24 Feb 2020

Swinfield family trees now ready to see online


Since the beginning of this year, I have been busy compiling trees for the major Swinfield families. These are the outcome of the research, family gatherings and communication with Swinfields all over the World during the past 40 years. However, until now, they have only been available by making contact with me. I wanted to share them with anyone who wants to see them. Currently an outline of the main branches could only be seen through the Swinfield DNA and Genealogy project (click on this title to view that tree) hosted by FTDNA.

The easiest and most accessible way of providing much more detailed genealogical trees and data is via the international genealogical company Ancestry. I have now posted there public family trees for three of the four families:

Swinfield Family 1: This includes those who lived in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, and Sheffield, Yorkshire. It incorporates Family 4A which begins with Albert Edward Higginbotham, born in Derby in 1888, who later changed his name to George Alfred Swinfield, the surname being that of his mother's brother-in-law. That family has lived in Leicester ever since. 

Swinfield Family 3 & 4
: dates back to the middle of the 18th century, where it lived in the parish of Wolvey, Warwickshire, before descendants moved to nearby Mancetter. The oldest son of Family 3, William Swinfield (1804-1876) lived in Nuneaton, Atherstone and Mancetter before emigrating to Sydney, New South Wales, in 1848 on the "Walmer Castle" taking with him his younger children. His oldest son Thomas  remained in England where his descendants have lived in Birmingham (Warwickshire), Swindon (Wiltshire), Manchester (Lancashire), Cheshire, Southampton (Hampshire), Scotland and Ontario, Canada. In Australia, William's many descendants by his first two wives, have flourished in the Sydney area of NSW.




William's younger brother John (1806-1874) followed him to Sydney in 1853 on the "Beejapore" and is the ancestor of Family 4. His oldest son did not go with the family and instead went to work on the island of St Kitts in the West Indies as a sugar planter before returning to Alrewas in Staffordshire. John's younger son and his daughters went with him to Australia, the daughters settling in Tasmania. There are many living descendants but none who still have the Swinfield surname. 


The other living Swinfields of this family are descendants of George Swinfield, a younger brother of William and John, who was born in 1825. His branch of the family moved to the East End of London in the second half of the 19th century. In the 20th century, it dispersed into the London suburbs and out as far as Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.

Swinfield Family 5 (now incorporating Family 2)This is the oldest tree currently dating back to the late 16th century in Ibstock, Leicestershire. There is even a Family Bible that documents it as early as 1645! The family had land at Shackerstone, Appleby Magna, Hugglescote and Heather in Leicestershire and Ticknall in the adjacent county of Derbyshire. The family clearly had connections with the Swinfields who were Citizens and fishmongers of the City of London as documented in 17th century wills.

A descendant John Swinfield, born in 1680 at Markfield, Leicestershire, had a son and grandson who lived at Smisby and Ashby de la Zouch on the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border. His great-grandsons were Thomas (1769-1833) who settled at Earl Shilton, and John (1773-1851) who became the blacksmith at Burbage, both parishes being in Leicestershire. Their families proliferated and many descendants are still found living in Leicestershire, not far from where the family lived in 17th century, but also in other parts of England and Wales. 

You can now access the three public trees online at Ancestry, free of charge (by clicking on the coloured title of that tree in this Blog). If you are not a member of Ancestry (free home trials are always available), most libraries have a public subscription that you can use to view the them. Just search for your known Swinfield ancestor and that should finding him or her on one of the pedigrees. You will not be able to view any living people as their names and life events are redacted for reason of privacy. Let me know of any additions or changes that need to me made. Enjoy!

Family 12, the tree of the last and very large family, is still being put together. As soon as that is ready to view as an Ancestry tree, I will let you know.