Swaffords of Saquatchie Valley, Tennessee
Volume 1 Chapter V
by Ray C. Swofford
1990

“Family legend has revealed that eight Swafford brothers moved from Greenville County, South Carolina into Tennessee about 1810 and their father was believed to have been James or Peter James Swafford and their mother Rennie Howard. All these eight brothers are thought to have remained at least a while in Tennessee. Four of them, Jacob, Abraham, Aaron and Thomas settled in Bledsoe County; Isaac moved on into Kentucky; John moved on into Alabama; Paul reportedly moved on into northern Georgia but no trace or information has been located about him by that name; William lived in several Tennessee counties for a while, but he ultimately settled in Hamilton County. The biography of William Linville Swafford (1831-1900), a great grandson of James and Lennie Howard Swafford, is recorded in “Biographical Index, Goodspeed’s, The History of Tennessee,” Decatur County, page 893. The biography states that James Swafford was born in Dublin, Ireland and married Rennie Howard of Dublin, Ireland. He came to America in 1770 and served for seven years as regimental surgeon in the Revolutionary War. James and Rennie Swafford apparently had no daughters.”