I am sure I have explained what I am searching for. My g g g grandfather's name was Shubael Swain. I am fairly certain that he was born in Nantucket and then moved to NYC where he worked as a ship captain from 1803 until retirement and then was Deputy Keeper of Bridewell Prison. As far as I know, his wife was Sarah Turner. When she died, he moved to Ohio to be with another son, and died there. Now, knowing that most Shubael Swains come from Nantucket, and he is definitely from Mass, I know that most were Quakers. I did not see his name in the Quaker Encyclopedia. One daughter married Isaac Leggett, a twin of Abraham Leggett, and they were Quakers, but he and she married in a Methodist Church. My brick wall is his childhood family. I know a great deal about him after he arrived in NYC, but nothing from before then. He was born about 1777 and died in 1849. The only family I can find that he fits, as far as year of birth, is Ebenezer Swain and Lydia Ellis. So many factors point to this family, but their Shubael is recorded in the Barney Collections and the William C Folger Collections as "died at sea" in 1808 - New York- with brother Valentine. Their Shubael married "Sally of NY" ( close to Sarah). So many people that lived around him were from Nantucket and even an Ebenezer Swain's family moved into his family's house and he moved to another, at one point. Died at sea is so vague. I was looking at a book on Nantucket that actually records whaling voyages and return information. Since this is supposed to have happened out of NY it would not be in this book, but the recordings are very interesting in that some are unknown as to their whereabouts when not returning. Someone found an abstract of a will for Ebenezer and Lydia, which only includes two children and two grandchildren. That would coincided with the recorded death dates ( Ebenezer Jr being the only one with no recorded death date and having married in NY). So this is my brick wall. All sorts of possibilities for many of the recorded factors. The book that the abstract came from says that the records of Nantucket wills are incomplete. The Nantucket Historical Society says the Barney Collection is dead right, and the Nantucket Vital Records warn that the information on this family, which comes from William Folger Collections, has errors and did not all take place in Nantucket. So there you have it. I will have some experts helping me, but it will be a tough wall to crack! Thanks for all of your input. I did read about the trouble the Quakers had during the Revolution, in a Nantucket book I found yesterday, but havn't read all yet. Thanks for your input- Sue Maxwell