Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Descendants of Richard Swain

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Descendants of Richard Swain

Generation No. 2

2. JOHN² SWAIN (RICHARD¹) was born October 05, 1633 in Binfield Parish, Berkshire Co., England, and died 1717 in Nantucket, Massachusetts. He married MARY WEARE November 15, 1660 in Hampton, New Hampshire. She was born 1633 in Nantucket, Massachusetts, and died 1714 in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Notes for JOHN SWAIN:
From the book SWAINS of NANTUCKET, by Robert H. Swain

"Nantucket. If you have ever been there, you know what it means. It was named by the Indians who occupied the island before ten founding families purchased it in 1659. The name Nantucket means "Land Far Out to Sea" and the whalers use to call it the "Grey Little Lady". There were two tribes on the island, Sachem Autopscot and Sachem Wanackmamack, when Thomas Mayhew sold Nantucket for 10 Pounds and 2 Beaver hats. The nine original purchasers were;
Thomas Macy
Richard Swain
John Swain
Tristam Coffin
Peter Coffin
Christopher Hussey
Stephen Greenleaf
William Pike
Thomas Bernard
Thomas Mayhew kept one-tenth of the island for himself on the Western part of the island. The Eastern half remained to the Indian tribes until the entire island was slowly taken over by settlers.
Before Thomas Macy and other settlers moved to Nantucket, they lived in Rowley and Salisbury, Massachusetts where the Quakers were often persecuted. Thomas Macy gave them shelter and protection until they found their permanent settlement on Nantucket. When they finally moved to the island, each was given a plot of land near Sherbourne, the first town on Nantucket Island. Unfortunately, the land that they originally settled was in the swamps of Madaket, an Indian term for "bad lands", and was unsuitable for farming. They tried other trades such as sheep raising and fishing, but were unsuccessful in both.
Eventually the town of Sherbourne was deserted because of its poor harbor. Their access to the ocean was blocked by soil settlements and salt deposits. The town was moved to a more central area on the Northern coast of the island and renamed "Nantucket". This is the current location of the town today, and there remains the small village of Madaket where Sherbourne once was.
After the first settlers had survived a Nantucket winter, they each invited one other family to the island, including the Folgers and the Starbucks, which doubled the population. From these 20 families, the island developed through the years to become the number one whaling port in the world in the mid-1800s. Today it is a popular summer destination for the wealthy.
The land near Sherbourne on the Western half of the island was divided up among the first twenty families. Richard Swain and John Swain had the Southern most area of the island".
"John Swain moved his family from the swampy lands in Madaket to Polpis Harbor. There he owned a great deal of land as well as many homes (which my have been built after his death). The John Swain house was the oldest standing home on the island until it burnt from a lightening strike in 1902. A recreation has been built elsewhere on the island, and the John Swain property is now personally owned.
There are many landmarks on the island named after the Swain Family. One of the wharfs, the one farthest South, is named Swain's Wharf after a great Swain seaman of the mid-1800s. There is also Swain's Neck, a small peninsula that stretches into Polpis Harbor near the John Swain property. There is a Swain Street and two Swain houses within the city limits that were built in c. 1795. Both are personally owned today and not open to visitors".

Children of JOHN SWAIN and MARY WEARE are:

	i.	MARY³ SWAIN, b. September 11, 1661, Hampton, New Hampshire; d. July 27, 1714.
3.	ii.	JOHN SWAIN, b. September 01, 1664, Nantucket, Massachusetts; d. November 29, 1738, Nantucket, Massachusetts.
	iii.	STEPHEN SWAIN, b. November 21, 1666, Nantucket, Massachusetts; d. January 24, 1712/13, Chowan County, North Carolina.
	iv.	SARAH SWAIN, b. July 13, 1670, Nantucket, Massachusetts; d. Unknown.
	v.	JOSEPH SWAIN, b. July 17, 1673, Nantucket, Massachusetts; d. June 01, 1766, Nantucket, Massachusetts.
	vi.	ELIZABETH SWAIN, b. May 16, 1676, Nantucket, Massachusetts; d. July 24, 1760.
	vii.	BENJAMIN SWAIN, b. July 05, 1679, Nantucket, Massachusetts; d. August 18, 1757, Nantucket, Massachusetts.
	viii.	HANNAH SWAIN, b. May 07, 1681, New Port, Rhode Island; d. September 09, 1765, New Port, Rhode Island.
	ix.	PATIENCE SWAIN, b. Abt. 1685, Nantucket, Massachusetts; d. October 23, 1747, Nantucket, Massachusetts.

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