William David MCSWAIN David M MCSWAIN Mary MCSWAIN Hannah MCSWAIN Sarah MCSWAIN James MCSWAIN Rebecca MCSWAIN Elizabeth Jane MCSWAIN William B MCSWAIN Susanna MCSWAIN John MCSWAIN Thomas MCSWAIN Mary G MCSWAIN Phillip K MCSWAIN Sarah H MCSWAIN Francis M MCSWAIN Julius Logan MCSWAIN George B MCSWAIN Nancy C MCSWAIN William W MCSWAIN James L MCSWAIN Catherine WEATHERS Mary WEATHERS Judith Moore MCSWAIN Judith A MOORE Mini tree diagram
George MCSWAIN

George MCSWAIN7,8,9,10

31st Oct 17981,2,3,4,5 - about 18657

Life History

31st Oct 1798

Born in Rutherford County, North Carolina.1,2,3,4,5

21st Jan 1842

Death of Mary WEATHERS in Cleveland County, North Carolina.37,1,19

8th Sep 1842

Married Catherine WEATHERS in Cleveland County, North Carolina.36,5

about 1843

Birth of daughter Mary G MCSWAIN in North Carolina.11,7,12,13

30th Jan 1847

Birth of son Phillip K MCSWAIN in Cleveland County, North Carolina.14,15,11,16,17,18,19

about 1848

Birth of daughter Sarah H MCSWAIN in North Carolina.20,21,22

about 1849

Birth of son Francis M MCSWAIN in Cleveland County, North Carolina.22,23,11

1850

Resident in Cleveland County, North Carolina.6

1852

Birth of son Julius Logan MCSWAIN in Cleveland County, North Carolina.22,24,25,17,26,13

20th Jun 1853

Birth of son George B MCSWAIN in Cleveland County, North Carolina.27,28,29,17,22,30,19

1st Mar 1855

Birth of daughter Nancy C MCSWAIN in Cleveland County, North Carolina.31,32,33,17,30

about 1856

Birth of son William W MCSWAIN in Cleveland County, North Carolina.17,34,16,13

1859

Birth of son James L MCSWAIN in Cleveland County, North Carolina.17,35,16

about 1865

Died in Cleveland County, North Carolina.7

before 1870

Buried in Cleveland County, North Carolina

Other facts

 

Married Mary WEATHERS

Notes

  • Sources with full birth dates report the same birth date for George and his sister Judith McSwain.  I find no comment in any of these sources, but if this is accurate, it means they were twins.  One genealogy compilation I found only in February 2010 directly reports this.

    "The Judith McSwain who married John Greene, was the daughter of William McSwain and Judith Moore. She was born October 31, 1798, and was a twin sister of George McSwain."  This source also reports George's wife Catherine as Mary Catherine:
    "George, married Mary Catherine Weathers."
    --  http://carolinagenealogy.org/all/pafg50.htm

    This name seems to be a combination of two wives of George, likley both surnamed Weathers.  George was over 20 years older than his wife Catheriine, as reported in the 1850 census in Cleveland County, North Carolina.  Boith the 1850 census and 1860 census report George's wife as Catherine.

    George was hard to find historically, starting with the family in Arkansas and working back.  Family memory had the first name of George, but the family had never made any tie to the North Carolina origins reported in the Arkansas census.  I could not match him with any Georges I could find to match the age of his wife Catherine, who was a widow in the first record of the family in Arkansas.

    As I gathered more information on more McSwain families, I finally found George, born in 1798.  This told me why I had had such difficulty identifying him -- he was 21 years older than his wife.  (In the 1850 census, the difference is reported as 23 years.)

    I first found the McSwains in the 1880 Arkansas County, Arkansas, census.  They moved there about 1875.  They are found in Giles County, Tennessee for the 1870 census, as well as the Padgetts who are kin to them, and who move on to settle near them in the Ethel area of Prairie Township, Arkansas, near the White River.

    The father of the first family that settled in Arkansas, George, was not in the 1870 census, which indicates he had already passed away in North Carolina.

    I began finding other McSwains from North Carolina is various places in Arkansas in 1880 and later, and arious ones have been connected.

    1850 Federal Census, Cleveland County, North Carolina, 4 September, p 31, Hse/Fam #587
    George McSwain    57  [b abt 1793, note differences in ages from census to census] Farmer  $600 Real Estate b NC
    Catharine McSwain 34 b NC [b abt 1816]
    Polly G McSwain      7 b NC
    Sally H McSwain      5 b NC
    Phillip K McSwain     3 b NC
    Francis M McSwain  1 b NC
    Andrew Ruske        21  [Not known who this is] Farmer b NC
    Mary Weathers       75 [b abt 1775] b NC

    Most family genealogy compilations report North Carolina as George's birth state, as stated in this census and again in 1860.  I found, though, that in the 1900 census, his daughter Nancy (married Henry J Turner in Arkansas County, Arkansas) reported her father was born in Virginia.  The name Ruske here appears later in Arkansas County, Arkansas, so this may be a kin of some kind.

    Next door to George and Catherine is 80-year-old James Hamric, alone in his household.  A few houses away is a James McSwain, born about 1815.

    In the 1860 census, we find George and Catherine again in Cleveland County, North Carolina, with other members of the extended family.

    1860 Federal Census, Cleveland County, North Carolina, 6 August, p 54, Hse/Fam #385
    George McSwain     61  [b abt 1799, note differences in ages from 1850, only 4 years] Farmer $100 Real Estate b NC
    Catherine McSwain 40 b NC [b abt 1820]
    Mary G McSwain     17  [Note change of name from Polly G to Mary G] b NC
    Sallie H McSwain    15 b NC
    Phillip R McSwain    12 b NC
    Francis M McSwain 10 b NC
    Julius L McSwain       8 b NC
    George McSwain       7 b NC
    Nancy McSwain        6 b NC
    William W McSwain   5 b NC
    James L McSwain     1 b NC
    Mary Weathers        84 [b abt 1776] b NC
    All were reported born in North Carolina

    It appears George died between the 1860 and 1870 censuses.  George is not with Catherine and the children in Tennessee in 1870.  It appears they are on their way to Arkansas, along with the Padgetts.  Philip is shown as head of the household and Catherine, with other children, are in his household, but there is no child Julius or JL.

    It appears that 84-year-old Mary Weathers is Catherine's mother.  From some genealogies, it appears Mary also had a daughter Mary.  Some genealogies show George was married to both sisters.  Mary died in 1835, according to some compilations.  David Holden, who seems to have done careful work, and with whom I have corresponded on some of these families, reports that George was married first to Mary Weathers McSwain and that she died in January 1842.

    "George McSwain was born Twin Oct 17 1798. He married Mary Weathers. She was born 1796, and died 21 Jan 1842. He married Catherine Weathers 8 Sep 1842. She was born ABT 1820 in North Carolina, and died AFT 1880."
    --  David Holden, http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=dwh1951&id=I68

    David is apparently referencing family records, but sources are not clear to me.

    Catherine Weathers and George McSwain married 8 Sep 1842.  George was 43 years old when he married Catherine.  One family genealogy reports Catherine as Mary Catherine.  The first Mary was considerably older than Catherine, born in 1796.

    One early source I found in One World Tree had an exact birth date for George, 01 Oct 1798.  This is only about one year earlier than the common estimate of 1799 from the age at most censuses.  However, this source and another also have some significant errors, duo mixing up this George with another George McSwain who moved to Polk County, Missouri.  This source has a death date of June 1834, which does not match our George.

    Arkansas family memory indicated the father of the early settlers was named George, but it had been difficult finding a connection in North Carolina with a family that would match that pattern.  I found them finally in the censuses of Cleveland County, a county with which I had not previously found McSwains associated.  Cleveland was created out of the larger Rutherford County in 1841.  There were hundreds of McSwains in the areas of Rutherford County or neighbouring South Carolina, Pendleton District, and some in Georgia.

    It appears that the McSwains in Georgia, some of whom went on to Florida, are part of this same clan.  Clear links with the branch moving into and through Kentucky are established in the Genealogy of Ran Raider, "My Maternal McSwain Ancestors."
    --  http://www.geocities.com/graal1/surnames/mcswain.html?200716

    There are also about three separate lines of McSwains in North and South Carolina who migrated directly to those areas from the Isle of Skye.  Names vary in spelling:  MacSween, McSwane, McSwaine and MacSwine are found among other forms.  The relationshp between the vairous McSwain lines is murky.

    In the 1880 Arkansas County, Arkansas, census, the age of Phillip is 31 at this census.  His birthday was 30 January 1847.  Up to 13 months before the birth of the first child would still be in the previous calendar year.  I first estimated 1846 as the likely year of marriage of George and Katy, parents of William, J L, George and James.

    I later found the marriage registration of George and Catherine, transcribed in the North Carolina Marriage collection at Ancestry.com  These provided the actual marriage date of 8 September 1842.  This was one year after Cleveland County was established out of the large earlier Rutherford County.

Sources

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