Godfrey Harmer was just a boy when he migrated from Germany to the tiny colony of New Sweden.

 

On 24 May 1662, Isaack van de Water (62) and his wife Maria Hasecamp (50), both then living in Amsterdam, signed an affidavit declaring “at the request of Godefried Harmer from Worms” that they know Harmar quite well and they know that he is a son of Hans Willem Harmer, deceased, who lived in Worms, and that he is a brother of Daniel Harmar. They also declare that they know that Godefrid Harmar went to Göteborg in Sweden in 1637, and that he went from there to the South River in the service of the crown of Sweden together with Pieter Minuit his uncle and Hendrick Huygen, his cousin. Some years later he went to British Virginia [in fact, Maryland] where he is still living with his wife whom he married there. C.A. Weslager, “The City of Amsterdam’s Colony on the Delaware 1656-1664; With Unpublished Dutch Notorial Abstracts.” DH, 20:80 (1982).

 

Returning to Sweden on the Kalmar Nyckel in 1638-39, Gotfried Harmar came again to New Sweden in 1641 as “servant” (assistant) to his cousin Hendrick Huygen, who was New Sweden’s Commissary. Johnson, 383, 390, 702, 711. By 1644, he was a valued member of the colony, having mastered the Indian language and actively carried out trading and treaties with the Indians. Instruction, 120-21, 238-39, Johnson, 439. After the 1653 “mutiny” against Governor Printz, Huygen left for Sweden with Printz and sent advice to his cousin Gotfried Harmar on 26 April 1654, urging that he defect to the English. Gotfried did just that in 1654 and moved to Maryland. By 24 October 1654, Governor Rising was accusing Harmar of luring other Swedes to Maryland and also causing “ruin” to the Swedish Indian trade because of his trading activities in Maryland. Rising’s Journal; cf. Johnson, 512.

 

Soon after arriving in Maryland, Gotfried Harmar married Mary Spry (English), daughter of Oliver and Johanna Spry. Their first land was “Mount Harman,” 200 acres on the north side of the Sassafras River, immediately east of Axel Stille’s “Stillington.” At the time his will was made, 12 Feb. 1673 (proved 20 May 1674), Harmar was living on the Gunpowder River in Baltimore (now Harford) County, west of the Chesapeake Bay. The will names three daughters: Sarah, Elizabeth and Mary. MCW, 1:81. Harmar’s widow married second the widower John Stansby c. 1675; Harmar’s daughter Mary married first Benjamin Gundry and second James Maxwell. Edward C. Papenfuse, Biographical Dictionary of Maryland Legislature (Baltimore 1985) 2:584, 769.

The Stille Family in America 

 

Godfrey (or Gothofrid) Hannei was an Indian trader ("Augustine Herman's Journal of the Dutch Embassy," Narratives of Early Maryland, folio 318). He soon became indispensible in the Indian trade through his mastery of the native languages of the region. No less a person that the colony's governor, Johan Printz, who hoped to attract the Great Lakes fur trade to the Delaware Valley by establishing commercial relations with the Susquehannocks, testified that Harmer "knows the savage languages and understands well how to carry on the trade."

 

1644 - There is little doubt that he was the same man as the Gotfred Hermannaon or Harmer, a "Holland servant" and relative of Hindrick Hugen, the Commissary of New Sweden, whom we meet with in the Report of Governor Printz, 1644, whose retention in New Sweden in the event of the recall of his master Hugen, is urged by Governor Printz on account of the fact that the "boy" "knows the savage languages and understands well how to carry on the trade" (Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware, folio 106).

 

1655 - When in 1655 the Dutch conquered New Sweden, Harmer went to Maryland and soon acquired nearly a thousand acres of land on the Sassafras, Gunpowder, and Susquehanna rivers. These were ideal locations to continue his trade with the natives, especially with the Susquehannocks who controlled the fur supply of the upper Chesapeake. In 1661 Maryland authorities put his linguistic skills to good use by appointing him interpreter to the Susquehannocks, who were then at war with the Iroquois. In recognition of his public services, the assembly granted Harmer the full rights of a Maryland denizen and an English freeman.

 

Before May 1658 - Godfrey Harmer married Mary Spry, the only child of Oliver Spry and Johanna his wife, before May 1658.

 

The land on which the town of Havre de Grace now stands was laid out for Godfrey Harmer July 19, 1658, and is described in the certificate of survey as "lying on the west side of the Chesapeake Bay, beginning at a marked chestnut tree upon the point near the mouth of the Susquehanna River running west and by south down the bay for breadth 100 perches, bounding on the west by a line drawn north and by west from the end of the west and by south line for length 320 perches to a marked oak, on the north by a line drawn east and by north from the said oak unto the said river, on the east with the river, on the south with the bay, and now laid out for 200 acres." The land was called "Harmer's Town." In the same year Harmer surveyed two other tracts in Baltimore county. "Harmer's Swan Town" was laid out for him in partnership with James Robinson April 15, 1658, at the mouth of Swan Creek on the south side, and was the first land surveyed within the limits of what is now Harford county. "Powdersby" was laid out for him at the mouth of Bush river on the west side.

 

Augustine Herman was Oliver Spry's guest at Town Neck on Severn River on October 4, 1659 ("Journal of the Dutch Embassy," Narratives of Early Maryland, folio 318. Through a defect in the text the name of Spry does not appear, but it is stated that Herman's host was the father-in-law of Godfried Harmer, the Indian trader). A letter dated May 23, 1658, from Oliver Spry to "Mr. Clarke" requests that his warrant for 850 acres be laid out "near my son Godfrid . . . where my son Godfrid shall appoint you" (Patents, Liber Q, folio 64).

 

 

It is probable that Oliver Spry's first permanent home in Baltimore County was in Gunpowder Neck, where his father-in-law, Godfrey Harmer, took up land in 1659. The name of Oliver Spry  is still preserved in Spry's Island, which was formerly the end of a long point extending into the Bay from where Rickett's Point now is; and a high bank on Gunpowder River between Day's Point and the mouth of Watson's (originally Waterton's) Creek still keeps the name of Mary's Banks given it in 1674 by Godfrey Harmer in honor, no doubt, of his wife Mary.

 

"Harmer's Town" was assigned by Godfrey Harmer to Thomas Stockett June 30, 1659 (Patents, Liber P. L. No. 6, Harmer's Town" was assigned by Godfrey Harmer to Thomas Stockett June 30, 1659 (Patents, Liber P. L. No. 6, folio 159), less than a year after the taking up of the land.  [pp. 198-199 and 201-202, Maryland Historical Magazine by William Hand Browne, Maryland Historical Society, Louis Henry Dielman]

 

1659 - In 1659 the Dutch emissary from New Netherlands, hoping to negotiate disputed claims to the Delaware Valley, accused Harmer of "enticing and transporting" runaway servants from New Amstel to Maryland. Harmer, he alleged, was selling fugitives to eager planters on the Severn River. 

 

1661 - Naturalization papers were granted him in 1661, along with about two dozen other Swedes and Dutch from the Delaware settlements. [Maryland Archives Volume 3 (1660-1661), pp 428, 429, 430] (Maryland Archives, Liber in, folio 430), and we learn that he was formerly "subject to the crowne of Sweeden."

 

1661 - He was appointed interpreter of the expedition under Captain John Odbersen to the Susquehanna Fort to aid the Susquehannough Indians (Maryland Archives, Liber rri, folio 410).  From the way in which Augustine Herman speaks of Harmer in his Journal (Narratives of Early Maryland, folio 319) it is evident that the Dutch and Swedes were well acquainted with the trader.

 

1663 - "Samson" surveyed for Thomas Sampson in 1659 and assigned to Oliver Spry. "Sampson" was deeded by Spry to his daughter Mary Harmer, wife of Godfrey Harmer, 1663 (Land Records Baltimore County, Liber R. M. No. H. S., folio 4).

 

abt 1669 - Nothing apparently came of the charges from 1659, but a decade later the fur trader's fortunes hit bottom when he was forced to sell nearly all of his land.

 

Godfrey Harmer sold part of a tract called Mt Harmon by the Sassafras River to Cornelius Urianson and his wife Elinor.

 

In 1674, Godfrey Harmer moved across the Bay and patented "Mary's Banks" in Balto. Co.  

 

1675 - Deed. Cornelius Urimson and Ellinor Urimson of Cecil Co., to William Ward of the same place, 50 acres of land, part of a tract called Mt Harmon by the Sassafras River formerly sold to Neales Urimson by Godfrey Harmer. Made 13 Mar 1675. Wit: John Cosyns, John Wheeler. Ackn: 22 Mar 1675/6 before Augustin Herman and Henry Ward by William Galloway and Andrew Powlson, attorneys for Cornelius Urimson and Elinor Urimson.

Power of Attorney. Elinor Urimson appoints her son Andrew Powlson to be her attorney to acknowledge and deliver to William Ward the land she now lives on. Made 23 Mar 1675/6. Wit: Axel Still, John ___. [both p. 5, Abstracts of Cecil County Land Records 1673-1751, by June D Brown]

 

**NOTE: "Neales Urimson" is Cornelius URIANSON, who came to New Sweden as a soldier on the Eagle in 1654. His daughter (name unknown) married Anders Powlson, youngest son of Pål Jönsson Mullica. These two men were also granted Denization in maryland in 1661. [Maryland Archives Volume 3 (1660-1661), pp 428, 429, 430]

He died bef 1687.Appraisers found his small plantation neglected and run down, with many livestock roaming freely "in the woods." To each of his three daughters, Harmer could bequeath nothing more than a cow and calf. What property remained went to his widow Mary, who described the estate as "Very Small and many Debts due to be paid."'

 

Land in Cecil County:

Harmers Mount, 150 Acres; Certificate Developer/Owner: Harmer, Godfrey 1658 Patent Record Q, p. 296 MSA S 1586-1332

Harmers Mount, 150 Acres; Patent Developer/Owner: Harmer, Godfrey 1658 Patent Record Q, p. 297 MSA S 1586-1333

Mount Harmer, 200 Acres; Certificate Developer/Owner: Harmer, Godfrey 1658 Patent Record Q, p. 296 MSA S 1586-2251

Mount Harmer, 200 Acres; Patent Developer/Owner: Harmer, Godfrey 1658 Patent Record Q, p. 297 MSA S 1586-2252

(these are probably the same tract)

 

**NOTE that the earliest dates on land records in MSA records are 1658, although some surveys may have been laid out earlier --EJ

 

 

 Source:

From Gentlemen to Townsmen The Gentry of Baltimore County Maryland, 1660-1776 by Charles G. Steffen

 

 

 

"Mary's Banks" was surveyed for Godfrey Harmer in 1674; "Harmer's Addition" in 1667. "Island Point" was laid out in 1683 for Mary Stansby, wife of Captain John Stansby and widow of Godfrey Harmer, on the point of land which then ran from where Rickett's Point now is to Spry's Island, and which has since been entirely washed away. All of these lands, which lie adjacent to one another at the foot of Gunpowder Neck, excepting "Upper Ollives," which lies in Bush River, descended to the Maxwell family through Mary Harmer, daughter of Godfrey Harmer, who married (1st) Benjamin Gundry and (2d) Colonel James Maxwell (Patents, Liber E. I. No. 4, folio 187).