We have a long and fascinating lineage in America and Western Europe. I remember being told as a kid that our ancestry was Scottish, English, and Scots-Irish. This is true but we must also add German and Dutch and a little French Huegenot as well as a Welshman or two.

THE SWAINS

Grandma Hattie's mother's people were Dutch from Leerdam, Netherlands. They were one of the 18 families who started the first permanent European settlement on Staten Island in New York City, then New Amsterdam,  around 1661. They acquired vast holdings on Staten Island especially in the southern part of the island, near Old Dorp.  By the 1730s our line of the Swains moved over to New Jersey, settling in Elizabeth. The home of one of these Swains, Richard, survived the battle of Elizabeth and stands today. It is likely that some Swains may have been Loyalists as were many landed Staten Islanders. However we know that others fought on the side of the Patriots.  In New Jersey the Swains married into other Dutch Reform families and also into old Yankee families. These included the Goulds, Wades and Jacobuses, all of whom settled New Jersey towns and towns in Long Island, New York in the mid-to-late 17th century. The Dutch and Anglo families blended and over the generations held a variety of religious affiliations, including Congregationalist, Dutch Reform, Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist. Most of the Swains and connected families were farmers but also small manufacturers and merchants. Some held minor governmental posts. 

Moses, Grandma Hattie's grandfather married Sarah Gould on the eve of the Civil War and settled near West Liberty, Iowa after the war. His mother Jemima Wade Swain and father Mathias came with the couple. Sarah's father owned a small brush factory in New Jersey. Moses fought for the Union in the Civil War. He was a wagoneer in a New Jersey company and Sarah did war relief work.  The Swains are one of my favorite families to research. Because they have been here for so long much has been written about them by other descendants and students of Dutch New Netherlands.