Countdown to the Swinfield Gathering: Five weeks to go!

It is now only five weeks until we all meet up at the Swinfield Gathering on Sunday, 22nd September. It is great that some of you have already told us that you will definitely be there.

If you have not let us know that you are intending to come, there is still time to plan your visit. I have been trying to encourage and persuade as many people as possible to attend so that we will all have the opportunity to meet as many other “Swinfields” as possible. To date, I have no idea how many will be there but I am hopeful that it will be somewhere between 40 and 70.

Many will come from the family's homeland in Leicestershire and Warwickshire. Others have pledged to come from as far away as Kent, Hampshire, Devon and Yorkshire. We even have Sue Regan who is travelling all the way from Australia, to represent “our cousins”, who are descended from those who have emigrated to the other side of the World on several occasions since 1848.

If you have not yet pinned down your immediate relatives, who may decide to be there, now is the time to twist their arms. If they are not there, who knows when they will get another chance like this. Use all your persuasive skills to get them to come along.

So what will you be able to do and see on the day? We will be at the SirJohn Moore Foundation at Top Street, Appleby Magna, Leicestershire DE12 7AH from 12 noon to 6pm. It is a great venue in a lovely setting. You can be there for as long as you want or just drop in at some point in the afternoon with your family to see what is happening. Even if all of your party is not madly interested in the Gathering, bring them along and they can enjoy the grounds or have a picnic. There will be light refreshments for sale in the cafe.

In the meeting room in the main building, you will be able to spend time with the other Swinfields who are present. Some of them, we will know, are your proven relations. You will be able to find yourselves (with our help if necessary) on the displayed family trees, which have been constructed through over 40 years of research into those who share our rare surname. You will be able to consult our databases to learn more about your extended family and ancestors.

We want to compile a photographic record of those who are present which we can then all share. So we need to have as many Swinfields present as possible, aged from 0 to 100! There will even be an opportunity to see what DNA tests have told us about the relationship between the distinct family groups.

Please bring with you any Swinfield photographs. These can be of any members who are no longer with us or your relatives who just cannot be there on the day. Share with us all any old documents which you have in your cupboard or attic. These could be birth, marriage or death certificates, apprenticeships, wills etc. Collect them together and bring them with you. We would love to see them and share your family stories.

This will be a unique chance to meet your cousins and share in the history of the Swinfields. Don't miss it! Bring your relatives with you. The more the better! See you all at Appleby in just five weeks' time.

Geoff Swinfield, Di Bouglas & Sandra Bates

Your relatives will be there: the DNA tells us so

Of those who have expressed an interest at being at the Swinfield Gathering in September, there will be representatives of most of the eight main families or lineages, which have been identified during my 40 years of research into Swinfield history. These, I have named as Families 1-5, 12, 33 & 44 (the Swinfield-Wells family). At present, we have no-one coming from Families 1, 3 and 44.

What are the chances that those who are there will be related to each other? At present, the genealogical sources have not enabled us to join these eight trees together. They are currently:

                               earliest location                   date

Family 1                Nuneaton, Warwicks           1760

Family 2                Burbage, Leics                    1800

Family 3 & 4         Wolvey, Warwicks              1755

Family 5                Smisby, Derbys                   1732

Family 12              Markfield, Leics                  1717

Family 33              Leicester, Leics                   1940s

Family 44              Markfield                            1815

What does the genetics (DNA) tell us about them? By looking at the Y-chromosomes (passed down from father to son together with their surname) from four men from these lines, who have commissioned tests, we have learned something very interesting! What is that, I hear you ask?

Family 12 taken as the “standard” Swinfield Y-chromosome

Family 3&4 one English representative differs at 1 marker (out of 37) from Family 12

Family 3&4 an Australian descendant differs at 4 markers (from 37) from Family 12

Family 5 member matches exactly at 32 of 32 markers with Family 12

You can read more at the Swinfield DNA & Genealogy website hosted by Family Tree DNA. There you can see those family trees too.

Appleby Magna church

Thirza Swinfield of Family 5 at Top Street, Appleby  

This leads us to speculate that these three main Swinfield lines of descent ultimately descend from a common ancestor! In other words, they are distant cousins and their lineages will each lead back to the original man who assumed the unusual surname of Swinfield some 700 years ago (about 30 generations). Was he proud to keep pigs (swine) in a field or did he live at a place called Swinfield? Whichever it was, he chose to immortalise himself in the hereditary name that was passed down to his descendants.

There is a good chance that all legitimate lines of Swinfield descent (which unfortunately does not include my branch) are related genetically. Those who come to Appleby Magna will really be meeting their cousins.
Now's your chance to see how you are related!

The Swinfield Gathering countdown: ten weeks to go!

The last time that I wrote on the Swinfield Blog was back in early March. I excitedly announced that it had been decided to hold the first ever Swinfield Gathering for anyone who is interested in our unusual surname. Just before we went away for a couple of weeks' holiday, I dispatched 148 invitations to Swinfields. On my return, I was expecting to have to lever the front door open, which would now be blocked by all the responses. There was just ONE! Not much of a response for £75 of postage and all that effort.

Some have now responded by more modern forms of communication. I have had e-mails from family members who have indicated their intention to attend. Pinning down just who will probably be coming to Appleby Magna, Leicestershire, on Sunday, 22nd September 2013, has been far less straightforward. To date, just ten weeks away from the day, I think that somewhere between 30 and 50 people may be gathering. I would love it to be many more and hope to be pleasantly surprised by how many are there on the day.

So if you haven't yet made up your mind, you will be most welcome to come along to meet other Swinfields. We would love to see you all! Who knows if and when it might happen again.

There is no charge and you do not have to commit yourself. All I ask is that you let me know if you think that you will be there and who else you will be bringing with you, both young and old. E-mail geoff@gsgs.co.uk or ring me on 0208 325 3670.  

The Swinfield Gathering is happening!

                                  Attention ALL Swinfields 

We have at last arranged the first ever and long-awaited SWINFIELD GATHERING. It will take place in September 2013! Whoever can come, you will all be most welcome to be there.

The date and place will be Sunday, 22nd September, at the SirJohn Moore Foundation, Top Street, Appleby Magna, Leicestershire DE12 7AH. Our thanks must go to Sandra Bates who has found us such a lovely venue which is within very easy reach of where the majority of Swinfields live.

Sir John Moore Foundation 

Those of you who I could find addresses for will be receiving an invitation including all the details within the next couple of days through our wonderful postal service. If you do not get one, let me have your address and I will have one winging its way to you. I would ask you to let me know, through the tear-off slip, that you will be coming and how many you will be bringing along. It is open to anyone who is interested in the history of our surname. Spread the word to other Swinfields too and come as a group. The more the merrier!

The event will be FREE but we would hope that we will raise enough in donations on the day to cover the cost of hiring this great venue. Their cafe should be open for us to purchase light refreshments.

We will be there from 12 noon to 6 pm. We would love to see you for the whole afternoon or you can just drop in to see us at any time. It will be a great chance to meet up with lots (I hope!) of other Swinfields. They will be your close and your rather distant cousins. Some you will know and others will be long-lost relatives.

A Swinfield family gathering in Australia  

This will be a unique opportunity to look at family trees and documents for the “Swinfield Clan”. You will be able to find yourself on the charts and see who else you are related to. You may even meet some of them there! We would hope that you will bring along your own old photos and any documents that you have, so that they can be shared with others. There may be others there who can to put “names to faces”.

What a photo opportunity it will be too. Try to be there.
Put it in your diary NOW!    

Happy New Year!

Happy 2013 to all Swinfields or those who are part of the wider “Swinfield family”. I hope that it brings all that you would wish for.

As we enter yet another New Year, we all tend to look back on the past and especially what we have done over the last twelve months. We should also look forward to the future and set ourselves goals to be achieved. What have we learned through our work on the Swinfields and what more is there still to do?

I hope that I have both informed and entertained you with the Swinfield Blog. It will have been successful if you look forward to receiving each issue and enjoy reading it. I have tried to produce articles as regularly and often as I can so that there has been something new for you to learn about our family. I will endeavour to keep you informed of new developments and discoveries this year too. As I have already dealt with the history of the main lines of the family in the 19th and 20th centuries, my contributions will mainly centre on the earlier story of the family. I aim to tell you about what is known of the Swinfields of the 17th and 18th centuries. In addition, if any of you would be willing to contribute stories about your relatives, just send me the copy and I will “put it up”.

Through Andrew Swinfield's efforts, a mailshot was dispatched to all Australian Swinfields listed in White Pages. Although not inundated with replies, we did receive some very valuable responses and significant new information from previously unknown branches. A worthwhile project.

Indeed, that has resulted in one new male, Maxwell Henry Swinfield, commissioning a DNA test. We await, with great anticipation, the test results when they have been processed. It would great if other Swinfield men would join in. There are some families from which we have no participants. I contacted about 20 men in December 2012 who I had “targetted” as those who I would dearly love to contribute samples (purely for valid genealogical research reasons). Sadly, none responded by paying for a test, despite there being a much reduced rate available through the FTDNA Christmas sale. Perhaps they will in 2013!

I would also love to collect as many photographs as possible of anyone who is, or has ever been, named Swinfield. The written records will probably always be with us but the faces of our ancestors and relatives are far less durable. We need to gather them together before they are lost or thrown away. These could be pictures of those who are living or those who are no longer with us. If you have any images that you are willing to share with us all, please send them to me now, telling me who they are, how they are related to you and, if possible, when and where it was taken. You could start me off by e-mailing me a group photo of yourself, your brothers and sisters (if you had any) and your parents. I will happily become custodian of the new massive Swinfield family album.

Geoff  Swinfield (born 1951), Tom Swinfield (born 1984),
Ben Swinfield (born 1985) & Reg Swinfield (born 11th January 1925) 

As an example, on 11th January, we celebrated my Dad's 88th birthday. Reg Swinfield was born in 1925. Here he is with his me, his son, Geoff Swinfield and two of his three grandsons, Tom and Ben Swinfield, taken in the Half Moon at Sherborne, Dorset. Very rarely do four Swinfields gather together in one place which sells beer! It was something to record and commemorate!

My sincere wish for this New Year would be to have a Swinfield family gathering. I have long been hoping to organise an event where anyone and everyone who has our surname or has used it in the past (or may do so in the future?) can convene. There we could meet up with long-lost cousins and exchange information. Just think of the photo opportunity too! It would clearly attract most people if it took place close to Leicester where the majority of Swinfields still live. To get it off the ground, I do need help from those who live in that area. Where and when could we hold it? Do you know of a venue which would accommodate up to 100 Swinfields? Would you be willing to help me to fulfil my New Year's resolution?   

DNA Tests for Christmas?

I have talked a lot in this Blog about the use of DNA tests to answer questions about the relationships between the various branches of the Swinfield family. They can be a great tool to supplement the paper and parchment documents for our ancestors which we, as genealogists, use to put together a family tree.

My grandparents' grave - St Michael's churchyard,
Yorktown, Surrey

Genealogical records such as birth, marriage and death certificates, census returns, parish registers, wills and gravestones provide us with the “facts” about our ancestors' lives but they often do not tell the whole story! As has been discovered and illustrated during this series of the articles, to be read here, although they are documents which purport to provide a record of the important events in the lives (and deaths) of our relatives, they are often far from truthful. Every time one of our forebears provided information to the relevant authorities, whether the state or the church, he or she may have “bent” the facts or just lied. They often altered their ages, invented names for errant fathers, or hid illegitimacy.

Genetic inheritance cannot lie to us. It provides an accurate account of the real ancestors who donated the code which makes us who we are. If we can read the blueprint, we sometimes find clues, especially in the male line (like mine), which tells us that a branch contains hidden illegitimacy. After all, we only have our female ancestor's word for who was the true father of any of her children. We can compare men, using the Y-chromosome tests, to see how closely they are (or are not!) related. This has already told us a lot about the Swinfield lines from which we have samples. We were even included in an article, published in The Guardian last Saturday, about genetic tests which are being done on the possible body of Richard III.  

DNA Worldwide test kit

I have very recently “targeted” 18 male Swinfields who are representatives of six major branches of the family from which no one has yet been tested or where more samples are needed. I have sought their participation to see if any are prepared to take advantage of a seasonal cut-price offer which is currently available through FamilyTree DNA. Until 31st December, the price of a 37-marker test is just £75 ($119), a saving of over £30 off the normal price. To date, only two have replied, wishing me well with the study, providing genealogical information, but declining to pay for a test.

So if you are still looking for that very special and personal present for your beloved Swinfield male for Christmas, what better gift could there be? What's more, if you test one member of a family, you will get a result for his father, brothers, sons and even his grandsons! They all have the same Y-chromosome. You would also contribute significantly to our knowledge of the wider family's history so it would be a much- appreciated present for me too!

Click here to order now

Happy Christmas and a great genealogical New Year!  

Geoff

Part 24: More answers, more questions

Exciting new information has now been found about the Swinfield family of Earl Shilton. This adds significantly to the story of Thomas and Sarah, who had married on 25th January 1829 at Trowell in Nottinghamshire, and their family.

In earlier parts of this Blog, I have told the story of this colourful couple and their children. One of them, William (1841-1905) was to become my great-grandfather. Their first child, Jane, was baptised at Earl Shilton, Leicestershire, which was Thomas's home parish, less than two months after the marriage, on 8th March 1829. Sarah would have been at least seven months pregnant when they were married. Only two further children were baptised. They were Mary and William in 1836 and 1838. William was to die at only 10 months. Two others, Ann and Richard, born in 1831 and 1834, have no recorded baptism. Clearly this was not a happy union as by 1839 Thomas was living in Nottinghamshire with another woman, Maria Cooper, with whom he had a daughter, Elizabeth. Meanwhile, Sarah was cohabiting with Thomas Brown and she had two illegitimate children, presumably by him, named as Joseph in 1843 and Sarah in 1845. She was still living with Thomas Brown at her death in 1862!

By June 1841, Jane Swinfield was languishing in Millbank Penitentiary, London, apparently aged 13. In Part 3 of the Blog, I reported how she had been tried by the Leicester Quarter Sessions on 4th January 1841 for larceny and sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia. This week, the latest addition to FindMyPast's extensive collection of databases, a collection of British newspapers from 1750 to 1900 was put online. Of course, the first thing that interested me was, “What Swinfield articles are included?” Brief accounts of her trial and conviction were published in the Leicester Mercury on 9th January and the Leicester Chronicle on 16th January 1841. These tell us that, at the age of only 11, she had stolen some quite valuable property from her mistress, Charlotte Bugg, in August 1840. She was eventually pardoned and released in August 1841.

Leicester Mercury - 9th January 1841

In Part 16, I wrote about what appeared to be her death in the OldWindsor Union Workhouse on 23rd November 1854. She had died aged only 26 of phthisis. There is no other woman in my database who could have been this deceased and, of course, there are no surviving records of the Workhouse for that year. Imagine my surprise when I discovered (thanks to Joan Rowbottom of the Guild of One-Name Studies who completed the Market Bosworth marriage challenge) that a Jane Swinfield, aged 20, had married in Bagworth church, Leicestershire, on 26th March 1848. This is the parish where her two brothers, Richard and William, were working as coal miners in 1851, but were incorrectly given the surname of Hewit. As Jane's father was recorded as Thomas Swinfield, FWK (framework knitter), there is no doubt that she was the child christened at Earl Shilton in March 1829. Her husband was Joseph Rudens, a collier.

1848 Marriage of Jane Swinfield at Bagworth 

Neither Jane Rudens nor Jane Swinfield can be identified in the 1851 census. Her husband, Josh Rudings was a 40 year-old married coal miner in Bagworth, who with his widowed mother, Sarah, was lodging with a family called Kilnam. Where was his wife of just three years? Her death is not recorded under any variant of her husband's surname. Had this marriage broken down too and had she wandered away as far as Windsor, where she was to die as a “spinster” in 1854?

Leicester Mercury - 21st August  1847

The Newspaper Collection includes one more delight. On 21st August 1847, the Leicester Mercury reported the deliberations of the Earl Shilton Petty Sessions held four days earlier. The Overseer of the Poor presented Thomas Swinfield, currently living near Arnold, Nottinghamshire, for deserting his wife. After pleading not guilty, he claimed that she (Sarah) had lived “in a state of adultery for the last eighteen years, and had six illegitimate children”. Sarah admitted that to be true and the case against Thomas was dismissed with costs payable by his wife. There are clearly two sides to every story.

It would appear that the marriage of 1829 had broken down almost immediately and that Jane was probably their only legitimate child! Thomas has sought solace with Maria Cooper, the Chartist movement, and eventually spent the last 40 years of his life in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.