Peter Swink
By Elizabeth Toms Matthews
Peter Swinck first shows up in William Pynchon’s Account Book in the 1650’s as an indentured servant. In my research I found that Peter’s surname is spelled as Swink, Swinck, Swincke, and even Swank. Swink is an uncommon surname in western Massachusetts; it may or may not be relevant the word “swink” (according to the Oxford English Dictionary) was both a noun and a verb signaling toil or hard work.
Drudgery.
Many records show a first name with an attribute, eg. “Peter Negro”, “Jocko Neegro”. Perhaps, the name Peter Swink falls into this category.
According to historian Joseph Carvalho, Peter Swink was the “first free black settler in western Massachusetts.”[1]Carvalho wrote, “Swinck first appears in local documents through an entry in William Pynchon’s account book dated 1650.”
In a section entitled, “Early Inhabitants. – When They Came,” nineteenth-century historian Henry M. Burt wrote an entry: “1659. – Peter Swinck, negro. Died here in 1699.”[2] Perhaps Burt used the 1659 date because in the meeting house records for December 1659. Peter Swink was assigned a pew, “10th Seate.—Japhat Chapin, John Harmon, Samuel Harmon, James Taylor, John Henrison, Edward Foster, Peter Swinke.”[3]
In 1661, Peter Swink gave testimony in a behavior infraction in the church between two young boys, one bullying the other. Samuel Harmon “thrust and tickled” Jonathan Morgan” and “Pluckt him in the seat and made him cry.” Harmon “was adjudged to pay 5 shillings as a fine to the County.”[4]
In the town records for February 1664, is written [in the handwriting of Elizur Holyoke]: “Here follows a record or list of Names the Townesmen or men of this Towne of Springfield . . .” Peter Swink’s name is the sixth name in the first column. There are 74 names on this list. Again, this shows that Peter Swink was an inhabitant with some standing in the community and the church.[5]
Peter Swink married Mary (or in some records, Mariah). They had 2 children: “Abraham Swinck s. of Peter Swinck borne 22nd day of ye 12 month 1659” and “Susannah Swinck d. of Peter Swinck borne 3rd day of ye 9 month 1661.”[6] Both Abraham and Susannah died young; in 1660 and 1662, respectively.[7] A third child, a daughter named Miriam, survived.
Over the years Peter Swink was granted several pieces of land. At the Select Meeting of January 6, 1662, Peter Swink, the servant of Captain Pynchon, was granted the vacant land between the “great River to the Agawam River & Goodman Munn’s Lot Southward. This lot runs 80 rods westward from the highway by the river.” It was granted on condition that Swink live there “till his tyme be expired & that he settle his abode there vizt on ye said lott.”[8]
On February 11, 1666, in the list of granted lands, Peter Swink was granted “20 Acres of land neere block bridge above Obadiah Millers land.”[9]
At the meeting of the selectmen of February 12, 1668, is written:
“Peter Swink desiring some land to make meddow off lying over ye Brooke on ye Northerly side of his land at Block Brooke There is six or seven acres of Low meddowish land Granted to him, wch[which] is to be laid out to him on ye Northerly side of Block brook agt [against] his former grant of Thirty acres of Land there, & adjoining to it: Provided it may be Lawfull for ye Inhabitants to make use of Timber Trees, that grow in his 30 acres formerly granted him, While it lys [lies] Comon, or till it shall be Impved [improved] or fenced in, in pt, some acres, at least Two, till then ye Timber to be common for ye neighbors there & upon this condition yt he allow of the taking of Timber out of his former 30 acrs till Impvmt as aforesd: he hath the grant of ye 6 or seven acrs of meddowish land as abovesd And he is spedyly to declare whether he accept this grant on the condition specified. That ye Liberty for ye Inhabitants to make use of the Timber trees ye are growing there may be known. . . . . He accepted of this Grant and ye Tearmes mentioned for ye Inhabitants to make use of Timber till he fence is pt.”[10]
There were other land transactions over the years, as well.
In 1675, during the so-called “King Philips War,” Springfield was destroyed by fire. Peter and Mary helped in rebuilding of the town.
On January 31, 1677, the town of Springfield paid 10 shillings “for one wolfe ye Majors black man killed.“ This is likely Peter Swink. Samuel Harman is paid 10 shillings for a “woolf,” too. This may be the same Samuel Harmon who was fined in 1659 for the church infraction.[11]
Late in life, Peter Swink came on hard times and became a town charge and received town support. The Springfield town records of 12 September 1692 recount: “Information being given to the Town concerning the suffering Condition of Peter Swinke, it was Comended to the discretion & charity of the Select men to doe for him as becomes the Town to do for the own proper poor.”[12] He died on December 17, 1699, seven years after he became a ward of the town. His widow Mary, or Mariah, died in 1708.[13]
The sole descendant of Peter and Mariah Swink was their granddaughter, Rachel (or Rachael) Cornish.[14] Rachel was the daughter of Miriam Swinck and an unnamed white man named Cornish who disappeared to avoid a charge of adultery.[15] Miriam was tried in Suffolk County on similar charges.[16] Rachel and her mother had been enslaved by John Pynchon, Jr. and Rachel was manumitted before 1723. Rachel Cornish died October 39, 1769 at 96-years-old.[17]
Elizabeth Toms Matthews graduated from University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, worked and retired as a computer programmer at UMass, graduated from University of Rhode Island with a Master of Library and Information Studies, and is Life-Long Learner.
[1]Carvalho, Joseph, III. Black Families in Hampden Country, Massachusetts 1650-1865. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA, 2011, p. 337. This source also contains a great write up of Peter Swinck on the first page of his Introduction.
[2] Burt, Henry M. The First Century of the History of Springfield: The Official Records from 1636 to 1736, with an Historical Review and Biographical Mention of the Founders. Volume I, Springfield, Mass. 1898, p. 44.
[3]Burt, Henry M. The First Century of the History of Springfield: The Official Records from 1636 to 1736, with an Historical Review and Biographical Mention of the Founders. Volume I, Springfield, Mass. 1898, p. 127.
[4] Smith, Joseph H., Colonial Justice in Western Massachusetts, 1639-1702, The William Nelson Cromwell Foundation by The Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1961.
[5]Burt, Henry M., First Century of the History of Springfield, The, Vol. II, p.77.
[6]New England Historical& Genealogical Register,The, Volume 18 (1864), New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA.
[7]Stott, Clifford L., Vital Records of Springfield, Massachusetts to 1850, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA, 2003, p. 62.
[8] Burt, Henry M.,First Century of the History of Springfield, The, Vol. I, p. 302-03.
[9]Burt, Henry M.,First Century of the History of Springfield, The, Vol. I, p. 358.
[10]Burt, Henry M.,First Century of the History of Springfield, The, Vol. I, p.374.
[11]Burt, Henry M.,First Century of the History of Springfield, The, Vol. I, p.416.
[12] Burt, Henry M., First Century of the History of Springfield, The, Vol. II, p. 208.
[13] Stott, Clifford L., Vital Records of Springfield, Massachusetts to 1850, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA, 2003, p. 70.
[14] Hampshire Co. Registry of Deeds, Deed Book D, p. 336.
[15] Carvalho, Joseph, III. Black Families in Hampden Country, Massachusetts 1650-1865. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA, 2011, p. 69.
[16] Suffolk Co. Court Records, Vol. XXX, Part 2 [1671-1680], p. 809.
[17]Stott, Clifford L., Vital Records of Springfield, Massachusetts to 1850, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA, 2003, p. 527.