On February 22, 1706, Major Samuel Swann of Carolina, his late father’s principal heir, sold his 1,650 acres called Swann’s Point to Joseph John Jackman of Lawnes Creek Parish, an uncle of Arthur Allen and a court justice of Surry County. Excluded from the transaction were the 300 acres of land at Swann’s Point that Samuel had conveyed to his widowed stepmother, Mary Mansfield Swann, on February 15, 1685. 9 Major Swann noted that the 1,650 acres of land he was selling were part of a large grant that his late father had acquired on February 4, 1645. The transaction between Major Swann and Joseph John Jackman was handled by Francis Clements, to whom Swann had given his power of attorney. Clements, who also had Mrs. Elizabeth Swann’s power of attorney, testified that she had relinquished her dower interest in the 1,650 acres (Surry County Wills and Deeds 1694-1709:362-367, 429-431; 1709-1715:180; Court Records 1701-1711:290). As noted above, by the time Samuel Swann disposed of his late father’s property, the widowed Mary Mansfield Swann had remarried and moved to England.
Joseph John Jackman retained the Swann acreage for only three years. In July 1709, he indicated that he was in an “unhappy state of health” when he executed deeds of lease and release to Major George Marable II, documents that were recorded in Surry County’s monthly court. On September 6, 1709, Elizabeth, Joseph John Jackman’s wife, gave her power-of-attorney to John Giles, who in November 1709 conveyed her dower interest in the Swann acreage to Marable. This gave Marable exclusive ownership of the property. In November 1709 Mrs. Elizabeth Jackman appeared in court confirming the fact that she had relinquished her dower interest (Surry County Deeds, Wills, &c.1694-1709:413, 418-419; Court Records 1701-1711:328, 331). It is uncertain what use Joseph John Jackman made of the Swann property while it was in his possession, for he retained his land in the vicinity of Lawnes Creek.
[9] That land, which probably included the promontory known as Swann’s Point, would have descended to Thomas Swann II, Mary Mansfield Swann’s son and heir. During the 1690s Thomas II controlled the ferry that ran to Jamestown Island. In 1692 and from 1697 through 1699 he claimed compensation for transporting Native Americans to and from Jamestown on official business (Surry County Order Book 5 [1691-1700]:27, 200).