[1][2] Born to early immigrant William Swann (1586-1638) and his first wife Judith (1589-1636),[3] across the James River from Jamestown, Thomas received a private education appropriate to his class.
[14] The following year, 1659, Swann was appointed to the upper house of the assembly, sometimes known as the Virginia Council of State, and remained in that office (despite being unseated briefly after Bacon's Rebellion as discussed below) until his death.
[15] One of the petitions that foreshadowed Bacon's Rebellion was signed at the Lawne's Creek parish church on December 12, 1673, for which Mathew Swann was convicted by the General Court on April 6, 1674, but had his 2000 pounds of tobacco fine remitted by Governor Berkeley on September 23, 1674.
[17][18] When Bacon's Rebellion began in 1676 (following a Native American raid in 1675), Swann attempted to set a moderate course, never breaking openly with Governor William Berkeley, who underestimated the situation's seriousness.
However, the Surry County court did send provisions to the rebels, despite the objection of 24-year old Arthur Allen II, heir to what later known as Bacon's Castle and future speaker of the House of burgesses.
[20] Swann also was among the 69 prominent men who signed orders Bacon issued in August 1676,[21] and was present when the rebels burned Jamestown in September, but not his plantation.
[23] In addition to his brother Mathew's involvement with the rebels, his son Samuel's wife Sarah was a daughter of William Drummond, a former indentured servant and favorite of Governor Berkeley who became one of Bacon's lieutenants and who would eventually be executed for his part in the rebellion.
After Bacon died of illness that fall, on February 10, 1677, Governor Berkeley finally issued an amnesty proclamation recommended by royal authorities the previous October, and Thomas Swann was one of those listed as exempted from the king's pardon.
In one lawsuit, a bricklayer claimed he had paid part of his debt to Swnn in tobacco, as well as worked for Swann at Jamestown, which one historian believes might have involved the brick building which replaced the burned tavern.
The following year, Samuel Swann and his stepmother sued Jamestown tavernkeeper John Everett for back rent, but he claimed a deduction for room and board accorded the decedent.
[4] His son and principle heir, Samuel Swann, had difficulties with at least one of the several Virginia governors in the late 17th century, and tobacco cultivation also may have made the property less fertile.