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Swett Family
This
chart updated by Mara French on 7/15/20. Send any corrections or
additions to this chart to Daniel
James Roland French.
Mary Moulton, b. 28 Jan 1805, m. Moses Swett, and she d. 16 Dec 1836 in Foxcroft, Piscataquis, ME. Mary and Moses Swett had only 1 child, Mary Moulton Swett, 1836-1852, so she would appear in 2 census records, 1840 and 1850.
She m. Moses Swett on 18 Jan 1829 when she was 24 years old, and had daughter Mary Moulton Swett born in 1836, but her mother died with this birth. Moses Swett was born in 1804 and died in 1847. Their daughter Mary Moulton Swett was born in 1836 and died in 1852. Mary Moulton who was born in 1805 was the daughter of David Moulton, born 18 Jun 1760 in Hampton, Rockingham, NH, died on 18 Oct 1838 in Porter, Oxford, ME, and his wife Dorothy Moulton (same maiden name) was born on 22 Jun 1770 in Portsmouth, Rockingham, NH and died on 19 Jan 1853 in Porter, Oxford, ME. They married on 16 Feb 1794 in Portsmouth, Rockingham, NH. See https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/39395953/person/19897787945/facts.
Moses Swett was born on 23 Aug 1804 in Gilmanton, Belknap, NH, and was the son of Stephen Swett (1771-1857) and Lois Sanborn (1779-?). Moses died 3 May 1847 in Foxcroft, Piscataquis, ME, predeceasing his father.
Their orphan daughter Mary M. Swett returned to live with the Moulton family in Porter, Oxford, ME, in the 1850 census, and is listed by name and age there, but died 2 years later in 1852.
The Will of Moses Swett Sr. whose son Moses Swett Jr. married Mary Moulton.
Unfortunately, 4 members of the Swett family died between 1836-1852, and wiped out that entire family: Mary Moulton Swett (mother) 1836, Moses Swett (husband) 1847, Mary H. Robinson Swett (second wife) 1860, and Mary Swett (daughter by first wife) 1852.
1804 Aug 23 -- Moses Swett was born in Belmont, Belknap, NH to Stephen Swett Jr. (b. in Hampton Falls, NH, age 32 at Moses’ birth, born 1772) and Lois Sanborn (age 25, b. 1779 at Moses’ birth). Stephen and Lois were married 25 Sep 1799 in Belmont, Belknap, NH. Moses predeceased his father Stephen who died on 20 Dec 1857 in Freedom, Carroll, NH, and is buried in Swett Hill Cemetery, at age 85 yrs, 11 mos, 20 days, calculating to Stephen Swett’s birthday on 30 Dec 1771. Apparently, he never lived in ME, but always in NH. Another source says Moses Swett was b. 7 Jul 1804 in Poland, Androscoggin, ME.
1805 Jan 28 – Mary Moulton was born in Porter, Oxford, ME, first wife of Moses Swett.
Mary Moulton, b. 28 Jan 1805 in Porter, d. 16 Dec 1836 in Foxcroft, Piscataquis, ME, m. Moses Swett and had daughter Mary M. Swett in 1836, her mother dying during childbirth. She was buried at the Rural Grove Cemetery in Dover-Foxcroft, Piscataquis, ME. She was the wife of Moses Swett who died on 3 May 1847 in Foxcroft, Piscataquis, ME.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24874246/mary-swett
According to the IGI at familysearch.org, Mary Moulton was born 28 Jan 1805 in Porter, Oxford, Maine, married Moses Swett 18 Jan 1829 of Porter, Oxford, Maine, and died 16 Dec 1836. Also at that site, in Ancestral File and Pedigree Resource File, Mary Moulton was born 28 Jan 1805 of Foxcroft, Piscataquis, Maine to David Moulton & Dorothy Moulton, married Moses Swett 18 Jan 1829, and died 16 Dec 1836 in Foxcroft, Piscataquis, Maine. “A” Hannah Moulton was buried in this same cemetery, b. 1835, d. 1836, dau. of Joseph and Abigail Moulton, d. 6 Aug 1836, aged 15 months and 6 days.
When
Mary Moulton Swett died in 1836 giving birth to her daughter, Moses Swett m2.
Mary H. Robinson, 1817-1850. They had daughter Sarah Abbie Swett, b. 1839, d.
1860, buried in the same cemetery. Moses Swett d. 3 May 1847 in Foxcroft,
Piscataquis, ME, and is buried in the Rural Grove Cemetery in Dover-Foxcroft,
Piscataquis, ME. His daughter Sarah Abbie Swett was age only 11 years when her
mother died in 1850, and only 8 years old when her father died in 1847. She was
an orphan and must have guardianship papers.
1817 – Mary H. Robinson was born, second wife of Moses Swett.
1829 Jan 18 -- According to the IGI, Ancestral File and Pedigree Resource File at familysearch.org, Moses Swett married Mary Moulton 18 Jan 1829 of Porter, Oxford, Maine, then immediately moved to Foxcroft, Penobscot, ME.
1830 census – Moses and Mary Swett lived without dependents in Foxcroft, Penobscot, ME, both aged 20-29 or born 1801-1810; he was born in 1804 and she in 1805. Their first child was born in 1836, the same year his wife died. Mary had no previous children.
1836 Dec 29 -- Moses Swett was appointed to U.S. Postmaster in Foxcroft, Piscataquis, ME, on 29 Dec 1836, same year that his wife Mary died and his daughter Mary was born.
1837-1838 – After his first wife Mary Moulton Swett died in 1836, Moses Swett m. Mary H. Robinson soon afterwards. She was b. 1817, d. 1850, according to the Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection. They had daughter Sarah Abbie Swett born in 1839 and the daughter died in 1860. Because Mary H. Robinson Swett was only age 21 or thereabouts, they may have lived with the Robinson family in the 1840 census. Another source states she was born 20 Dec 1818 in Foxcroft, the daughter of Capt. Ellis Robinson Sr. and Rachel Carsley.
1840 census -- After Mary Moulton (1836) and her husband Moses Swett (1847) died in Foxcroft, Piscataquis, Maine, John Moulton became the guardian for their little daughter Mary M. Swett and brought her back to Porter, Oxford, ME, when she was about 13 in 1850 and her name is listed in that census, showing another full-proof link to this family. She was b. 1836 and her mother Mary Moulton Swett died with this childbirth in 1836. Moses Swett should be in the 1840 census with his next wife Mary H. Robinson Swett and their daughter Sarah Abbie Swett. Another Sarah A. Swett was born in 1839, the wife of James E. Swett, has been proven to be a different person.
1841 Oct 11 -- From the Bangor Daily Whig and Courier in Bangor, Maine, 11 Oct 1841, Moses Swett is listed as an agent for a valuable medicine in Foxcroft, ME. The medicine is Wright’s Indian Vegetable Pill to cure a variety of diseases. He was also listed as selling this medicine in the same newspaper on 9 Nov 1846, just 6 months before he died, proving that the medicine did not work. Moses Swett died in Piscataquis, ME, on 3 May 1847 in Foxcroft, Piscataquis, ME. There were 2 men named Moses Swett – need to recheck. One lived beyond 1847.
1844 May 6 -- Bangor Daily Whig and Courier, Bangor, Maine, 6 May 1844. This shows that David Moulton Jr. was living in Piscataquis County, Maine, by 1844, when his sister Mary Moulton Swett resided in the same location – actually she died in 1836 giving birth to her daughter Mary. David Moulton Sr. died in 1836.
1845 May 22 – Moses Swett wrote a will 2 months before he died, in Oxford County, ME. The sister-in-law of Moses Swett, Sarah Moulton, and the brother-in-law of Moses Swett, Thomas Moulton, represent Moses Swett of Foxcroft, who when deceased, left daughter Mary M. Swett, a minor, age 14 years upon the death of Moses Swett, who was put in the care of a guardian, that being the uncle of Mary Moulton Swett; namely, John Moulton of Porter, Oxford, ME, as Moses Swett requested. Signed by John Moulton’s siblings, Thomas and Sarah Moulton, neither of whom ever married. The guardianship was put forth on 25 May 1847, and can be noted in the 1850 census of Porter, Oxford, ME.
1847 May 3 – Moses Swett died in Foxcroft, Piscataquis, ME. He is buried in the Rural Grove Cemetery in Dover-Foxcroft, Piscataquis, ME.
1850 United States Census (Mortality Schedule), Foxcroft, Piscataquis, Maine: Mary H. (Robinson) Swett, age 30, widow, born in Sangerville, Piscataquis, Maine, died in April of dropsy, afflicted for 6 days. She was the second wife of Moses Swett. Therefore, step-daughter Mary was left all alone and was transported back to Porter, Oxford, ME, where she died 2 years later in 1852, and is also buried in the Rural Grove Cemetery in Dover-Foxcroft, Piscataquis, ME. The daughter of Moses Swett and his second wife Mary H. Robinson, Sarah Abbie Swett, died in 1860 at age 20-21. No Swett can be found in the 1850 census of Foxcroft, nor in Piscataquis County. No Sarah Abbie Swett can be found in the 1850 census anywhere.
1850 census -- Thomas Moulton, Sarah Moulton, and Mary Swett (daughter of Thomas and Sarah Moulton’s sister Mary) living together in the same household in Porter, Oxford, ME in 1850, after both parents of Mary Swett had died. She died 2 years later in 1852.
Thomas Moulton, age 40
Sarah Moulton, age 50
Mary M. Swett, age 13
Note: Mary Moulton Swett (mother of Mary Swett, first wife of Moses Swett, and sister of John Moulton) had died in 1836; her husband Moses Swett died on 3 May 1847 both in Foxcroft, Piscataquis, ME.
Mary
M. (Moulton) Swett was born in 1836, when her mother died in childbirth. The
daughter, Mary M. Swett, was living with her uncle and aunt, Thomas Moulton and
Sarah Moulton, in the 1850 census of Porter, Oxford, ME. Mary M. Swett died in
1852 (age 15-16) and is buried at the Riverside Cemetery in Kezar
Falls, Oxford, ME, as the daughter of Moses Swett and Mary Moulton:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/39910458. Mary Moulton Swett’s uncle,
Thomas Moulton, and her aunt Sarah Moulton were buried in the same plot, same
headstone.
It is unsure where Sarah Abbie Swett (second wife of Moses Swett) lived between 1850 when her mother died and 1860 when she died, but it was not with the Moulton family. The 1850 census was the first census that listed the names of everyone in the household; before that, only the ages were listed.
1850 census of Porter, Oxford, Maine
Dorothy
Moulton, widow of David Moulton Sr., aged 80, he died in 1836; she died in
1853.
John Moulton, son of David Moulton Sr., aged 55, b. 1794 (guardian for Mary M.
Swett, although she lived with John’s siblings, Thomas and Sarah, see above).
Jane Moulton, wife of John Moulton, aged 49
James C. Moulton, son of John Moulton, aged 20, b. 1830
Moses Swett Moulton, son of John Moulton, aged 17, b. 1833
John Moulton, son of John Moulton, aged 15, b. 1835
1850 Census – J. S. Swett (Jeremiah Sanborn Swett) is listed as living in Foxcroft, Piscataquis, ME. Sarah Abbie Swett cannot be found; she died in 1860.
1860 census – Jeremiah S. Swett was age 57, b. 16 May 1802 in Belmont, Belknap, NH, the son of Stephen Swett and Lois Sanborn, living in Foxcroft, Piscataquis, ME, a farmer, living with John H. Sewall 25, Hannah A. Sewall 27, Ida E. Libbey 9, Fannie F. Libbey 6, Fannie L. Watson 25.
1871 Jan 12 – Jeremiah Sanborn Swett died and is buried in the Prospect Cemetery in Freedom, Carroll, NH. His will gives to his sister, Lois Towle, wife of Elias Towle in Freedom, NH and her heirs, and to the children of his brother John T. Swett of Freedom, NH.
By Rev. George A. Merrill
Source: Sprague's Journal of Maine History, Vol. 5 No. 7, Published by John Francis Sprague, Dover, ME, July 1914
https://meahgp.genealogyvillage.com/historical-sketch-of-foxcroft-maine.html
About twenty years ago, a drum corps was formed by some young men of the town, in connection with The Sons of Veterans. This organization was disbanded two years later. The first Post-master of this town was John Bradbury, who held office from June 19, 1821 to July 29, 1833. He was followed by these individuals who are named in the order of their service: R. K. Rice, Moses Swett, George V. Edes, Melvin Stevens, Moses Swett, Hiram Doughty, D. D. Vaughan, William Paine, O. E. Crooker, Jonathan Roberts. J. D. Brown, James M. Weymouth, H. C. Prentiss, John F. Arnold, C. S. Ham, G. L. Arnold, A. P. Buck, Grace W. Buck, and Edward B Buck. Of these, Mr. Prentiss held the office for the longest period, over twenty-four years, from March 19. 1861 to Aug. 3, 1885. The last three incumbents have held the office since 1898. Mr. A. P. Buck holding it two years, his daughter four years, and his son, since 1904.
Among the important characters in the early history of Foxcroft should be mentioned the town's first lawyer, Mr. J. S. Holmes. He was, as I have said, a graduate of Brown University. Principal of the first High School in town, and an able and influential man in all town affairs. He was a brother of Cyrus and Salmon Holmes who came to Foxcroft in 1818. For a while he was a law partner of Hon. J. S. Wiley, who was at one time a Representative to Congress from this district. The story is told of Esquire Holmes that, at one time, in trimming trees, he sawed off the limb on which he was sitting, letting himself heavily to the ground. Getting up and shaking himself, he expressed in vigorous and emphatic language, his opinion of the man who sawed off that limb. In 1838. George N. Edes came to Foxcroft. He was a printer by trade and camp from a race of printers, his great uncle. Benjamin Edes with John Gill having published the Boston Gazette during the Revolution; and another uncle was active in the publishing business in Rhode Island and Maine. George V. learned the trade with his uncle Peter in Hallowell. Going from there to Norridgewock in 1823. he published the Somerset Journal for fifteen years, when he came to Dover and started the Piscataquis Herald, the name of which was afterward changed to the Farmer, and then to the Observer. After a brief residence in Dover, he moved to Foxcroft where he resided until his death in 1875. Mr. Edes' first printing was done with considerable difficulty, with a Franklin hand press, and, as he had very little help, the work was often arduous in the extreme. His pay came from almost everything the surrounding farms produced. In 1839, J. S. Wiley, Moses Swett, A. M. Robinson and others started "The Democrat-Republican," which for a while competed with the Observer; but it was not a financial success; and in 1843, Mr. Edes purchased the whole outfit, and no further effort was made to establish another newspaper. In company with his sons Mr. Edes continued in business for many years. It has been stated on good authority that the first type set in the county was set by him in a building then located near Mayo and Sons' office in the village.
Among the early settlers were Joseph Morse, Tristram Robinson, John Chandler, Samuel Chamberlain, Ephraim Bacon, John Bigelow, Jesse Washburn, Nathan Carpenter. Nathaniel, William, Moses and Daniel Buck, Gilman Greeley. John Bradbury and Joel Pratt. Tristram Robinson settled on the farm, later purchased by Cyrus Holmes and now occupied by his grandson, Irving Holmes. Cyrus' brother, Salmon, at a later date, occupied the land now owned by A. W. Gilman. The home of Nathan Carpenter was the well-known Herring place on Park Street. Eliphalet Washburn settled on a farm near the Averill place on the road to East Dover. Another early settler, David Moulton*, father of Mr. Isaac Moulton, a prominent citizen of La Crosse, Wisconsin, who lately visited this place, lived on the farm now owned by Mrs. George Lebroke.
* David
Moulton, Jr., b. 23 Aug 1802, m. Phebe Wentworth, and he
d. 13 Jun 1867. The Wentworth family used the name Albion, a name that
David M. French gave his second son.
Children:
Isaac H. Moulton, 1829-1919
Thomas Moulton, 1834-1896
Mary Maria Moulton, 1837-1878
Seven members of the Swett family were buried in Piscataquis County, Maine, in three different cemeteries.
· Mary Moulton Swett was b. 1805, m. Moses Swett 1829, d. 1836 (aged 30-31). According to the IGI at familysearch.org, Mary Moulton was born 28 Jan 1805 in Porter, Oxford, Maine, married Moses Swett 18 Jan 1829 of Porter, Oxford, Maine, and died 16 Dec 1836. Also, at that site, in Ancestral File and Pedigree Resource File, Mary Moulton was born 28 Jan 1805 of Foxcroft, Piscataquis, Maine to David Moulton and Dorothy Moulton. She married Moses Swett 18 Jan 1829, and died 16 Dec 1836 in Foxcroft, Piscataquis, Maine, probably in childbirth of Mary M. Swett who was born in 1836.
· Mary H. Robinson Swett was b. ca. 1820 and died Apr 1850 (age 30). 1850 United States Census (Mortality Schedule), Foxcroft, Piscataquis, Maine: Mary H Swett, age 30, widowed, born in Sangerville, Piscataquis, Maine, died in April 1850 of dropsy, afflicted for 6 days. After Moses Swett’s first wife, Mary Moulton Swett, died in 1836, Moses married Mary H. Robinson who died 3 years after he died; she died in Apr 1850 and he died on 3 May 1847 in Foxcroft, Piscataquis, ME. They left behind an orphan daughter Mary M. (Moulton?) Swett, b. 1836, who was the daughter of Moses’ first wife. In the 1850 census, Sarah Moulton, age 50, was living with her brother Thomas Moulton, age 40, and with their sister’s orphan daughter, Mary M. Swett, age 13, who had moved back to Porter, Oxford, ME.
· Moses Swett was b. 1804, d. 3 May 1847 in Foxcroft, Piscataquis, ME. He had married first Mary Moulton, and second Mary H. Robinson.
·
Sarah
Abbie (or Abby) Swett,
b. 1839, d. 1860 (age 20-21). Moses Swett m2. Mary H. Robinson, 1817-1850. They
had daughter Sarah Abbie Swett, b. 1839, d. 1860, buried in the same cemetery.
Moses Swett d. 3 May 1847 in Foxcroft, Piscataquis, ME, and is buried in the
Rural Grove Cemetery in Dover-Foxcroft, Piscataquis, ME. His daughter Sarah
Abbie Swett was age only 11 years when her mother died in 1850. She was an
orphan and must have guardianship papers.
·
Sarah
Swett was b. 15
Dec 1836 in Bangor, Penobscot County, ME and d. 18 Dec 1893 (age 57). She was
the wife of Charles V. Swett. (Strange, as this was the same date that Mary
Moulton Swett died in Foxcroft)
· Achsah Swett, b. unk, d. 26 Apr 1826 (age 31), wife of Josiah Swett.
· Clarinda Mayhew Swett, b. 12 Aug 1792, d. 21 Jan 1826 (age 33), daughter of Francis and Susanna (Smith) Mayhew, m. Winborn Adams Swett on 15 Jul 1813.