Old Swedes Burial Ground, Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware

As the earliest settlers upon the Delaware brought with them the animosities and contentions of their native lands, and besides fighting out in their new homes the ancient grudges of England, holland and Sweden, often shouldered arms to save themselves from being driven into the sea by the Indians, the establishment of cemeteries, an attendant of peace and civilization, was not a primary object with them. But when the Swedes set up their church at crane hook, south of the mouth of the Christiana creek, they had a burial-place attached to it, and upon the erection of old swedes' (now trinity) church, in 1698, they laid out a plot of surrounding earth to receive the bodies of their dead. It was then far distant from any settlements, and interments must have been attended with the expenditure of much time and trouble. The earliest graves in this cemetery are unmarked.

The following are the inscriptions on some of the oldest tombs and monuments:

William Vandevere, Born 1656, Died Nov. 1719

Breta Cock, Died 1726
Catharine, her Sister, Two Days Later.

Alice, Wife of Samuel Kirk, Died 1732, Aged 63 Years.

Elizabeth, Wife of Timothy Stidham, 1737, Aged 42 Years.

Peter, Son of Hance and Mary Smith, 1747, Aged 27 Years.

John, Son of Israel and Susannah Stalcup, 1747, Aged 26 Years.

Ingeborg Stidham, Daughter of Peter and Ingeborg Jaquet, Born 1690, Married Lucy Stidham 1715; Died 1748.

Mary Smidt, Born 1697, Went to Sweden 1714, Returned 1721; Died Nov. 19, 1750.

Casparus, Son of Cornelius and Mary Jaquet, Died 1755, Aged Thirty-Five Years.

Jesper Poulsen, Died 1763, Aged Seventy-Three Years.

Henry Colesbury, Died 1760, Aged Fifty-Eight Years.

Peter Hendrickson, Died 1761, Aged Fifty-Five Years.

William Hedges, Died 1765, Aged Thirty-Eight Years.

Morton Justis, Died 1765, Aged Seventy-Seven Years.

William Derickson, Died June 1, 1766, Aged Sixty-Two Years.

John Linam, Died 1768, Aged Forty-Six Years.

Ingebar Robinson, Died 1768, Aged Sixty-Four Years.

William Tussey, Died 1771, Aged Sixty-Six Years.

Elizabeth, Wife of Henry Colesbury, Died 1771, Aged Sixty-Two Years.

Lydia, Wife of Thomas Gilpin, Daughter of Evan Rice, Died 1775, Aged Twenty-Eight Years.

Gabriel Springer, Died 1781, Aged Thirty-One Years.

Ann Justis, Died 1781, Aged Thirty-One Years.

Anna Maria Tussey, Died 1786, Aged Seventy-Eight Years.

Swen Justis Died Jan. 19, 1792, Aged Sixty-Six Years.
Mary Justis, Wife of Swen Justis, Died 1785, Aged Fifty-Four Years.

Peter Abraham Girelius, Died Sept. 18, 1786, Aged Nineteen Days. This Was The Son Of Lawrance Girelius, The Last Swedish Minister of the Old Church.

Elizabeth Justis, Wife of John Justis, Died 1795, Aged Forty Years.

John Justis, Died 1805, Aged Fifty-Five Years.

Major Peter Jaquett, An Officer of the Revolution, Born April 6, 1755, Died At Long Hook Farm, Near Wilmington, September 18, 1834.
Elizabeth P. Jaquett, His Wife, Born November 25, 1769, Died May 5, 1834.

Brooke T. Turner, Born in Manchester, England, 1792, Died 1867.
Elizabeth, His Wife, Born in Pennsylvania, 1802, Died 1884.

Jonathan Saville, Died 1849, Aged Seventy-Eight Years; Harriet, his Wife, 1859, Aged Eighty-Six Years.

Captain John Gallagher, (U. S. Navy), Died 1842, Aged Fifty-Eight Years.

Rebecca B. Justice, Born 1789, Died 1867.

Th. Jenifer Adams, Born 1796, Died 1865;
Isabella, His Wife, Died 1857, Aged Fifty-Five Years.

Cornelius Derrickson, Born 1812, Died 1881.

John A. Banning, Died 1854, Aged Sixty-Four Years;
Elizabeth, His Wife, Died 1861, Aged Sixty-Seven Years.

Cloud Elliot, Died 1824, Aged Thirty-Seven Years
Eliza, His Wife, Died 1872, Aged Eighty-Four Years.

Benjamin Elliot, Died 1854, Aged Seventy-Six Years
Mary, His Wife, Died 1836, Aged Sixty-Two Years.

John Paulson, Esq., Died 1838, Aged Sixty-Four Years.

Dr. Richard Colegate Dale, Died 1818, Aged Forty-Seven Years.

James Ashton Bayard, Born: 1799, Died 1880
Anna Francis, Wife of James A. Bayard, Born: 1802, Died 1864.

Thomas R. Brinckle, M.D., Born in Kent County, 1804, Died in Philadelphia, 1853. These Words are Inscribed On The Tall Granite Shaft: "In Memory of one Whose Blameless Life was Passed in the Constant Practice of Good Deeds. A Man Eminently Just, Upright and Sincere in Purpose and Action, Loyal, Devoted, Faithful, Unselfish and Generous in all His Relations. This Monument Is Erected By His Friends."

Jacob Derickson, Died 1840, Aged Sixty-Nine Years
Sarah, his Wife, Died 1847, Aged Seventy-Six Years.

Jacob Derrickson, Born 1781, Died 1851, Aged Seventy Years.

Perrine Victore Virginie Canchois, A Native of St. Domingo, Died 1828, Aged Thirty Eight Years.

Florengio Andre Verrier, Born in St. Domingo, 1799, Died at Eden Park, Wilmington, 1860.
E. M. Garesché, His Wife, Bora 1814, Died 1858.

William Hamon, of St. Domingo, Born: In France, Died in Philadelphia, 1816, Aged Sixty Years.

Cora Margaret Garesché, Born: 1820, Died 1838.

Helen Cruon Bauduy, Wife of J. B, Bauduy, of St. Domingo, Died 1815, Aged Sixty-Five Years.

Ferdinand Bauduy, Died 1814, Aged Twenty-Five Years.

Maria Francisca Regina Joubert, Wife of Col. Louis Tousard, One of The Society Of Cincinnati, Died July 20, 1794.

J. Garesché Du Rocher, Born in St. Domingo, 1740, Died In Wilmington, 1801.

Elizabeth Garesché, Died 1803, Aged Forty-Three Years.

Alfred Francis, Died at Philadelphia, 1842, Aged Twenty-Seven Years.

John James Ullmann, Born: 1754, in Strasburg, France, Died 1811.

John Payon, Born in Jamaica, Died 1799, Aged Forty-Four Years.

William H. Keating, Born in Wilmington, 1799, Died In London, 1840.

Isaac Stidham, Esq., Died 1824, Aged Sixty Years.

John Stidham, Born 1760, Died 1839.

David Stidham, Died 1838, Aged Sixty-Nine Years.

William Gay Ley, Died 1848, Aged Seventy-Eight Years.
Stena, His Wife, 1849, Aged Eighty-One Years.

John Elliot, Died 1849, Aged Eighty-Two Years.

John Hedges, Born: 1776, Died 1865.

Urban D. Hedges, M.D., Born: 1809, Died 1865.

Solomon Sharp (Surgeon in United States Navy), Born 1806, Died 1870.

George Stevenson, Died 1829, Aged Sixty-Nine Years.

John Baptist Bretton Deschapelle, Born in Leogane, in the Island of St. Domingo, Died In Wilmington, January 19, 1795, Aged Thirty-Six Years.

His Daughter, Elulalia Keating, Died 1805, Aged Twenty Nine Years.

John Keating, Died In Philadelphia, 1824, Aged Twenty-Five Years.

Elizabeth Parlin, Daughter of Rev. Peter Tranberg and Wife of Rev. Olove Parlin, Died 1802, Aged Seventy-Two Years.

John Gordon, Died 1847, Aged Sixty-Four Years
Ann, His Wife, Born 1787, Died 1869.

John Armond Monges Died At Matagorda, Texas, 1840, Aged Fifty-Nine Years.

Francis O'Daniel, Born: 1768, Died 1827.
Isabella, His Wife, Born: 1777, Died 1812.

William F. O'Daniel, Born: 1807, Died 1862,
Sarah, His Wife, Born 1810, Died 1862.

Timothy Jackson, Died 1812, Aged Sixty-Two Years.

Henrietta M. Allmond, Died 1844, Aged Thirty-Two Years.

Ann Maria Griffin, Wife of George Griffin, Died 1824, Aged Twenty-Four Years.

John Allmond, Died 1832, Aged Seventy-One Years.
Beulah, His Wife, Died 1852.

John G. Allmond, Born 1796, Died 1830.
Jane, His Wife, Born 1803, Died 1881.

Solomon Higgins, M.D., Born 1839, Died 1881.

William Derickson, Died 1766, Aged Sixty-Two Years.

Captain Hugh Montgomery, "Associated with the Continental Congress to import arms and Ammunition, sailed from Wilmington on the Perilous Enterprise, and in the Harbor of St. Thomas Hoisted the First Flag of Independence." He Died 1780, Aged Thirty Years.

Rachel Montgomery, Died 1825, Aged Seventy-Five Years.

Elizabeth Montgomery, Died February 25, 1 863, Aged Eighty-Four Years. She was the author of the "Reminiscences Of Wilmington."

John Elliott, 1849, Aged Eighty Two.
Rebecca, His Wife, 1836, Aged Sixty-Two Years.

William Derrickson, Died 1 766, Aged Sixty-Six Years.

Rev. Charles Ewbank McIlvaine, Born: 1839, Died 1876.

Rev. C. A. Spooner. Born 1798, Died 1883.
Mary Collins, his Wife, Born: 1816, Died 1882.

Julia White, Wife Of Alfred Lee, Born: 1811, Died 1868.

William Kirk, Died 1811, Aged Forty-Seven Years.
Susannah, His Wife, Died 1837, Aged Sixty-Eight Years.

William Donman, Born 1789, Died 1828.

William Hedges, Died 1765, Aged Thirty-Eight Years.

Mary James, Died 1833, Aged Eighty Years.

Harry Sharpley, Born: 1846, Died 1886.

Dr. William Horsey, Died 1807, Aged Twenty-Four Years.

Samuel White, Esq., Died 1809, Aged Thirty- Four Years.

Margaret S. Barker, Wife of Joseph Barker, Daughter of Judge John Laws, of Sussex County, Died 1819, Aged Forty-Three Years.

Joseph Eugene Capelle, M.D., Died 1796, Aged Twenty-Nine Years.

Ann Magdaline, Wife of Rev. Ralph Williston, Died 1825.

Joanna, Widow of Rev. Arthur Hamilton, Died 1807, Aged Sixty-Seven Years.

Joseph Springer, 1832, Aged Ninety-Two.
Anna, His Wife, 1824, Aged Seventy-Seven.

James Grimshaw, M.D., Died 1853.

William Peach, Died November, 1880, Aged Eighty Years.

John Peach, September, 1860, in his Eighty Ninth Year.

Elizabeth, Wife of Thomas Niell, Died May, 1779, Aged Twenty-Three Years.

Marcia Patterson, Died 1786, Aged Forty-Five Years.

Jane Morris, Died December, 1794.

Samuel Little Died 1814, Aged Sixty-Four Years.

Christopher Tennant, Died 1840, In His Sixty-Fifth Year.

Wilmington Cemeteries  | New Castle County

Source: History of Delaware, 1609-1888, Volume I, by J. Thomas Scharf, L. J. Richards & Company, Philadelphia, 1888.