Individual Details

Ann is often reported as the daughter of a Swedish family from Delaware. This seems extremely doubtful to me, for various reasons - religious differences and the location being primary.

Here is another opinion:
Harry Egan Adamson, headamson@aol.com
http://genforum.genealogy.com/adamson/messages/370.html on July 21, 2000:
I was at the Friends History Center at Swathmore College about two weeks ago. There was no record of John Adamson in the archives until he and Ann Skute declared their intent to marry Feb 1715 at Haddonfield Monthly Meeting, altho it seems possible they might have been at the New Town (Newton) MM or Chesterfield MM before Haddonfield. All three were Gloucester County; Haddonfield later Camden County when Gloucester County split. Also listed is "got licence to marry at Haddonfield MM on March 14, 1716".
The discrepancy in years is common in these old records--I think it has to do with the calendar changes and/or subsequent copying. Know nothing about his parents or sibs, and there are no records of them at Swathmore. There are records of Adamsons in MMs in England prior to 1700 in the Swathmore archive. John got certificate of transfer to Gwynedd MM, Upper Gwynedd Twp, Bucks County, PA, on Jan 14, 1725, as there was no MM at Richland Twp, Quakertown borough, where they settled at the Great Swamp, until 1742. John is found there in histories of early Bucks County. An Ann Skute was granddaughter of the military administrator of New Sweden in the Delaware Valley, Sven Skute, who arrived in 1643. Anns' father was Johan Svensson Skute(1654-1722) and her mother was Armegot Martensdotter Garretsson(1664-1755!). Sven Skute and family are well documented and easily found in records of the American Swedish Historical Museum here in Philly. In fact, his grant from the Queen of Sweden encompassed what is now all of South Philadelphia, from river to river, and the original document is held by the Pennsylvania Historical Society here. Ann died at or soon after the birth of Simon in 1733 and money was raised at GMM for a wet nurse. Ann's name is variously listed as Skew, Shew, Chew, Shoe, even Skull, but the curators at the Swedish museum are satisfied that it is Skute, even tho Queen Christinas' charter says "Sven Schutte." The story of New Sweden, Nya Sverige, 1638-1655, is most interesting. Sven is mentioned in all the histories I have seen about New Sweden, since he was involved until his death in every military, economic and political decision in New Sweden and its' successor colony under the Dutch.
Re: AnnSkute
Posted by: Joanne Todd Rabun Date: July 29, 2000 at 11:25:10 GenForum "Adamson"


The biggest problem of the Swedish Ann Skew marrying the Quaker John Adamson, is that she would have likely been Lutheran. There is also the problem of getting the couple in the same location to meet and marry. The researcher that reported the above information, later posted a retraction. See next.


Posted By: Harry Adamson Jr
Email: headamson@aol.com
Subject: John Adamson & Ann Skew
Post Date: May 12, 2004 at 15:18:20
Message URL: http://genforum.genealogy.com/adamson/messages/870.html Forum: Adamson Family Genealogy Forum
Forum URL: http://genforum.genealogy.com/adamson/
Dear Friends, I want to withdraw some previous findings I reported which I cannot further authenticate. I regret if it causes inconvenience to Adamson researchers, and I apologize for it. Some time ago, I reported that Ann Skew/Shew/etc was part of a Swedish family who were early settlers along the Delaware River, inhabiting what is now Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The name is variously seen as Skew/Shew/Shue/Skute/Shute/etc. There is much documentation for this family, especially at the Swedish museum here, and there are many extant gravesites in the Philadelphia area dating from the 1600s. Because of my beginner's enthusiasm, I latched on to this Swedish Ann Skew as the wife of John Adamson, married at the Newton Meeting in (then) Gloucester County NJ about 1715. Two experienced Adamsons, Evelyn of Nebraska and Jerry of Kansas, convinced me I jumped the gun on this, and have patiently guided me into deeper research. The Skews were operating a trading post in or very near the Newton Colony and I assumjed their daughter to be the Ann I was looking for, based mostly on the convenience of location. I did not consider the religious implications of a Lutheran-Quaker marriage in 1715, among other things. There is another Adamson, a "Jeames" listed in the 1680s on a grand jury in Gloucester County, but I can otherwise find no Adamson info for that time or placae. A trip to the state archives in Trenton is necessary, as I have exhausted all the local NJ and PA sources. I am now considering that "Skew" was a mistake by the meeting clerk, perhaps an entry made during a hectic meeting, or made some time after the marriage itself, which was part or similar to another name, for instance "Askew." For those of you who relied on my misguided assumptions, I am sorry for your inconvenience. I will post any new findings from Trenton, hopefully sometime over the summer after I visit the archives.


The Gwynedd Meeting reported Ann Adamson, dead 7 mo, 25th day, 1733, leaving a nursing infant (Simon). [The date said to have been converted to the Gregorian (today''s) calendar - I have not seen this record, but the 7th month in 1733 would have been the month of September.] Others report her death as 6 Oct 1733, which is the conversion.
After her death, the Swamp Friends of the Gwyned MM donated 40sh to provide a wet nurse for Simon.

Interesting - in the England & Wales Christening Records, 15830-1906, database on Ancestry.com there is a baptism for an Ann Skuse, daughter of John Skuse and Elizabeth, on 26 Jun 1697, Dauntsey, Wiltshire, England. This might be an line of research to pursue. She would be of approximate age - but first it would have to be proved this Ann lived to be an adult and doesn't have a death recorded in that Parish, and that her family immigrated across the pond.

Marriage	Abt 1715	Haddonfield, New Jersey - JOHN ADAMSON
Death	6 Oct 1733	Bucks County, Pennsylvania

Spouse	JOHN ADAMSON (1691 - 1753)
Child	Thomas ADAMSON (1717 - 1790)
Child	Betty ADAMSON (1719 - )
Child	Hester ADAMSON (1721 - )
Child	John ADAMSON (1726 - 1810)
Child	Ann ADAMSON (1728 - )
Child	Susanna ADAMSON (1730 - )
Child	SIMON ADAMSON (1733 - 1817)

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