Mink Family History
and genealogy site
Descendants of William Mink.
Children of William Mink were:
Rufus Mink, Calem Mink,
Thompson Mink, John B. Mink, Hiram Mink,
Amos William Mink, Daniel Mink, Harvey Mink, James
Mink, Jane Mink, Martha Mink, Mary Mink, Sarah Mink, William Joseph Mink.
William Mink is believed by many to be descended from Anders Classon Mink who was an early colonist to what later became the United States.
Anders Classon Mink arrived direct from Gothenburg, Sweden on the ship Kalmer Nyckel July 1641, arriving in New Sweden (Delaware River area) on Sunday, November 7, 1641.
He was an involuntary emigrant as were many that came over with their employer, "The New Sweden Company". Anders was listed as "herding 'The Companies' swine herd in 1644, but became a freeman in 1646."
Children were Paul Paulson Mink and Clas Andersson Mink.
Anders was either Finnish or Swedish as many of the "involuntary emigrants" were Finnish.
Spelling variations of the surname Mink include Minks, Minke, Minch, and Menk.
According to "The World Book of Minks" the Mink surname means "descendant of Menk, a pet form of Meinhardt". Because there are many descendants of the Germanic peoples, the Mink bloodline also contains Swiss, Swedish, Norwegian, and Dutch ancestry.
Anyone wishing to add or inquire more information of this history please contact me.
Surnames - A list of most of the surnames for this family
Names - A list of most of the names included in this Mink family history
Photos of Mink descendants
Home Genealogy Page
Tips for starting your own Family Research and some helpful links.
New Sweden
We all know of Plymouth Colony, settled by the English Pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower in 1620
Not as well known is there was a Swedish Colony called New Sweden in what is now Delaware, from 1638 - 1655. At this
time Sweden was one of the major military and political powers on the European continent. By mid 1600's, the kingdom included part of Norway,
all of Finland and stretched into Russia. Sweden had control of portions of modern Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Germany.
The first Swedish ships reached Delaware Bay in March 1638, and the settlers began to build a fort at the site of present-day Wilmington, Delaware.
They named it Fort Christina, in honor of Sweden's twelve-year-old queen. It was the first permanent European settlement in the Delaware Valley.
During the next seventeen years, twelve more Swedish expeditions left the homeland for New Sweden. A total of eleven vessels and some 600 Swedes and Finns reached their
destination. The colony eventually consisted of farms and small settlements along both banks of the Delaware River into modern Delaware, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Along with Swedes and Finns, a number of the settlers were Dutch. Some Germans also came to the colony as soldiers in the Swedish army.
A replica of the Kalmer Nyckel, the ship that brought Anders Classon Mink to America, was one of the two ships who brought colonists to New Sweden.
The replica was built at a shipyard in Wilmington on the Christina river near the original 1638 Swedish settler's landing site at Fort Christina. She was launched on
September 28, 1997 and commissioned on May 9, 1998.
Other Researchers/Contributors' Many thanks.
Debbie Mink Hopper (special thanks for all the help on James E. Mink's family)
Kathleen Marie Mink
Rylynn Ernest
Sylvia Cardwell
Dave Mink
Debra Branigan
Bette Mink Flanagan
Gary Doyle Mink
Randall M. Mink
Susan Shipley
Ann Shack
Gregg Mink
Created 30 Nov 2004 with RootsMagic Genealogy Software
Last Update 14 February 2013