SWAPP FAMILY
Events & Places

"Cuimhnich air na daoine o'n d'thainig thu"
(Gaelic for "Remember the men from whom you are sprung.")

TO SEE MAPS AND PICTURES WITH SIGNIFICANCE FOR OUR FAMILY, YOU CAN GO TO THE PLACES PAGE OR CLICK ON THE LINKS ON THIS PAGE.

About 1060 It is possible that the first Swapp (then spelled Schwappe) came to Britain from the European continent following William of Orange (of the Netherlands) and/or William the Conqueror as a sword bearer. Family tradition into the 20th Century speaks of every generation of Swapps having one with a crooked little finger of the right hand, known as the "sword finger." (This was researched by an Albert Swapp in Scotland and reported by his nephew Robert Valentine Swapp in a 1937 letter to Maude Swapp Robinson.)
1200 Jeffreye de Hatche (earliest known Hatch ancestor) born.
1487 Robert Bradford (earliest known Bradford ancestor and great-grandfather of Gov. William Bradford of the Plymouth Colony) born in England.
1532 King Henry VIII withdrew the Church of England from the jurisdiction of Rome, in order to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.
About 1575 Pelagius Reiser (earliest known Reiser ancestor) born in Switzerland.
Since at least the early 1600s Swap(p)s have lived in Montrose or Glasgow, Scotland.
11 Nov 1620 (by the old Julian calendar) About 100 Separatist Pilgrims arrived at Provincetown Bay in what is now Massachusetts (although they had intended to settle in Northern Virginia), led by two of our ancestors, William Bradford their Governor and William Brewster, their Reverend Elder in the Plymouth Colony. (Only 52 members of the group were still alive the next Spring.)
Oct 1621 The Plymouth colonists celebrated their first harvest.
Mid-1600s Jonathan Hatch emigrated from England to Massachusetts.
1684 William Swap, our earliest known Swap ancestor, the great-great grandfather of William Swapp who joined the Mormon Church, born in Montrose, Angus, Scotland.
About 1725 William Hill (earliest known Hill ancestor) born in Scotland.
About 1750 William Swap, father of William Swap, born in Montrose, Angus, Scotland, the same place where many generations of Swaps lived.
1752 The British Parliament adopted the Gregorian calendar, and September 3rd became September 14th by decree.
  Many other Swap(p)s also from Old Machar, Aberdeen, Scotland
1776 The United States became an independent country.
1 Aug 1779 Alexander Hill born in Skipness Parish, Argyllshire, Scotland.
1795 Alexander Hill was apprenticed as a sailor boy in the Royal Navy at age 16. He served until 1802 in various places, including the Battle of the Nile against the French off the coast of Egypt on his birthday in 1798.
1 Aug. 1795 William Swap born in Busby, Renfrew, (or was it Glasgow, Lanarkshire?), Scotland
1799 or 1795 Nancy Agnes Hill born in Ireland or in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Early 1800s Johnstone on the Black Cart River in Renfrewshire, Scotland was being developed into a major area in the manufacture of cotton yarn, and this drew many families to the area at that time, probably including the Swaps (who may have come from Montrose in Angusshire by 1776) and the Hills (who may have come from Skipness in Argyllshire soon after 1802), who both had members listed as being involved in that industry.
1812 War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain
1815 The Napoleanic Wars ended with the Battle of Waterloo, in which Napolean's forces were completely defeated. But this caused an economic downturn in industrial areas.
April 1817 William & Nancy Agnes Hill Swap married in Glasgow, Scotland.
Sept. 1818 Elizabeth Hill born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland.
1820 Societies began to be formed in Scotland to ask members of Parliament to petition the Crown to allow emigration to unoccupied lands in the Bathhurst District in Upper Canada.
Spring 1820 Joseph Smith's First Vision.
Summer 1820 William & Nancy Agnes Hill Swap (listed as Swape) were members of the Bridgton Transatlantic Society in Glasgow. There were to be about 1200 people altogether in the immigration, each to receive a 100-acre grant of land. This group immigrated on three ships named Commerce (which carried the Swap Family), Prompt, and Broke. Nancy was pregnant during the long ocean voyage.
30 Aug. 1820 William Swapp born in (or perhaps prior to arriving in) the riverport of Lachine on the Island of Montréal, Lower Canada (now Québec), while his parents were still on their journey to their new home in Lanark, Upper Canada (now Ontario).
11 Sept. 1820 William Swapp christened in the Presbyterian Church in Perth, Lanark County, Upper Canada (now Ontario)
Fall 1820 After arriving sometime in October, William & Nancy homesteaded near Lanark, Upper Canada (now Ontario). Colonel Marshall, Superintendent of the Lanark Settlement, located the Swaps on the rear east half of Lot 11 in the Fourth Commission of the new Township of Lanark, and William received the loan of thirty-three pounds 6/8 currence which was to be repaid by him in 10 years. (Wylie Swapp has sources for this history, and Maureen Huntsman has some copies of the original documents as well.)
Dec 1820 The Census of Upper Canada listed the Swapp Family as consisting of William and Agnes and one son under 12 years of age, so if William had an older brother, he died before that census. It might be more likely that John F. Swapp was born after William. (See the entry on this in 1822.)
29 Apr 1821 The Alexander Hill Family, as part of the Paisley Townhead Emigration Society, emigrated from Scotland to Lanark, Lanark County, Upper Canada (now Ontario) on the ship Earl of Buckinghamshire. They departed Greenock, and on the 2nd of May, their ship went aground about 12 miles south of Dublin. The next day, after having been protected from plunderers by the crew of a revenue cutter and after cutting two anchors, they were able to break loose and sail again. From the 5th to about the 15th, they went through a storm which made everyone sick. They arrived at Québec on the 16th of June and were immediately informed that a steamer would depart the next morning for Montréal. 3 days later, they went from Montréal to Lachine (where William Swapp was apparently born the previous summer). A couple of days later, their group travelled on 27 ships up the river to Prescott. They waited there for 16 days for wagons to take them further, and then because of the rain and the muddy route, it took 5 more days to travel the final 74 miles and arrive at their homestead.
About 10 July 1821 The Hill Family finally arrived for their adventure in the New World (at Lot 25 East in the First Concession of Lanark Township) and began taming the wilderness.
1821-31 The Hills and William Swapp lived near each other in Lanark.
1822 John F. Swapp, apparently a brother of William, was born in Canada. (One source puts his birth in Canada in 1818, but that would not be possible if his parents emigrated in 1820.) A history written by Nellie Swapp Losee indicates that William joined the LDS Church and went to Nauvoo, leaving his younger brother, whom he never saw again. A John F. Swapp later died in 1866 in Newburyport, MA, so perhaps he went to join his father in New England at some point. It is interesting that William Henry Swap, son of William Swap's second wife in New England, never knew his father lived in Canada until our William Swapp wrote to him.
Late 1824 William Swap left his family to "seek employment" and apparently never returned to Lanark. He sailed to Stonington, Connecticut, landing there on 10 Jan 1825. After a while, he ended up in Rhode Island.
Mar 1825 Nancy Agnes Hill Swap died at the age of 26-30 in Lanark, Upper Canada (now Ontario). It would be nice to be able to find her grave or a record of it. Family tradition says that her son William was raised by a Hill Family. (This would likely not have been Elizabeth Hill's parents, because they were in Nauvoo by 1842 and William wasn't even baptized until a year later.)
1830 Publishing of the Book of Mormon.
April 1830 The restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ in the latter days.
1831-33 or 1835 The land grant given to the Hills turned out to be very rocky and unusable. They asked to have their debt of 80 pounds excused and began searching for a better place to settle. They eventually relocated to Tosorontio (and in one case to Essa, bordering Tosorontio) in what is now Simcoe County in what was then the Home District in Upper Canada, purchasing several lots in 1837-38. They ended up joining the LDS Church here.
1834 William Swap went from Rhode Island to Thompson, Connecticut, where on June 15th he met and married Almira Leach, the daughter of a Baptist preacher.
1835 In April, the 3-year-old daughter of Elizabeth Swapp's sister Agnes Richards, named Elizabeth H. Richards, was scalded to death by an overturned kettle of maple sap. In July, her mother gave birth to another daughter and named her Elizabeth Angelique Richards.
1834-43 William Swap married again in Thompson, Connecticut (We are unaware if he knew about his first wife's death) and had 5 more children, including one named William H. Swapp and one named Bradford who died at the age of 28 in Burma. But he never again had contact with his first son William. His obituary later stated that he was a foreman in a factory. (He was not a sailor, contrary to family tradition, which might have confused him with his son Bradford, who did sail the world's oceans.)
Oct. 1839 19-year-old William Swapp tried unsuccessfully to make claim for 100 acres in Lanark, because his father had abandoned the original grant and it had been reassigned after the death of his mother 14 years earlier.
By 1840 Parley P. Pratt and other LDS missionaries called by the Prophet Joseph Smith to Canada on first mission outside of the United States. They preached to members of the John Taylor Society in Toronto, among them the entire Hill Family.
1 April 1840 Elizabeth Hill baptized at the age of 21 with 30 members of her family. (Her parents and a few others weren't baptized until the following January 8th.) Elizabeth was baptized by Elder Samuel Lake, companion to Elder James Standing. Many of the baptisms in the area were performed in Hall's Creek.
1840 William Swap applied for United States citizenship in Newburyport, MA. The document states that he had lived in the United States for at least five years and in Massachusetts for at least one year.
Spring 1841 Elizabeth Hill's brothers Archibald and John went with 5 other members of the Essa and Tosorontio Branch to visit Nauvoo, Illinois and investigate moving there.
1842? In British North America, Upper Canada was renamed Canada West and Lower Canada was renamed Canada East.
March 1842 The Hill Family sold their various properties in Simcoe County, Upper Canada. They travelled during the summer via Deerfield, Indiana towards Nauvoo, Illinois.
30 Sept. 1842 The Hill Family arrived in Nauvoo to join up with the Saints.
2 Nov. 1843 William Swapp baptized at the age of 23 in Upper Canada.
8 Aug. 1844 Elizabeth Hill was present at the historic meeting in Nauvoo when the mantle of the slain Prophet Joseph Smith was said to have fallen upon Brigham Young.
1845 William & Elizabeth Hill Swapp married (in Canada?)
Jan. 1846 William & Elizabeth Hill Swapp sealed by Pres. Brigham Young with H.C. Kimball as the witness in the Nauvoo Temple during the short time that it was operational.
30 June 1846 Agnes (or Nancy), the first child of William & Elizabeth, was born in Nauvoo.
10 July 1846 Archibald Hill was among those brethren who were accosted by a group of men who originally walked by dressed in women's clothing while the brethren were harvesting grain on Camp Creek, about 10 miles from Nauvoo. The mob tried to steal the brethren's weapons, but Archibald Hill stood up to them. Archibald and his brother John were two of those who were whipped on their bare backs by the mob.
Sept. 1846 Agnes (or Nancy), the first child of William & Elizabeth, died at the age of 2-1/2 months in Pottawatomie County, Iowa, after her parents had been forced to leave Nauvoo. William & Elizabeth (and most of the Hill Family) settled with other Saints for a time near Winter Quarters (now Florence), Nebraska. The Swapps lived at Honey Creek, Iowa which is about 12 miles from Kanesville (now Council Bluffs) on the eastern side of the Missouri River.
14 Feb. 1847 William Swap died at the age of 53 in Newburyport, MA
Mar. 1847 Elizabeth Swapp's sister-in-law Isabella (Archie's wife) died, and she and William took in and cared for one of her small children, Hannah Hill.
July 1847 The first Mormon emigrants arrived in the Salt Lake Valley shortly after the end of the Mexican-American War which took possession of the territory that is now Utah from Mexico.
27 Dec 1847 Brigham Young returned from the Salt Lake Valley to Kanesville, where he was sustained as President of the LDS Church.
1848 Arsonists burned the interior of the Nauvoo Temple.
17 June 1849 William & Elizabeth's second child, William Hill Swapp, was born in Honey Creek, Iowa.
About 22 April 1851 The Swapps and the Hills left Kanesville, Iowa bound for Utah in Capt. John G. Smith's group in the 2nd Division under Capt. Abraham Day. Elizabeth was very pregnant at the time, so her niece, Elisabeth A. Richards, travelled with them to help her aunt. Most Latter-day Saints left the Council Bluffs area by 1852.
June 1851 Archibald Swapp (son of William & Elizabeth) was born in Platte Bottoms, Nebraska.
9 Sept. 1851 The Swapps and Alexander Hill's family arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, four years after Brigham Young.
May 1853 After William & Elizabeth settled in Mill Creek in the Salt Lake Valley (where other Scottish families had settled), their fourth child, James, was born, the first member of our family to be born in Utah.
May 1855 John Addison Swapp (son of William & Elizabeth) was born in Salt Lake City.
Aug 1855 Elizabeth Currie Hill (Elizabeth Hill Swapp's mother) died and was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.
Oct 1855 The Perpetual Emigrating Fund was set up to help LDS immigrants relocate to Zion.
21 Aug 1857 Mary Ann Spencer (later the wife of William Hill Swapp) was the 2nd child to be born in Washington County, Utah (in the city of Washington). She later worked in the cotton mill there as a young girl 8-10 years old.
June 1858 William & Elizabeth had to temporarily relocate from the Salt Lake Valley when the U.S. Government sent Johnson's Army to Utah to take control, so they went to Springville, south of Provo. There, Melvin Swapp was born.
Late 1850s and
early 1860s		 U.S. CIVIL WAR
About 1859 An associate of Jacob Hamblin was sent to live among the Hopi Indians (hopefully to entice them to move away from their unproductive lands and settle in Southern Utah among the Mormons), and he made contact in Oraibi with a leading Hopi named Tuvi. (Tuba City was named after him.)
1861 The Civil War began.
April 1861 Alexander Swapp (the youngest child of William & Elizabeth) was born in Mill Creek.
Late Spring 1861 William & Elizabeth moved with their six living children to the Cotton Mission in Utah's Dixie under the leadership of Erastus Snow. They were assigned a lot on the southwest corner of the intersection of 200 South and 100 East, just north of Archibald Hill (brother or uncle of Elizabeth?) in the 1st Ward. (By the way, Parley P. Pratt, who was instrumental in our family joining the Church in Canada, also helped lead the Saints in St. George.) John Addison would have been about six years old.
Early 1860s Sometime on the way to or soon after arriving in St. George, the Swapp Family became acquainted with the Cameron Family. John and Martha, who would later marry, were only 6 or 7 years old when they met.
Early 1860s The Saints in St. George met for worship in a bowery erected south of the site where the Tabernacle was built on Main Street. The Tabernacle's construction went from 1863 through 1876, and the Saints dedicated and used the basement as soon as it was complete.
15 Nov. 1863 Alexander Swapp (the youngest child of William & Elizabeth) fell into a hot tub of homemade soap and was scalded to death at the age of 2 in St. George, becoming the first member of our family to die in the West, and was buried in the St. George Cemetery in a grave which is now unmarked (Plot A_H_F15_1, near the cemetery office). Side note: Apparently the Swapps lived across the street from the saw mill of Horatio Pickett, the town's first mortician, who also owned a large saw mill on his property. (Bro. Pickett's 18th child was still alive and giving tours at the DUP Museum in St. George in the Year 2000.)
1864 The Mormons abandoned the fort at Glendale, UT in Long Valley because of trouble with the Indians.
Feb 1867 The telegraph line reached St. George.
1 July 1867 Canada became an independent country.
May 1867 Alexander Hill (Elizabeth Hill Swapp's father) died in Wellsville, Utah, having been a widower for 12 years, and was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery next to his wife.
Beginning in the Summer of 1865 While a boy in St. George, William Hill Swapp had a job delivering the U.S. mail between Harrisburg and Parowan. Another source says he had the route between St. George and Cedar City and that William and his brothers traded off in delivering the mail.
1866-68 William Hill Swapp was actively engaged in defending the Mormon settlements against the Indians, and he fought in the Black Hawk War. By this time, the Indians had developed a special respect for the Swapps, beginning with Father William. The Indians began to call out "Swappites" whenever they recognized a member of the family. This respect saved William Hill and Archibald's lives on one occasion in the Santa Clara Valley.
Spring 1868 The William Swapp Family was among those called to settle the Muddy Mission.
About 1868-71 William Hill Swapp carried the U.S. mail between Fort Mohave, Nevada and St. George, Utah. His brother James also worked carrying the mail between Callville on the Colorado River and St. George.
About 1869 John D. Lee was asked to start up a saw mill at Skutumpah, north of Kanab. This was accomplished by 1870, but by the end of 1871, he departed to help Jacob Hamblin at Lonely Dell (renamed Lee's Ferry in 1874). The Church leaders apparently wanted him out of the spotlight, since he had never been tried in court for his part in the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
Aug 1869 Kanab Fort was refurbished for the protection of the ranchers of Pipe Springs, Long Valley, Kanab Creek, and the Paria River against the Navajos and occupied continuously from this time forward.
1870 Dozens of smaller nations were organized into modern Germany.
1870s Mormon society was cash-poor and operated on the barter system, translating whatever they had into dollar values.
  John Addison Swapp engraved his name and the date into a rock at House Rock Spring, Arizona.
10 Sept 1870 Brigham Young selected the site for the township of Kanab, and they began laying out the blocks immediately.
26 Sept. 1870 William & Nancy Agnes Hill Swap were sealed by proxy (the first proxy temple ordinances for our ancestors) in (the Endowment House?) in Salt Lake City.
Spring 1871 Because of the intense heat, high taxes charged by Nevada when they thought they were in Utah, and the hostile Indians of that area, the colonizers of the Church were released from their labors in the Muddy Mission. The advice from the authorities of the Church was for these families to locate elsewhere in Southern Utah, especially on the Kanab and Long Valley Creeks in Kane County. Others were called from the St. George area to resettle in Long Valley. The Swapps moved to the small town of Berryville (now Glendale) on the Long Valley Creek.
Summer 1871 Our William Swapp, while he was 51 years old in St. George, had correspondence with his 36-year-old half-brother William H. Swapp, who was in New Brunswick, Canada, between sailing voyages around the world. (In 1936, the Swapp Family historian Lettie Y. Swapp had a copy of this letter filed away with her family history.)
Sept. 1871 Ira Hatch travelled among the western Navajo to invite them to participate in a trading session in Kanab, where they would supposedly be able to obtain livestock at favorable terms as an inducement for peace with the Mormons. He later interpreted in meetings between the Indians and the Mormons and was credited for being able to obtain a Hopi guide for an expedition with Jacob Hamblin.
9 Nov 1871 The site for the St. George Temple was dedicated and construction begun.
Jan 1873 Brigham Young discussed with Gen. Thomas Kane the possibility of relocating the Mormons to Mexico because of harassment from the federally appointed territorial officers.
Winter 1873-74 Brigham Young asked Church members to hold all property in common, and for several months, attempts were made to make the United Order work, but many people, especially those of means, were disturbed by the plan. The Saints in Kanab and Long Valley found themselves unhappy and disturbed by it. Those in Glendale were universally opposed to it.
11 Mar. 1874 John Addison & Martha Cameron Swapp married in St. George before the St. George Temple was finished. They lived at first in Long Valley, and then in October, they moved to the saw mill at Mt. Trumble.
April 1874 Samuel Knight, James Hill Swapp, and a few others went in James Andrew's company to support their brethren at Moenkopi/Tuba City in calming the threatening Navajo Indians.
1875 John Addison Swapp helped haul wood for the building of the St. George Temple. Martha, his wife, helped cook for the sawmill workers. Their first son, John William Swapp, was born in St. George in late September.
  Archibald and James Swapp developed ranches in the Sink Valley area and lived there with their families for many years. Their brother William Hill Swapp ran a dairy at Upper Kanab and had a ranch near the confluence of Thompson and Mill Creeks, east of Sink Valley. His brother James had a ranch at Lower Thompson and one at Skutumpah further down the drain. William gave up his ranch on Thompson Creek after a while and settled in Johnson Canyon, northeast of Kanab, for several years. He ended up living in Kanab, farming a 25-acre plot there and raising cattle on the west side of the Buckskin Mountains, in Johnson Canyon, and in the Paria and Wahweep area. Melvin and his descendants stayed in Luna Valley, New Mexico from 1882 until the present day.
Nov 1874 John D. Lee, who had been running Lee's Ferry, was arrested and put on trial in Beaver, Utah for his part in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Jacob Hamblin immediate set about finding someone willing to relocate to the remote ferry location to protect the interests of the Mormons at the vital crossing. Everyone in Kanab declined, so he went to the bishop of Long Valley. Some people at Mt. Carmel and Glendale were opposed to the United Order, and Warren Johnson (who had come to Glendale from the Muddy Valley, like the Swapps) may have accepted the ferry assignment to avoid being part of the United Order.
Mid-March 1875 Warren Johnson and one of his two wives went to Lee's Ferry to take over its operation. His other wife stayed in Glendale. He cooperated well with Emma Lee at the ferry.
1875 James Hill Swapp and others went to Tuba City, Arizona to help Jacob Hamblin keep the peace with the Navajo Indians.
30 Oct 1875 Ira Hatch and Warren Johnson were among the nine men who left on a mission to Arizona under the leadership of James S. Brown. They arrived at Moenkopi on 3 December and built a fort. Then they explored for three weeks, 110 miles up the Little Colorado River, south to the Beale Road, and west to the San Francisco Mountains. When Brigham Young received the report of this exploration from Bro. Brown, he called 200 families to colonize in Arizona under the United Order. They left in February 1876.
Late Feb 1876 Warren Johnson waited until both of his wives had given birth in Glendale, and then four days after the birth of his first son, he left for Lee's Ferry to be there for the many families on their way to colonize Arizona.
1876 John Addison and Martha Swapp moved to House Rock Valley, Arizona, to take care of Church dairy cattle.
26 Mar. 1876 John William Swapp (son of John Addison & Martha) died in Kanab only six months after having been born in St. George. (The sealing to his parents was completed later, although the date is missing.)
May?? 1876 John and Martha Swapp went to help his parents take care of the Church dairy cows in Upper Kanab (near Alton), Utah.
30 July 1876 William Swapp died at the age of 55. He was gored and killed by a mad bull near McDonald's Ranch in Upper Kanab and was buried in Glendale. The United States was 100 years old that month.
Sept 1876 All of the lumber for the St. George Temple had been cut at Mt. Trumbull, so they decided to move the sawmill for the benefit of the colonists on the Little Colorado.
Nov 1876 The decision was made to devise an alternate route to Arizona south of St. George. Jacob Hamblin guided Harrison and John Pearce as far as an acient Paiute crossing at the river, and then they were to go via Grapevine Wash as far south as the Beale Road before turning east towards the Arizona settlements. They only made it to the San Francisco Mountains, and when people heard what a rough journey it was, the chose the route via Lee's Ferry instead.
1 Jan 1877 A part of the St. George Temple was dedicated, becoming the only temple for all Latter-day Saints.
22 Jan. 1877 Alexander Swapp (son of John Addison & Martha) born in St. George and apparently named after his uncle who died in St. George as a child 13 years earlier. (The record shows him as BIC with no date of sealing to his parents, although they were apparently sealed two years after his birth.)
6 Apr. 1877 The St. George Temple was dedicated with many leaders of the Church present for a Church-wide conference (including the Prophet Brigham Young, who was free on bail in the midst of legal problems surrounding polygamy). Elizabeth Swapp travelled many times in her later years from Glendale to St. George to have temple ordinances done for our ancestors, and copies of her temple ordinance records still exist.
Jan. 1879 John Addison & Martha Cameron Swapp sealed in the St. George Temple (the first sealing of our ancestors in that temple, only two years after its construction was completed) a couple of months before their third son, James Edward, was born and passed away after only eight days of life. They had their sons John William and Alexander sealed to them, also.
  The Swapps moved from town to town in Southern Utah seeking work.
1880 or early 1881 Melvin and William Hill Swapp hired by Tom Clark to help drive a herd of his cattle from Utah to Cliff, New Mexico. They passed through a pretty mountain valley called Luna Valley (at 6,000 feet in elevation a few miles east of the Arizona border) for the first time.
Nov. 1882 Several families, including Melvin Swapp and his widowed mother Elizabeth, William Hill Swapp with his wife and five children, John Addison Swapp with his wife and three children, and Lorenzo Watson with his wife and six children, left to settle Luna Valley, New Mexico. They arrived on 29 Feb 1882 (1883?) A Mexican named Solomon Luna had been running his sheep there, so the settlers traded him cows and horses for his rights to the valley.

Melvin built a house for himself and his mother (near the present-day store), and that house still stands today, although unoccupied.

Martha (Cameron) Swapp states that they left in late Dec 1883 (only weeks after her daughter Nellie was born) and arrived in early 1884. Alec began his schooling in Luna Valley.

1883 John Addison Swapp was called to be the first President of the Y.M.M.I.A. (Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association) in the Church (in Luna Valley?)
Mar. 1883 Rose Etta Hatch (wife of Alexander Swapp) born in Cannonville.
  John Addison Swapp worked hauling freight to Flagstaff, and then his family lived in Globe and Thatcher for a while. Sometime between about 1884 and 1887, the family lived out of a camp wagon while John worked hauling ore in Gila Valley.
About 1885 Etta Hatch's first home was on a farm about 2 miles from any town (Loseeville, perhaps?) and 4 miles from the post office (in Tropic, maybe?).
Fall 1885 The widow Elizabeth Swapp moved to Luna Valley for about a year. Her son William Hill Swapp and his family also either accompanied her or moved back to Luna at that time.
Spring/Summer 1887 John Addison Swapp worked on the railroad in Arizona. He also took his family to Thatcher in the GIla Valley via Fort McDouglas (on which trip they narrowly missed getting into an Indian war), and he hauled lumber from the Cherokee Mountains to Bisbee, Arizona.
Fall 1887 or 1889 The John Addison Swapp Family moved to Lee's Ferry to help run the ferry for Warren Johnson. Martha (Cameron) Swapp also speaks of going there with her husband in May 1883, apparently only for a few months. The same history says they moved from Luna Valley back to Utah in mid-1887.
1889 Etta Hatch went to school in Clifton, Utah (2 miles from Tropic) and lived a mile away in a house across the creek from the first one. The closest high school was in Provo, so Etta never went.
Nov 1889 Melvin Swapp homesteaded the "little old homeplace" across the Frisco River from the little town of Luna. All of his children were born there.
Nov 1889 Stephen Addison Swapp (son of John Addison & Martha) born at Lee's Ferry while the family was there.
Spring 1890 The John Addison Swapp Family moved to Johnson Canyon east of Kanab, but 13-year-old Alec stayed at Lee's Ferry to work for a while. He stayed with the Johnson family, undoubtedly the same Johnson clan as those in Johnson Canyon where the Swapp and Johnson families intermarried and whose descendants still run the Swapp Ranch today.
6 Oct 1890 The Church membership sustained Pres. Woodruff's Manifesto, which denied Church sanction of plutal marriage, in General Conference.
1890-91? Elder Albert Schneider Reiser (Geneve's father) was serving as one of the first LDS missionaries in southeastern Germany.
April 1891 After delivering the mail to Lee's Ferry, Alex Swapp helped Warren Johnson drive some cattle to Soap Creek.
12 May 1891 The A.M. Farnsworth and Alonzo Foutz families passed through Lee's Ferry on their way between Richfield and Tuba City. One of the Foutz children had died of diptheria, and some of the Johnson children also contracted it, and several of them died. Apparently, the Farnsworth Family was spared. Austin Farnsworth (the brother of Albert Stephen Farnsworth, the great-grandfather of Naureen Farnsworth Swapp) rode 70 miles each way to bring medicine.
Spring 1891 John Addison Swapp moved his family to Sink Valley, where he worked in ranching and freighting.
4 July 1891 Elizabeth Hill Swapp died at the age of 72 after having been the third Relief Society President of the Glendale Ward and having served as a midwife for many years. She had been a widow for 15 years. She was buried in Glendale beside her husband.
Spring/Summer 1894 The John Addison Swapp Family spent the spring and summer on a pleasant ranch near Kanab called The Meadows.
Fall 1894 The John Addison Swapp Family moved to Moapa Valley, 23 years after the Swapps had left there the first time. Alec was 17 years old.
Summer 1895 or
Early 1897		 The John Addison Swapp Family back in the Kanab area because they couldn't find work in the Muddy Valley. Alec took a job with the Pony Express, delivering mail between Kanab and Lee's Ferry. (Apparently, he was also doing this in the Spring of 1891.)
Dec 1895 Warren Johnson, who had bought some property west of Kanab, fell out of a wagon about 3 miles south of the Utah-Arizona border and was paralyzed from the waist down. For the Summer of 1896, he hired Alex Swapp at $25 per month plus board to help his son Jerry run Lee's Ferry. But the two young men did not work hard enough, so Warren Johnson decided to relinquish his interest in the ferry to the LDS Church.
Aug. 1897 Francis "Frannie" Swapp (daughter of John Addison & Martha) married James Huntsman in Kanab (later sealed in 1901 in the St. George Temple).
Nov. 1898 The John Addison Swapp Family relocated to Clifton (later known as Loseeville, two miles east of Tropic). Alec worked for his uncle David Cameron (his mother's brother) in Panguitch, Utah
Jan. 1899 Alec & Etta had that first dance.
1 Nov. 1899 Alec Swapp & Etta Hatch were engaged to be married.
Nov. 1899 Alexander Swapp was re-baptized in an icy creek, because they couldn't find his original baptismal certificate when he was about to be ordained an Elder.
13 Dec. 1899 Alexander & Rose Etta Hatch Swapp married in the St. George Temple. The trip from Clifton to St. George and back in covered wagon took 10 days. Etta's sister Lizzie and her husband Emory Mecham also went to seal their marriage in the temple.
Nov. 1900 Nellie Swapp (daughter of John Addison & Martha) married Isaac Elmer Losee in Salt Lake City and was sealed to him in the Salt Lake Temple three days later.
Mar. 1901 Alex Ether Swapp (son of Alec & Etta) born in Tropic, where his parents had been living for about a year.
Feb. 1902 Elizabeth Frances Davis Hatch (Etta's mother) died just 24 hours after giving birth to her son Francis. This was 5 years after she had almost died giving birth to Orville and had aroused from semi-consciousness to state that she had been given 5 more years to live.
Feb. 1902 Martha Cameron Swapp (Alec's mother) was in bed with rheumatic fever for six weeks but recovered. Alec & Etta ended up living for a while in his mother's home.
Dec. 1902 John H Swapp (son of Alec & Etta) born in Tropic.
Fall 1903 Alec & Etta moved into a 2-room cottage across the wash at the foot of the hill. Alec was away from home a lot, herding cattle in the Parachant Mountains.
Dec. 1904 David Cameron Swapp (son of Alec & Etta) born in Tropic, undoubtedly named after his great-uncle David Cameron, for whom his father had worked in Panguitch.
Sept. 1905 Sarah Geneve Reiser (wife of Ether) born in Salt Lake City.
About 1906/1907 John Addison & Martha Cameron Swapp moved to Overton. This was the third time Swapp family members had located to Overton, and there would always be Swapps in Moapa Valley from then on.
1906? Alec was gone so much working for the cattle ranchers when they lived in Tropic that he decided to change professions so he could be with his sons more. He took a job as a freighter between Caliente and Delamar, Nevada. Alec & Etta lived in Caliente near Franty & Jimmy Huntsman.
1907 Isaac & Nellie (Swapp) Losee moved (from Loseeville via Caliente?) to Overton.
Jan. 1907 Alec decided to buy his own team and work as a freighter out of Overton. It took the family a full week to travel down the Meadow Valley Wash from Caliente to Overton. Alec & Etta pitched a tent close to his parents. His first freighting job was to Rhyolite, Nevada, and he was gone three months. Upon returning, he camped out at the junction and flipped a coin to decide whether to continue to Overton or go back to Utah. Because of that coin toss, our family's roots are still in Moapa Valley. For the next several years, Alec freighted between the Grand Gulch Mountain in Arizona and the railroad in Moapa. Then he worked in the Valley raising canteloupes, running the flour mill, and beginning in 1934, for the creamery.
22 Nov 1907 The children and grandchildren of John Henry Hatch (?) gathered around him on his 50th birthday to sing the song to him that would become a family tradition for funerals and other family gatherings, "Wandering Home." The origins of this song are unknown, and it was not put to paper until Bruce Green wrote down the music and lyrics in the 1990s.
May 1908 Kenneth Arthur Swapp (son of Alec & Etta) born in his family's tent in Overton, the first member of our family to be born in Moapa Valley.
Mar. 1909 Cornelia Elizabeth Swapp (daughter of John Addison & Martha) married Alonzo Howard Huntsman in the St. George Temple.
Sept. 1909 Rosetta Swapp (daughter of Alec & Etta) born in Overton in the first little house her father had built on the northwest corner of Jones & Perkins Streets.
By 1910 47 grandchildren had been born to William & Elizabeth Swapp, the children of their five surviving sons.
1910 or 1911 John Addison Swapp was struck by lightning while he was camped on Grand Gulch Mountain southeast of Moapa Valley with his son Alec and his grandson Ether. When he got home, he began to have palsy-like symptoms, and for the last 5-10 years of his life, he required assistance even to do simple things.
About 1910-22? James Hill Swapp was the Kane County Sheriff for 12 years.
Oct. 1911 Leonard Warren Swapp (son of Alec & Etta) born in Overton. He died in Jan. 1912 of pneumonia and was the first member of our family to be buried in Overton.
Sept. 1912 22-year-old Stephen Addison Swapp (son of John Addison & Martha) took a trip out to the Grand Gulch area with two of his friends, Tom Johnson and Horace Jones. While unloading something from the wagon, the shotgun lying there was accidentally bumped, and Stephen's knee was shattered. His friends took him home as quickly as possible, but once in the Valley, it was decided that he needed medical care. The roads were bad, so his father chartered a special train, and Stephen was taken to the hospital in Las Vegas. But tetanus set in, and he died.
About 1912 Elmer & Nellie (Swapp) Losee had the first motocar in Moapa Valley, so John & Martha Swapp were among the first people in the Valley to ride in one.
About 1912-38 Alec helped to build his mother's home on the southwest corner of Jones and Virginia Streets in Overton, which served as the Swapp Hotel for many years (until sometime after 1930). He also helped to string the first telephone lines and drove the first tractors in the Valley.
Aug. 1914 Thora Swapp (daughter of Alec & Etta) born in Overton.
About 1915 Alec worked as the miller for Moapa Valley.
About 1915 A high school was built in Overton, and Ether was one of its first students. His brother John was our family's first high school graduate.
July 1918 Wylie Wilson Swapp (son of Alec & Etta) born in Overton.
1918 Etta Hatch Swapp was called to be the stake Primary president in the Moapa Stake.
  WORLD WAR I
Jan. 1919 Martha Swapp Kocherhans (daughter of John Addison & Martha) died in Luna Valley (her birthplace) at the age of 31 and was buried in Overton.
Mar. 1921 Leo Dennis Swapp (son of Alec & Etta) born in Overton.
About 1921 Alec lost his job at the flour mill because of a blight in the wheat and the ease of transporting flour into Moapa Valley from elsewhere. He farmed a bit and helped build the highway that was coming into the area. He also helped string the first telephone line through the Valley. About this time a railroad track was built all the way down to St. Thomas.
About 1921 Kenneth (Alec & Etta's son) died at the age of 13 of rheumatic fever while on a family visit in Tropic and was buried there.
About 1921-28 John (Alec & Etta's son) joined the Marine Corp and was gone for several years to China and the Islands.
March 1922 Cornelia Elizabeth Swapp Huntsman (daughter of John Addison & Martha) died 8 days after her 30th birthday in Orem and was buried in Overton.
July 1922 John Addison Swapp (son of William & Elizabeth) died at the age of 67 and was buried in Overton.
1922 Alexander Swapp began serving in the Moapa Stake Sunday School leadership, a calling he held for many years.
Sept. 1925 Doris Swapp (daughter of Alec & Etta) born in Overton.
9 April 1928 Rosetta "Bud" Swapp (daughter of Alec & Etta) eloped to marry Moroni Josephus "Joe" Bagshaw in Las Vegas.
June 1928 Ira Vaughn Swapp (son of Alec & Etta) born in Overton.
Dec. 1928 Etta Hatch Swapp (Alec's wife) was called to the Relief Society Stake Board in the Moapa Stake.
Late 1920s THE GREAT DEPRESSION
Nov. 1931 Ether & Geneve Reiser Swapp married in the Reiser home (at 360 So. 3rd West?) in Salt Lake City.
May 1932 Ether & Geneve Reiser Swapp sealed in the St. George Temple.
Early 1930s Hoover Dam completed and Lake Mead formed, which covered up the settlement of St. Thomas, south of Overton.
Dec. 1934 Ted & Thora Swapp Hamblin married.
1935-1944 Alec & Etta and their younger children lived in Las Vegas until the Moapa Valley Creamery (on 2nd Street in Las Vegas) moved back to Overton.
About 1939 WORLD WAR II BEGAN. John (Alec & Etta's son) joined the Navy and had many experiences (where?).
Late 1938 or early 1939 Martha (Cameron) Swapp had her house wired for "the Boulder lights," as she called them. Apparently, the electricity wasn't flowing quite yet when she died, although it appears there were telephone and electric lines in Moapa Valley by 1936.
Jan. 1939 Martha Cameron Swapp (wife of John Addison) died at the age of 82, having been a widow for 16 years, and was buried in Overton.
About 1940 Wylie Swapp (Alec & Etta's son) trained as a bombardier [??] in the U.S. Air Force and flew 25 bombing missions over Germany from bases in England. He then went back to school and graduated from Brigham Young University.
About 1940 Leo Swapp (Alec & Etta's son) died at the age of about 19 in San Diego from bacterial endocarditis (which he diagnosed himself when the doctors couldn't) contracted while in the Merchant Marines, and he is buried there in the San Diego Naval Cemetery. His sisters Thora and Doris were apparently both living in San Diego at that time.
1945 WORLD WAR II
Jan. 1947 Wylie & Lois Ensign Swapp married in the Hawaii Temple.
April 1947 Lee & Doris Swapp Earl married.
23 Feb 1948
(or 13 Aug 1949)		 Katy Earl was the last Swapp to be born in Moapa Valley
(or possibly Tony Leavitt?)
1949 Alonzo Howard Huntsman (husband of Cornelia Elizabeth Swapp) died and was buried in Overton, after having been a widower for 27 years.
Dec. 1949 Alec and Etta celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with all the family at home except Wylie, who was in Samoa.
About 1950 Vaughn graduated from MVHS and volunteered later and served for 4 years in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. He almost died during an appendicitis operation in San Francisco.
Early 1950s Wylie & Lois lived and traveled for a time in Japan and other Asian countries with their young daughters.
Jan. 1952 Alexander Swapp (son of John Addison & Martha) died at the age of 74 in a Las Vegas hospital after a minor surgery and was buried in Overton. All of his children were able to attend the funeral.
Mid-1950s Wylie Swapp (Alec & Etta's son) became one of the first teachers at the Church College of Hawaii (now BYU-Hawaii) and worked there with his wife Lois for about 40 years.
May 1954 Vaughn & Aileene Graff Swapp married (where?).
1955 Etta Hatch Swapp (Alec's wife) stayed with her son Wylie in Hawaii for a while.
About 1958 In General Conference, Etta Hatch Swapp (Alec's wife) was presented with a Primary Organization Service Pin for over 40 years' work in the Primary.
1929-61 24 grandchildren of Alec & Etta born.
Jan. 1961 Elizabeth Hill Swapp sealed by proxy to her parents in the Salt Lake Temple.
April 1964 Geneve Reiser Swapp (Ether's wife) died of cancer at the age of 58 and was buried in Overton. Her daughter Nelda had just experienced the Great Alaskan Earthquake and was one of the first evacuated from Anchorage because of her mother's serious illness.
May 1966 David Cameron "Cam" Swapp (son of Alec & Etta) died at the age of 61 and was buried in Overton.
Late 1960s? Ted & Thora Swapp Hamblin spent about 10 years living in the Philippines after their children were raised while Ted worked for the U.S. Navy's repair facility at Subic Bay.
  Wave Scott Swapp (Cam's wife) died?
  Marva Perkins Swapp (John's wife) died?
  Jean Anderson Swapp (John's wife) died?
About 1968 Alex Ether Swapp married Mary King.
Dec. 1969 Alex Ether Swapp (oldest son of Alec & Etta) died of the effects of a stroke in the hospital in St. George at the age of 68 and was buried in Overton on his son Glen's 36th birthday. Nelda Swapp Messer brought her 4-year-old son Matt back to the Valley soon thereafter, and they are now the only Swapps living there.
April 1972 William Swapp sealed by proxy to his parents in the St. George Temple.
21 June 1973 Rose Etta Hatch Swapp (Alec's wife) died at the age of 90 at her daughter Doris' home in Las Vegas and was buried in Overton.
Oct. 1973 Moroni Josephus "Joe" Bagshaw (husband of Aunt Bud) died in his upper 60s and was buried in Overton.
Dec. 1974 John H. Swapp (son of Alec & Etta) died at the age of 71 and was buried in Overton.
5 June 1981 Rosetta "Bud" Swapp Bagshaw died at the age of 71 and was buried in Overton.
1951-92 About 79 great-grandchildren of Alec & Etta born.
1986-2000 About 102 great-great-grandchildren of Alec & Etta born so far.
Oct 1993 The Lee & Doris Earl home in downtown Las Vegas destroyed in a fire.
April 1994 Lee Earl (husband of Doris Swapp) died at the age of 71 in Las Vegas.
1996 Lois Ensign Swapp (wife of Wylie) died at the age of 75 in Laie, Hawaii and was buried there.
1998 Melvin Bagshaw (son of Joe & Bud Bagshaw) died at the age of 50 and was buried in Overton.
April 1999 Glen and Naureen Swapp and three of their children visited Nauvoo just one week after it was announced that the Nauvoo Temple would be rebuilt (151 years after its destruction).
June 1999 Ted Hamblin, Sr. (husband of Thora Swapp) died at the age of 89 in Las Vegas and was buried in Overton.
July 1999 Verna Bagshaw Thornton (daughter of Joe & Bud Bagshaw) died at the age of 67 (in Las Vegas?) and was buried in Overton.
March 2000 Thora Swapp Hamblin (daughter of Alec & Etta) died at the age of 85 in Las Vegas and was buried in Overton on 1 April 2000.

 

In the year 2000...
Swap(p)s have been in Scotland for at least 400 years.
They are now found in Scotland, England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Antigua, Tahiti, Canada (incl. Alberta and British Columbia), and the United States (incl. Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin)

It has been more than 300 years since our first ancestors came to America.
It has been 180 years since the first Swapp was born in the Americas.
It has been 160 years since the first Swapp joined the Mormon Church.
It has been 155 years since William & Elizabeth were married.
It has been about 148 years since William & Elizabeth arrived in Utah.
It has been 139 years since William & Elizabeth were called to Dixie.
It has been more than 92 years since John Addison & Martha first moved to Moapa Valley.
It has been 27 years since Etta passed away.
It has been about 26 years since the Messers have been the only remaining Swapps in Moapa Valley. Thank goodness their family is growing and planting roots!
Aria Messer, who lives with her family in Moapa Valley, was born 180 years after her great-great-great-great grandfather William Swapp and will be a 7th-generation Latter-day Saint.
The most recent addition to our family is Nicholas Eldon Hatch, born on 22 March 2000. He is Scott & Paula Hatch's son.


TO SEE MAPS AND PICTURES WITH SIGNIFICANCE FOR OUR FAMILY, YOU CAN GO TO THE PLACES PAGE OR CLICK ON THE LINKS ON THIS PAGE.