Ellie Wood Keith Genealogy

Speaker Samuel Swann

Speaker Samuel Swann[1, 2]

Male 1704 - 1772  (67 years)

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  • Name Samuel Swann 
    Prefix Speaker 
    Born 31 Oct, 1704 
    Gender Male 
    History Extract from Volume II of \"Cyclopaedia of Eminent and Representative Men of the Carolinas of the Nineteenth Century\" with an introduction by Hon. Samuel A. Ashe (1892)
    The most commanding figure in Colonial days in North Carolina was Speaker Sam Swann. He was the son of Major Sam Swann, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Gov. Lillington. William Swann, the grandfather of Major Swann, settled Swann\'s Point, opposite Jamestown, Va., of which city he had been alderman, and died there in 1638. Major Swann\'s first wife was Sarah, a daughter of Gov. Drummond, first governor of Carolina. After her death he married, 1694, Elizabeth Lillington, and had two daughters, Sarah, who married Col. Thomas Jones; Elizabeth, who married John Baptista Ashe; and two sons, John and Sam. Major Swann died in 1707, and his widow married Col. Maurice Moore, in 1713. The subject of this sketch was born October 31, 1704, and came to manhood under the training of Col. Moore and Edward Moseley. He became a practical surveyor, and ran the dividing line between North Carolina and Virginia in 1729, being the first white man to cross Dismal Swamp. He was elected to represent Perquimans county in the assembly of 1725, and continued a member of that body for forty years. In 1731 he removed to Swann\'s Point, below Rocky Point, where his uncle, Edward Moseley, who thirty-five years had been the leader of the popular party, abdicated the speaker\'s chair, Sam. Swann, in 1742, succeeded to the position. He occupied the chair until 1762, when he retired, and his nephew, John Ashe, succeeded him. In 1746 he was appointed, with Moseley, to revise the laws, and the first book published in the colony was Swann\'s Revisal \" Yellow Jacket.\" He was a lawyer of learning, and as speaker and the head of the party opposed to the prerogatives claimed by the governors as representatives of the crown, he gave direction to the affairs of the province. He enhanced the speaker\'s office, and wielded an influence superior to that of the royal governors. The struggle he successfully maintained against attempted encroachments upon the liberties of the people entitle him to the admiration of posterity. Gov. Johnston constantly referred to him as the head of the republican junto, bent on engrossing the executive power of the crown. Retiring from the assembly in 1762, he continued to practice law until his death in 1772.

    Extract from \"Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, Vol. 5\" by William Stevens Powell (1994)
    Swann, Samuel (31 Oct. 1704-February or March 1774), speaker of the Assembly, was the son of Samuel Swann (11 May 1653-14 Spt. 1707) and his second wife, Elizabeth Lillington Fendall (b. 17 June 1679). He was born at his father\'s plantation in Perquimans Precinct. The young Swann\'s mother, Elizabeth, was the widow of John Fendall and the daughter of Alexander Lillington and his second wife, Elizabeth Cook.
    Samuel was one of four children born of his father\'s second marriage. He had two sisters, Elizabeth and Sarah, and a brother John. He also had four half-brothers, born of his father\'s first marriage: William, Sampson, Henry, and Thomas. A fifth half-brother, Samuel, Jr., had died in 1702. The young Samuel, therefore, was the namesake of his deceased brother as well as his father.
    When Samuel was about three years old, his father died. His mother later married Maurice Moore, who had recently come to the colony from South Carolina. In the early 1720s, Moore and Elizabeth moved to the Cape Fear region, which Moore was greatly interested in developing. Samuel remained in Perquimans for some years, probably living at the family plantation, which under his father\'s will was to go to him at his mother\'s death.
    Samuel\'s childhood and youth are said to have been spent under the guidance of the closely knit Lillington family, which included several leading politicians. In addition to his step-father, Maurice Moore, who rapidly gained political influence in the colony, Swann was associated with John Lillington, his uncle; Edward Mosely and John Porter, his uncles-in-law; and John Baptista Ashe, his sister Elizabeth\'s husband. Moreover his half-brothers were men of wealth and prominence. Both William and Thomas Swann became members of the Assembly, and each served as speaker. From his relatives and members of their social circle Samuel no doubt absorbed an understanding of practical politics that helped direct him to a political career and contributed to his success in that career. his more formal studies gave him an excellent education in law. He also received training in practical surveying.
    Swann entered public life in 1725, when he became a member of the lower house of the Assembly. He seems to have served in that body with little or no interruption for the next thirty seven years. In the early portion of that period he represented Perquimans Precinct, but in 1739 and thereafter he represented the recently formed Onslow County. In March 1742/43 he was elected speaker of the Assembly. With the exception of the years 1754-56, he continued in that post until 1762, when he declined to accept re-election because of his health.
    In 1728 Swann put his training as a surveyor to good use, for that year he was employed as surveyor by the commission that located the boundary line between North Carolina and Virginia. He was on the surveying party that ran the line through the Dismal Swamp, which, it is said, had not previously been crossed by white men.
    In February or March 1738/39 the Assmebly appointed Swann to a commission charged with revising the laws of the colony, which had last been codified in 1715. Swann\'s brother, John, and his uncle-in-law, Edward Moseley, also were on the commission. Samuel, who was chairman, is said to have been the moving force in preparing the revision, which became generally known as Swann\'s Revisal. Published in 1752, it was the first book printed in North Carolina.
    As speaker, Swann led the lower house of the Assembly during a period of nearly constant struggle against the governor and at times against London officials as well. At issue, in the colonists\' view, were what the colonists considered as their ancient rights and privileges, the constitution of the colony, and the principles of representative government. In the view of the respective governors, however, the point at issue was the establishment and preservation of the royal prerogative. Although the struggle was marked at times by compromise or even defeat for the colonists, the long-run advantage was with the Assembly, which secured control over fiscal affairs and other crucial matters. Swann\'s skillful leadership as speaker greatly enhanced the office, raising it to a stature that some considered equal to that of governor.
    About 1727, Swann married Jane Jones, the eldest daughter of Frederick Jones, a former chief justice of the colony (1718-1722), and his wife Jane. About 1731 he moved his family to the Cape Fear region, to which a number of his relatives had moved. He settled on a plantation called The Oaks, not far from his brother John\'s plantation, which was called Swann\'s point. Also nearby was Maurice Moore\'s plantation, located at Rocky Point. Later, when Anglican parishes were organised in the area, Swann became a communicant of St. James Parish in Wilmington.
    Swann no doubt cultivated the plantation on which he lived and perhaps other land that he owned. He also practised law, and like his stepfather and other relatives, speculated in land on a large scale. He became very wealthy. His home, The Oaks, was said to be the finest in the Cape Fear area. After his retirement from the Assembly, he devoted himself chiefly to his law practice. He died in 1774 between the last day of January, when he made a codicil to his will, and the seventh of April, when the will and codicil were proved. He was survived by his wife Jane, a daughter, Jane, and a son, Samuel.
    Swann\'s daughter, Jane, (15 Oct. 1740-1801) married her cousin, Frederick Jones of Virginia, who was the son of Thomas Jones of that colony and the nephew of Chief Justice Frederick Jones of North Carolina. She and her husband had one son, John Swann, and five daughters, Elizabeth, Jane, Revecca, Lucy and Ann. When he reached maturity, John Swann Jones took Swann as his surname, becoming John Jones Swann, in deference to the wishes of his grandfather\'s brother, John Swann, who died childless.
    Swann\'s son, Samuel (19 June 1747-11 July 1787) married Mildred Lyon, the daughter of John Lyon, a merchant of Wilmington. He was major in the minute men organised in the New Hanover district in 1775. Killed in a duel, he was survived by his wife Mildred, and by three children: Elizabeth, Samuel and Jane.  [3
    History Surveyed the line between North Carolina and Virginia through the Dismal Swamp 
    Occupation Lawyer, surveyor 
    Residence Cape Fear Find all individuals with events at this location 
    The Oaks 
    Died 1772  [3
    Person ID I1205  Ellie Wood Keith
    Last Modified 23 Jan 2018 

    Father Maj. Samuel Swann,   b. 11 May, 1653,   d. 14 Sep, 1707, Perquimans County, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 54 years) 
    Relationship putative 
    Mother Elizabeth Lillington,   b. 17 Jun, 1679, Perquimans County, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1725, Rocky Point, Pender County, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 45 years) 
    Relationship putative 
    Family ID F717  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Jane Jones,   b. 1722,   d. 1746  (Age 24 years) 
    Married Abt. 1727 
    Children 
    +1. Jane Swann,   b. 1740,   d. 1801  (Age 61 years)  [putative]
    Last Modified 23 Jan 2018 
    Family ID F716  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Photos
    Sam Swann
    Sam Swann

  • Sources 
    1. [S78] Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/samuel-swann_116230645.

    2. [S84] More Swansboro History, http://moreswansborohistory.blogspot.com/2011/04/samuel-swann-and-family.html.

    3. [S41] Ashe Family heritage, https://ashefamily.info/ashefamily/3585.htm.