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Capt. BENJAMIN SWETT, Sr. had been a lessee with his brother-in-law Weare of the Newbury farm of "the Honorable John Woodridge", for seven years from 1655. The Woodridge farm was just east of the upper green and about where the Woodridge School now stands.
He then removed to Hampton Falls, Rockingham, NH, where he lived on the homestead, very near The Gove House, where the poet Whittier died, that being Christopher Hussey's great farm lay at the foot of Swett Hill.
BENJAMIN was Captain in the militia and commanded the expedition to Black Point, Scarborough, where he was killed in battle with the Indians, June 29, 1677. He was one of the leading men of Hampton and a brave military officer.
ESTHER outlived her warrior husband, by more than 40 years. She married second, Mar. 31, 1679, Ensign Stephen Greenleaf of Newbury, of the same family from whom the poet Whittier was descended. She died in Hampton, Jan. 16, 1718, aged 89.
| In the spring of 1677, the Indians were committing great ravages in Maine, and great anxiety and alarm was felt for the safety of the distant settlements in that region. There was an attack in April, although there was a garrison there, and the attack was several times repeated. The government of Massachusetts sent a force of forty soldiers and two hundred friendly Indians, from Natick and vicinity, under the command of Capt. BENJAMIN SWETT, of Hampton (then supposed to be in Massachusetts) to check these incursions. These forces were embarked at Boston in vessels which were to ascend the Kennebec River, and the men after landing were to proceed to Taconic Falls (now Waterville) and there take and destroy six Indian forts, said to be well supplied with ammunition. On the way, the vessels anchored off Black Point, in Scarborough, where Capt. SWETT, June 28th, landed a party of men to try the valor of his company with some Indians that had been seen there. They were joined by some of the inhabitants, so as to make ninety in all. The next day they fell into an amuscade, and found themselves surrounded by great numbers of Indians, two miles from the fort, and in the midst of a swamp. The soldiers, many of whom were young and undisciplined, did not well abide the sudden onset. Many on both sides were killed soon after the fray began. Capt. SWETT, after fighting bravely and receiving nearly twenty wounds, was thrown down and his body cut to pieces by those fiends in human shape. About forty of the English and twenty of the Christian Indians fell, being two-thirds of the whole number engaged in the fight. |
| born | marr | died | |
|---|---|---|---|
| children born in Newbury, Essex, MA | |||
|
ESTHER SWETT
husband ABRAHAM GREEN |
06-07-1648 |
07-09-1668 |
02-27-1717/18 |
| Sarah husband Morris Hobbs |
11-07-1650 01-15-1651/52 |
06-13-1678 |
12-08-1717 |
| Mary | 01-07-1651 | ||
| Mary husband Richard Waterhouse |
05-02-1654 |
12-03-1701 |
|
| Joseph wife Hannah _______ wife Sarah Andrews |
01-21-1658 08-20-1683 |
11-20-1701 |
01- -1721/22 08-14-1701 10-03-1745 |
| Moses wife Mary Hussey |
04-16-1661 11-08-1665 |
05-12-1687 |
01-19-1730/31 |
| Benjamin wife Theodate Hussey |
05-29-1664 06-12-1660 |
05-09-1682 |
|
| children born in Hampton, Rockingham, NH | |||
| Hannah husband John Rust |
03-16-1665 |
05-12-1682 |
|
| Elizabeth husband John French |
05-02-1667 |
12-08-1709 |
|
| Lt. John wife Bethiah Page wife Mrs. Sarah Brown |
03-17-1670 05-23-1679 |
10-03-1696 |
09-03-1753 04-16-1736 04-17-1756 |
| Stephen wife Mary Kent |
07-13-1672 |
|
-1746 |