John Sweeting. Origin: Old Inhabitant

The John Sweeting who was depicted on land grant maps as owning land on Long Island may have been born 1 April 1760 on Harbour Island to Thomas Sweeting Jr. and his wife Margery. Because he would have been only 19 at the time, this was unlikely the Captain John Sweeting enumerated in “The List of Prizes and Seizures” (1779) as having captured a French sloop. But as far back as the 1740 Census, there was a John Sweeting enumerated in the Bahamas, and there are also other Sweetings listed in the 1731 “Woodes Rogers” Census and the 1727 “List of Men Who Can Bear Arms.” In this instance, whether it was John Sweeting Jr. or John Sweeting Sr., and whether he was born to Thomas or Benjamin, or even John, it is clear that the Sweeting family had a long and deep history in the Bahamas. Where they originated prior to populating these islands is unknown at this time, but John Sweeting was certainly an Old Inhabitant!

Sweeting was granted 240 acres in the current settlement of Deals. His land was bounded by that of James Lane, John Ferguson, John Anderson, and the sea.

References: CO 23, DM, 1740 C, HB, JR 1727