Mary Simpson

Mary Swain Simpson

• BIRTH 1745 - Tyrrell County, North Carolina, USA
• DEATH 1 Nov 1836 (aged 90–91) - Orange County, North Carolina, USA
• BURIAL Burial Details Unknown
• MEMORIAL ID 221009276 · View Source

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/221009276/mary-simpson

Mary Swain Simpson was born to Jeremiah Swain and his wife Mary West, in Tyrell County, North Carolina, about 1745. There is no document confirming that Jeremiah, the son of John Swain who died in 1846, is her father, but she cannot be the daughter of any of the other sons, James, John, William, or Stephen, of John Swain. We know from their wills that only Jeremiah and James had daughters named Mary, and James' daughter married a man named Daniel. The fact that she gave one of her daughters the unusual name of "Rosanna", after one of her aunts, Jeremiah's sister Rosanna, confirms that she is descended from John Swain, Jeremiah's father

Mary married Samuel Simpson, in Tyrell County, on 21 Sept 1763. Samuel was born about 1738, probably in Perquimans county, the son of Benjamin Simpson and his wife Zilpha. After they married, Samuel and Mary settled in Perquimans County. They had nine children: Benjamin, Elizabeth, John, Charles, Samuel, Luke, Rosanna, Anna, and Frederick. Samuel listed the children, and their birthdates, in his Kirk of Scotland Catechism.

Samuel fought in the Revolutionary War. He enlisted with the 1st regiment of the North Carolina Continental Line, on 1 January 1777, and served for 2 1/2 years. He was at Valley Forge, with George Washington's army. He was recorded as "ill", but he survived, fought at the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth, and was later stationed at White Plains and West Point in New York.

Samuel's enlistment was for 2 and a half years, and when it expired in mid-1779, Samuel and his family settled in Chowan County, adjacent to Perquimans, where Samuel's Grandparents had first settled when they came to America, probably from the Ulster Plantation in North Ireland.

Samuel died sometime after 1790. It's not known exactly when, or whether while they were still in Chowan County, or after they had moved to Orange County. Mary appears, without Samuel, in the 1800 Orange County census. She is over 45, with a female 10 to 16, a male 10 to 16 and a male 16 to 26. Benjamin Simpson is also in the census, with a male and female 16 to 26, and 2 girls and a boy all under 5, but son John, and his wife are not present. Their daughter Delilah is believed to be in Benjamin's household.

In 1810, Mary is probably the woman who appears in her son Benjamin's household, shown as "over 45."

Mary doesn't appear in the census record after 1810; presumably, she was living in the household with one of her children after that date. She died on 1 November 1836; her death is recorded in the papers of her husband Samuel's Revolutionary War pension record.