Editing Pennsville Township, New Jersey (section)

=== Early History ===
At the time of the European settlements in America in the 1600s, the [[Lenni-Lenape|Lenni Lenape]] Tribe called [[Unalachtigo Lenape|Unilachtigo]] occupied the area, calling it "Hoppemense." In 1638 [[Swedish Empire|Sweden]] established a trading fort in [[Wilmington, Delaware|Wilmington]], and called it [[Fort Christina]]. Only 24 Swedish Soldiers came on the first expedition. Their orders were to buy land, build a fort and establish trade on the West side of the [[Delaware River]]. There were no colonists at Fort Christina in 1638. It wasn't until 1641 that the Swedes purchased land on the east side of the Delaware River. A ''May 1671 Census of the Delaware'' by Walter Wharton documents Swedes and Finns living on the East side of the Delaware River in what is known as Pennsville today.

==== Fenwick's Colony ====
When English Quaker [[John Fenwick (Quaker)|John Fenwick]] arrived in 1675 to colonize his territory in West Jersey, called [[Fenwick's Colony|Fenwick’s Colony]], he had already sold large tracts of land to fellow Englishmen, and he named the area West Fenwick. He was not yet aware that there were already European settlements here along the Delaware River. The plantations owned by the Swedes and Finns in West Fenwick Township which pre-dated Fenwick’s arrival at [[Obisquahassit]], Finns Town and in the Church Town area, reluctantly acknowledged John Fenwick as the new Lord Proprietor. To insure possession of their tracts of land, they signed quit claims to Fenwick in consideration of a yearly rental payment.

A series of financial, legal, and political difficulties followed John Fenwick from England, as well as a couple of imprisonments in America; so by age 65 John Fenwick was in declining health. Those four factors caused Fenwick to convey all his right, title and interest in West Jersey, except for 150,000 acres, to William Penn on March 23, 1682. Fenwick died in 1683.