Nancy Jane Heath
of Groton and Clinton, Connecticut

I am very grateful to Lance Loranger, great-great grandson of Charles and Nancy (Heath) Swain,
for providing me with the photos and most of the information on this page
and for allowing me to post them on my web site.

Charles and Nancy Heath Swain Photo courtesy of  Lance Loranger

Nancy Jane Heath was born April 15, 1836 in Groton, Connecticut.  She was the eleventh of thirteen children born to Amos and Mary (Chapman) Heath of Groton.  Nancy Heath led a remarkable life for a woman of her time.  It is clear that she possessed great strength of character and tenacity, traits which enabled her to leave destructive situations and to eventually find happiness in her life.        On August 28, 1854, eighteen-year-old Nancy married Alfred T. St. John in New London, Connecticut.  The marriage was short-lived, as Nancy petitioned for a divorce from St. John on November 7, 1855, citing on January 9, 1855, that St. John, "declared he had no affection for her and would no longer live with her, and requested her to go home to her friends", where Nancy had since remained, and with the help of her friends, supported herself.  One child resulted from this marriage, a fact verified by the 1855 divorce petition, wherein Nancy requested that, "the custody of her said child be granted & declared to her". The child was eighteen-month old Frank St. John.          On March 15, 1856, Nancy, now almost twenty years old, married forty-seven-year-old Benjamin F. Grant in Groton, Connecticut.  Although the marriage lasted for eleven years and three children resulted from this union, it was clearly a desperately unhappy situation for Nancy and in 1867, she again sought a divorce.

Nancy's petition for a divorce from Benjamin Grant revealed a relationship where Nancy had "for more than five years" been the victim of Grant's physical and verbal abuse.  She sought custody of "two minor children fruit of said marriage, whom she has cared for and clothed out of the proceeds of her personal labor from their births", two sons who were later identified in the petition as "Herbert A. Grant and Joseph W. Grant".  [Two other children, Julia Ann Grant and Lucy A. Grant, were born to Nancy and Benjamin Grant.  It's probable that Lucy A. Grant, age one, who appears in the 1860 census with Benjamin and Nancy, died young.]  Nancy was granted a divorce from Benjamin Grant on March 2, 1867.        Some time between 1866 and 1867, Nancy met Charles Lafayette Swain of Norwich, Connecticut.  Charles Swain was the owner of  a freight business in Norwich.  He was also a married man with five children.  Charles and Nancy fell in love despite their individual situations and they fled, with three of Nancy's children, to Boone, Bates County, Missouri where Nancy's brother, Oliver Beckwith Heath was living.

Nancy (Heath) Swain with her daughters Photo  courtesy of  Lance Loranger

Charles Lafayette Swain with his sons Photo courtesy of Lance Loranger

In Boone township, Charles, Nancy and the three children (Frank, Julia Ann and Joseph) settled as a family.  They farmed and Charles started a new freight line business.  Charles and Nancy were married on May 2, 1869.  During the next six years, Nancy and Charles had three sons: Oliver Black Swain, Amos Heath Swain, and Frederick Treadway Swain.        In 1873, Charles and Nancy returned to Norwich with Julia Ann, age fourteen, and their three young sons under the age of six.  In April of this year, a fourth child, Elma Louise, was born.  In 1874, the family moved to Groton, where Charles found work on a fishing schooner.  He later became the captain of the schooner, "The Carrier".  A fifth child, Ida Minnie, was born on December 2, 1874.          In 1876, the Swains moved to Nantucket, Massachusetts (where Charles' Swain ancestors were among the first settlers of the island) and Charles opened a general store.  Two more daughters, Mabel and Lena, were born on Nantucket.        With the decline of the Nantucket economy due to a failing whaling industry, Charles, Nancy, and children returned to Connecticut in 1884 .  They settled in Clinton, Connecticut, where Nancy's older sister, Ardelia (Heath) King lived.

        Charles Swain opened another general store in Clinton, a highly successful venture which remained in the Swain family for nearly 90 years until it closed in the late 1960s.  A journal Charles kept from 1834  to 1909 details the almost daily activities of his life, including his years of marriage with Nancy, and the years they spent in Boon, Nantucket and Clinton. A copy of this journal is in the possession of Lance Loranger.  

        Nancy was an invalid for the latter ten years of her life.  She died May 31, 1904 in Clinton.   Her will, dated July 10, 1886, and proved December 29, 1904, named her husband, Charles, her children "by a former husband", Julia Ann Ashcroft and Herbert Grant, and her seven children by Charles Swain: Oliver Black Swain, Amos Heath Swain, Frederick Treadway Swain, Elma Louisa Swain, Minnie Ida Swain, Mabel Easter Swain, and Lena May Swain.

        Charles outlived Nancy by five years.  He spent the remainder of his days in Clinton, maintaining his general store.  He died August 5, 1909 in Clinton.  His will, dated June 24, 1907 and proved August 19, 1909, named his six youngest children: Oliver B. Swain, Amos H. Swain, Frederick T. Swain, Elma L. Wellman, Minnie I. Champlin, and Mabel E. Carter (Charles and Nancy's youngest child, Lena Gray Swain, died in 1888 in Clinton).  Charles' ties to his children from his first marriage were made clear by his statement, "I expressly disinherit all of my children older than those above named".  Amos H. Swain was named executor of Charles' sizeable estate.

The children of Nancy Jane Heath, from her three marriages, are as follows:

Through her marriage to Alfred St. John:
1. Frank H. St. John, b. May 1854, Groton, New London County, Connecticut; d. bef. 12 March 1872, Boone Township, Bates County, Missouri.

Through her marriage to Benjamin Grant:
2. Julia Ann Grant, b. 19 October 1858, Groton, New London County, Connecticut2; m. John Ashcroft.
3. Lucy A. Grant, b. 1859, Groton, New London County, Connecticut, probably died very young.
4. Herbert A. Grant, b. Bet. 1860 - 1867, Groton, New London County, Connecticut; m. Elsie Stewart; of Sprague, Connecticut.
5. Joseph W. Grant, b. 1862, Groton, New London County, Connecticut; d. bef. 12 March 1872, Boone Township, Bates County, Missouri.

Through her marriage to Charles Swain:
6. Oliver Black Swain, b. 10 April 1868, Boone Township, Bates County, Missouri.  He became superintendent of the Waterworks at Clinton, CT.
7. Amos Heath Swain, b. 01 October 1869, Boone Township, Bates County, Missouri.  He took  over Charles Swain's general store in Clinton.
8. Frederick Treadway Swain, b. 02 August 1871, Boone Township, Bates County, Missouri.  He was a plumber, living in Hartford, Connecticut.
9. Elma Louise Swain, b. 07 April 1873, Norwich, New London County, Connecticut; m. Clarence Eelman.
10. Ida Minnie Swain, b. 02 December 1874, Groton, New London County, Connecticut; m. George Champlain.
11. Mabel E. Swain, b. 22 June 1877, Nantucket, Massachusetts; m. Lovell Carter.
12. Lena Gray Swain, b. 01 June 1879, Nantucket, Massachusetts; died 1888, Clinton, Connecticut.

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