by Mrs. Nancy Foote

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The Swain Saga

(continued from July, 1984 issue)

Part Two

DURING THE PAST few years, the genealogical records of the Nantucket Historical Association have been enriched through the contribution of those descendants of the original white settlers of the Island. Among such valuable contributions are a series of studies on the Swain Family, prepared by Mrs. S.C. Foote, of Chelmer, Brisbane, Australia, which she has titled "The Swain Saga". Mrs. Foote's ancestor was Captain Samuel Swain, of Nantucket, one of the island's whaling masters out of London. After four voyages to the Pacific, all successful, Captain Swain took out the ship Bermondsey, of London, and this was his last command. He put in at Sydney, Australia, and died on board his ship, being buried in a cemetery ashore.

The Swain Saga

by Mrs. Nancy Foote (nee Swain)

RICHARD SWAIN, FIRST of that name in the new world of America, settled in Hampton, N.H., and with his son, John Swain, was one of the original purchasers of Nantucket in 1659. Richard married the widow of George Bunker (Jane Godfrey Bunker), and brought the family of Bunker children with his own to Nantucket. There were five Bunker children, and two children born from the marriage of Richard and Jane (Bunker) Swain, John and Richard Swain.

John Swain was the founder of the Swain family on Nantucket, as his brother, Richard, Jr. moved to settle in New Jersey. Richard Swain, the father, lived in the area of Hummock Pond, now called Clark's Cove, and here his wife, Jean, died on October 31,1662, the first death to be recorded among the white settlers. Richard died twenty years later, April 14,1682.

John Swain had married Mary Wyer in Hampton, and their first child, Mary, was born before the couple moved to Nantucket. On the Island, eight more children were born to them. Their first son, named John, was born September 1, 1664, and was the first white male child born on Nantucket.

John Swain II married Experience Folger, daughter of Peter and Mary Folger, and the sister of Abiah Folger, the mother of Benjamin Franklin. The couple had nine children. A great-grandson of John

T HE S W AIN S A G A

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Swain II was James Swain, and he was the father of Captain Samuel Swain, the grandfather of Nancy Swain Foote.

Captain Samuel Swain was born in Nantucket in 1799. Soon after the War of 1812 had ended he was in London, where he shipped out on the whaleship Indian, owned by Samuel Enderby, the famous English firm, and commanded by his cousin, Captain William Swain.

But to return to John Swain, son of Richard. In 1672, John was chosen one of the four-man board of Selectmen. In 1676, John decided to obtain land at Polpis, where he could build a homestead. This locality became a favorite farming center, and several generations of Swains grew up in this area. Early in 1708, the record reads:

"The Town grants Benjamin Swaine liberty of that stream of watter which runs by John Folgers house to dam it up & sett up a fulling mill on it one the Conditions he shall Injoy the same so Long as he shall resionably comply with ye fulling of their cloath they paying for the same."

The following information was furnished me by Edouard A. Stackpole, Historian for the Nantucket Historical Association, and reads as follows:

...There were three Swain houses in the Polpis area at one time; John Sr., who was granted the land in 1680, having purchased it from the Indians, and the title confirmed in 1684. In 1676, John Swain, Sr. had moved from the area of Hummock Pond to the Polpis area, and his original dwelling was on the present Donald Craig land, formerly the Chadwick Farm. John Swain, Jr., who married Experience Folger, was born in 1664, and after his marriage built a house near his father, north of the site of the old Polpis Schoolhouse. Thus John Sr. erected his second house almost opposite the site of the land he gave to his daughter Elizabeth, who married Joshua Sevolle. Most of the authorities consider the date of this "Swain" house as being around 1711. The last to live there was Mrs. Love (Swain) Smith, who moved into town in her later years.

Thus, the old Swain-Sevolle house soon took over the name "Old Swain House." It was photographed by Henry Wyer and was a picturesque ruin when it

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was struck by lightning in 1905 and partly burned. It was taken down, probably for firewood. The late Charles Chadwick recalled seeing that one room had a cobble-stone floor, no doubt a "milk room," for the farm. My reason for placing the date of the erection of the house at 1692, is that Elizabeth (born in 1676), and Benjamin, her brother, who was born in 1679, both had habitations at Polpis, built by John Swain, Sr. for his children. You have mentioned the story of a house being raised for Benjamin who had taken over the operation of the fulling mill for his father. The marriage of his sister, Elizabeth, to Sevolle must have come earlier, and so I think that the date of that Swain house was earlier than 1704.

When Donald Craig built the replica of the "Swain House," some twenty-five years ago, he used photographs and drawings of the "Swain-SevolleSmith house" as a model. When the Swains from Canberra visited two years ago, I took them out to see the old Charles Swain House, built around 1760.

The date 1902 is the correct one for the demolishment of the old "Swain-Sevolle House," but I am not at all sure as to the actual date of its construction perhaps, "around 1700" would be a possible solution...

Obed Macy, the Quaker historian, has written of the launching of the Friends Meeting in Nantucket. John Swain, Sr. had joined the Quaker faith before he came to Nantucket, and his presence in the community was important to the organization. Macy wrote in his History of Nantucket:

"The Society of Friends, on Nantucket, originated about or after the year 1704, when Thomas Story went there on an religious visit. He found but two of the denomination of Friends or Quakers at that time, but that the people consisted of various persuasions. He advised them to establish a meeting under the auspices and direction of the Society of Friends, since there appeared to him to be a great number who believed in their principles. A meeting was established and from this beginning the Society in-

T HE S W AIN S A G A

creased until at one period the number of members was about 1200. Nearly as many more attended their meetings, who were not members but fully believed in their principles.

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From the establishment of a Friends Society in Nantucket in 1708 the men and women had held separate meetings, each having its own records, and within prescribed limits transacting its own business.

The first ministers belonging to the island were Mary Starbuck, her son Nathaniel, Nathaniel Gardner, John Swain, and Priscilla Coleman.

In 1704, 5th month, Thomas Story visited the island. In his journal he says:...

"17th. This Evening we ascended toward the upper Part of the Island, to John Swain's (one who came to our Meetings, and there was only one more, that is, Stephen Hussie, in all that Island under our name) and there we met with a great Company of Indians and other People together, having been raising a Timber House for him - his new home at Polpis, in the eastern part of the Island."

George Swain (youngest son of John Swain II) married Love Paddock (daughter of Nathaniel and Ann) on the 5th 12th month, called February, 1729. Until late in the 1700's, March was called "1st month." Their eldest child was Daniel Swain, born 1st 7th month, 1731 (Town Records); 1st 9th month, 1731 (Friends Records).

The next in my line was James Swain, son of Daniel, who married Rebecca Baker, and their son Captain Samuel Swain was born in Nantucket on October 4,1799.

Captain Samuel Swain went to London with an older cousin, Captain William Swain, who was in the employ of the famous London whaling merchant Samuel Enderby & Sons. Like other Nantucket shipmasters in British vessels, Samuel Swain rose rapidly in the whaling business, and at twenty-six he was placed in command of the whaleship Indian of London, in which he made two voyages to the Pacific. His next command was the Vigilant, and after successive voyages in her h e wa s g ive n c o m man d o f a n e w v e sse l , t he B e r m o n d s e y .

In 1831, Captain Swain married Louisa Flowers Fulcher, daughter

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

of William and Mary Fulcher, of Deptford, England. Of the five children of Samuel and Louisa Swain, their only daughter and two of their sons came to Sydney in 1859 and 1864. Their youngest child, Edward Plant Swain, arrived in Sydney on the Duncan Dunbar on December 6,1864.

Captain Samuel Swain left London in October 1841, in command of the new ship Bermondsey. This was to be his last voyage. After rounding Cape Horn, the ship sailed through the South Pacific, and on Feb. 24,1842, arrived at Sydney, Australia. After loading needed supplies, the ship sailed on May 26,1842, to resume her whaling voyage. On July 9, the Bermondsey returned to Sydney, "....in consequence of her captain being in the last stages of consumption, and he expired on Saturday night." Captain Swain was then only 43 years old. His body was brought ashore and buried in the parish of St. James, Cumberland County.

The youngest child of James Swain and Rebecca Baker, of Nantucket, was named Nancy Swain, and she was the younger sister of Samuel Swain. She died in 1821, on May 1st, in Nantucket. On May 1st, 1918, Nancy Swain II was born in Australia, the granddaughter of Captain Samuel Swain. Now Mrs. S.C. Foote, she has compiled an account of the Swains in three parts of the world - Nantucket, England and Australia.