Jireh Swift was born about 1673 (based on age at death) at Sandwich on Cape Cod, then part of Plymouth Colony. His parents were William and Ruth (—?—) Swift. [The Mayflower Descendant (hereafter “MD”) 30:113] He was an original founder of the town of Wareham in Plymouth County. His name is also spelled Jirah and Jirie. Jireh is my 9th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Ellis Davis’ side of the family.
On 26 November 1697 Jireh Swift married Abigail Gibbs at Sandwich. [Sandwich Vital Records in MD 29:30] She was born about 1679 at Sandwich (based on age at death), the daughter of Thomas and Alice (Warren) Gibbs and a descendant of Mayflower passenger Richard Warren. [Wakefield/1]
Abigail and Jireh had a large family of twelve children born in Sandwich [births recorded as children of “Jirah and Abigail Swift,” Sandwich Vital Records in MD 30:99-100]:
- Alice born 23 July 1698; married James Crocker son of Jonathan and Hannah Crocker and a descendant of Mayflower passenger John Howland, at Barnstable 21 Nov 1721; died 15 Jan 1783 in Colchester, Connecticut [Wakefield/2]
- Susannah born 6 Oct 1699; married Joseph Isham at Sandwich 11 Dec 1730; died 04 Jan 1745/46 Colchester [Wakefield/2]
- Jabez born 16 March 1700[/1]; married Abigail Pope at Sandwich 9 Oct 1729; died Kent, Connecticut 12 Nov 1767 [Wakefield/2]
- Zephaniah born 6 March 1702/3; married Lydia Chipman at Sandwich 30 Sept 1725; died 9 May 1781 Wilmington, Vermont [Wakefield/2]
- William born 5 July 1705; married first Keziah Ryder who died 23 March 1735/6 at Sandwich; married 2nd Abigail Burgess about 1740; died between 2 Oct and 20 Dec 1748 at Sandwich [Wakefield/2]
- Nathaniel born 14 March 1707/8; married Abia Tupper at Sandwich 14 Sept 1730 who was daughter of Eliakim Tupper [Tupper]; died 13 March 1790 at Warren, Connecticut [Wakefield/2]
- Jireh born 23 Nov 1709; married Deborah Hathaway 9 Oct 1730 at Dartmouth who was a descendant of Mayflower passengers Francis Cooke and Richard Warren; died Dartmouth 16 March 1782 [Wakefield/2]
- Job born 3 Oct 1711; m. Sarah Blackwell Sandwich 20 Jan 1733/4; died Sharon, Norfolk, Mass., 14 Feb 1801 [Wakefield/2]
- Silas born 2 Aug 1713; married Abigail Tupper (whose sister Abia married his brother Nathaniel) at Lebanon 16 Oct 1735 [Tupper]; died Lebanon CT 24 Sept 1794 [Wakefield/2]
- 10. Abigail born 26 July 1715; m. Intentions to Antipas Hammond December 1736; died Rochester 31 Jan 1796 [Wakefield/2]
- Isaac born 3 May 1720; m. 26 Jan 1748/9 Susanna (Keith) Ames; died Bridgewater 22 Nov 1811 [Wakefield/2]
- Rowland born 24 March 1721/2; m. Mary Dexter 5 December 1745 at Wareham; d. Lebanon CT 13 Feb 1795 [Wakefield/2]
Alice, Susanna, Jabez, Zephaniah, William, Nathaniel, and Jireh Swift all baptized Sandwich on 8 October 1710. [Sandwich VR p 1374, citing Records of the First Parish Church, Sandwich, page 16]
Job Swift was baptized 11 November 1711 and Silas Swift was baptized 13 September 1713. [Sandwich VR p 1374, citing Records of the First Parish Church page 16]
Abigail Swift was baptized 28 August 1715. [Sandwich VR 1376, citing same page in church records]
Isaac Swift was baptized 12 June 1720. [Sandwich VR 1380, citing p. 17 in Sandwich church records]
No baptism for Rowland found in Sandwich Vital Records.
Incredibly all twelve children were living when Jireh wrote his will on 29 March 1744.
I descend from William whom I wrote about here.
Usually in my 17th and 18th century families, the eldest son inherited the family homestead where he then stayed to bring up his own family, but that is not the case in Jireh and Abigail’s family. Their eldest son Jabez as well as two other sons went to Connecticut, four to other Massachusetts towns, and one to Vermont. It was only their youngest son, Rowland, who raised his family in Wareham, but later in life even he went to Connecticut.
William Swift, in his December 1705 will, left his son “Jirie” a bequest of £20 in moveables. [MD 30:110] Abigail received a bequest from her father Thomas Gibbs in his 23 June 1725 will: “To my daughter Abigail” £10 in money. [Barnstable Co PR 5:24]
Jireh served as a Sandwich Selectman for two years beginning in 1720. [Deyo]
Jireh Swift was listed as one of the Sandwich heads of families taken March 1730 by Rev. Benjamin Fessenden. [Locke]
In 1731 ecclesiastical discontent began in Sandwich. A petition by Jireh Swift and others stated “that great dissatisfaction was conceived at the conduct of the minister, Mr. Fessenden; that the aggrieved had called in council seventeen churches to advise, which said council had laid Mr. Fessenden under censure, and advised his removal, but that he and the church refused to submit; and that the petitioners not being able with a good conscience to sit under his ministry, pray for a division of the parish, the petitioners to be allowed the right of one half of the parsonage.” Their grievances apparently were not viewed by the Court in the same light and their petition was dismissed. [Freeman] The major issue was that Rev. Fessenden was rumored to have fathered a child out of wedlock. [RA Lovell]
In response, the following year 1732 Jireh Swift and others erected a meeting house in what is now Sagamore Village, but they continued to be taxed for the support of the parent church at Sandwich. Moses Swift and 33 others petitioned to be released from the tax but were refused. [Deyo] Town Meeting did not vote in favor of allowing a division into a Second Parish which also would have divided assets. In 1733 a Council did approve the organization of the new church. In 1734 Fessenden was said to confess to fathering the illegitimate child but no minutes for the meeting are found. [RA Lovell]
Jireh removed with his family to Wareham in Plymouth County where he was “busy and prominent.” [Swift] It seems probable the conflict about ministerial taxes in Sandwich precipitated his move to Wareham where he was a Church Deacon.
Wareham, then called Agawam Plantation, was originally set off as a precinct of Rochester. In 1739 the town sent a second petition to the Colony for permission to be set off as a town. The petition was granted by Gov. Jonathan Belcher on 10 July 1739. Ten townsmen pledged their own money to fund the endeavor including “Mr. Jirey Swift 5 shillings.” All the men were titled “Mr” indicating their standing in the fledgling community. [D. Lovell]
The first Wareham town meeting was held on 6 August 1739 to select officers and conduct other necessary business. Jirah Swift was selected as Town Treasurer and a Selectmen. [D. Lovell]
I have found just two deeds pertaining to Jireh:
In a 15 July 1731/2 deed, Joshua Gibbs of Agawam, for £150 paid by Nathan Landers of Rochester, sold certain parcels of land “lying near the sd Joshua Gibbs his dwelling house,” containing upland and meadow land which he and Jirah Swift had bought from the Bartletts, situated on the northwesterly side of Agawam River on the Southerly side of the country road leading from Agawam to Sandwich. [Plymouth Land Court Deeds 27:106]
In a deed dated 7 July 1758, acknowledged Barnstable 28 March 1759, shows that “Malachi Ellis of Sandwich, yeoman” purchased for £4 from Josiah Swift and John Swift, also of Sandwich, a one-quarter part of a tract of land in Plymouth which had by deed of 21 March 1696/7 been conveyed by Jonathan Morey to Jireh Swift and John Gibbs [Plymouth Land Court Deeds 46:231-2; NEHGR 120:103]
Abigail died 22 March 1740 at Wareham. She is buried at Agawam Cemetery: Abigail Swift, wife of Dea Jirah, Mar. 22, 1740, 62nd yr. [Thatcher]
Jireh Swift and Mary Besse, both of Wareham, were married by Rev. R. Thatcher on 19 November 1741. [Wareham Vital Records, p 154; Records of First Church of Wareham, p 73]
Jireh Swift died at Wareham 17 April 1749. He’s buried with his first wife Abigail at Agawam Cemetery in Wareham: Deacon Jireh Swift, died 17 April 1749, in his 77th yr. [Thatcher]
Jireh made his will at Wareham 29 March 1744; probated 1 May 1749. [Plymouth County Probate Records 11:241]
Bequests were as follows:
To “Mary my wife one Bed, the best bed the Curtains two pr of Sheets, three Coverlids, a bolster & a Pillow, one Cow, one kittle, one pot, one pot hanger, one Slice, a pr of tongs, the best Chest, one platter puter, one puter basen, two puter plates, and liberty to live in the West End of my house dureing the Term that she remains my widdow, and Two hundred pounds in Good bills of the Old Tenour to be paid her One half within a year after my Decease, and Other half at the End of two years.”
To “my son Jabez Five Shillings old tenour”
To “my son Zephaniah five Shillings old tenr”
To “my son Nathll five Shillings old tenour”
To “my son Willm five Shillings old tenour”
To “my son Jirah Swift five Shillings old tenour”
To “my son Job five Shillings old tenour”
To “my son Silas Swift five shillings old tenour”
To “my son Isaac Eighty pounds old tenour”
To “my daughter Alice Croker one Shilling old tenr”
To “my daughter Susannah Isham One Shilling Old tenour”
To “my daughter Abigail Hamond five pounds old tenour”
To “my Granddaughter Abigail Hamond five pounds old tenour”
To “my gd Daughter Abigail Swift daughter to my son Jabez five pounds old tenour”
To “my gd son Jirah Swift son to my son Jabez five pounds old tenour”
To “Catherine Curby twenty Shillings old tenour” [she may be a daughter of his niece Sarah Kirby]
To “my son Rowland…all my lands and Salt and fresh meadow both Divided and undivided that I have in Wareham, together with all my right, which I have in the Muddy pond cedar Swamp, lying in this Town, as also all my right in Sandy Pond land lying in the Township of Plimouth, And [p 242] my Will is that if my son Rowland Should die without leaving any Issue lawfull begotten…then his part or Share above given to be Equally divided among my sons, also my Will is that if my wife, while She remains my Widdow, is so minded s to go away Shall not hire out her part of the house but it Shall be for the use of my son Rowland…and also I give to my sd son Rowland all my Moveable Estate both within Doors & without (Except what I have given to my wife as above) together with all my houseing & Out houseing, my part of the Mill, The privilige that I have in the Stream with all my bonds & book Debts he paying all my Just Debts & the bequests above Given.”
He named son Roland Swift sole executor. Witnesses were Rowland Thacher, Samuel Waterman and John Bump 3d. Administration was granted to Rowland Swift of Wareham on 1 May 1749.
On 3 May 1749 “Mary Swift of Warham” widow of Jirah Swift, late of Wareham, receipted to her “son in Law [ie stepson] Rowland Swift” for “the whole of the Moveable & Personal Estate which was given…unto me in the last will…of the said Jirah swift” also for “Security for the payment of Two hundred pounds, in bills of Credit of the old tenour” and released to him “for other…Considerations…all my Right of Dower and Power of Thirds…in…any part of parcel of the real Estate of my said late Husband…and also all my right and Interest in and to the Personal Estate of said Deceased…Only it is to be understood…that the said Mary Swift is to have Liberty to dwell and live in the west End of the dwelling house of the deceasd dureing the Term of her Continuing to be the widdow of the said Jirah Swift.”
Mary Swift signed by a mark. Witnesses were Rowland Hamond and John Norris. Mary Swift acknowledged the receipt and quit claim at Wareham on 4 May 1749. [Plymouth County Probate Records 11:335]
Sources:
Eben Swift, Library of Cape Cod History and Genealogy, ”William Swift and Descendants to the Sixth Generation," Pamphlet No. 15, 1923
Simeon L. Deyo, editor, History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1890
Lydia B (Phinney) Brownson and Maclean McLean, NEHGS Register, “Thomas Gibbs of Sandwich, Mass,” 123:135
John G. Locke (communicated by), NEHGS Register, “Extracts from Rev Benjamin Fessenden’s Manuscript,” 13:30
George E. Bowman, The Mayflower Descendant, “Jirah Swift’s Will,” 23:39
Tupper Family Association (communicated by), NEHGS Register, “Thomas 1 Tupper and His Descendants,” 99:65
Frederick Freeman, The History of Cape Cod: the annals of Barnstable County, including the district of Mashpee, 1858, p 371
RA Lovell, Sandwich: A Cape Cod Town, 1984, P 143
Robert S. Wakefield (No. 1), Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, Vol. 18, Richard Warren, published by the GSMD, 1999
Robert S. Wakefield (No. 2), Family of Richard Warren, The fifth generation descendants of his children Abigail, Nathaniel and Joseph, GSMD, 2001
Col. Leonard H. Smith Jr & Norma H. Smith, Records of the First Church of Wareham, Massachusetts 1739-1891, 1974
Charles M. Thatcher, Old Cemeteries of Southeastern Massachusetts, compilation in the late 1880s, published 1995 by The Middleborough Public Library
Daisy Washburn Lovell, Glimpses of Early Wareham, 1970
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