Life History

Notes

• After several years of review and comparing sources, it seems likely that this William David is the same person some sources report as David.  Birth dates vary, so the names get entered as separate individuals sometimes.  This William David shows up as David or as William.  I still show another child named David.  This is likely the same person as this, with a different reported (estimated) birth date, usually 1721, whereas a common estimated date for William David (or David) is 1725.
  
  Most genealogies report this date of birth, and state he was born on the ship form Skye.  However, the date of landing reported and documented in port records was 1731.  It did not take 6 years to cross the Atlantic.  So even though there is no documentation of his birth in Scotland, it seems he had to be born there or was born in 1730 or 1731 instead.
  
  A marriage record gives us David's full name of William David, which many genealogies lack.  Both David and William were popular names in the McSwain clan and continue to be today.
  
  U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
  William David McSwain
  Spouse Name Susanna Hamrick
  [no marriage date in this index record]
  
  Douglas McSwain in his McSwain Genealogy (http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/m/c/s/Doug-Mcswain/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0001.html) seems to indicate that his entry for David is the same as the other entry I have here from various other sources as William David.
  
  Most sources list the place of birth for this William David McSwain as "On the open sea, Isle of Skye, Scotland".  It is not clear from this if they mean he was born on a ship that happened to be out at sea at that time, from its base in Skye, or if they mean on a ship that had set sail for America from Skye.  Likely the latter.  But then it is not logical to include Isle of Skye in the location for place of birth.
  
  It appears to me that William David (William I, or William David Sr) was born on the ship taking his parents to North America.  Various events find them in Pennsylvania, Virginia, then North Carolina.  Sources differ on the birthplaces of some children.  But there is the problem of time frame mentioned above, with the year of birth normally reported as 1725, but the record of his father's debarkation in the colonies is dated in 1731.
  
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  [David McSwain] and his son, among other family groups (Bridges, Hamricks, McSwains, Ledbetters and on) found property to be expensive and hard to obtain in the more settled areas of VA, PA etc.  They joined groups from Germantown PA, Prince William, VA and came down what was called the great wagon trails or road in to the Charlotte/Mecklanburg area of North Carolina.
  
  They headed west in to the area known then as Tryon and Rutherford counties, found suitable farmland and water sources and hacked their homeplaces from the wilderness and Indian country. ... The people we are interested [in] had homeplaces on what is now known as Buck Ford Road (old Buck McSwain house my dad called it) and what I will call the James Bridges homeplace.
  --  David Bridges, Ancestry messaging to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 3 March 2017
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  Family Data Collection - Individual Records
  Susanna Hamrick
  Spouse David McSwain
  Parents George Hamrick, Susanna Blanton
  Birth 1725 Cleveland County, NC
  Marriage Date 1748
  
  It appears to be this David McSwain who was listed in the tax rolls for Orange County, North Carolina, in 1779.
  
  North Carolina, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1790-1890
  Early Tax List, 1779
  David McSwine [David McSwain]
  Orange County NC
  
  This is not certain, since we have indications of our David McSwain's presence in Rutherford County, North Caorlina, before this date and after this date.  It does appear that the phonetic form McSwine was one of many forms interchanged with the standard form McSwain and the more common alternate spelling McSwane, which is still used by some current families.  The Orange County location matches the marriage record location.
  
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  I actually have a piece of the log cabin that David McSwain lived in, I've got it under my house, the cabin was called the Buck McSwain place, it was down the Mt Sinai Church Rd. down past the church.  My wife and I were down that way doing research and the man that tore down the cabin had the logs from it under a shed, he sawed me off a piece several feet long.
  
  I also have a copy of the book David McSwain from the Isle of Skye that Eleanor Davis McSwain wrote, she has the same name as my wife only my wife spells Eleanor (Elenora), even the same maiden name though.  We paid Eleanor a visit one year, she lived down in Macon, Ga.
  --  Larry Dean McSwain, personal Ancestry Messaging to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 26 August 2015
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Sources

• 1. Rutherford/Cleveland County, NC, Burial Information
  • Name: Name: http://www.rfci.net/wdfloyd/cemm5.html;;
• 2. Ancestry Trees
  • Lawson Family Tree http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2223652&id=I116922971
• 3. Ancestry Trees
  • http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm-cgi?op=GET&db=*v133t0575&id=I1176&ftm=1
• 4. RootsWeb ID: I4695 -- William McSwain
  • Name: Name: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=prsjr&id=I4695;;
  • references top-level individual
• 5. North Carolina, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1790-1890
• 6. Genealogy.com Trees
• 7. Marriage Records, Family Tree Maker Archive, Vol #403
• 8. Family Data Collection - Individual Records
• 9. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
• 10. RootsWeb Trees
• 11. Ancestry Trees
  • Lawson Family Tree http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2223652&id=I116922968
• 12. Cunard Genealogy
• 13. Clemons Family Tree
  • Name: Name: http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/l/e/Tenna-Clemons/tree1.html;;
• 14. Hamrick Family Tree
  • http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/h/a/m/Amelia-T-Hamrick-NC/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0091.html
• 15. World Family Tree Vol. 129
  • Pedigree #809
• 16. U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca.1775-2006
• 17. Moore Family Bible
• 18. RootsWeb ID: I4695 -- William David (I) McSwain
  • Name: Name: http:/worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=prsjr&id=I4734;;
• 19. World Family Tree Vol. 5
  • Pedigree #791
• 20. RootsWeb ID: I4725 -- William David (II) McSwain
  • Name: Name: http:/worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=prsjr&id=I4703;;
• 21. Cunard Genealogy
  • http://gw.geneanet.org/index.php3?b=kcunard&lang=en;p=david;n=mcswain