1671 DELAWARE RIVER CENSUS

THE SETTLEMENTS AND THEIR PEOPLE;

WHOREKILL 1671:

Whorekill is Dutch,, horren kill,  aka, Whore Creek, now known as Lewes.  In 1659 they had built a fort, then in 1663 a settlement was established by forty Mennonites from Amsterdam on the ship St. Jacob, the leader being Peter Cornelisen Plockhoy. In 1664 the English in Maryland plundered these settlement and by 1671 the communities were a mix of dutch and English residents. The settlements were claimed by both the Maryland Governor and the Duke of York of New York and the governor of New York established a Court there naming  Helmanus Wiiltbank sheriff and chief justice, Sander Molleston, Otto Wollgast, and William Clasen as justices. This took place 28 February 1670 and on the third of October 1670, Maryland  took action and surveyed six tracts of land for residents which included all four of the New York appointees.
1673 the dutch retook the Delaware and New Castle, changing the Maryland policy toward Whorekill and that same year A Maryland Milita Troop of forty men led by Capt Thomas Howell seized the settlement, burned the houses, boats and took all weapons from the residents.. However, the community lived on. 
A census was made 8 May 1671 by the sheriff Wilrbank, entitled, " list of persons, young and old, who are here at Whorekill , aka, Sekonnessinck".
The Census:  Helmanus Fredricks Wiltbanck, his wife, two sons and one servant, (5);  Sander Moelsteen, his wife, two sons, one servant, (5); Otto Wolgast, his wife, one son, a servant (4); William Clasen, two daughters, one child (4); Jan Kipshaven , his wife, one daughter (3);  James Weedon, his wife, one daughter, one son, four servants (8);  Jon Rods, his wife, three sons, two daughters (7); John Brun, his wife, one partner, John Colleson, (3);  Jan Michiels, Antony Pieters, Abraham Pieters, Pieter Hansz (4); Peter Gronendick Antony Hansen, Herman Cornelissen, (3); Hendrick Drochstraeten (1) for a total of 47 souls.
Sheriff wiltbanck also gave numbers to the homes from 166 to 176. He also reported the five occupants of the ship Betfort of Capt. Martyn Cregier and two Crew of  Pieter  Alrich's  boat of New Castle, both anchored at Whorekill in the bay Delaware.