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Jeremiah Swayne & Mary
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Eaton, Hon. Lilley, GENEALOGICAL HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF READING, MASS., INCLUDING THE PRESENT TOWNS OF WAKEFIELD, READING, AND NORTH READING, 1639, TO 1874. Alfred Mudge & Son, Boston, 1874 P. 111 Smith, Francis...Children:...MARY, who married 1664, JEREMIAH SWAIN. P. 115 SWAIN, JEREMIAH, was at Charlestown in 1638; came to Reading among the very early settlers; lived in the easterly part of the First Parish. He and his descendants appeared to have owned a tract of land extending from the present residence of David Batchelder to the farm of the late Issachar Stowell. His wife's name was MARY. He died 1658. Chil: Jeremiah, born 1643; John, born 1645, Sarah, born 1655, Elizabeth born 1651, and died 1656; and Mary, who was born before 1643, and married 1st in 1658 Thomas Clark; married, 2nd 1665, Edward Marshall. ---------- GENEALOGICAL DICTIONARY OF NEW ENGLAND Savage P. 235 JEREMY SWAIN, Charlestown 1638, by w. MARY or MERCY, had Jeremy, b. 1 Mar 12643; John 30 Jan. 1645; and perhaps others, certain. at Reading, Sarah, 29 Jan. 1655; and he d. at R. 2 Apr. 1658. ---------- He was granted 3 acres on Mystic Side (of Reading) under condition he build or buy in the town, 1642. Names that drew land in the "Division of the Great Swamp" with their minister rates in the preceding year: JEREMIAH SWAYNE 1 L 2 s 7 d Names of Brothern and Sisters at Church at Reading from 29 Sept. 1648 - 1650: MARY SWAYNE 1652 - This year the town ordered lots. JEREMY SWAYNE drew 12 acres ---------- Information from Paul R. Swan paulrswan@worldnet.att.net This family history comes primarily from 'Genealogical History of the Town of Reading, Massachusetts…', by Hon. Lilley Eaton, 1874, 'Historical Sketches of Ancient Reading' by William E. Eaton, 1935, and 'Swain and Allied Families', by William C. Swain, 1896. Vital statistics are for the most part from 'Vital Records of Reading Massachusetts, to the Year 1854', Thomas W. Baldwin, 1912. Additional material is taken from 'The Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown' by Wyman, 1982, 'A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England', by James Savage, 1981, and 'The Pioneers of Massachusetts', by Charles Henry Pope, 1911. Swain [1896] studied three Swain immigrants to New England: William, b 1585, to Watertown 1685; Richard, b1600, 1635 to Hampton, N. H. and Nantucket, Mass.; JEREMIAH, at Charlestown, Mass 1638, one of the first settlers of Reading, and our ancestor. He was unable to ascertain any connection among the three, although he felt that the use of the same given names indicated possible kinship, especially between Richard and JEREMIAH. There was a Henry Swain in Charlestown, proprietor 1638, and he may well have been a brother or cousin to our JEREMIAH (who was of Charlestown that same year) according to Pope. However, Moriarty [1948] demonstrates that Henry was not a son of JEREMIAH, as postulated by Wyman and others. Other early Swains include John (1620-1708) of Watertown 1642; Richard, (b c1595) of Hampton 1638, Exeter before 1650, Nantucket 1663; William Swain age 50 and Elizabeth age 16 who came in the 'Elizabeth and Ann'; Elizabeth age 20 who came in the 'Planter'; and William age 16 and Francis age 11 who came in the 'Rebecca' in April 1635, and settled at Watertown [Pope, 1981, 441-2]Ý I ordered a year or so ago from the NEH&GS (but never received) several pages from "Vermont", Lewis Publ. Co., listed in the Greenlaw Index which mentions a John Swain from Scotland who resided 1785-1903 in Reading, MA and Reading, VT. This volume is not in the FHL at Salt Lake. Ý. The surname is spelled variously Swain, Swaine, Swayn, and Swayne in the vital records of Reading. The preferred spelling appears to be Swayne in the early generations, although most chronicles written later use Swain for those same people. JEREMIAH was at Charlestown in 1638, and proprietor there 1642. He came to Reading among the very early settlers, living in the easterly part of the First Parish, was proprietor there 1647 and a town officer. See the map of Reading in the Eaton family history for the location of JEREMIAH's homestead on the road to Salem. His sons and grandsons also located in that locality, known in those later years as Montrose. He was granted 12 acres 1652 "against" the Woburn line, but died before the "Two Mile" division north of the Ipswich River. The death of Jeremiah is given in the Reading vital records. He was the second of the original settlers of that town to die, our ancestor Francis Smith being the first. Inventory was filed 25 Jun 1658 on his estate, and administration granted to his widow MARY. On 11 Aug of that year a petition was presented to the Middlesex Court for a division of his estate among the widow and minor children. On 28 Dec 1658, the court ordered the division as follows: "unto his relict widow, ye now wife of Thomas Clarke", 2/7 of the whole estate, to the eldest son the same proportion, and to the other three children 1/7 each [Eaton, citing L159:1:6]. (The two youngest children had died before their father.) The original homestead eventually descended to Jeremiah, his eldest son. MARY was a member of the church at Reading and was living, according to Torrey, in 1709. Wyman [1879] identifies a Henry Swain, born about 1650, as the son of "JEREMIAH who was in Charlestown in 1638". However, Moriarty [1879] shows this to be in error. The children of this family come from the FHL AF, although most of information is confirmed by Edwards.
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