Gabriel Washburn MCSWAIN Hamilton A MCSWAIN Caleb Orr MCSWAIN Jane L M MCSWAIN Hannah Josephine MCSWAIN Charles Douglas MCSWAIN Margaret Lewis Lula GREY Lucy JONES Lucius H MCSWAIN Elizabeth L FLOW Mini tree diagram
Charles Douglas MCSWAIN

Charles Douglas MCSWAIN1,2,3,4,5,8,6

24th Sep 18501,2,3,4,5,6 - 1st Oct 19178,7

Little Rock Conference, Minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church South6

Life History

24th Sep 1850

Born in Marshall County, Mississippi.1,2,3,4,5,6

between 1871 and 1898

Occupation Little Rock Conference, Minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church South in Arkansas.6

1888

Death of Lucy JONES in Emmet, Nevada, Arkansas.6

2nd Apr 1891

Married Margaret Lewis Lula GREY in Lonoke County, Arkansas.1

7th Jul 1892

Birth of son Charles Douglas MCSWAIN in Richmond, Little River, Arkansas.4,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16

1st Oct 1917

Died in Emmet, Nevada, Arkansas.8,7

after 1st Oct 1917

Buried in Snell Cemetery, Emmet, Nevada, Arkansas.7

Other facts

 

Married Lucy JONES

Notes

  • 1860 Federal Census, Columbia County, Arkansas, 18 August, Alabama Township, p 5, PO Falcon, Hse #31, Fam #32
    G W McSwain 43 M Farmer $2000 Real Estate $1500 Personal b North Carolina [born abt 1817]
    Elizabeth McSwain 40 F North Carolina [born abt 1820]
    Charles D McSwain 9 M Mississippi [born abt 1851]

    1870 Federal Census, Columbia County, Arkansas, 8 July, Alabama Township, p 4, PO Falcon, Hse/Fam #32
    McSwain, Gabriel  53 M Teacher $600 Real Estate $500 Personal b North Carolina [born abt 1817]
    McSwain, Elizabeth 50 F North Carolina [born abt 1820]
    McSwain, Charles G 25 M W Mississippi [born abt 1845]

    Between 1871 and 1898, Charles was a Minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church South, associated with the Little Rock, Arkansas, Conference of the Chuirch.

    "In 1871, he was licensed to preach and entered the Little Rock Conference where he served as a Methodist minister in various locales for twenty-seven years"
    --  Emmet United Methodist Church, Emmet, Nevada County [Arkansas]" - Location: http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/historic-properties/_search_nomination_popup.aspx?id=2486

    Charles' first wife was Lucy Jones, who died in 1888.

    In 1891, Charles married Lula Grey Trotter.  Her residence is reported as Drew County, Arkansas, in the south of the state, while his is Arkansas County.  But they were married in the center of the state in Lonoke County, east of Little Rock.

    Arkansas, County Marriages Index, 1837-1957
    C D McSwain
    Gender Male
    Age 40, Birth Year abt 1851
    Residence Arkansas County, Arkansas
    Spouse Lula Trotter
    Spouse's Age 36
    Spouse's Residence Drew County, Arkansas
    Marriage 2 Apr 1891 Lonoke County
    Marriage License Date 10 Mar 1891

    This was the second marriage for both.  This report of residence in Arkansas County provides a tie to the McSwains in that county, the primary early area of immigration into Arkansas from the east.  Douglas' father Gabriel Washburn McSwain arrived from Carolina via Mississippi, where Douglas and other children were born.  Others had come earlier through Tennessee from North Carolina.

    1900 Federal Census, Nevada County, Arkansas, 27 June, Emmet, District 78, page 20A, Hse #342, Fam #345
    McSwain, Charles D Head  W M Sept 1850 50 Married 13 yrs MS NC NC Minister of the Gospel [Ownership not indicated]
    McSwain, Lula Wife W F Nov 1852 47 Married 13 yrs 1 child/1 living AR TN VA
    McSwain, Charles D   Son W M July 1892 28  Single AR MS AR
    Trotter, Junnie Step-Daughter W F Aug 1879 20 Single AR TN AR

    Note that Lula is reported to have borne only 1 child.  Yet her two children are both enumerated in this household.  The report indicates there is only one child of this marriage, though usually all children of the mother from all marriages are reported in this field of the census.  Living next door is Charles' sister Josephine and her husband Robert R Garland.

    1910 Federal Census, Nevada County, Arkansas, 16 April, Emmet, District 101, page 1B,  Lansburg Rd, Hse/Fam #14
    McSwain, Charles D Head  M W  59  2nd marriage Married 19 years  MS NC NC Bank Cashier Owns
    McSwain, Lula  Wife F W 57 2nd marriage Married 19 yrs 1 child/1 living AR VA VA
    McSwain, Charles D Son M W 2  OK TN TN
    Garland, Thomas L Son-in-Law M W 31 [no length of marriage rptd] AR TN MS Merchant, Gen Store
    Garland, Junie T Wife (of Son-in-Law) F W 30 [no length of marriage rptd] AR TN AR [b abt 1880]

    ----------------------------------
    Arkansas Historic Preservation Program
    Emmet United Methodist Church, Emmet, Nevada County

    (p2)
    The Emmet Church records for 1914 indicate that the Emmet Church had a need for Sunday School rooms. The church had a Bible Class for adults taught by C. D. McSwain, a former Methodist minister and leading member of the church, five other Sunday School classes, a ``Card Class´´ and an Infant Class [Emmet Sunday School Records, Emmet Methodist Church File, Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives, Washington, Arkansas].  With an active Sunday School program, this design would have appealed to the Emmet Church though its popularity was waning nationally.

    (p3)
    McSwain

    A leading figure in the Emmet Church in the early twentieth century and one who may have led the way in the construction of the present church was Rev. C. D. McSwain. Born in Marshall County,  Mississippi, in 1850, McSwain came to Falcon, then in Columbia County and now in Nevada County, with his parents G. W. and Elizabeth McSwain in 1859. Raised in a Methodist home, he converted in 1866 and joined the Falcon Church. In 1871, he was licensed to preach and entered the Little Rock Conference where he served as a Methodist minister in various locales for twenty-seven years. Having requested a supernumerary relation to the church, McSwain moved to Emmet in 1898. [``Preacher who was partially or temporarily disabled by personal affliction or hardship of some kind and thus unable to do the work of active ministry.´´  See Nancy Britton, Two Centuries of Methodism in Arkansas, 1800-2000 (Little Rock, Arkansas:  August House Publishers, Inc., 2000), 314.]

    This request was probably prompted by a series of deaths in C. D. McSwain´s family. Other members of the McSwain family had moved to Emmet earlier. His brother Caleb Orr McSwain had died there in 1883, leaving a family. C. D. McSwain´s first wife Lucy Jones had died in 1888 after a brief two-year marriage, leaving an infant daughter who lived less than three weeks. His father G. W. McSwain died at Emmet in February 1889. A younger brother Lucious H. McSwain also died at Emmet in July 1898, leaving a family. His mother Elizabeth McSwain, then almost eighty, died there in August 1899.

    All are buried in the Snell Cemetery. In 1891, McSwain had married Mrs. Lula Trotter at Monticello, Arkansas. His second wife had a daughter Junie Trotter from her previous marriage. A special life-long relationship between this step-daughter and step-father developed. McSwain and his second wife also had a son, C. D. McSwain, Jr. [James A. Anderson, Centennial History of Arkansas Methodism:  A History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, In the State of Arkansas, 1815-1935 (Benton, Arkansas:  L. B. White Printing Co., 1935), 236.]

    Though functioning as an assistant minister at the Emmet Methodist Church, McSwain also entered business. [Emmet Church Records.  McSwain is listed as assistant minister in 1901.  He also taught a Bible Class for adults]

    He became the cashier of the Emmet office of the Bank of Prescott and was a large stockholder in the bank and in the Emmet Mercantile Co., a general store in Emmet. He was well connected with men of influence and had a long-standing close personal relationship with T. C. McRae and his law partner W. V. Tompkins of Prescott. [``C. D. McSwain of Emmet Passes Away,´´ Nevada News, October 4, 1917, 3:2.  Hereinafter referred to as the McSwain obituary.]

    McRae was a leading figure in Democratic politics and in banking circles in Arkansas. He served in Congress for the Third District of Arkansas from 1884 until 1903. He purchased the Bank of Prescott in 1905 and later served as president of the Arkansas Bankers Association. A practicing attorney, McRae also served as president of the Arkansas Bar Association in 1917. A southern progressive, McRae would serve two terms as governor of Arkansas in the 1920s. [http.www.oldstatehousemuseum.com/exhibits/virtual/governors/the_1920s_and_1930s/mcrae.asp]

    McSwain´s branch of the Bank of Prescott in Emmet was prospering in 1917. The Emmet Mercantile, in which he had an interest, was the selling agent for the Emmet Truck Growers Association. His son-in-law and nephew T. L. Garland, the husband of his step-daughter Junie, was President and General Manager of the Truck Growers Association. [Nevada News, July 26, 1917.  In 1910, T. L. Garland and his wife Junie were living with C. D. McSwain.  See the 13th Manuscript Census for Emmet, Nevada County, Arkansas.]

    Emmet and its citizens were enjoying almost unprecedented prosperity. The new church was probably under construction or near completion when C. D. McSwain died suddenly of ``acute indigestion´´ at his home on October 1, 1917. He is buried in the Snell Cemetery. [McSwain Obituary]

    Mrs. C. D. McSwain also had many connections in the Methodist Church.Born Lula Grey in Clark County, Arkansas, in 1854, she lost both her parents at a young age. She was raised by her aunt Mrs. A. R. Winfield and her husband Rev. A. R. Winfield, one of the best known and more controversial figures in 19th century Arkansas Methodism. [Centennial History of Arkansas Methodism, 280.  The most concise account of Rev. Winfield´s career is in Nancy Britton´s Two Centuries of Methodism in Arkansas, 1800-2000, 64-67.  She notes:  ``During his thirty-nine years in Arkansas, he served as pastor, presiding elder, teacher and college president, revivalist, temperance worker, writer and editor.´´ (p. 65)  He was reportedly a preacher of astonishing power.  He died in 1888.  See also Centennial History, passim and Walter N. Vernon, Methodism in Arkansas, 1816-1976 (Little Rock, Arkansas:  Joint Committee for the History of Arkansas Methodism, 1976), passim.]

    After attending school in Memphis, Tennessee, she married John R. Trotter of Monticello, Arkansas, with whom she had five children. Three of these children and her first husband died within a few years. She remained in Emmet after the death of her second husband in 1917 until her death on September 15, 1926.

    Garland

    The Garland family has had a significant roll in the Emmet Methodist Church, and they are closely related to the McSwain family. Hannah Josephine McSwain, an older sister of C. D. McSwain, married Robert R. Garland of White County, Arkansas, on September 10, 1865, at Falcon in Columbia County, Arkansas. [Southwest Arkansas Genealogical Society, comp., Columbia County, Arkansas, Free Population Schedules, 1860 (Magnolia, Arkansas: Southwest Arkansas Genealogical Society, n.d.), 70.]

    The growing Garland family was in Columbia County, Arkansas, in the 1870 and 1880 censuses, but they were in Emmet in the 1900 census where they had joined members of their extended family. They were living in the dwelling next to the C. D. McSwain home. [Twelfth United States Manuscript Census, Emmet Town, Nevada County, Arkansas.] They had come to Emmet earlier, possibly in the 1880s. [Garland´s obituary in the Nevada News of October 11, 1923, states that he had lived in Emmet more than forty years and was a lifelong member of the Methodist Church. The paper erroneously listed his initials as ``W. W.´´ when they should have been ``R. R.´´]

    In a deed from Lucious H. McSwain and his wife conveying a lot to the Methodist Church in 1892, R. R. Garland was named as one of the trustees of the Emmet Church. [Nevada County Deed Record Book W, 548 and 549.]  His son Thomas L. Garland married Junie Trotter.In 1910, T. L. Garland was living in the home of his uncle and step-father-in-law C. D. McSwain and was later associated with him in business in the Emmet Mercantile. Garland served as president of the Emmet Mercantile. His brother J. M. Garland was the secretary and treasurer. [Arkansas Methodist, May 14, 1936, p. 9.]

    John McSwain ``Mack´´ Garland married Elizabeth Christopher of Prescott in November 1909. [Bruce J. Martin, comp., Nevada County Arkansas Marriage Records, Jan. 1902-Sep 1910 (unpublished typescript, 1992), 14. Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives, Washington, Arkansas.]  The Garland brothers, their children and other family members would remain in Emmet and be strongly associated with the Emmet Methodist Church that played such a large role in their lives.Their families made numerous memorials to honor their memory.
    --  "Emmet United Methodist Church, Emmet, Nevada County [Arkansas]," http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/historic-properties/_search_nomination_popup.asp?id=915
    ----------------------------------

    Arkansas Death Index, 1914-1950
    Volume 45
    Certificate Number #652
    Charles Dou Mcswain
    Death 1 Oct 1917 Nevada County

Sources

  • 1. Arkansas, County Marriages Index, 1837-1957
  • 2. 1910 Federal Census, Nevada County, Arkansas
    • 16 April, Emmet, District 101, page 1B,  Lansburg Rd, Hse/Fam #14
  • 3. 1860 Federal Census, Columbia County, Arkansas
    • 18 August, Alabama Township, p 5, PO Falcon, Hse #31, Fam #32
  • 4. 1900 Federal Census, Nevada County, Arkansas
    • 27 June, Emmet, District 78, page 20A, Hse #342, Fam #345
  • 5. 1870 Federal Census, Columbia County, Arkansas
    • 8 July, Alabama Township, p 4, PO Falcon Arkansas, Hse/Fam #32
  • 6. Emmet United Methodist Church, Emmet, Nevada County [Arkansas]"
    • Location: http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/historic-properties/_search_nomination_popup.aspx?id=2486;
  • 7. Emmet United Methodist Church, Emmet, Nevada County [Arkansas]"
    • Location: http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/historic-properties/_search_nomination_popup.aspx?id=2486;
    • "Citing C. D. McSwain of Emmet Passes Away,” Nevada News, October 4, 1917, 3:2
  • 8. Arkansas Death Index, 1914-1950
    • Volume 45, Certificate Number #652
  • 9. Ancestry Trees
    • David Holden, http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=dwh1951&id=I24995
  • 10. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
  • 11. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942
  • 12. 1910 Federal Census, Nevada County, Arkansas
    • 16 April, Emmet, District 101, page 1B,  Hse/Fam #14
  • 13. 1930 Federal Census, Nevada County, Arkansas
    • 3 April, Prescott, District 12, page 21A, Hse #28, Fam #30
  • 14. 1920 Federal Census, Nevada County, Arkansas
    • 17 January, Emmet, District 127, page 2A, Lansburg Rd, Hse/Family #22
  • 15. 1940 Federal Census, Nevada County, Arkansas
    • 2 April, Prescott, District 50-12, page 1B, 610 E Main St, Hse #14, Owns $10,000
  • 16. ARGenWeb

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