GENEALOGY of the SWASEY FAMILY

GENEALOGY of the SWASEY FAMILY WHICH INCLUDES The DESCENDANTS of the SWEZEY FAMILIES of SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND NEW YORK 4ND The DESCENDANTS of the SWAYZE FAMILIES if ROXBURY, NOW CHESTER NEW JERSEY BY BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SWASEY EXETER, N. H. PRIVATELY PRINTED/or AMBROSE SWASEY CLEVELAND, OHIO 1910 GEORGE B. H. SWAYZE, 1\1. D. Family :Ko. 187. This volume is dedicated to my mother ABAGAIL CHESLEY (PEAFEY) SWASEY As a tribute to the memory of her unfailing devotion to her family and the Christian principles she taught us Introduction HE province of the genealogist is to gather up all the T threads of the successive generations of a family and weave them into an harmonious web whose pattern in its out lines and shades shall show not only the characterizations of those families but their progress in the age in which they lived. To gather these threads is no small task. But when once gathered the reward of having rescued them from ob livion is extremely satisfactory. An almost impenetrable obscurity surrounds the lives of most of the early settlers of this country and one must work in the dark with now and then a faint glimmer of the object of his research. The avenue once opened and the direction given the opportunity comes for continuous per severance. The history of a family covering a period of nearly three hundred years includes in its entirety a history of our country in its development, and the part played by each gen eration of that family becomes one of the factors upon which our nation is built. · It would be singular, indeed, if even the eye of the can did critic could not detect deficiencies and positive errors, for no diligence, no research, however careful, no sincerity of aim at the most rigid accuracy, can wholly avoid mistakes. The resources at hand, such as church records, inscrip- , tions on tombstones, old Family Bibles, Town Histories and scattered references through endless volumes of our Town Libraries, are invaluable, although meager and incomplete. Using such valuable aids as a foundation, the further pursuit of the work must be found in the enlistment of a larger army of living descendants throughout all sections of our country, 5 GENEALOGY OF THE SWASEY FAMILY and to them great credit is due for the assistance they have rendered. But with all these accumulated and classified resources there still remains work of application and intensity of purpose. Nowhere in the history of the human race is the truth of "the survival of the fittest" better exemplified than in the hardships, the struggles and the almost insurmountable con ditions that surrounded our forefathers. That many lines of families dropped by the wayside and became extinct is only proof of our assertion that those who did survive possessed the powers of resistance to every foe that beset their pathway. That there is a "Law of Heredity" is evident to our own mind. Every person by inheritance is a net result of his ancestors in physical and mental structure. In our own line, going back as far as our knowledge extends, many individuals seem to be a composite photograph of others. No two are just alike in physical proportions. The similarity is especially noticeable in the features. The contour of the face and the especial shape and prominence of the nose are distinguishing characteristics. The Quaker, John Swasey, who came to this country from England, from what province we do not know, lived to the extreme age of Io I years, and down through the several generations of his descendants a large majority of their num bers possessed the distinctive attribute of longevity. It may be said of him that he waged a double warfare, for he was assailed for his religious belief and with his son John driven out of Salem, Mass., to seek a refuge on the then sparsely settled territory of Long Island in New York State. Here he was allowed to remain, but not until he had submitted to the subscribed form of the Oath of Allegiance contrary to his religious convictions. In his family at Southold the tenets 6 INTRODUCTION of the Quaker or Friends faith continued, and even dchvn to the fourth generation we find his great grandson, Judge Samuel Swezye, still adhering to the faith of his fathers and immigrating to the state of New Jersey, where a large colony of Quakers had established their homes. Joseph Swasey, the eldest son of John' Swasey, remained at Salem and followed the humble occupation of a fisherman, as important an industry in those days as today. We would especially make acknowledgment of assist ance rendered from the manuscript of George 0. Swasey, a lawyer of Sioux City, Ia.; from a chart compiled by A. Judson Sweyse, of Rockford, Ill., and for the valuable papers of Ex-Secretary of State William H. Seward by Rev. Samuel Swasey Seward, of New York City. Also to Benjamin E. Swayze, a lawyer of Toronto, Canada; to Dr. Gilbert H. Swezey, of Yaphank, Long Island, N. Y.; Henry W. Swasey, a lawyer of Portland, Me.; Dr. George B. H. Swayze, of Philadelphia, Pa.; Dr. F. Wooster Owen, of Morristown, N. J.; Richard Baylies, historian, Middle Island, L. I., N. Y.; Capt. Henry V. Partridge, Norwich, Vt.; Miss Mary Swayze, Newark, N. J.; Mrs. Andrew Scott Craig, Kansas City, Mo.; Col. W. H. D. Cochrane, Nashua, N. H.; Holmes W. Swezey, Riverhead, L. I., N. Y.; Dr. H. M. Broderick, Buchanan, Mich.; Grayson S. Alexander, Winnipeg, Manitoba, and others. In military and naval service many of the family are represented. In the professions many acquire important distinction. In the cause of education, in the promotion of the arts and sciences, are notable examples of high achieve ments. B. F. S. 7 Changes in the Spelling of the Name OTWITHSTANDING the diversity,in the spelling N of the name, mostly in the Southold branch, and the . remoteness of the permanent settlement of the two brothers, Joseph2 Swasey and John2 Swasey, sons of the elder emigrant John1, the one settling in Salem, Mass., and the other in Southold, Long Island, N. Y., a positive verification that they were of the same family is found in the third generation when Abagail3 Swasey married John Hallock, both of Southold, his father, William Hallock, disinheriting him be cause he married into the family of "Friends or Quakers from Salem." See second generation, Southold Branch, page 35. Much uniformity exists in the letters of the name among the descendents of the Salem branch with principally one ex ception, when the middle letter s is changed to z. There is a tradition that when the brothers separated an agreement was made. between them that Joseph, who remained in Salem, should retain the original method of spelling Swasey, and that John should adopt the spelling Swayze, which would not in the slightest degree change the pronunciation, and that this should be done especially for business purposes not only for them, but for their descendants. All intercourse between the two families and with the mother country must neces sarily be carried on over the pathway of the sea and all messages sent back and forth might more readily find their destination if this distinction in the spelling was kept up. We have often found in different sections of the coun try, neighboring families the repetition of whose name was of the same sound as our own but differently spelled and they have been surprised that we came from one common an- 9 GENEALOGY OF THE SWASEY FAMILY. cestor. So far has this been carried that families with one method of spelling have repudiated all relation with the other and considered them as innovators. Many of the changes have been due to carelessness and some from errors made in the earlier documents. Every family has a great degree of pride in their family name and when once adopted it becomes permanent and unchangeable. Doubtless John2 Swasey and his father of Southold were scrupulous themselves in the wording of their name but we find upon their documents the following discrepancies : In 1667, 1691, 1692, "Swazy." In 1699, 1714-15, 1717, "Swasey." In 1703, 1706-7, 17 II-I 2, 1716-17, "Swazey." In 1716-17, "Swaizy." In the fourth generation when Judge Samuel 4 ~ wasey 1 (Joseph3, John 2, John ) removed with his family in 1737 from Southold to the German Valley in New Jersey and took up his residence in Roxbury now Chester, N. J., he always wrote his name Swayze and his descendants through six gen erations have almost invariably followed his example, and in the development of that line we shal1tise the same letter ing. The young daughter of Judge Samuel' Swayze was Mary, who married Col. John Seward. She was the grand mother of Ex-Secretary of State William H .Seward. In addressing the family he wrote the name Swezy. Caleb5 Swayze, one of the sons of Judge Samuel Swayze, and lsrael6 Swayze, one of the grandsons ( Israel5, Samuel 4, 1 Joseph3, John2, John ), were Loyalists. The former settled in Canada before the Revolutionary War and the latter near its close. Their numerous descendants there all spell their name Swayze. 1 Stephen' Swasey (Joseph3, John2, John ) adopted the spelling of the name Swezey. He founded the town named after him Swezeytown in Brookhaven on Long Island. All IO INTRODUCTION of his descendants down to the present day adopt this spell ing and its appropriate pronunciation. For many years and through many generations they considered themselves an exclusive family and in no ways connected with other families of similar names, but the light of research places them as descendants of the Emigrant John Swasey, the Quaker of Salem, Mass., and Southold, Long Island.

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