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| 1798 Map . Jonathan Price . First Survey of NC |
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| 1732 Moll . Surry County, VA |
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| 1732 Moseley . Perquimans Area |
Colonel Samuel Swann Sr. succeeded his father [Thomas] at Swann's Point, VA and was for many years a prominent man in Virginia and North Carolina; Justice of Surry County 1674; Major of Militia 1687, Sheriff 1676 and 1678; Member of the House of Burgesses for Surry in 1677, 1680, 1682, 1684, 1686, 1692, 1693. He soon after moved to North Carolina and was speaker of the assembly there prior to his death in 1707.
Also known as “Speaker Swann,” Samuel Swann Sr. was Deputy Governor of Carolina from 1693 to 1695, President of the Governor's Council in 1697 and Judge of the Precinct Court 1690-94(?). He was a man of unusual ability and exerted great influence over the affairs of the Province. (Pender County Historical Society and Museum)
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| 1737 Moseley . Cape Fear Area |
Samuel Swann Jr.* and Jane Jones’ son Samuel Swann III, born in 1747, died at age 40 as a result of a duel, leaving no heir. Their daughter Jane Swann (1740-1781) married Frederick Jones (1732-1797). Their son John Swann Jones was born in 1758. According to genealogical notes, his great uncle John Swann of Swann's Point "had amassed quite a fortune but had no heir. Therefore he willed everything to his grand nephew, on condition that he take his mother's name of Swann." *
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| 1732 Moseley Map |
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| 1775 Tardieu Map |
The Samuel Swann Highway Marker in Pender County—NC 133 southwest of Rocky Point—notes, “SAMUEL SWANN—Speaker of Assembly nearly 20 years, leader popular party, compiler first printed revisal of N.C. laws (1752). Home stood one mile south.”
Essay on NC Highway Historical Marker website:
In 1912 the Wilmington Morning Star took note of several points of historical interest in Pender County. Among these was the Swann plantation, the “ancient mill site of the Swanns that ground corn and wheat in ‘ye olden days.’” Nearby could be found the remains of a brickyard. The site was the longtime seat of the Swanns, among the more notable families in the Cape Fear region and one amongst many eighteenth-century plantations along the Northeast Cape Fear River.
The lands first were granted to John Baptista Ashe in 1727 who was married to the former Elizabeth Swann, sister to John and Samuel Swann. The Moseley map of 1733 indicates that John and Samuel both had established residences on the river by that time. John Swann established the original Swann Point plantation. A traveler in 1734 described his estate as “the finest place in all Cape Fear.”
Nearby was Samuel Swann’s plantation home, “The Oaks,” about a mile to the northeast of his brother’s estate. Samuel Swann, born in 1704, served as a surveyor on the party locating the boundary between North Carolina and Virginia in 1728. Swann was as Speaker of the Assembly for about twenty years before his death in 1774. He worked with Edward Moseley on the first revisal of the Laws of the Province of North Carolina. The work, issued in 1752 and known as Swann’s Revisal, was the first book published in the colony.
Swann’s house, acquired by Alexander Duncan Moore in 1812, burned shortly thereafter. Port Swannsborough and the town of Swansboro in Onslow County were named for Samuel Swann.
The lands first were granted to John Baptista Ashe in 1727 who was married to the former Elizabeth Swann, sister to John and Samuel Swann. The Moseley map of 1733 indicates that John and Samuel both had established residences on the river by that time. John Swann established the original Swann Point plantation. A traveler in 1734 described his estate as “the finest place in all Cape Fear.”
Nearby was Samuel Swann’s plantation home, “The Oaks,” about a mile to the northeast of his brother’s estate. Samuel Swann, born in 1704, served as a surveyor on the party locating the boundary between North Carolina and Virginia in 1728. Swann was as Speaker of the Assembly for about twenty years before his death in 1774. He worked with Edward Moseley on the first revisal of the Laws of the Province of North Carolina. The work, issued in 1752 and known as Swann’s Revisal, was the first book published in the colony.
Swann’s house, acquired by Alexander Duncan Moore in 1812, burned shortly thereafter. Port Swannsborough and the town of Swansboro in Onslow County were named for Samuel Swann.
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| Samuel Ashe Swann 1832-1909 |
*According to genealogical notes, John Swann Jones' great uncle John Swann of Swann's Point "had amassed quite a fortune but had no heir. Therefore he willed everything to his grand nephew, on condition that he take his mother's name of Swann." John Swann Jones Swann, the son of Frederick Jones and Jane Swann, married Sarah Moore. Their son Frederick James Swann married Ann Sophia Green. Their son Samuel Ashe Swann (1832-1909), born in Pittsboro, NC, moved from Wilmington, NC to Fernandina, Florida in 1855 and became a leader in the development of the state of Florida--involved in the railroad, shipping and land sales. His later years were devoted to quiet philanthropies.
More images of Thomas Swann's grave and headstone, located in Swann's Point Cemetery, Swann's Point, Surry County, Virginia.
More images of Thomas Swann's grave and headstone, located in Swann's Point Cemetery, Swann's Point, Surry County, Virginia. Colonel Thomas Swann (circa 1616-1680) was the grandfather of Samuel Swann (1704-1774).
*Much confusion has existed among genealogists and historians respecting the identity of particular members of the Swann family and of families with which they intermarried, especially the Jones family. The confusion is caused in part by duplication in names. Samuel Swann Sr. had three sons named Samuel: a son who was born in Virginia in 1674 and died there in 1677; a son, born in Virginia in 1681, who moved with his family to North Carolina and died there by drowning in 1702, as stated above; and a son born in Perquimans Precinct in 1704, who had a long, distinguished political career and died in New Hanover County in 1774. The confusion caused by Swann’s having more than one son bearing his name is compounded by his having several grandsons and great-grandsons named Samuel, some of whom historians have confused with their fathers and uncles. (William S. Powell)
More Detailed History:
