The Swasey family of the shipwright and hatter, Joseph b. 8.12.1714.

Joseph Swasey 

Joseph Swasey was baptised 12 August 1714 in Boston, Middlesex, Massachusetts Colony  

The following quoted information about him has a few problems, which I've noted in [brackets.]

"Death  before (Aug) 1801 in Somerset, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States, Joseph Swasey, shipwright, Bapt. in Boston, Mass. Aug. 12, 1714; died in Somerset, Suffolk County, Mass; [died] bef. 1801; married, daughter of Jonathan & Ann Sylvester Bowers, of Swansea, Mass. She was of Spanish descent.  Feb. 20, 1790, Shewamit (or Somerset) was set off from Swansea & formed a separate town.*  Joseph, removed with his family to Salem, where he lived until 1749.  He followed there the trade of hatter.  In that year he bought (in) Swansea of John Palmer, 10 acres of land on Taunton River for which he paid ~1300 O.T.

"He put up a set of buildings, including a hat shop, built a wharf & engaged in shipbuilding, floating his craft down to Fall River.  The dwelling house occupied by the family for 3 generations was taken down several years ago.  The old cellar & the broad stone step still remain to mark the site.  The "Swasey burying ground" occupied about an acre of the original lot, upon which are many tombstones that mark the resting place of his descendants.

"In 1758-9, he was a private in his Majesty's service from the Province of Massachusetts, in Capt. Stephen Whipple's Co;  Col. Jonathan Bagley's Regt; for the reduction of Canada. 

In 1801, his estate was divided among his heirs which included the widow, sons Jerathmel & Joseph heirs of his son Samuel, & daughter Hannah.

(Source, including photo: Genealogy of the Swasey Family, 1910 by Benjamin Swasey an ebook that is available on line)


[* the towns may have been separated in 1790, but that is not the time the Swaseys moved to Salem and then returned in 1749...these dates are not chronological! If he had moved to Salem, it was earlier than 1749. I found that he married in 1740 in Somerset, so perhaps went to Salem when his father died in 1739, or to be there with family who lived there. Nothing I've found indicated he lived there.]
[There's nothing in Mary's past that suggests she was of Spanish descent, unless Nathaniel Sylvester (her grandfather) had perhaps been, but my records indicate he was probably English.]

"His [Joseph's] wife Mary, took in boarders once widowed, and is listed in the 1823 Town Directory for same." [Actually she is listed in Boston Town Directory in 1823. I am still looking to see if another widow of a Joseph Swasey named Mary might have been this Mary...rather than having her be quite so elderly!]

"His son, Lt. Jerathmel Bowers Swasey, was born and died (1752-1826) in Somerset, MA, probably in the house that stood at 323 Main St. [Above, which is not the same as the one pictured from the book originally, so I think this might be a later building.]

Mary Bowers Swasey (1719-1823) was a widow of Joseph who, in  the Census of 1820, owned a boarding house in Boston MA, and was listed as living there still in 1823, when she would have been 104 years old.

They had 6 children. Most generations of Swaseys had a Joseph and a Samuel in the families, since Joseph the immigrant came in 1632 from Sherborne England to Salem Massachusetts.  So when I recently found a picture of a page in a book of 2 homes belonging to Joseph and Samuel Swasey, I had thought this Joseph born in 1714 might have been one of them.

Joseph lived his early years in Salem, then most of his life in Somerset, though he had been baptised in Boston. However, there's almost no possibility he lived in, or even built a home in Newburyport, MA...and that is where these 2 homes belonging to a Joseph and Samuel Swasey were located, according to the book which was published in 1910.  However the town wasn't called Newburyport until 1764, when it was formed out of the town of Old Newbury. So did he and a son or brother named Samuel build these homes in 1710 and 1735?

Ah, Joseph Swasey's father was Samuel Swasey (1682-1739) and his father's brother was also Joseph Swasey (1685-1770) who lived in Old Newbury (to be called Newburyport later) MA.  This Uncle Joseph (times seven greats) probably built the 1710 house, and his son, Samuel Swasey (1712-1800) (first cousin seven times removed) probably built the 1735 house in Old Newbury MA!  Thus the problem of these 2 homes having belonged to Swasey families is probably solved!

Now to connect myself to these Swaseys...

Joseph Swasey's son:

Jerathmel Bowers Swasey 

Birth 10 May 1752 in Somerset, Bristol, Massachusetts 

Death 4 Feb 1826 in Somerset, Bristol, Massachusetts

his son:

Alexander G Swasey

Birth 10 Sept 1784 in Swansea, Bristol, Massachusetts 

Death 28 Oct 1861 in Newport, Newport, Rhode Island

his son:

Captain Alexander G. Swasey Jr.

Birth April 14, 1812 in Newburyport, Essex, Massachusetts 

Death March 26, 1866 in Charleston County, South Carolina

his son: 

Alexander John Swasey

Birth May 20, 1853 in South Carolina 

Death OCT 4, 1913 in Galveston, Tex

His daughter:

Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers 

1886 – 1964

Her Son:

George Elmore Rogers Jr

Birth 9 NOV 1914 in Texas 

Death 5 JAN 1985 in Texas

His Daughter:

Barbara Rogers (me)