Person:Nancy Stevens (6)

In her petition for Lyman Beecher Jones' Civil War pension, there was some question as to the validity of her marriage, as she had been married before and there was no legal divorce. In an avidavit, in her own words:

"In answer to paragraph No.l 4 will say that I was married to Jonathan Swears on the 27th day of March AD 1860. And that said Jonathan Swears failed wholly to provide for me and proved in a very short time after such marriage to be a worthless, goodfornothing, drunken scoundrel. In order to avoid arrest on criminal charges he ran off and left me in a destitute condition about the 22nd day of September 1865 at my father's residence in Glen Falls, New York.

"I heard several times afterwards that he died in a drunken state. I considered that the information in regard to his death was reliable, consequently did not deem it necessary to commence proceedings to procure a legal separation.

"That after I received the information of his death, on the 7th day of Nov. AD 1872 I was married to Lyman B. Jones and lived with him continuously up to the date of his death to wit. July 1st 1897.

"And further that all persons who knew of the facts in regard to the marriage of myself with Jonathan Swears, to the facts of his leaving me, and of the reports of his death, so far as I know are all dead. And further that there were no records kept of marriages or deaths in the Sate of New York at that time.

"And that there is no one living that I know of who know any of the facts in the case, consequently I am unable to furnish any evidence except such as has ben heretofore furnished your office in this case."

In a later avidavit:

"It appears that after the separation of claimant and her former husband, Jonathan Swears, he remarried in New York, December 10, 1872, and died in that state May 9, 1894. His former wife testified that she never heard Mr. Swears say anything about his first wife until just before he died; that he then told her that he had a wife before he had her but that he had been parted from her on account of her jealousy; that at the time they parted they were living in Stony Creek, New York; that he did not claim that he had been divorced from his first wife."

Pension files indicate Nancy Stevens Jones had one child with Jonathan Swears. From the "Millenium File" (Heritage Consulting. Millennium File [database online]. Provo, Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2003. Original data: Heritage Consulting. The Millennium File. Salt Lake City: Heritage Consulting, 19--.): Database: Millennium File Personal Information Name: Lillian Eliza Swears Spouse: Edgar Eugene Chipman Birth Date: 30 Mar 1861 Birth City: Stoney Creek Birth County: Warren Birth State: New York Birth Country: USA Death Date: 5 Mar 1940 Death City: Clackamas Death County: Clackamas Death State: Oregon Death Country: USA Parents: Jonathan N. Swears, Nancy Lillian Stevens Children: Nettie May Chipman

                               Clarence Earl Chipman 

Other Notes: Database: Millennium File-Dependency Database 2 Lillian Eliza Swears Life Events Birth: 30 MAR 1861 Birth Place: STONEY CREEK, WARREN, NY Death: 05 MAR 1940 Death Place: CLACKAMAS, CLACKAMAS, OR

Miscellaneous Information 	

Gender: F