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Who were Jonathan Swiftâs parents?
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Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift, detail of an oil painting by Charles Jervas, c. 1718; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Jonathan Swiftâs father was Jonathan Swift the elder, an Englishman who settled in Ireland following the Stuart Restoration and served as the steward of the Kingâs Inns in Dublin.12
His mother was Abigail Erick, the daughter of an English clergyman. The couple married in 1664. Jonathan Swift the elder died suddenly in the spring of 1667, prior to the birth of his son, leaving his wife to care for their baby daughter and the unborn author.12