & Sons, 1877. 11. Print.[https://books.google.com/books?id=5Kg-AAAAYAAJ&dq=Chester%20(and%20its%20vicinity%2C)&pg=PP9] In response, Lars Carlsson Lock, after finding out where a trunk of Jough's was being kept, trespassed into a house and broke the trunk open and took some of his wife's property (and left a "memorandum of what he had done").Martin, John Hill. Chester (and its Vicinity,) Delaware County, in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia : WM H. Pile & Sons, 1877. 11. Print.[https://books.google.com/books?id=5Kg-AAAAYAAJ&dq=Chester%20(and%20its%20vicinity%2C)&pg=PP9] Within a month of his wife's desertion, Lars Carlsson Lock sought to remarry, but first tried in vain to obtain a divorce. He decided to marry Beata Lom, the 18-year-old daughter of Måns Lom.Smith, George M.D. History of Delaware County Pennsylvania: From the Discovery of the Territory Included Within Its Limits to the Present Time. Philadelphia : Henry B. Ashmead 1862. 80.[https://books.google.com/books?id=99G_XONW654C&dq=Laurentius+Carels&pg=PA80] For his unauthorized marriage and for breaking into another's home, charges were brought against Lars Lock and he was fined 280 guilders. Together Lars Carlsson Lock and Beata were the parents of seven known children.Martin, John Hill. Chester (and its Vicinity,) Delaware County, in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia : WM H. Pile & Sons, 1877. 10. Print.[https://books.google.com/books?id=5Kg-AAAAYAAJ&dq=Chester%20(and%20its%20vicinity%2C)&pg=PP9]
References
{{Reflist}}
Other sources
- Barton, H. Arnold (1994) A Folk Divided: Homeland Swedes and Swedish Americans, 1840—1940 (Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis).
- Benson, Adolph B. and Naboth Hedin, eds. (1938) Swedes in America, 1638-1938 (The Swedish American Tercentenary Association. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press) {{ISBN|978-0-8383-0326-9}}
- Johnson, Amandus (1927) The Swedes on the Delaware (International Printing Company, Philadelphia)
- Munroe, John A. (1977) Colonial Delaware (Delaware Heritage Press, Wilmington)
- Ward, Christopher (1930) Dutch and Swedes on the Delaware, 1609-1664 (University of Pennsylvania Press)
- Weslager, C. A. (1988) New Sweden on the Delaware 1638-1655 (The Middle Atlantic Press, Wilmington ) {{ISBN|0-912608-65-X}}
External links
- [http://www.ridleytownshiphistory.com/eddystone_history.htm Some History of Eddystone]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20101024220955/http://www.colonialswedes.org/Forefathers/Lock.html Lars Carlsson Lock, Pastor of New Sweden and his Family]
- [http://anglicanhistory.org/usa/misc/mccullough_sacred1842.html The Old Swedes' Church by The Rev. John W. M'cullough, Rector of Trinity Church. Wilmington, Del.: 1842]
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Category:People from colonial Pennsylvania