Made-Up History

2 plaques at Gloria Dei Church
contain more fiction than fact

Just recently I learned that the two plaques — prominently displayed in Philadelphia’s Gloria Dei (Old Swedes’) Church since 1947 — are historically inaccurate. They honor the supposed legacies of Colonel John Hanson (1630–1713) and his grandson “president” John Hanson (1703–1783).

Since then, while trying to sift fact from fiction about both John Hansons, I’ve gone down an amazing number of rabbit holes to try to find out what’s really true about these men.

The results:

The background of the elder John Hanson appears to have been almost totally made up by one of his ancestors. And he’s not even Swedish. At least, that’s what two respected genealogists claim.

The younger John Hanson’s record has been examined extensively in recent years by many organizations. That plaque contains some truth and much fiction.

Evidently, he did serve as president of the United States in Congress Assembled under the Articles of Confederation in 1781–82. However, eight people served one-year terms under this relatively weak organization — until we adopted the Constitution of the United States.

So few would really call him the “Father of Our Constitution” — as the plaque at Gloria Dei does. The Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America presented it to Gloria Dei in 1947.

An internet sensation

For some reason, the younger John Hanson has become the subject of a flurry of stories by Snopes.com online, USA Today in print and “The Daily Show” on television. Google his name and President of the U.S. and you come up with almost 7 million results.

Correction statements are now in the works

Because the plaques are still an integral part of the church building, the Historic Gloria Dei Preservation Corporation (HGDPC) will be installing correction statements. Support for this project has been provided by The Philadelphia Cultural Fund.

Those statements are still in process.

*This plaque copy at Philadelphia’s Gloria Dei (Old Swedes’) Church is basically untrue and will be corrected. What’s more, Colonel John Hanson is not Swedish, say two top genealogists*

# 1: Let’s look at Col. John Hanson, 1630–1713.

Reputed to be the great, great grandson of the King of Sweden, Col. John Hanson is said to have fought alongside the king, landed with Governor Printz at Tinicum Island in 1642 and moved to Maryland in 1653.

I don’t pretend to be a genealogist. But top professionals like George Ely Russell in 1988 and Sweden’s Elisabeth Thorsell in 2001 have thoroughly debunked this story and also said Col. John Hanson simply was not Swedish. I will take their word for it.

Russell, a renowned researcher, was posthumously elected to the National Genealogy Hall of Fame in 2020 and is clearly a believable and unbiased source.

George A. Hanson — a family member in Maryland who wrote a book titled “Old Kent: The Eastern Shore of Maryland” — isn’t.

Most of the flamboyant details about Col. John Hanson came from George A. Hanson, and they appear to be fictional as well.

A plaque in Col. John Hanson’s honor was given to Gloria Dei in 1947 by his direct descendants, Laura Maryland Carpenter Blinn and Mary Hanson Megargee.

But, we’re not even sure a Swedish Col. John Hanson ever existed.

How did the story get traction? Evidently Amandus Johnson, founder of the American Swedish Historical Museum in Philadelphia, was quite taken by the news of this pseudo-Swedish hero and helped contribute to the story’s popularity. Rev. Dr. Kim-Eric Williams, curator and archivist at HGDPC, says “Swedish Americans wanted a hero, and it was easy to accept false information to make them feel more accepted as real Americans.”

*This plaque copy also contains falsehoods. John Hanson was not elected President of the United States nor was he the Father of Our Constitution. This will receive a correction statement.*

# 2: John Hanson, 1703–1783 (Other sources put his birth year as either 1715 or 1721)

The Col. John Hanson referenced above was reportedly the grandfather of a real John Hanson who some (incorrectly) call the first president of the United States.

But this second John Hanson doesn’t appear to be Swedish, either. So his plaque, donated by the Pennsylvania Chapter, National Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America in 1947, will also need a correction statement.

But wait, there’s more!

In 1967, the Swedish Colonial Society got into the act and donated a beautiful bust of John Hanson and a monolith for Gloria Dei’s churchyard. Both were moved to Hanson’s birthplace in Port Tobacco, Md., in 2008, where as Gloria Dei’s historian Kim-Eric Williams says, Hanson “can still be seen, but with no Swedish attribution.”

Evidently, this John Hanson was a planter, a slave owner and important public official who helped recruit and arm Revolutionary War soldiers. Elected to serve at the Second Continental Congress, Hanson was a member of several committees dealing with finance, says Wikipedia.

Interesting Oddities:

Three historical markers honoring John Hanson are located within close distance of each other in Frederick, Md.
John Hanson’s figure is on one of two statues currently representing Maryland in the National Statuary Hall Collection at the U.S. Capitol. The other is of Charles Carroll. Some Marylanders want Harriet Tubman to replace Hanson there, but Hanson was still standing tall in the summer of 2022.
John Hanson appears on a 20-cent commemorative stamp saying, “John Hanson, Patriot,” issued Nov. 5, 1981 in Frederick, Md. A 6-cent postal card honoring Hanson was also issued in 1972.
Search the Library of Congress site, loc.gov for an image of president John Hanson, and you may find an image of a black John Hanson from the library’s daguerreotype collection. A blog called “Teaching With the Library of Congress” says this proves you can even be fooled by primary sources. The Black John Hanson was a senator from Liberia and some web sources claim he was the first Black president. He wasn’t.
The craziness continues. A Facebook post from July 21, 2015 — that USA Today says also began circulating again in late 2021 — now claims the first U.S. president was Black man named John Hanson. A photo of a $2 bill on that post purportedly shows a Black man on the back the blog says is John Hanson. It is Robert Morris of Philadelphia. No one is sure why he appears black. USA Today debunked that John Hanson error.

The bottom line:

The stories of both John Hansons with plaques at Gloria Dei Church appear to be mostly false. So the Historic Gloria Dei Preservation Corporation will add correction statements to both of them in the near future.

Some Sources

http://johnhansonmemorial.org/The_John_Hanson_National_Memorial/Myths_files/Myths.pdf

http://sites.rootsmagic.com/Worland/individual.php?p=1172

https://wc.rootsweb.com/trees/194727/I01803/-/individual

https://allthingsliberty.com/2021/03/king-gustav-iii-of-sweden-friendly-foe-of-the-united-states/

https://archive.org/stream/oldkenteasterns00hansgoog/oldkenteasterns00hansgoog_djvu.txt

https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/H000177

https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Static_Files/data/H/H000177.xml

https://bcgcertification.org/rip-george-ely-russell-jr/

https://blogs.loc.gov/teachers/2014/04/dont-be-fooled-by-primary-sources/

https://colonialswedes.net/AboutSCS/ninety_years.html

https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2247&context=swensonsag