Person:John Swallow (7)

Childhood

John Swallow was born on 13th March 1729 at Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire, son of Elizabeth Swallow, formerly Green, and her husband John Swallow, a tailor. John was the fifth of his parents' six children, but three of his four older siblings had already died before he was born.

Marriage

John was married on 27th September 1752 at Wheathampstead to an Elizabeth Constable. Their eldest child, also John, was baptised at Wheathampstead a couple of months later. They then moved to the neighbouring parish of Kimpton, where they had another three children baptised between 1755 and 1758. John's wife Elizabeth died just a few months after their fourth child was born, being buried on 1st January 1859 at Kimpton.

Second marriage

Five months later, John married again. His second wife was a widow named Mary Lincoln, formerly Cain. The marriage register describes John as a tailor, and he signed the register, showing he was literate. John and Mary had two children baptised at Kimpton, Alice in 1759 and Phoebe in 1762. The militia lists for Kimpton record John for each year from 1758 to 1763, with those from 1761 to 1763 describing him as a tradesman. Mary died in 1764, leaving John a widower for a second time at the age of 34.

Third marriage

After Mary's death, John started a relationship with a woman named Elizabeth Wilds. They had a daughter Sarah, who was baptised at Kimpton on 7th June 1767. Later that year, John's father died, being buried at Wheathampstead on 23rd August. The following year, John's daughter Phoebe (from his second marriage) died, aged six, being buried at Kimpton on 5th April 1768. The following month, John's mother Elizabeth died, being buried on 19th May 1768 at Wheathampstead.

In 1769, nearly two years after their daughter Sarah had been baptised, John and Elizabeth Wilds did get married. He was again described as a tailor on the marriage register; indeed it was the same curate, Ralph Heath, who performed both John's second and third marriages. John and Elizabeth had another three children baptised at Kimpton between 1769 and 1772. By the the time John's youngest child was born he was 43, and had had ten children between his three wives.

John died just eighteen months after the baptism of his youngest son. He was buried at Kimpton on 27th January 1774, aged 44. His burial record describes him as being from the 'parish house', or workhouse. Elizabeth outlived him by 27 years.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Church of England. Wheathampstead Parish Registers. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   Baptisms
   1728
   John Son of John Swallow and Eliz[abe]th his wife born March the 13 and Baptized March 23 [i.e. 1728/9]

   This baptism has been linked to the John Swallow who married Elizabeth Constable, Mary Cain and Elizabeth Wilds on the basis that the adult John was a tailor, which was also the profession of father of the John born in 1729, plus the baptism is at a plausible time and in a plausible place - the family seem to have alternated between the neighbouring parishes of Wheathampstead and Kimpton. No evidence suggesting the John born in 1729 died young or married anyone else has been found.

2. ↑ Church of England. Kimpton Parish Registers.

   Burials, 1774: Jan[uary] 27 John Swallow, from the Parish house