Ancestry untraced. Assume born very approximately 1635 in England.
Married Mary2 (Hepward??b) very approximately 1660 4 possibly in Northampton County, Virginia
Children
John, born approximately 1665 in Northampton, Virginia 4
Died around 1666 (before 1671 in Northampton, Virginia). 4
PersonID 01498
Transported to Virginia before 1654, Settled first in Westmorelanda and then in Northampton b,g.
1 A land grant in Westmoreland was awarded to John Walton and John Bagnal in 1654 in respect of the transportation of 78 persons including Thomas Swindall.a
A land grant in Northampton was awarded to James Price in 1660 in respect of the transportation of 8 persons including Thomas Swindel.b
On the face of it this implies two different Thomas Swindall/Swindels since only one grant should be made in respect of a given transported settler. However 'the headright system was subject to a wide variety of abuses from outright fraud to multiple claims by a merchant and a ship's captain to a headright for the same immigrant passenger.' and 'Headrights were not always claimed immediately after immigration, either; there are instances in which several years elapsed between a person's entry into Virginia and the acquisition of a headright and sometimes even longer between then and the patenting of a tract of land.' (Library of Virginia - notes).
It seems too large a coincidence that two Thomas Swindells should appear within such a short time
2 It is possible that Thomas's wife was Mary Hepward who is mentioned on the same 1660 land certificate. Often indentured servants were forbidden to marry but Thomas Price may not have made this requirement in order to obtain Thomas's services once he had finished his first indenture.
I think you would have to be an expert on the settlement of Virginia at this period to say whether the transportees actually settled on the land named in the grant but I suspect that they would have done so. In that case Thomas Swindle would have known Mary Hepward /Heiward for at least six years, increasing the likehood that she did become his wife.
Thomas's widow Mary remarried twice - this reflects the shortage of women in the colony at this time. 4
3 One Swindle family tree, which has been widely copied, suggests that this Thomas Swindall and Thomas Swinhow might have been the same individual. The information that is now available demonstrates that this is not the case.
Ruby Ann Caughran of Chattanooga, TN, has suggested that Thomas was the son of William Swandal and was born at the Captain John Berkeley Plantation, Northumberland Co VA. This cannot be the case since Thomas must have been transported to entitle John Walton & John Bagnall to their Patent grant of land.
4 M K Miles suggests that Thomas married a
Mary who, after Thomas's death, married a Matthew Pepin and then
a George Willis. This is based on the gift to his 'son-in-law'
(step-son) John Swindellc and bequest to his
'daughter-in-law' (step-daughter) Elizabeth Pepind.
Also from #d George, son of George and Mary, was born on the
23rd of August 1671.
Thus the marriage to George Willis must have been before 23rd
August 1671 - say 1670 or earlier.
Miles suggests the marriage to Pepin around 1665 and that to
Thomas Swindall around 1660.
Richard Payne Spencer suggests Thomas died around 1669 in Rappanoch, Richmond County, Virginia. However his son John witnessed a will in 1700 in Northampton Countye so it seems the family remained in Northampton. (Rappanoch is associated with the other John, son of Timothy, but he died after 1714).
John Swyndals is 'around 24' on 14th of January 1690/1f ie born c1665 and Thomas is 'tithable' in 1666.g
5 'Indentured servitude was a voluntary labour system whereby young people paid for their passage to the New World by working for an employer for a certain number of years. It was widely employed in the 18th century in the British colonies in North America and elsewhere. It was especially used as a way for poor youth in Britain and the German states to get passage to the American colonies. They would work for a fixed number of years, then be free to work on their own. The employer purchased the indenture from the sea captain who brought the youths over; he did so because he needed labour. Some worked as farmers or helpers for farm wives, some were apprenticed to craftsmen. Both sides were legally obligated to meet the terms, which were enforced by local American courts. Runaways were sought out and returned. About half of the white immigrants to the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries were indentured'. (See Wikipedia for more information) 'About 75% were under the age of 25.'
'Headrights, first described in the so-called Great Charter of 1618, awarded 100 acres of land each to planters who had been in the colony since May 1616, and 50 acres each to anyone who covered the cost of transporting a new immigrant to Virginia.'
'In its 1642–1643 session, the assembly passed a law mandating that any servant arriving without an indenture and who was younger than twelve years old should serve for seven years, servants aged twelve to nineteen should serve for five years, and servants aged twenty and older should serve for four years. Legislation passed in the 1657–1658 session adjusted these ages: anyone under the age of fifteen should serve until he or she turned twenty-one, while anyone sixteen or older should serve for four years.
http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Indentured_Servants_in_Colonial_Virginia
6 The wealth of John Bagnall can be recognised by the fact that Edward Plampin, his executor after his death, launched a law case to recover from Edmund Scarborough a £5000 debt to the estate.
7 This line almost certainly descends to Willis Swindall and hence the Mattamuskeet Swindells.
a) Westmoreland County
JOHN WALTON & JOHN BAGNALL, 3,900 acs. Westmoreland Co., 10 June
1654, p. 273. 1600 acs. upon Petomack Riv., beg. at the mouth of
Petomack Cr., 700 acs. bounding Nly. on sd. River, Wly. upon a
line from the Riv. & dividing this from land of Nich.
Merywether; & 1600 acs. adj. these two tracts, Ely. upon a line
dividing same from land of Rob. Maphee & Mr. Turne & Sly. upon
Matchotwick Towne.
Trans, of 78 pers: Thomas Winn, Eliz. Renolls, Joseph Harry,
Nich. Smith, Marg. Barton, Joseph Stonard, (or Steuard), Eliz.
Yorke, Sarah Redder, Jane Colson, Johne Blay, Eliz. Johnson,
John Knight, Robert Wright, Miles Grey, Jane Williams, Ann
Smith, Marg. Manner, Eliz. Har- mon, Issabell Heath, Judith
Dale, Lyd. Easterfeild, Eliz. Vincent, Fra. Eaton, John Hill,
Hanna Pice, (or Tice), Sam. Jackson, Mar. Wilkenson, Wm.
Russell, John Turner, Tho. Booth, Mabill Jones, Mary Heiward,
Rich. Armstrong, Tho. Swindall, Sarah Cowles,
John Fisher, Devorux Brown, Joan Armitage, Eliz. Clisse, Eliz.
Neale, Fra. Tonevy, Wm. Eaton, Lewis Five, Fra. North, Ann
North, Eliz. Wade, Robt. Jnoson (Johnson), Eliz. Hay, Jno.
Truman, Denamere, Fra. Calvin, Ben. Jones, Mary Jnoson, Tho.
Tull, Abra. Taylor, John Mill, Tho. Grimstone, John Elsey,
Robert Hawkins, John Farmer, Brid: Easthop, Mary Palmer, Eliz.
Dany, Alice Watson, Wm. Hemsley, Edward Whit- by, Sy. Carpenter,
Jno. Pritchard, Eliz. Wright, Eliz. Pardy, Tho. Tucker, Mich.
Hooton, Hen: Stott, (or Scott), Edw. Saunders, James Wells, Fra.
Glissow.
Nugent, Nell Marion "Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of
Virginia Land Patents and Grants 1623-1666"
[Land grant = 50 acres per transportee = 78 x 50 = 3900 acres]
b) Northampton County
[At a court held] 13th Decbr 1660 [a certificate is granted to] James
Price for 400 acres [of land for the underwritten]
| John Hill | Mabill Jones | Richd Armstrong |
| Ffrancis Jones | Hannah Tice | Mary Hepward |
| Thos. Swindel | Sarah Colue |
Virginia Historical Magazine Vol 28, p142 (LAND
CERTIFICATES FOR NORTHAMPTON COUNTY (Contributed by Judge Thomas
B. Robertson, Hopewell, Va.)
[Land grant = 50 acres per transportee = 8 x 50 = 400 acres]
Note: 7 of the 8 transportees occur in the 1654 list.
Extracts from "James Handley Marshall, Northampton
Co, VA, Abstracts of Wills & Administrations, 1632-1802" reported
by M.K.
Miles, 42 Meadowood Drive, Stafford, VA 22554:-
c) "2 March 1673 It was on this date that
George Willis gives deed of gift to son-in-law John Swindall,
the son of Thomas Swindall dec'd"
d) 25 August 1680 George [Willis] made a will
on 25 August 1680 at Northampton Co, VA. To my son George Willis
2/3rds of all my estate. To my loving wife Mary Willis the other
1/3rd. Wife extrx. Witt: Daniel Neech, John 'X' Hawkins. Codicil
-10 Oct 1681 - In consideration of my son George's tender years
(being 10 the 23rd of August last), my will is that he continue
with his mother until 21, and that my estate be div. eq. between
them. To my dau.-in-law Elizabeth Pepin one cow calf already
marked for her when she attains to lawful age or the day of her
marriage. Witt: Thomas 'T' Norley, Daniel Neech, Elizabeth 'E'
Allegood
e) John witnessed a will on 6 April 1700 at Northampton Co, VA. It was on this date that Richard Cripps, Francis Costin & John Swindall witnessed the will of John Tilney Gent
f) John Swindall aged about 24 yrs
declareth: That about ye beginning of Augt last, ....
......Janry 14th 1690 Jno Swyndals mrk
(H.R. Mcllwaine and W.L. Hall, Eds., Executive Journals, Council
Of Colonial Virginia, Vol. 1, pages 149,150 74)
[An interesting personal account of the attack on Quebec in
1690]
g) Virginia Historical Magazine, Vol. 10,
1902-03, "Tithables In Northhampton 1666."
A list of Tythables in North'ton county, Anno Dom., 1666,
delivered
in att a court held for the s'd county the 28th of August, 1666.
-
Capt. John Custis
John Robinson
Michael Stone
Tho. Joanes
Chas. Weissell
Hen. Foreman
Daniel Swindell
Benjamin Parry
George Lilly
John Warppell
5 negroes
-
11 intervening 'plantations'
-
Thomas Swendell
-