Generation 1

My Swallow line is generally traced to this early patriarch. I know practically nothing of him. Nevertheless, here is his Will ABSTRACT:

George Swallow, farmer, Kent County, Delaware
Will Dated: 07 FEB 1749/50
Wife: Johanna
Sons: Sylvanus, George, & John.
Executors: Wife Johanna & John Snow
Witnesses: Sarah Alston, Mary Sterling, & James Sterling.
Probate: 13 FEB 1749/50.
Archives Volume A49, Page 182 [or possibly page 132]
Registrar of Wills, Book "K", Folios 30-31

I have found nothing which demonstrates conclusively that John Swallow, son of this George Swallow, is the same John Swallow who married Anne Mary and Fanny.

This George Swallow seems to have lived in Duck Creek Hundred, in Kent County, Delaware. Duck Creek Hundred is the northernmost Hundred in Kent County. In its original form, it was bounded to the north by Duck Creek (Appoquinimink Hundred of Newcastle County, Delaware being on the other side), from Delaware Bay to the source of the creek extended to the Maryland line. It was bounded in the south by Leipsic Creek (Little Creek Hundred, Kent County, Delaware being on the other side), from Delaware Bay to the source of the creek extended to the Maryland line. Since that time, the westward aspects of Duck Creek Hundred and Little Creek Hundred were used to form Kenton Hundred. Duck Creek Hundred is more or less situated near present-day Smyrna, Delaware. I cannot quite determine if Duck Creek was ever synonymous with what is now the Smyrna River. This area was originally called Horrekill District (1664). St. Jones County was formed from Horrekill District (1680), and the name was changed to Kent County (1682).

Generation 2

I will presume for now that this John Swallow is indeed the son of George Swallow of Kent County, Delaware. There are many children claimed for this John Swallow and his wife (or wives). Here is the maximal list of children:

1. Sylvanus Swallow
2. Elizabeth Swallow
3. George Swallow
4. John Swallow
5. William Swallow
6. Jesse Swallow
7. Frances "Fanny" Swallow
8. Joanna "Hannah" Swallow
9. Salome Swallow
10. Susan Swallow
11. Lydia Swallow
12. Joshua Swallow
13. Moses Swallow
14. Susally Swallow
15. Salvena Swallow

I believe this list must be an over-estimate of the total number of children by all wives of John Swallow. A pretty good indication of the children can be found in the WILL of John Swallow.

Will of John Swallow

For a transcription of this Will, and for full-sized digital images (scans), see the 'WILLS' section of this website.

You can see from this WILL that only a few are named explicitly as children by John Swallow in his WILL -- sons George and William, and daughter Elizabeth. But based on other evidence, I think it is safe to assume that the others are named as children implicitly - sons Sylvanus, John, Jesse, Moses, & Joshua; daughters Hannah, Soloma, Fanny, & Lida.

Therefore, we are yet to account for Susally, Salvena, and Susan. I believe I can explain two of these three. I believe that there is no person named "Susally" (or similar). I believe the origin of this name is rooted in an error in reading the WILL of John Swallow. The person referred to in the WILL as "Soloma" Smally is Salome (Swallow) Smalley, wife of John Smalley. In the WILL the "m" in SMALLY looks like a "us", and hence it looks like "...Soloma Susally...." I believe some have interpreted these to be separate people. In the case of Salvena, it appears that the name is an alias or "pet" name for Salome. I think there may also be some confusion with this name and that of Sylvanus. As for Susan, I cannot find any record (erroneous or otherwise) of her existence.

I will now try to address this family unit as a whole, based on census records and the will of John Swallow. I am going to presume, for now, that this John Swallow is the same one that was in Stokes County, North Carolina in the 1790 and 1800 census.

1790 Census, Stokes County, North Carolina:
SWALLOW, John 16200

This indicates one free white male, over 16 years of age; six free white males under the age of 16; two free white females. The free white male over 16 must be John Swallow himself. It is hard to imagine who the six young males were, though. It seems that 5 of them must be Sylvanus, George, John, William, & Jesse. That leaves the other one to be Joshua or Moses, if he is to be a son. However, neither of these seem to fit. Joshua is recorded as 52 in the 1850 census, so he should yet to be born. Similarly, Moses seems to have been born about 1799. So this is a bit of a mystery. On the female side, it would be most easily explained simply as the wife of John Swallow, and John's daughter, Elizabeth. However, from this record alone, it cannot be ruled out that he was not married at the time, and that both females are daughters. If the latter is true, then the two women would be Elizabeth Swallow and almost any other daughter, except Frances "Fanny" Swallow, who it is known was not born until 1792.

1800 Census, Stokes County, North Carolina:
SWALLOW, John 22201||32110

This census indicates two males under age 10, two males aged 10 to 16, two males aged 16 to 26, one male aged 45+; 3 females under age 10, 2 females aged 10 to 16, one female aged 16 to 26, and one female aged 26 to 45. This record appears to be one son short. The eldest male is John Swallow, and the two males aged 16 to 26 are probably Sylvanus and George. One of the boys aged 10 to 16 is William, and the other is likely Jesse. This leaves three boys to vie for the under age 10 spots. One of them is likely Joshua. The other one is possibly John, but more likely Moses, unless moses was born in 1800 after the census. I think it is probably Moses, which leaves John Swallow, Jr. unaccounted. Based on other evidence, I believe he would have been 20 to 25 in the 1800 census. So perhaps John is listed as 16 to 26, and either Sylvanus or George is recorded in another household, which would not be uncommon for that age and time. For the females, it would seem the female 26 to 45 is the wife of John Swallow, and the female aged 16 to 26 is Elizabeth. The other five females are not identifiable by group, except that Frances was one of the young ones. It seems there is one more female in the record than can be accounted. Perhaps the two females aged 10 to 16 are Johanna and Salome. Johanna married in 1808, so she could not have been born much later than 1792 or so. Salome married in 1812, so she could not have been born much later than 1796 or so. Since she had a child in 1834, she could not have been born much earlier than 1787. This leaves the younger girls to be Frances and Lydia, and some mystery girl. Perhaps this mystery girl is the illusive 'Susan', or maybe it is a person wholly unrelated to the SWALLOW family.

I will now jump forward to the 1820 census of Montgomery County, Ohio. Here we find the census records of four SWALLOW households.

1820 Census, Montgomery County, Ohio:

SWALLOW, Silvanus 210010||20021 {Page 109?}
SWALLOW, John 100010||10100
SWALLOW, John 000021||00101
SWALLOW, George 200010||30010
COX, John 410010||01001 [Husband of Johanna "Hannah" Swallow; I chose THIS John Cox because his census entry was on the same page as some SWALLOW entries.] {Page 109?}

I interpret these records to mean that they are John Swallow, and three of his sons. I think the records are curious in any event. It would seem that the record of John Swallow, Sr. shows John and his wife with three children. The two boys are aged 26 to 45, and thus must be William and Jesse. This is because the other sons old enough to fit the category (John Jr., Silvanus, and George) each have their own household, and Joshua and Moses are not old enough. This then begs the question of where are Joshua and Moses. They would have been about 21, and it would not surprise me if they were enumerated in the household of others. The daughter is aged 16 to 26, so Elizabeth and Frances are too old - but it could have been practically any of the other girls.

The record for George Swallow is pretty consistent with what is thought about him. He married Elizabeth Cox, and they had a number of children. It would seem the young daughters were Mary, Susannah, and Frances. The sons would seem to be John and Jonathan. It is peculiar that someone would name sons both John and Jonathan, but I have seen other cases of this even in other SWALLOW lines.

The record for Sylvanus fits less well. He seems to have had three sons and a daughter born by the 1820 census. But since he was married in 1806, none of them could have been aged 16 by the time of the 1820 census. The sons would have been about ages 5, 8, and 12. So I suppose this is just likely an error in enumeration. Silvanus would have been about 45, so his entry fits. On the female side, I am not sure what is happening. One daughter is probably Cynthia. The other may be Melinda, although it would require her birth earlier (prior to 1820) than is usually quoted for her (Abt. 1823). Otherwise, she could be a niece of Sylvanus, etc. Also, there are two females about the right age to be the wise of Sylvanus. His wife would have been about 38, and so that satisfies one female, aged 26 to 45. I have no idea who the other one might be, although I suppose she could be a sister. Then there is also a female aged 45+. I can only imagine that this is Sylvanus Swallow's mother-in-law. I do not have a date of death on her, so I don't know if this is reasonable speculation. It would seem that Sylvanus' mother is still with his father, so it is not her.

This leaves John Swallow, Jr. He married in 1812, and so could have easily had a little boy and a little girl by 1820. This would just leave a young wife, Catherine (Cox) Swallow, who must have been born about 1794 to satisfy the 16 to 26 census age, and yet be old enough to marry in 1812.

1830 Census, Montgomery County, Ohio:
SWALLOW, John 01100001||0110001
SWALLOW, Jesse 010002||00001
SWALLOW, George 0200101||2021001
SWALLOW, James O. 10001||0001
SWALLOW, Joshua 110001||200001

1840 Census, Montgomery County, Ohio:
SWALLOW, Joshua 1102001||0120001 {Page 237?}
SWALLOW, George 00011001||00300001

1850 Census, Montgomery County, Ohio:
Page 120B HH#1655/1655:
SWALLOW, Joshua 52m farmer 1800 New Jersey
SWALLOW, Louisa 51[?]f Ohio
SWALLOW, Milton 23m farmer Ohio
SWALLOW, Layfayette 15m farmer Ohio
SWALLOW, Angeline 21f Ohio
[Notes: In the area for household# and dwelling#, the enumerator or tabulator drew a large arrow near Angeline's name, and wrote "Vandalia". It appears that the associated mark is the insertion of the word "Carpenter" in the occupation field. What these marks have to do with this family, I know not. Louisa, Milton, and Layfayette are marked as having attended school, which must be an error placement of marks. Surely it is Milton Layfayette and Angeline who attended school.]

1850 Census, Montgomery County, Ohio:
Page 130B HH#1809/1809:
SWALLOW, Simpson 36m farmer 2000 Ohio
SWALLOW, Mary L.[?] 34f Ohio
SWALLOW, Mary A. 7f Ohio
SWALLOW, Silvunus 74m none Delaware

HH#1810/1810:
SWALLOW, John A. 38m farmer 4000 Ohio
SWALLOW, Terresa 25f Ohio
SWALLOW, Joseph 16m [farmer] Ohio
SWALLOW, W. Irvin [?]m Ohio
SWALLOW, John 10/12m [or 11/12m] Ohio
[Notes: W. Irvin Swallow attended school, which is the only hint as to his age. His age appears to be single digit, but I cannot tell what it is. It appears that for some reason W. Irvin Swallow was originally marked "male", but was overmarked "female".]

1850 Census, Darke County, Ohio, Wayne Township, Page 313B, HH#170/170:
SWALLOW, George 70m farmer 1500 North Carolina
SWALLOW, Elizabeth 61f South Carolina
SWALLOW, Harrison 15m [farmer(?)] Ohio (attended school)

1850 Census, Jay County, Indiana, Penn Township, Page 336(A):
* Swallow, William 65m farming 1600 NC
* Swallow, Lydia 62f NC
Swallow, Mariah 30f IN
* Swallow, Isaac 19m IN (attended school)

1860 Census, Jay County, Indiana, Penn Township, handwritten page 144, HH#1039/1051:
* Swallow, William 74 M farmer 4000 900 NC
[continues next page, handwritten page 145]
Gray, Ann E. 18 F housekeeper IN
Swallow, Clinton J. 10 M IN

1860 Census, Miami County, Ohio, Page 301A, HH#683/683:
STANFIELD, George 60m farmer 1700 200 England[?]
STANFIELD, Lydia 59f [Ohio?]
[Notes: It appears the enumerator wrote an "0" in the birthplace in many areas. It appears this may mean the same thing as 'ditto', or else it could be a designation for the default - Ohio. It would appear neith could be correct in this case. The next entry, HH#684/684 is also STANFIELDs.]

Possible Birth Years

This chart is fairly self-explanatory. It is an attempt to fit all births together with what is known. The gray/red lines are offset to marriage, so calculate the age at marriage. Thus, there is a lower bound for them, because if it is the case that John was born 1748, then it takes some time for him to have a daughter, and then it takes some more time for her to be old enough to marry. The pink line is the natality line, figuring almost all kids will be born when the mother is between about 15 and 48. It suffers no lower bound with respect to the birth year of the father John. I think you can see that it makes no material difference.

In looking just at the chart, it appears to me that there are two likely scenarios:

A. All the kids are from one mother.
B. Sylvanus is from one mother, and all the rest of from another.

But when I look at the will of John Swallow, it seems to me that it could be the case that Sylvanus, George, and Elizabeth are from the first wife, and all the rest are from the second, starting with William as the eldest son from the second wife. Note that this would allow an Anne Mary born 1768 to be old enough to be the mother of those subsequent kids.

Anyway, that is a lot of speculation by me. I am hoping that others can give me some information that will help improve our understanding of exactly when each of these kids was born, and how it applies to which wife may have been the mother of which kid(s).

The most compelling of the records to determine his birth is the 1850 census of Montgomery County, Ohio (see above), where he (in the household of his son, Simpson Swallow) is said to be 74 - thus born about 1776. I do not know the source, but this agrees with the widely reported birthdate of 28 FEB 1776 for Sylvanus.

The most compelling of the records to determine his birth is the 1850 census of Darke County, Ohio (see above), where he is said to be 70 - thus born about 1780. This agrees with the 28 JUN 1781 date reported for him (again, source unknown to me). Technically, he should have been 68 in the 1850 Census, but I view this discrepancy as immaterial, and am inclined to believe the 28 JUN 1781 date, but wonder if it may not be exactly one year off.

There are many who claim he was a twin to George, born 28 JUN 1781. However, I will note that many also have him with exactly the same death date as George. So I think this is simple error, and will stick to my 1775-to-1780 range until someone can offer better proof.

What is perhaps more interesting about this John Swallow is an investigation into when he died, which forms the basis of this excursus.

Note the following probate record:

Note particularly the right-hand items numbered 7 and 11. It shows by entry 7 that this John Swallow left a widow named Catherine (by various spellings in the other, related probate records). It shows by entry 11 that this is not another execution-cum-administration record on John Swallow, Sr., but rather an administration record of John Swallow, Jr.

Now look in the lower left corner, where it lists the names of heirs.

When I first saw this, I thought it may be that these were the "heirs of the full blood" for John (viz., John Swallow, Jr.'s full siblings), since the names are all the same (more or less) with those of his siblings, and because it is thought that John Swallow, Sr. married more than once. That is, until I saw this:

The back side of that document looks like this:

Among the earliest records I can find for this Catherine, as widow of John Swallow, is this:

Inside:

These demonstrate that John Swallow, Jr. died by 29 February 1832.

I have described above how I feel the 1858 death date ascribed to him by some is a conflation with his brother George. Others have him dying in 1812. This obviously isn't the case because he is listed in his father's will. But the 1812 date is his marriage date, so I presume that they intended to say "after 1812", and the 'after' part became lost.

Just as an aside for now...this rationale is at variance with the kids listed for John Swallow, Jr., as given by some (and even in my own present WorldConnect file). However, I think any careful inspection reveals that the kids listed by others for him are really either:

A. Kids of Sylvanus/Silvenus, John's older brother (take a look and compare), or,
B. A terrible mixture of the names of the children of John Swallow, Sr., with the girls shown with their married names as their middle names.

Note this rationale predicts two men (George and William, two of the heirs to John Swallow, Jr.) born prior to 1832 (date of probate), and after 1812 (marriage date) who should appear in the 1850 census, should they have lived so long; and to have Ohio birthplaces.

So that leaves Lydia and Nancy.

In the case of Lydia, I think her fate is outlined on page 461 of The good old times in McLean County, Illinois, by E. Duis.

Be careful not to confuse this Lydia with her aunt Lydia, who was born right around 1801 (but who others have born ranging from 1796 to 1806). An 1820 birth would fit right in with George and William of the above census record.

I think Nancy is accounted for here:

http://boards.ancestry.co.uk/surnames.swallow/62/mb.ashx

This leaves us with:

1. George Swallow (about 1817 - 19 May 1857), who appears in the 1850 census of Dry Grove, McLean County, Illinois, and who married Elizabeth (born about 1825), and who is father of at least John W. W. Swallow (born about 1845) and George A. R. Swallow (born about 1849).
2. Nancy Swallow (14 February 1819 - 19 Feb 1896), who married Thomas Edgar Sandham 13 March 1836 in Montgomery County, Ohio.
3. Lydia Swallow (15 September 1820 - 20 April 1847), who married James Osborne Barnard 14 September 1837.
4. William Swallow (born about 1824), who appears in the 1850 census of Dry Grove, McLean County, Illinois (on the same page as the above George Swallow), and who married Mary (born about 1827).

...which would be the heirs listed even in the same order they were given in the probate record above.

But there is something else interesting about this census record. Note next to William Swallow the household of Barnard, one Catherine, aged 56. Guess who?

I just want to point out here that the Barnard family has ties to the Swallow family of Montgomery County, and prior to that very likely in New Jersey, but that is the topic of another excursus.

I think a lot of confusions happens because the probate records were mixed. Do you see how some of these things have "1044" written on them, and others have "1091" written on them? Those are the Montgomery County estate numbers assigned to the estates of John Swallow, Sr., and John Swallow, Jr., respectively. However, some of the material that should be in 1091 ended up in the 1044 file.

I have yet to uncover any evidence for the existence of this person. I suspect it is also somehow a misreading of some part of "Salome Smally".

The most compelling of the records to determine her birth is the 1860 census of Miami County, Ohio (see above), where she is said to be 59 - thus born about 1801.

"Susally" is probably a mis-reading of the word "Smally" (the married last name of Salome [aka "Salvena"] (Swallow) Smalley; see above).

There are two general origins of this name that lead to this fictional identity. Both are probably spawned by the lack of commas in John Swallow's will. Some will see "Salome Silvenus", and regard it as one female named variously Salome or Salvena. However, the Salvena part really refers to her older brother, Silvanus (sometimes Sylvanus, etc.). So, if you take Salome to be distinct, then Salvena is someone else. However, because people will variously write her name, when information regarding this female is given, it is referring to the real person, Salome Swallow (No. 9 (above)).