(Susannah Swann was first married to Cornelius Dabney)

Susannah Swann, the wife of Cornelius Dabney has been an enigma and not easily explained in the Swann family.  Based on the birth dates of her children, she must have married prior to 1674.  She requires further investigation, and gaps in the historical record may make it impossible to positively identify her.  In many generologies, she is identified as the daughter of Thomas Swann and Margaret Delton.  Thomas is the son of William Swann and Judith Greene.  William had emigrated from England to America not long after Jamestown was settled, probably sometime after the year 1616, which was the year Thomas was born (whether in England or Virginia is unclear).  William Swann was a pioneer when he crossed the James River and settled Swann’s Point, five miles from Jamestown.  Several generations of Swann’s family were born, lived and died at Swann’s Point, in Surrey County, Virginia.  Since Susannah’s actual parentage is so unclear, I have not included  Thomas and William among my direct ancestors, pending clarification.

Thomas Swann and Margaret Delton’s first-born daughter, Susannah Swan, born 26 Oct 1640 and died 25 Nov 1660 without issue “Having been married to Major William Marriott eight months and twenty two days – and was buried at Swann’s Point”, according to the records available.  If this is true, she was not the wife Cornelius Dabney, although Cornelius’ wife may have been connected to this Swann family in some manner that has not been discovered.  It is thought, for example, that Thomas’ father, William, remarried in 1637 following the death of his first wife, Judith Greene, in Virginia around March 1636, although the name of his second wife is unknown at present.  However, William died the following year, leaving no record of children by his second wife.

If Susannah Swann, wife of Cornelius Dabney, was not the daughter of Thomas and Margaret, then who is she?  There is not another contemporary “Susanna Swann” that fits the known facts.  Although the surname of Swann is frequently attached to her in the historical narrative, I know of no documentary evidence to explain how that name became attached to her.  Of course, the absence of facts invites speculation, which leads to an alternative theory, which will probably never be proven or disproven:

At the time that Cornelius Dabney was married to Eedith, he know that he became the interpreter and close companion of Cockacoeske, Queen of the Pamunkey Indians, and widow of Chief Totopotomoi, a grandson of one of the sisters of Chief Powhatan, the father of Pocahontas.  Because of Cornelius Dabney‘s close association with Queen Cocacoeske, it may be that he received a woman of the Queen’s family to wed after the death of his first wife, Eedith.  According to some family traditions, Cornelius Dabney‘s second wife, Susanna, is considered to have been of the family of Chief Totopotomoi and Cockacoeske.  This is plausible and supported indirectly by a persistent family tradition among the Dabneys of Indian descent.  If it is true, Susanna was most likely a granddaughter of Chief Totopotomoi and Queen Cockacoeske (perhaps by an English father), or possibly even a daughter, making Totpotmoi and Cockacoeske our direct ancestors (either 10th or 11th grandparents).  For this reason, I have included an article on these Indian leaders under “Notable Kin”, even though the relationship has not been proved and probably never will be.

( http://hylbom.com/family/notable-kin/notable-kin-s-to-v/totopotomoi-and-cockacoeske/)

The following is an excerpt from wikitree on this theory:

Another, more speculative but nonetheless intriguing, history has circulated in the Dabney family for generations. It claims that Susanna Swann was, in fact, a full or partial Native American. Some versions say she was the illegitimate daughter of Thomas Swann by a daughter of Algonquin chief Totopotomoi and his wife Cockacoeske, sister of the united clan chief, Powhatan. Other versions say she was a full-blood Algonquin, a grand-daughter of Chief Totopotomoi & wife Cockascoeske, that was "adopted" by Col. Thomas Swann after both her parents died, shortly after her birth.

(Col. Thomas Swann was widowed 4 times and married 5 times during his 64 year life span (1616-1680). He was an influential man in 17th Century Virginia both economically and politically. He also had close ties with the local Native Americans, serving as the official English translator for the Pamunkey Algonquin tribe.)

Some of these legends also indicate that she was not born in 1643 but around 1664 and that Cornelius Dabney was her first husband, married when she was about 18 years old. This would mean that Susanna had her children in her 20s (not 40s) and she was only 34 when her last child, David Anderson, was born (and not 55). [4]

Frank S. Crosswhite has said this of "Susannah Swann":[5]

-https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Swann-336

ww.wgrogan.net/data/nti11702.html

The David Anderson family of Stafford Co., VA had close ties with the family of John West of Stafford, reputed son of Queen Cockacoeske, a Pumunkey Indian, the possible mother or grandmother of his wife Susannah Swann.
VA land patents
1702 David Anderson adj. William Andrews at Pamunkey Neck.
**
The Quit Rents of Virginia, 1704, by Annie Laurie Wright Smith, Virginia State Archives; 1957.

Anderson, Robert New Kent County 700 acres
Anderson, Robert New Kent County 900 acres
Anderson, David New Kent County 300 acres
Anderson, John New Kent County 100 acres
Anderson, John New Kent County 100 acres
Anderson, Richard New Kent County 200 acres

This is David and his father and brothers and uncle John
**
St. Paul's Parish Vestry
1 Oct 1707 - Pursuant to an order of the court dated July 28, 1707, appointing Mr. David Anderson & Samuel Waddy to clear the Pamonkey River on the south side thereof from Piping Tree to Hardings Landing, formerly Youels, they applying themselves to this vestry for assistance with instruments or materials to comply with the order of the court. This vestry has thought that this parish is not able to comply with that order.

Piping Tree is along the Pamunkey River in the northeast corner of the bend that occurs just above the border between current New Kent County and Hanover County. It is downstream from Totoppotomeys Creek. This bend sticks into KIng WIlliam County and suggests the reason so many records of this family reference a residence of King WIlliam County.

The St. Paul's parish vestry book survived from 1706 to the 1780's and there are precessionings in 1708 and 1711 and so on. Robert Anderson. Sr, and Robert Anderson Jr. and Richard, David, John, Matthew and Thomas Anderson all appear in the 1708 precincts list all of them near each other between Crumps Creek and Tottopotomies Creek and Mechumps Creek to the north of current Mechanicsville, Virginia

1708/9 David Anderson precessioner St. Paul's Parish Vestry Book
1711 David Anderson precessioner St. Paul's Parish Vestry Book
26 Oct 1713 - David Anderson & Samuel Waddy again applied for assistance & were turned down.
1715 David Anderson precessioner St. Paul's Parish Vestry Book
15 Oct 1715 - David Anderson (without Samuel Waddy) again applied and was turned down.

David Anderson
06/16/1714 90 acres King William County
VA land patents book 10/ page 127
upper side of mouth of Woodyard Creek or Swamp on Pamunkey River.

VA land patents
1714 David Anderson adj. Thomas Devenport, St. John's Parish
1715 David Anderson adj. William Terrill

This David is not traced well and one reason may be that he crossed to the North side of the Pamunkey River and had land in both New Kent/Hanover and King William County. A further examination of King William Records might provide further information on him.

1. William Pope Anderson, Anderson Family Records, (W. F. Schaeffer & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio; 1936).
2. William Pope Anderson, Anderson - Overton, A Continuation of Anderson Family Records (1936) & Early Descendants of William Overton & Elizabeth Waters of Virginia & Allied Fa, (Cincinnati, Ohio; 1945.).
3. C. G. Chamberlayne, The Vestry Book of St. Paul's Parish, Hanover County, Virginia 1706-1786, (Clearfield Company, Inc.; Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, Maryland 1999).

Also, from http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=42781373

Cornelius DABNEY was married to Edith he became the interpreter and close companion of Cockacoeske, Queen of the Pamunkey Indians, and widow of Chief Totopotomoi, a grandson of one of the two sisters of Chief Powhatan, father of Pocahontas. Cornelius Dabney's second wife, Susanna, is considered by many to have been of the family of Chief Totopotomoi and Cockacoeske. Queen Cockacoeske had an illegitimate son, Capt. John West, by John West, son of Gov. John West of Va. Capt. John West was with his mother, Cockacoeske, and Cornelius Dabney in the late 1670s when the famous Treaty of Middle Plantation was signed by the various leaders of the tribes under Queen Cockacoeske. 

In 1679 the Pamunkey Indians leased for 99 years "six or seven hundred acres" to Cornelius Dabney (English Duplicates of Lost Virginia Records, compiled by Louis des Cognets, Jr., p. 58). In Sainsbury's Abstracts of Colonial State Papers, in the Public Records Office in London, there are two letters from Cornelius Dabney, the "Interpreter to the Queen of Pamunkey." The first is a state letter from the Queen of the Pamunkeys translated by Cornelius Dabney in his official capacity and transmitted to Colonel Francis Moryson of the Royal Commission of Virginia. The second is a personal letter to Colonel Moryson, dated Virginia, Jun ye 29th, 1678, in which Cornelius Dabney concluded: "...Sr. my wife Eedeth has her humble service p'sented unto y' Hono'. (she) would gladly send y' one of her Boyes a yeare or two hence. My humble service to y' Hono'. I am: Sr: y' Hono's most humble servant in all obedience. Cornelius Dabney." (Charles William Dabney, "The Origin of the Dabney Family of Virginia," Va. Mag. of History and Biography, April 1937, Vol. 45, No. 2, p. 134).

Cornelius was the interpreter for Queen Cockacoeske of the Pamunkey Indians from Virginia, who was the daughter of Chief Opechancanough whom was the brother of Chief Powhatan. Chief Opechancanough was a brilliant tactician and War Chief. On a raid in 1622 that was comprised of an assault front that was no less than 140 miles in length. His warriors killed over 350 colonists and destroyed the towns' ironworks. This was so effective in hindering the colonists that there were no further raids until 1644. He could have easily wiped out the remaining colonists at Jamestown, however his goal was to curtail the encroachment of the settlers on his hunting grounds that were needed to feed his people. 
This treaty was ratified in the year 1677 and was signed by Queen Cockacoeske who was known as the Weroansqua. An excellent website complete with historical art and pictures that explores the history of the Powhatan Confederacy and associated tribes may be found at The Mariners Museum.