Hester Weare Swett

Biography

Hester Weare married Benjamin Swett at Newbury, on the northeastern Massachusetts coast, on November 1, 1647. Their family began with Esther in 1648 and Sarah in 1650. A daughter Mary died in infancy; a later daughter received the same name. Around 1662 or 1663 Hester moved with her family to Hampton, on the coast of present-day New Hampshire, where the younger children were born. The published family entry records eleven children altogether.

Benjamin's death at Black Point, in what is now Scarborough on the southern Maine coast, in June 1677 left Hester a widow with children ranging from adults to a three-year-old. Before his departure, he had asked that she receive a double portion of his estate if he did not return. The subsequent estate settlement honored that wish, giving Hester twice her portion.

On March 31, 1678 she married Ensign Stephen Greenleaf of Newbury. She lived for another four decades, dying at Hampton on January 16, 1718, reportedly aged eighty-nine. Her daughter Sarah Hobbs had died the preceding December.

Her name also appears as Esther Weare.