Life History

Notes

• The Hamrick Data Pages provide full information on the marriages of Reuben and children of each.  I am not showing each child in the genealogy chart, but will include the information from Hamrick family information.  Reuben's first wife was his second cousin (or by another reckoning, his first cousin once removed).
  
  McSwain, Reuben (1846 - 1940)
  b. 12 Feb 1846 in Rutherford, NC
  d. 16 Jan 1940 in NC
  father: McSwain, Louis Hobson (1814 - 1867)
  mother: Hamrick, Mary (1816 - 1906)
  spouse: McSwain, Judith Margaret (1851 - 1879)
  - m. Est 1865 in NC
  ----------child: McSwain, Panthia (1866 - )
  ----------child: McSwain, Ensley (1870 - 1931)
  ----------child: McSwain, Mary Judith (1872 - 1876)
  ----------child: McSwain, Berry Cleophas (1874 - 1876)
  ----------child: McSwain, Elijah (1879 - 1947)
  ----------child: McSwain, Infant (*1880 - )
  spouse: Ledbetter, Susanna (1854 - 1927)
  - m. 10 Mar 1881 in NC
  ----------child: McSwain, Louis Austin (1882 - )
  ----------child: McSwain, Broadus Bonnar (1884 - 1950)
  ----------child: McSwain, Alpha Amega (1887 - 1941)
  --  Hamrick Data Pages, http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hamrick/wga75.html
  
  Cleveland County, NC, death records report that Louis died on 9 March 1964.  His name on the death records is spelled Lewis.
  
  1870 Federal Census, Cleveland County, North Carolina, 23 August, Township #7, PO Mooresboro, page 7, Hse #46, #50
  McSwain, Reubin 25 M W Farmer b NC [abt 1845]
  McSwain, Julia 20 F W Keeping House b NC [abt 1850]
  McSwain, Nash 10 M B Farm Labor b SC [abt 1860]
  
  Living next door to him is a related couple, but I have not completely placed them.  This is William Padgett and his wife Chily. In that household is a Sarah Padgett who appears to be William's sister, and an Alvin Padgett, who is likely a brother.  On the other side of William and Chily is Berry McSwain, born about 1822, with his wife Barbara and several children.
  
  1880 Federal Census, Cleveland County, North Carolina, 3 June, Township 7, Sandy Run, District 71, page 5 (Scan 571A), Hse #46, Fam #47
  Reubin McSwain W M  34  Farmer NC NC NC [b abt 1846]
  J M McSwain W F 27 Wife Keeping House NC NC NC [b abt 1853]
  W E McSwain W M 9 Son NC NC NC [b abt 1871]
  P V McSwain W F 4 Dau NC NC NC [b abt 1876]
  E McSwain W M - born Nov 1879 NC NC NC
  
  The child W E here matches Elijah reported in 1900 as living in the household of his mother's brother in the same area.  He is reported as 20 years old at the time.  But the odd thing here is that the 1880 census mortality index reported that Judith Margaret McSwain died in Nov 1879 of a uterus hemorrhage.  This would been at the birth of her son Elijah.  Yet she is reported in the 1880 census entries for this family as the wife of Reubin.
  
  The census records that Reuben's brother Ambrose is living with his family in the same household with Reuben.
  
  1880 Federal Census, Cleveland County, North Carolina, 3 June, Township 7, Sandy Run, District 71, page 5 (Scan 571A), Hse #46, Fam #48
  Ambrose McSwain W M  23 Husband Farmer NC NC NC [b abt 1857]
  E McSwain W F 23 Wife Keeping House Cannot write NC NC NC [b abt 1857]
  H McSwain W M born Jan 1880 Son NC NC NC
  
  Reuben and his two wives are buried in the Beaverdam Baptist Cemetery near Shelby, Cleveland County, North Carolina.
  
  Beaverdam Baptist Cemetery Register, Shelby, Cleveland County, North Carolina
  McSwain, Reuben February 12, 1846 January 16, 1940
  McSwain, Margaret December 8, 1851 November 3, 1879 w/o Reuben
  McSwain, Susanna Ledbetter April 24, 1854 March 7, 1927 w/o Reuben
  --  W D Floyd, http://files.usgwarchives.org/nc/cleveland/cemeteries/bdamclev.txt

Sources

• 1. 1850 Federal Census, Cleveland County, North Carolina
  • 4 September, p 315 (scan 158), Hse/Fam #596
• 2. 1870 Federal Census, Cleveland County, North Carolina
  • 23 August, Township 7, PO Mooresboro, page 7, Hse #46Fam #50
• 3. Rutherford/Cleveland County, NC, Burial Information
  • Name: Name: http://www.rfci.net/wdfloyd/cemm5.html;;
• 4. 1880 Federal Census, Cleveland County, North Carolina
  • 3 June, Township 7, Sandy Run, District 71, page 5 (Scan 571A), Hse #46, Fam #47
• 5. RootsWeb ID: I6287
• 6. Beaverdam Baptist Cemetery Register, Shelby, Cleveland County, North Carolina
  • Location: http://files.usgwarchives.org/nc/cleveland/cemeteries/bdamclev.txt;
• 7. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
• 8. Hamrick Data Pages
• 9. Gravestones of California
• 10. North Carolina, Marriage Records, 1741-2011
• 11. Hamrick Data Pages
  • http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hamrick/wga75.html
• 12. 1900 Federal Census, Cleveland County, North Carolina
  • 15 June, Township 7, District 57, page 11A, Hse #176, Fam #181
• 13. 1880 Federal Census Mortality Schedules, Cleveland County, North Carolina
  • August 7, Sandy Rim, Enumeration District 71, Line 4