For information on her birth date see SQ p. 1704:
PARENTAGE OF RACHEL SWAIM WHO MARRIED JONATHAN SPARKS
In the QUARTERLY of December 1970 (Vol. XVIII, No. 4, Whole No. 72) wepublished (pp. 1355-1361) a record of the family of Jonathan Sparkswho was born about 1792. We believe that Jonathan was a son of Johnand Sarah (Shores) Sparks of Surry County, North Carolina. JonathanSparks was married to Rachel Swaim in Surry County in 1817 (marriagebond dated November 26, 1817). The last record that we have ofJonathan Sparks is the 1840 census, at which time he was living inFranklin County, Tennessee. It is believed that he died there. Mrs.Ted K. Clifton of Fort Wayne, Indiana, believes that Rachel was the
Rachel Swaim born August 15, 1802, to Quaker parents named Elihu andSarah (Mills) Swaim. This family came to Guilford County, NorthCarolina, about 1773 from Nantucket. There were also other Swaims whomoved to Franklin County, Tennessee, as did Jonathan and Rachel(Swaim) Sparks. Mrs. Clifton's source for this information is theHinshaw Quaker Records."
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For corrections regarding her parentage and date and place of birth,see SQ p. 1792:
CORRECTION--PARENTAGE OF RACHEL (SWAIM) SPARKS
In the QUARTERLY of December 1974 (Vol. XXII, No. 4, Whole No. 88, p.1704) we reported that
Rachel Swaim, who married Jonathan Sparks (he was born about 1792 inSurry County, North
Carolina) was probably the Rachel Swaim born on August 15, 1802, toQuaker parents. William
Perry Johnson, the Association's official historian-genealogist and anexpert on North Carolina
genealogy, tells us that we were mistaken. The Rachel who was bornAugust 15, 1802, was Rachel
SWAIN, daughter of Elihu and Sarah (Mills) SWAIN. Mr. Johnson has doneresearch on both the
Swaim and the Swain families of North Carolina and has found that,despite the similarity of the
spelling of the two names, they are very different families. As aresult, he notes, they are often
confused, one with the other. The date of birth and the parentage ofRachel Swaim who married
Jonathan Sparks in Surry County, N.C., in 1817 (marriage bond datedNovember 26, 1817) remains
a mystery after all.
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