William Swain

Family

William Swain was born about 1585. He was deposed age 15 on April 17, 1635.

About 1620 he married, but no records about his wife have been discovered.

Children:

1. Mary was born about 1620. She became a member of the Roxbury church in 1636 as "Mary Swaine a maid servant, her father lived at Watertown, & did remove with them to Conecticott, whither we recommend her & she after did marry to one at Newhaven, & was dismissed to that church." Her husband is unknown.
2. Samuel was born by 1624. He married Joanna (_____) by 1649. Had daughter named Mary b. at Branford on March 1, 1649/50. Samuel died sometime before his wife made her will on March 25, 1692.
3. Daniel was born about 1628. He married Dorcas Rose daughter of Robert Rose at Branford on July 26, 1653.

Disputed Relationships

Seen without supporting evidence:

• Parents: Abraham Swaine & Elizabeth Swaine
• Betsey Swaine

Biography

WILLIAM SWAINE "gentleman," aged fifty years, came from London, 1635, in the "Elizabeth and Ann." Received a grant of sixty acres at Watertown, Mass. He was made a freeman, and served as representative in Massachusetts in May, 1636, and in September of the same yer he held court in the new colony of Wethersfield, where he had acquired "adventure lands."

He was appointed with Roger Ludlow and Andrew Ward as commissioners to govern the people until the adoption of the constitution in 1639. He was a member of the Court which tried the first offender; enacted the first law, and declared war agqinst the Pequots in 1637. Becoming involed in "divers grievances" pertaining to the adjustment of church differences, he was one of the foremost projectors of the scheme of removal from Wethersfield.

His name appears prominently in the purchase of the plantation of Totokett, where he settled in 1644. He was successively deputy, juror, and magistrate. During the Pequot war, two daughters of William Swaine were captured by the Indians and taken to Pequot, now New London. Here they were rescued by a Dutch trading vessel and transferred to the care of Lion Gardiner, then in command at Saybrook, at a cost of 10 pounds to the latter, who writes in 1660: "I am yet to have thanks for my care and charge about them."

His daughter Mary married in New Haven, name not known. Mr. Swaine held an estate of 435 acres in Branford, which he did not occupy long, as his death must have occurred in the first years of the settlement of the colony, when his name disappears from the records.

http://dunhamwilcox.net/ct/new_haven2.htm

WILLIAM SWAINE "gentleman," aged fifty years, came from London, 1635, in the "Elizabeth and Ann." Received a grant of sixty acres at Watertown, Mass. He was made a freeman, and served as representative in Massachusetts in May, 1636, and in September of the same yer he held court in the new colony of Wethersfield, where he had acquired "adventure lands." He was appointed with Roger Ludlow and Andrew Ward as commissioners to govern the people until the adoption of the constitution in 1639. He was a member of the Court which tried the first offender; enacted the first law, and declared war agqinst the Pequots in 1637. Becoming involed in "divers grievances" pertaining to the adjustment of church differences, he was one of the foremost projectors of the scheme of removal from Wethersfield. His name appears prominently in the purchase of the plantation of Totokett, where he settled in 1644. He was successively deputy, juror, and magistrate. During the Pequot war, two daughters of William Swaine were captured by the Indians and taken to Pequot, now New London. Here they were rescued by a Dutch trading vessel and transferred to the care of Lion Gardiner, then in command at Saybrook, at a cost of 10 pounds to the latter, who writes in 1660: "I am yet to have thanks for my care and charge about them." His daughter Mary married in New Haven, name not known. Mr. Swaine held an estate of 435 acres in Branford, which he did not occupy long, as his death must have occurred in the first years of the settlement of the colony, when his name disappears from the records.

• https://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cebradford&id=I3365
• Puritan Great Migration (1620-1640). (See The Great Migration (Series 2), by R. C. Anderson, vol. 6, p. 618)
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Swain-2316
• Stiles, Henry. Families of Ancient Wethersfield, Connecticut...1904. Pg 692. (no e-book available)
• HISTORY of THE COLONY OF NEW HAVEN To its absorption into CONNECTICUT by Edward E. Atwater with Supplementary History and Personnel of the Towns of Branford, Guilford, Milford, Stratford, Norwalk, Southold, etc. compiled by Robert Atwater Smith, assisted by Bessie E. Beach and Lucy M. Hewitt, Meriden, Conn., The Journal Publishing Company, 1902, [Transcribed by Coralynn Brown], http://dunhamwilcox.net/ct/new_haven2.htm