Some Swift researchers are certain that William Swift II, married Ruth Tobey, but then other sources claim that his wife was Ruth Dillingham. It is well documented that a Susannah or an Esther Swift married Ralph Allen of Sandwich, Massachusetts, so it seems that in order to solve that mystery, Esther Swift is now called Esther Susannah Swift by some. Then there is the problem of Ralph Allen. It seems there were two Ralph Allen's in Sandwich, Massachusetts and the arguments that he was or was not the son of George Allen and Katherine Stark resemble a sort of blood war, with nothing of any definite resolution being determined. Likewise, if you check out the Sisson Forum on the internet, you will find a lot of heated discussions about whether Joan Sisson is the mother/sister/cousin to Richard Sisson. I have determined, at the risk of getting slapped down by other Sisson researchers that there was a connection between Joan Sisson and Richard Sisson if only because each of them had a daughter that married into the same Allen Family. Joan's daughter, Esther (or Susannah) married Ralph Allen and Richard's daughter, Elizabeth is reputed to have married George Allen II. But enough of that for now. The point is, until further information that is proven comes in, we can do nothing more than speculate, based on the facts and knowledge that we do have available.

Perhaps we would be safe is suggesting that William Swift, father of Hannah Swift, was the son of William Swift and Jane(t) Wilson and that he was born on or about born April 15, 1589 in Bocking, Essex, England. We can also suggest that William Swift married Joan Sission on June 4, 1618 in England. That means that William would have been twenty-nine years old when he married Joan Swift. He certainly would have had time to have had another wife, (Savage suggested that William Swift might have been married twice) previous to Joan Sisson but it seems apparent, at least to me, that she did indeed survive him and that she lived the next twenty years as a widow. I tend to agree with the author of ANCESTORS OF ROBERT ABELL, Horace A. Abell; Joan Swift was no shrinking violet, or to put it in a gentler way, I will quote Mr. Abell; "Joan Swift following her husband's death, seems to have held a prominent place in the community." She bought and sold land, she was fined but continued to attend Quaker meetings, she was the only woman on a list of nineteen signatures to call a minister to Sandwich. This was a woman of independent means, a woman that had raised her family and outlived her husband. Chances are that a second husband would only be a liability.

It is fairly certain that William Swift and Joan Sisson came from England about 1630; he was a proprietor of Watertown, Mass., 1636; Removed to Sandwich about 1639. Lawsuit at Salem in 1638; served in Lt. John Blackmer's company, 1643.  ^{(Must have been 1642)} His son Edward was apprenticed to George Andrews, Butcher, in Eastclepe, London. He sold a house and land at Sud. 28-4-1641{Suff. De. and Col. Rec. vol.1}

In 1642 he served in Lieutenant John Blackmer's Company. He died before January, 1643 as his inventory was shown at Court there and amounted to 72 pounds, 11 shillings. In january of 1643 "Letters of Administration are graunted to Joane Swyft of Sandwich to administer upon her husbendes estate and to pay the debts as farr as the estate will amunt unto, by equal proporcons, and is bound to the Gov. and Assistantes to do it." Joan, whose maiden name was Sisson, survived her husband for 20 years and died in Sandwich, November 26, 1663. Her will is in the Plymouth Colony Records and the inventory amounted to 105 pounds, 6 shillings.

Taking the liberty of assuming that William Swift was only married once, to Joan Sisson, my records indicate that they had six children; 1. William Swift II, born 1619, died January 7, 1704/05, married Ruth Tobey. 2. Hannah Swift, born about 1620, died January 1, 1664/65, married Daniel Wing. 3. Esther Swift, born 1622, died 1691, married Ralph Allen. 4. James Swift, born about 1624, 5. Elizabeth Swift, born 1625. 6.Edward Swift, born 1626/27.

Hannah Swift had grown up with a fairly comfortable way of life in the Massachusetts Bay compared to her many of her peers. Her father and mother were considered wealthy and they owned the largest home in Sandwich, Massachusetts. She had either turned twenty-one or was just about to turn twenty-one when she married Daniel Wing on November  5, 1641 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts. Her young husband, Daniel, was probably about three years older than she was at the time of their marriage. It was probably with his impending marriage in mind that Daniel Wing bought a farm from Andrew Hallet in Sandwich, Massachusetts on June 28, 1640. Daniel's brother, John Wing and their good friend/surrogate father, Edward Dillingham witnessed the deed. It was very likely on this farm that their first child, Hannah Wing was born on July 28, 1643.  Hannah Wing would claim the honor of being the first Wing to be born on New England soil. Other children would follow in short order; Lydia Wing, born May 23, 1647, Deborah Wing, October 10, 1648, Samuel Batchelder (?) Wing, August 28, 1652, Hepiziah Wing, November 7, 1654, John Wing, November 14, 1656, Beulah Wing, November 16, 1658, Deborah Wing, September, 1660, and finally, Daniel Wing Jr., January 21, 1663/64.

During those years there was much trial and hardship. It is certain that the Wing's in Sandwich were quite aware of their grandfather, Rev. Stephen Bachiler's troubles in New Hampshire. Hannah's own father would die a few months prior to the birth of his granddaughter, Hannah Wing. Her sister-in-law, Oseah Dillingham would die in 1654 and she would gain a new sister-in-law in the same year. And in 1657, when Daniel Wing and his brother, Stephen Wing and Hannah Swift Wing's own brother, William Swift II and her mother, Joan Swift, aligned themselves with the Quakers, the trouble really started for the Wing family. In 1658, Daniel Wing signed his estate over to his young children to keep the Sandwich authorities from confiscating his property due to the heavy fines that were being levied against him.  These trials and tribulations must have taken their toll on Hannah Swift Wing, that and having nine children in about seventeen years couldn't have helped either.

According to the Swift Genealogy, Joan Swift died probably on November 26, 1663. Her will has the date of October 12, 1662 and the inventory of her estate was taken on December 25, 1662. Her grandson, Jedediah Allen, son of Ralph Allen and Esther Swift wrote in the family bible that "Jone Swift, my grandmother, deceased ye 26 day." Unfortunately the rest of the page is torn and the month that Joan Swift died is gone, but it is believed that her death must have occured on November 26, 1663.

The Will of Joan Swift from the Plymouth Colony Records;

"The 12th day of the 8th month, 1662, I Jone Swift of Sandwich, being sicke of body, but of perfect memory, do make my last Will. I do give unto Daniel Winges, his sons Samuel and John, a mare foal of ayear old. Item, I give unto my grandchild Hannah Swift, the old mare, if she be alive, if not, the next to her. Item, I give unto my grandchild Experience Allen, a chest with drawers and my Bible. Item, I give unto my two grandchildren, Hannah Swift and Experience Allen, all my linen and my pewter, to be equally divided between them. Item: I give unto Mary Darbey my wearing clothes. Item, I give unto Hannah Winge the Elder my best hat and forty shillings to her daughters, to be divided amongst them. Item, I give unto Jedediah Allen and Experience Allen the third part of my Estate, this house and garden being part of the third; I give unto my son William's children, each of them a mare foal; my debts being discharged, and my funeral being paid, I give the rest of my Estate to my son William, whom I make my Executor. I make John Dincent and Benjamin Hammond my overseers of this my will and give to them twenty shillings apiece. WITNESS, John Dincent [someone penciled in "Vincent"], Benjamin Hammond. The mark of JONE SWIFT. Benjamin Hammond gave oath to this will the third of March, 1663, before the General Court, then held at Plymouth. Mr. John Dincent was deposed to this will of Jone Swift above said this seventh of April, 1664, before me, Thomas Hickley, Assistant, by order from the Court."

Hannah Swift Wing was pregnant with her son Daniel Wing Jr., when her mother died in November of 1663 and Hannah herself was forty-four or forty-five years old. I don't know about anyone else, but I would think twice about having a child at the age of forty-four or forty-five in this wonderful era of hospitals, marvelous doctors, epidurals and miracle drugs, much less consider having a child at that age, at home, with a midwife, in the dead of winter. And it was very likely that the birth of Daniel Wing Jr., in January of 1663/64 was what caused Hannah Swift Wing's death on March 10, 1663/64.

No diaries or documents or letters or bibles survive that indicate what a blow it must have been to Daniel Wing and his many children to lose Hannah Swift Wing that March of 1664. Sadly, death was not a stranger to those folks in the Massachusetts Bay and being stalwart English citizens, they accepted their fate and carried on with life. Hannah Swift Wing never laid eyes on one of her grandchildren, much less the forty that would be born in the years to come. Her great-grandchildren numbered in the hundreds. While she left her family early, she left a bounty of children that would give her descendants that claim her as their own even now.

FROM THE SWIFT GENEALOGY

William Swift came from Bocking, Suffolk County, England, in the great Boston immigration of 1630-1, and settled at Watertown, Mass., where he was a proprietor in 1636. In the Great Dividends of Town Lands, July 25, 1636, William Swift drew No. 14, being a forty-acre lot. In 1636-7 he drew a five-acre lot at "Beaver Brook Plowlands." In 1641, he sold and moved to Sandwich, Mass., the farm he bought there was the largest farm in Sandwich, was owned in 1887 by his lineal descendant, Shadrach Freeman Swift. (In 1636, William Swift mortgaged his house and lands in Wat., to John Haines, Att'y of Andrew Coleman, in England, to whom Swift had given his name as joint security in a matter where Roger Spring was the principal debtor. [See Colon. Records, Sept. 1, 1640.] ) William Swift married Joan Sisson; he died in 1643-4; she survived him about twenty years. Her will, dated November 26, 1663, bequeathed to Daniel Wing's two sons, Samuel and John, and to her grandchildren, and others; her son William was made executor. Children of William1 Swift, and Joan (Sisson) Swift. WILLIAM2 b. in England, about 1627; d. at Sandwich, Mass. Jan. 1705-6. He was deputy to the General Court. HANNAH m. Daniel Wing, Nov. 5, 1641. EASTER m. Ralph Allen, 1645. WILLIAM m. Ruth (???).

From the Swift Family Forum
Let me share with you some of the postings written by Ralph Swift, a researcher of the Swift family:

August 8, 2000 Hello Jean, I agree with you regarding the William Swift(1)with three children, though I have some reservations about his wife,(and even William ,since the evidence is confusing) it seems to be that it is generally accepted that it was Joan Sisson (is there any real evidence out there that this is so, or is it hearsay ??)My opinion is that Joane Bassett has an equal claim and my reasoning for this is simply that the recorders at the time in "The Plymouth Colony Records" and we have to assume that they were fairly literate, state quite specifically "William Swyfte, Sandwich" "1643, Administration by JOANE, his wife"and later when she died "An Inventory of the Estate of Mistress JOANE Swift deceased" also the minutes of Sandwich town meetings during the 1650's show William Bassett to be very much in evidence as a prominent member of that community !! As for William, there are two recorded, both of Bocking in Essex. One the son of William Swift and Jane(t)Wilson born 15 April 1589, died 7 Mar 1643 in Sandwich, and a second William the son of Robert Swift and Bridget Hastings born 1575. Bocking, Essex.died 1 Jan 1643/4 in Sandwich. To confuse matters further, Savage, an earlier recorder indicates that William may have been married twice which may explain why his wife outlived him by 20 years !! You will notice from various records that William of Sandwich supposedly died in Mar 1643 and was buried some time later 1 jan 1644, both these dates tie in with the death dates for our two Williams given above if they are anything like accurate, so the question is, do we in fact have two Williams, or one who married twice, and whose Will was it, Joan's or Joanes, Does anyone out there have the documentary evidence to say for sure?? One marriage produced Hannah, Esther and William, the accepted line for the subsequent Swifts in America. The other marriage produced (seemingly) William,Susannah,James, Elizabeth and Edward. Do I have you confused yet??? The next generation, William (2) married Ruth (Allen, Dillingham, Ellingham Snow, Tobey ???)My money is on Ruth Tobey, Why? In a town meeting for Sandwich dated May 29 1655 donations were being made for the construction of a town meeting place and among the donors is a note "Will Swift, 15 shillings of Tho.Tobey ,senior" in other words he was paying on behalf of Thomas Tobey senior so the families would seem to have been very closely affiliated and what more natural than that he should have been paying his father in laws dues.By the by, there was another Tho Tobey present(probably Junior)who donated 5 shillings ! The rest of your question I can't really answer beyond Samuel(3)born Aug 10 1662 married Mary (Gibbs)I have not followed that particular line.William and Ruth did have 11 children of whom Samuel was the 6th. To fill out the family trees for all the descendants would be a monumental task, especially since I am an English Swift, born and raised there until 20 years ago and having come out of Yorkshire, the real seat of the Swift family except for that branch that removed to Jenkinstown, Co Kilkenny, Ireland. Regards, Ralph S Swift.

December 16, 2000 Regarding my last note with reference to William Swift of Sandwich. Having gone very carefully over the Yorkshire lineage with emphasis on Robert Swift/Bridget Hastings and the possibility of their being the parents of William, and despite IGI records showing this to be so (ie William Swift 1575)I have read the will of Robert and though it is quite precise there is no mention of a son William. Robert had two children by Bridget Hastings 1)Sir Edward Swyft. 2)Mary Swyft. Sir Edward died before his father (Robert)and the next eldest son, Barnham Swyft, who was the child of Ursula Barnham (Robert's 2nd wife)inherited the estate. Since William would have been older than Barnham having been born of wife #1 then unless disinherited or otherwise cast out of the family he should have been the inheritor or at least mentioned. Since Robert died in 1625, William would still have been in England and by all normal standards would have inherited the estate, therefore we have to assume that William was not part of THIS family. There is however another route to William of Sandwich starting a little uncertainly with Alexander Swift 1480, the brother of Robert of Rotherham(1472-1561). Though nothing appears in IGI, Pedigree Resources shows him (Alexander) to be married to Margaret Ingle. After this , the line runs: Richard Swift 1502 /Jean Wheelock (m)1529 William Swift 1530 /Elizabeth Mason (m)1560 William Swift 1561 /Jane(t)Wilson (m)1582 William Swift of Sandwich 1589 /Joan Sisson and/or Joane Bassett (William possibly married twice ref. Savage) This is no doubt the line you refer to in your posting.(the Rotherham/Bocking/Sandwich connection) Regards, Ralph S. Swift

January 12, 2001 Some time ago we had a discussion on the forebears for William of Sandwich and it was my contention at that time that we should also consider the possibility of him to be descended from Robert Swift and wife Bridget Hastings as an alternative to the normally accepted line through William Swift and Jane(t)Wilson of Bocking in Essex. I have since gone very carefully over the evidence from Hunter to Savage and looked closely at the will transcriptions that I have been able to find.Those documents together with a lack of any mention of William as a part of this lineage in "Burke's" has convinced me that we have to consider the Bocking connection as being the only viable one at present. The will of Sir Robert Swift (grandson of Robert of Rotherham )devolved upon his eldest son, Edward, by his first wife Bridget Hastings. Unfortunately, Edward died before his father and the estate therefore went to Barnham Swift,(called the eldest surviving son in the will)the son of Sir Robert's second wife Ursula Barnham. The will is quite detailed and mentions various bequests to sons , daughters and cousins. Nowhere is there a mention of William. Since he was the product of the earlier union ( Robert and Bridget)he would have been older than Barnham and should naturally have inherited. Not only that, at the time of Sir Robert's death in 1625, William would still have been in England (or so it is thought)and available to take over the estate, so there is no question of "out of sight, out of mind" or an assumption of his ( Williams )demise due to lack of news from the New World, and unless he was totally cut off and disinherited he should have appeared somewhere in the document.From the foregoing, it can only be assumed that he was no part of this family, despite the so called evidence to the contrary in IGI.

From the book, THE ANCESTORS OF ROBERT ABELL:

SWIFT 1. WILLIAM SWIFT, born in England, probably in Bocking Co., Suffolk; died about the close of 1641, in Sandwich; married Joan (???), in England. She died in 1662 or 1663. The family probably came from Bocking, England. A son, Edward, was apprenticed to George Andrews, butcher, in Eastchepe, London. This fact would indicate that they were probably of the yeoman class. In 1634, William Swift is found as a proprietor in Watertown, Mass., and had probably been there two or three years. In 1637, he sold his property in Watertown and removed to Sudbury, where he obtained other property. The following year 1638 he had a ?? In 1641, 28, 4th mo., he sold a house and land at Sudbury, removing about this time or perhaps earlier to Sandwich, in Plymouth Colony, where he died. He was in Lieut. John Blackmer's Co., Sandwich, Mass., 1643. The administration of his estate was granted to Joan his wife. Daniel Wing gave bonds for her. An inventory of all the goods and cattells of William Swyft, of Sandwich, was exhibited the XXIXth of January Anno Dm. 1642. Joan Swift following her husband's death, seems to have held a prominent place in the community. Mar. 11, 1642-3, Memo regarding payment made by "Joane Swyft" administratrix of Wm. Swyft deceased. Aug. 20, 1644, a warrant to be sent forth to bring in the bodies of Joane Swyft, widdow, to give evedence in John Ellis and his wife case. Mar. 6, 1648-9, Mr. Thomas Dexter, Senir, complaineth against Mis Joane Swifte, in an action upon the case, to the damag of forty shillings. "The jury find for the plaintife thirty shillings damage, and the cost of sute" judgement granted. This was one of seven suits brought by Dexter against various parties. Aug. 20, 1651, Joane Swift, paid 4 pounds for certain lands in Sandwich. In 1655-6, "Johana Swift" signed, a call to a minister; there were 19 signers including her son William, but she was the only woman among them. Oct. 2, 1660, "Jone Swift" was one of a group of Sandwich people fined at the General Court for attending Quaker meets. Joan Swift made her will the 12th day of the 8th mo. 1662. In the inventory of her property made 25th day of the 10th mo. 1663, she is spoken of as "Mistress Joane Swift." Mar. 1, 1663-4, Mr. Hinckley is authorized by the Court to adminnester an oath to the witnesses of the last will and testament of mistris Jone Swift, deceased. Children: Edward, b. in England. William, b. in England. Hannah, d. Jan. 1, 1664; m. Daniel Wing, Dec. 5, 1641. Elizabeth, m. Jedediah Allen. Ester (probably). Ref: The Owl, Dec. 1914 and Dec. 1927. The Pioneers of Mass., by Chas. Henry Pope. The Mayflower Descendant. Mass. Colonial Records, Vol. 1, page 144, 200; Vol. II, page147; Vol. III, page 66. Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. II, page 53, 54; III, page 200; VIII, page 103; XII, page 212; II, page 75; IV, page 55; and VII, page 44.

Lee Murrah's Swift Family Page

Swift Family of England and Massachusetts

Joan Swift of Sandwich: Network of Relationships

William Swift (1589 - 1643)

Swift Genealogy Forum