| Notes |
- 1 NAME William /Swain/
2 SOUR S007771
3 NOTE 453 Glendon Road, P.O. Box 850, Cave Junction, OR 97523-0850, 541-592-6575
2 SOUR S002753
3 DATA
4 TEXT Date of Import: Feb 25, 2004
[Birch genealogy by Terry Birch - 680559_GM.GED]
Notes for William Swain:
William was lost at sea on a voyage from Hampton, NH to Boston, MA. Also lost on this voyage were the wife and son of Moses Coxe, who later became the 2nd husband of Prudence (Marston) Swain. William Swain did not go to Nantucket with his father and many of William's descendants settled in and around Newburyport, MA.
The following is from "Swains of Nantucket" by Robert Swain:
William Swain, b. 1618, England, was the oldest son of Richard Swain and his wife Elizabeth. He did not go to Nantucket with his father but remained in Hampton, NH where the family had settled. Many of his descendants were sailors, either as sea captains or owners of vessels that were registered in the records of Newburyport, Mass. He was also an oar maker. He lost his life when the ship he was on went down off the coast of Hampton on 20 October 1657. The event is described in the History of Hampton by Dow in the following manner:
"In the autumn of 1657 an event occurred, which brought mourning and sorrow into several families in the town and cast a gloom over the whole community. A vessel sailed from our river, Oct. 20, bound for Boston, having on board four men, two women and two children - eight persons in all - belonging to Hampton. From some cause now not known, the vessel, soon after leaving the harbor, either foundered or was capsized and all on board perished. The persons lost were these: Robert Reed, Serg. William Swaine, Emanuel Hilliard, John Phillbrick and his wife Ann, and their daughter Sarah, Alice the wife of Moses Cox and John Cox their son and as is supposed the only child."
This entry is thus quaintly made on the town records:
"The sad hand of God upon eight psons goeing in a vessell by sea from Hampton to Boston, who were all swallowed up in the ocean soon after they were out of the Harbour."
In 1864, John Greenleaf Whittier penned a poem entitled " The Wreck of Rivermouth", in which he described the river as it entered the sea and the wreck of the vessel which carried William Swain and the other passengers to a watery grave. The following version is quoted from that poem:
"Solemn it was that old day
In Hampton town and its log-built church,
Where side by side the coffins lay
And the mourners stood in aisle and porch.
In the singing-seats young eyes were dim,
The voices faltered that raised the humn,
And Father Dalton, grave and stern,
Sobbed through his prayer and wept in turn."
William Swain left a widow, Prudence (Marston) Swain and eight children. Prudence was the daughter of Capt. William Marston, b. 1592, Parish Great Ormsby-Norfolk, England. He was granted land in New England when he brought his family to the Salem, Newbury, Hampton area. According to the History of New Hampshire, Prudence was the 4th born child of William Marston and his second wife, Sabrina Page. Capt. Marston came to Hampton about 1640. After the death of William Swain, his widow married Moses Cox(e), whose wife and son perished on the vessel with William Swain. These families were
neighbors therefore knew each other well before the tragedy. Moses Coxe and Prudence Swain were married on 16 June 1658 and it is said they had only one daughter, Leah. Moses Coxe lived to the ripe old age of 93; he died 28 May 1687
William Swain served on the jury in 1650 and 1653, was a Selectman in 1651 and 1654. He was a Sergeant in the Militia. His estate was appraised on 10 Nov. 1657, and attested by his widow on 12 April 1658.
More About William Swain:
Cause of Death: Lost at sea on voyage from Hampton to Boston, MA.
=============================== End of Notes ==============================
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Davis Uriah I | Born 1707
1618 - 1657 (39 years)
[3]