Notes for William W McSwain: William W McSwain, born in North Carolina, is found in Tennessee in the 1870 census.
1870 Federal Census, Giles County, Tennessee, 15 August, Pulaski, Civil District 4, Enumeration District page 41, Hse/Fam #306 McSwain, Phelp 21 M W Farmer NC McSwain, Catheron 52 F W Keep House NC McSwain, Login 18 M W Farm Labor NC McSwain, George 17 M W Farm Labor NC McSwain, Nancy 15 F W NC McSwain, William 12 M W Farm Labor NC McSwain, James 10 M W Farm Labor NC
He is there with his widowed mother and other brothers, except Francis, who has already moved on with some other McSwains from North Carolina to Ethel, Arkansas, where we will find William and his mother and brothers in 1880.
William W McSwain is reported as William in the 1880 Arkansas County, Arkansas, census: 1880 Federal Census, 10 June, Arkansas County, Arkansas, Prairie Township, District ?, page 16, Hse #109, Family #112 William McSwain W M 23 Head-Farmer NC NC NC Sarah McSwain W F 23 Wife Hsekeep Ark Tenn Tenn Albert McSwain W M 7mos born Nov 1879 Son Ark NC Ark
His gravestone has only the initials W W. In Mt Pleasant Cemetery, Ethel, Arkansas, there is one gravestone for three people, WW, Sarah and their son Albert. There is a range of dates, rather than discrete information on each person. The second date is faded. It seems to read "1895 to 1904."
The date 1895 must be the date Albert died, since William and Sarah's second son was born in 1896. Neither Sarah nor William show up in the 1900 census. Since the range of dates ends in 1904, at least one of the parents lived till then. It is likely that William died before the census, since his household is not reported in the census.
Jerry Gallagher provides information on this family. Researcher Paul Sarrett has information on earlier generations of McSwains in North Carolina, where William and his family came from. I reference them in some information.
Before making a connection with any McSwains in North Carolina, I had determined that William was a brother of the other two McSwains that show up for the first time in the 1880 Arkansas County census. Katy, a window age 60, seemed to be the mother of three young men who apparently moved with her to Arkansas. These were William, Phillip K, George and J L, later determined to be Julus L[ogan] reported in earlier North Carolina censuses.
When I found the Cleveland County, North Carolina, censuses or 1850 and 1860, this was confirmed. I also found later about the young brother Francis moving early to Arkansas. He is already in Prairie Township, Arkansas County, near Ethel, which becomes the new home of the McSwain clan.
A Judith N McSwain also moved to Arkansas, with her husband Edwin Padgett, to Ethel, and in later life to Ward in Lonoke County, over a hundred miles to the northwest. I suspected Judith's family were kin to this Arkansas family of McSwain pioneers, but could not confirm it till months later I had finally located Katy and her husband George quite some time later in the NC census. Judith was a second cousin of George and Catherine's children.
A grandson of Phillip named Lester was also reported in 1900, and I later made contact with Lester's grandson, who indicated that Lester's mother was a daughter of Philip who died in childbirth, of whom we have no clear record. (See discussion on Cyrus Lester and Phillip's daughter Maggie E.)
More About William W McSwain: Burial: 1895, Mt Pleasant Cemetery, Ethel, Arkansas.8043
More About William W McSwain and Sarah Ann Isabella Lowe: Marriage: Abt. 1876, Arkansas County, Akansas.8044
Children of William W McSwain and Sarah Ann Isabella Lowe are:
William W McSwain (b. 1857, d. 1895)
Notes for William W McSwain: