Lydia

And now we come to Obediah Swayze’s wife Lydia. In his book Genealogy of the Swasey Family, Benjamin Franklin Swasey gives Obediah’s wife the name “Forecloe.” He did not, however, provide her given name and “Forecloe” is a totally unknown surname. But in the Chester, New Jersey, Congregational Cemetery, Samuel Swayze’s resting place, one finds a number of people with the name “Fairclo.” Lydia’s name, it turns out, was actually “Fairclo,” a rare but known name, with derivatives “Faircloe” and “Fairclough.” Two books, Genealogy of the Lum Family by Edward H. Lum (1927) and Early Germans of New Jersey by Theodore Frelinghuysen (1895), presents information connecting the Swayze and Fairclo families. And cemetery markers provide additional history. Coupling these books, markers, and just a little research allows us to uncover Lydia’s story. Here it is with a large number of people and details omitted. We are, after all, researching Wrights, not Fairclos or Swayzes.

Elizabeth Fairclo marker.

Buried in Chester Congregational Cemetery, Chester, New Jersey, where Samuel and Penelope Swayze rest, is Thomas Fairclo and his wife Elizabeth, whose birthname may have been “Houshall” or something similar. Their stones nicely provide death dates, ages, and relationships:

Thomas Fairclo marker.

Among their children was Isaiah Fairclo, who appears to have had three wives and twenty-one children. Isaiah’s first wife was Mehitable Swayze, a daughter of Caleb Swayze and a granddaughter of Samuel Swayze. And Mehitable and Isaiah had a daughter, Lydia Fairclo, who became the wife of Obediah Swayze. Lydia and Obediah were second cousins!

Isaiah Fairclo marker, Sycamore, Illinois.

Where Obediah and Lydia met and married is uncertain. It could have been in Canada since Caleb, Mehitable’s father was a loyalist and like his nephew, Israel Swayze II, headed there during or just after the Revolutionary War. It is possible that Lydia and Obediah were there at the same time with family members.

Next time, we will finally get to the identification of the Swayze family members buried in Helt’s Prairie Cemetery (21 Oct 2017 posting).