In all the New World there is no more beautiful story than that of Robert Lamborn and Sarah Swayne. Not only beautiful but unbelievable. As they say. "truth is stranger than fiction". Robert Lamborn and Sarah Swayne are my gggg grandparents and they come down my mother's line through the EDWARDs and PRILL's. Before listing the complete genealogy the love story of Robert and Sarah is recounted. One note before going farther, Robert Lamborn was Church of England and Sarah Swayne was Quaker. This difference in religion undoubtedly had much to do with both families taking a dim view of the budding romance. This was a time when the Quaker's were persecuted by the crown which of course was Church of England. The Swayne family were beneficiaries of William Penn who provided the Quaker's a home in the New World. In the final analysis, Robert Lamborn becomes a committed Quaker. Without further ado here is the story:

Robert Lamborn and Sarah Swayne
Notes : All of the following notes come from Source
Rita Turegano rita943@yahoo.com from www.rootsweb.com updated 14 July 2003
Robert was Episcopalian Emigrated to America 1713 ? Note: Genealogy of the Lamborn Family by Samuel Lamborn, p. 55 (call # R929.2 L22, 1894) also pp. 269-271 Robert Lamborn was born in East Hempstead, Berkshire, England in the year 1697. He was the son of Joshua Lamborn, born about 1659, who had also five other children, named Thomas, Sarah, Maria, John and William. He appears by the old English records to have been born of Episcopalian parents, as the baptismal records in East Hempstead show. We have no definite information of his school days or of his occupation in England. Evidently he was susceptible to parental restraint, and of an impressible nature. At the age of seventeen he formed an attachment for an estimable young lady named Sarah Swayne, a daughter of Francis Swaine of Berkshire. This attachment was not encouraged by the parents of either , and all attempts to subdue their tender passion only intensified it. With dismay he heard of the intention of the Swaine family to leave England and settle in America, which they did in 1711. Robert didn't know in what part of the new world his love had gone, so he was debarred from even the pleasure of an occasional letter. Their separation did not weaken the affection of these young hearts; and Robert, resolved to find his love, determined that old ocean should not do what parental veto, time and distance could not do. With this determination in mind he sought from his parents their consent to his going to America. After many tears and admonitions, farewell was said forever to loved ones, and Robert set sail for America to find a new life and an old love. He arrived in America in 1713, found his way through the forests of Pennsylvania on a favored day. He was overjoyed to see Francis Swayne enter a store in that city. With much trepidation as to how Mr. Swayne would receive him, he awaited his exit from the store. To his great joy, Francis Swayne showed himself glad to see his old friend, and invited him to his home in the vicinity of what is now London Grove, saying, "I have only one horse, but we will ride and hitch." Robert would gladly have walked had it been a thousand miles. One rode the horse a few miles and hitched the horse some distance ahead of the walking traveler, who on coming up to the horse, would ride until he had passed the other, when he would also hitch the horse and walk until passed again, thus giving both horse and riders an occasional rest; and each hitch bringing the young lover nearer to his dear girl, who was all unconscious of the coming meeting. The old gentleman managed the hitches so that he had the last ride, and getting to the house first sent Sarah out to meet Robert. Thus, a most delightful and romantic reunion was affected. The opposition of her parents was withdrawn, as by this time they were further removed from the cause of their objections, that being their youth. They were soon afterward married by Friends ceremony, and Robert adopted the forms of that society, and found its ordinances delightful. This occurred in the house of John Baily near the old hotel (formerly called Worth's Tavern). From this romantic, and chivalrous union began the line of the numerous Lamborns in America. Rita's note: After reading and typing this, I would believe that not only their youth but the religious differences back in England might have caused part of the problem. If Robert was baptized as an Episcopalian and the Sawaines were Quakers, the Swaines wouldn't have let Sarah marry out of the Quaker religion.

Generation 1: Josiah LAMBORN
Birth 1659 in Hampstead, England, United Kingdom
Death 12/12/1749 in East Hampstead, Berkshire, , England
Married to:Ann BERKSHIRE
Birth 1661 in East Hampstead, Berkshire, England
Death 11 Aug 1722 in East Hampstead, Berkshire, England
Issue of Josiah and Ann:
Thomas Lamborn
1689 ? 1761
Mariah Lamborn
1693 ?
Robert Lamborn
1697 ? 1775
John Lamborn
1702 ? 1775
William Lamborn
1705 ?
Sarah Lamborn
1707 ? 1774

Generation 2: Robert LAMBORN
Birth 1697 in , Berkshire, , England
Death 22 Nov 1775 in London Grove, Chester, Pennsylvania, United States
Married to: Sarah SWAYNE
Birth 26 Aug 1700 in East Hampstead, Berkshire, , England
Death 31 Dec 1776 in London Grove, Chester, Pennsylvania, United States
Issue of Robert and Sarah:
Elizabeth Lamborn
1685 ? 1790
Robert Lamborn
1723 ? 1781
William Lamborn
1725 ? 1808
Ann Lamborn
1728 ? 1775
Francis Lamborn
1733 ? 1818
Josiah Lamborn
1738 ? 1818
Thomas Lamborn
1738 ? 1812
Sarah Lamborn
1741 ? 1800

Generation 3: Thomas LAMBORN
Birth 19 Mar 1738 in London Grove, Chester, Pennsylvania, United States
Death 25 Dec 1812 in Chester, Pennsylvania, United States
Married to: Dinah CARSON
Birth 21 Apr 1744 in Wilmington, New Castle, Delaware, United States
Death 15 Apr 1807 in Chester, Pennsylvania, United States
Issue of Thomas and Dinah:
Richard Lamborn
1764 ? 1844
Parmenus Lamborn
1766 ? 1854
Levi Lamborn
1769 ? 1840
Isaac Lamborn
1772 ? 1773
Thomas Lamborn
1774 ? 1843
Miriam Carson Lamborn
1776 ? 1831
Jonathon Lamborn
1778 ? 1856
Ezra Lamborn
1786 ? 1844
Jacob Lamborn
1789 ? 1854

Generation 4: Ezra LAMBORN
Birth Jul 7 1786 in Wilmington, Ohio, USA
Death Oct 17 1844 in Champaign, Ohio, United States
Married to: Elizabeth BAILY
Birth Mar 22 1795 in Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA
Death Sep 11 1846 in Champaign, Ohio, United States
Issue of Ezra and Elizabeth:
Sarah Lamborn
1816 ? 1816
Margaretta Lamborn
1817 ?
Marshall B Lamborn
1819 ? 1852
Rebecca Pearce Lamborn
1822 ? 1903
Nathan Lamborn
1824 ?
Ezekiel Lamborn
1828 ?
Elizabeth Ann Lamborn
1832 ? 1842

Generation 5: Rebecca Pearce LAMBORN
Birth Jan 18 1822 in New Castle, Lawrence, Pennsylvania, United States
Death 13 Jul 1903 in Pueblo, Pueblo, Colorado, United States
Married: David Hale EDWARDS
Birth Sep 13 1815 in Marietta, Ohio, USA
Death Jun 19 1888 in Belle Plaine, Benton, Iowa, United States
Issue of Rebecca and David:
Mary Elizabeth Edwards
1841 ? 1845
Fidelia Adelaide Edwards
1843 ?
Ezra L Edwards
1847 ? 1847
David Hale Edwards
1848 ? 1849
Margaretta "Rhettie" Edwards
1852 ? 1942
Hamilton Bell Edwards
1857 ? 1937
Mary Evalyn Edwards
1858 ? 1950

Letter from Rebecca Pearce Lamborn dated April 5 1888, Belle Plaine , Benton County Iowa
Reply
DALE MCKINNON to Sue, Diane
show details 5/5/10
After the lapse of almost thirty three years will endeavor as far as memory will permit to give a sketch of our pioneer journey to this state in the year 1855. In the sixth month of the same year David left to make a prospecting tour west; tarried a while in Illinois , to view the country, passed farther west, crossed the Father of Waters into Iowa one hundred miles west of the Mississippi River;there he set his stakes, purchased some hundred acres of land, knowing or thinking that in the near future the county seat would be removed to the centre of the county: as Bradford on the Big Cedar River was in the extreme southwest corner of the county, a beautiful location and town of fifteen or twenty thousand inhabitants, he soon erected a small board house. He started his homeward trip, part of the time on horseback; left a man, who with his family was living in their wagon, to put a door and two windows in, and batten it up some, gave him the privilege of staying in it, and pay him till our arrival in the coming fall: but he stayed as long as he wished, bought him a farm two or three miles away, and left the little house just as it was. In the ninth month we left home and th dear ones with my three little girls, Deby, or Fidelia, Katie, died at twenty five; left her babe , Edwards Rowen, with us. He died at seven years, and Rettie, or Margaretta, not quite three years old, burying my little boy in Friends graveyard by the side of his little brothers, sisters and my dear parents.

We wended our way o'er hills and glens, prairies wide, streams amd rivers, many times deep and wide, (having a covered wagon and a carriage), after thirty-five days of weary traveling, both worn and tired, and on the last day of the Tenth month drove up to the little board-house expecting to see a door and windows, David jumped out raised his quilt and said "ho, ho:! Hard at it:" The reply was "Hurrah: Are you the man who owns this ranch."" David answered I guess I am." But there was little show for us poor tired mortals. There were seventeen in number, counting a mother, who lay in bed with an infant a few days old. The man in David's absence had brought on a steam saw mill and had gone in the little house with his work hands; also after he was after us, there had been a log house put up close by to entertain land viewers, speculators and so on. We got out and went in. We sat down to some cold fried potatoes, cold fat meat and muddy coffee, unpacked our beds, laid them on the dirty floor of the kitchen, (being but two apartments, the one above entered by a ladder), and laid our tired bodies down to rest as well as we could. Oh: how the thoughts of home and dear ones would many rimes swell my bosom to overflowing.

In about a week they had saved lumber and made a temporary place to go into. A number of families had come oin, some in hay shanties, some in board shanties. Went to my home, though poor indeed, but felt very thankful to get there" ad no washing done in the last thirty-five days we were on the road, nor did I get any done until I got in my hut.

In about a week after we got in, David returned to McGregor, one hundred miles on the Mississippi, to get provisions, also to take his nephew, David Edwards, a lad of eighteen years, to return to Ohio. He came to drive and stay till he was twenty one, and then David was to give him an acre of land; but he was sick with the Ohio agne most of the way, which made it very hard for me to drive: he could sit up but little on the way, and he was homesick too.

A few days after David started back, being so cold I took my little girls into the log tavern to warm, for we would be near freezing--the thermometer down to 28 and 30 below zero, but quite comfortable in the loghouse; and while there a woman named Lydia Shaw came in crying. She fad four children. I said to her "I am alone with my children' no door, nor windows, nor upper floor, and a loose lower one; can see out between the boards:but, dear strange woman, thee is welcome to come and share with me my hardship, if any better than what thee has got." her husband worked in the sawmill. So through the blizzard snowstorm he brought their beds , laid them down by the side of mine, I lying on the outer side, my three girls next, her four children next, then Lydia, next her husband. The quilts at the door and two windows would tear at the nails as fast as nailed down. My sufferings I could not describe. But daylight dawned on us once more. The landlady (Jarred) an angel of mercy, came to my relief: she was a mother to me in distress and suffering. She put hot blankets out of hot water, did all she could. I was perfectly cold, inside and out.

After David's absence of ten days, as he was storm-staid by a snow blizzard, wading rivers and streams, (as there were no bridges at that time, or but very few near the river), and breaking through the ice sometimes, but got home to find me near death's door with inflammation of the bowels: but that eye that neither slumbers nor sleeps cared for me, and raised me to journey on a few more months and years the rugged path of life. After Christmas we procured a door, two windows and boards to put overhead. We had a loose floor below , but nothing to batten the cracks, not even rags: got some poles to make bedsteads. The length of the bedsteads was the width of the shanty: and many a morning my little girls were banked over with snow, and froze their ears and noses different times in bed: the snow in the house would fill our stove, but David would get up and dress in the snow , shovel off the snow, and start a fire. He bought two fat hogs of the landlord at an exorbitant price, but having no warm place nor bedding, one froze to death and the other would also, but he skinned it. We would chop it off with an axe, sit around the stove or stand , and cook and eat it with pancakes made of flour and or meal and water, as we had no milk, nor could we raise bread or keep yeast. But spring once nmore came, and our hearts were made glad indeed, for I felt like a stranger in a strange land; but that same kind Being who was mighty and strong to save was in this same part of the world, and ready, yes ever willing to extend a helping hand.

David went to work and got help as the prairies were growing white with covered wagons in all directions-- so great was the immigration. They blasted boulders scattered over the prairies, walled a cellar, handed lumber a great way and built a large house; he had a town laid out , sold one lot and gave one, and by the next fall the county books were moved from Bradford to our town, New Hampton. The large safe, books, officers, and all went into our large front room; so I had them and the public to entertain till a court house and hotel could be built. Here my only son (living) Haurie or Hamilton, was born the 7th of ninth month, 1857, and Mary in 1858, while court was in session, but no doctor near.

In a year court house, hotel and many buildings went up like magic. I forgot to say in the beginning the next spring after we arrived, David ordered a Little Giant Corn Mill to accommodate the settlers, and we have counted fourteen teams at a time. Killed their own meat and game, as some had no money after getting homes. We have had seven nice fat deers at a time in our cellar; but things do not last long so; deer, turkeys and elk in three or four years left.

After seeing our town a large city for fouteen years with all modern improvements, two railroads, moved ten miles west to chickasaw in the same county; bought a large and flourishing sawmill, and a farm; on it was 40 acres of as beautiful sugar maple grove of large size as I ever saw: he started an apiary. There my Katie was married , and in three years she was laid in the Chichasaw graveyard. She was with us sixteen weeks before she died; she was twenty five years old. Margaretta married in Chickasaw , only seventeen.

David bought a flouring mill, new mill and buildings, nice orchard and surroundings; but his health began to break We concluded to collect all we had together after staying one year, and go back to Ohio, then settle down quietly and put Haurie and Mary in school. But one year found us back to Iowa for Haurie and Mary, also Lewis and Rettie Button, were so homesick, we just had to leave, and left Deby and Frank Coe there.

Now will close, thinking , dear cousins, you will weary in trying to read this. I have been spared these many years; thankful I feel, though sometimes my path has been rough and uneven: winters cold and stormy, tossed around earth's shores, but with all, thanks my Heavenly Father for his tender mercies and loving kindness. Have been spared to see my children (those left to me) raised and married, and seventeen grandchildrn out of twenty-five, and one great grandchild-Little Ralph Clark, living in Pueblo, Colorado, (Deby's third daugter's child)

Generation 6: Mary Evalyn EDWARDS
Birth Nov 1 1858 in Iowa
Death 05 Jan 1950 in Lebanon, Oregon, USA
Married to: Theodore Fred PRILL
Birth Jul 10 1850 in Dayton Ohio, USA
Death Jan 1 1941 in Casper, Wyoming, USA
Issue of Mary and Theodore:
Lewis Merton Prill
1882 ? 1970
Margaretta Lula Prill
1887 ? 1982
Charles Otis Prill
1894 ? 1954
Mamie Veda Prill
1901 ? 1998
Fred Laverne Prill
1904 ? 1960

Generation 7: Mamie Veda PRILL
Birth Jan 26 1901 in Belle Plaine, Iowa, USA
Death Jun 12 1998 in Corvallis, Oregon, USA
Married to: Clarence Roy MCKINNON
Birth Jul 30 1889 in Coffee Pot, Oregon, USA
Death Nov 25 1959 in Carlton Yamhill Oregon USA