Only grown child of Richard Swain to move to Nantucket and one of the ten purchasers of the Island.
Following the purchase of Nantucket Island by John Swain, his father and the eight other men, he moved to Nantucket from Hampton, NH about 1661. John Swain lived first near his father at the South Head on the west side of Hummock Pond. About 1684 he purchased land at Polpis on the east side of the Island where he built the house previously shown. There is a brief reference to John Swain and his relation to the Quaker movement on Nantucket when he and Stephen Hussey were reported to have attended a meeting, and even though he perhaps was a Quaker like his father, it appears that he also was disowned for lack of participation or othe reasons. He was a highway surveyor assessor taxes for four terms, assistant magistrate and was licensed to operate a fulling mill to make woolen cloth. He seems to have been a man that was mechanically inclined, having been called upon by the townspeople to assist with repair of machinery.
