SWAIN FAMILY
My paternal great-grandmother was Finis Louise Swain (1857 – 1937), who
married Samuel William Leach (1851 – 1918) in 1874. They lived their entire
lives in Ohio County and had four children (Henry Oscar, Harney Leslie, Clyde
Fielding, and Chester Finis).
Her obituary is as follows:
Venerated
Woman Dies at Beaver Dam. Mrs. Finis
Leona Leach, 79 years of age, died at her home in Beaver Dam at 4:15 p.m.,
Wednesday, April 21, after having been ill for a number of years and bedfast
for the last two years. Her death was
attributed to a complication of diseases.
Mrs. Leach was a native of Ohio County, born near Cromwell, a daughter
of the late Allen and Lyda Morton Swain.
She was the widow of Samuel William Leach, who preceded her in death a
number of years ago. She was an
admirable woman and a member of the Baptist church. Surviving relatives are three sons, Oscar, of
Cincinnati, Clyde, of Lexington, Chester, of Owensboro, eight grandchildren; a
sister, Mrs. Frank Cooper, and two brothers, Sip and Harper Swain, Ohio
County. Funeral services were conducted
at the home at 1:00 p.m. last Thursday, and also a short service at the Leach
cemetery, near Rob Roy, where commitment was made. Services were in charge of the Rev. J. L.
Sullivan, pastor of Beaver Dam Baptist church.
Ohio County News, April 30, 1937.
A brother of my great-grandmother was Percipal Aurthine Swain, who was
called “Uncle Sip.” The following is
taken from my notes on him:
Uncle
Sip Swain told his barber one autumn day in 1888 that this was his last haircut
until a Democratic President was elected. He wanted a Democrat in office to
help obtain post office service. Grover Cleveland was soon thereafter defeated,
and Uncle Sip wore his hair long for four years. He was determined that his
neighbors should have mail service, so for a full year he walked nine miles
each way to town twice a week to carry the mail himself. He was the object of
such Republican ribaldry as changing a popular song, "Johnny, Get Your
Hair Cut" to "Sippy, Get Your Hair Cut." When Cleveland was
elected in 1892, Ohio County held a parade led by a brass band and a huge wagon
converted into a float and escorted Uncle Sip to Beaver Dam for his haircut
which was watched by 3,000 Democrats. A blue ribbon was tied around a lock of
his hair and sent to Grover Cleveland. He served as the Postmaster for
Prentiss, KY for more than 40 years.
Parcipial
Authine "Sip" Swain died on 07 March 1951 in Beaver Dam, Ohio County,
Kentucky, at age 97. His obituary stated that he was a sterling citizen of
quaint individuality and would be remembered for his dapper manner, long locks
of hair, and friendly jollity. He was an accomplished fiddler and maker of
fiddles, a horse racing devotee and hiking enthusiast. He was a farmer,
merchant, blacksmith, and postmaster, living most of his life in the Prentiss
community. He was buried in Slaty Creek Cemetery, Ohio County, Kentucky.
In addition to Uncle Sip, my
great-grandmother had eight other brothers and sisters, i.e Mary Frances, Peridope, Peyton Timoleon,
Laura Lelah, Jefferson Davis, Ellis Harper, John Wilkes Booth, and Elida
Quantrilla. All born between 1851 and 1871 in Ohio County. Most of the
foregoing lived out their lives in Ohio County, although one or two moved to
neighboring counties.
Their parents were Henry
Allen Swain (1827 – 1878) and Elizabeth Jane Garner Morton (1829 – 1901) who also lived their entire lives in Ohio County.
Obit from Jerry Long. Died of pneumonia
near Cromwell last Sunday. Published 3
Apr 1878.
Hartford
newspaper April 24,1901: MRS. ELIZA G. SWAIN died on the 19th at Prentiss,
Ky. Wife of ALLEN SWAIN, who died 23
years ago, she was called AUNT LIDA.
Henry Allen’s father was also
named Henry (1780 – 1856) who moved to Ohio County about 1824. He was married
to Mary Howell (1790 – 1843) and they had nine children: Peyton T., James H.,
Nancy, Mary D., Martha, Elizabeth, Henry Allen, Rhoden Burgoyne, and Homer C.
(all born between 1810 and 1837).
The following is
taken from my notes on Henry Allen:
Henry
volunteered at Hartford, Ohio County, Kentucky, on 19 August 1813 as a private
for 3 months on the expedition to Canada and served with Capt. James Tyler's
Company, 10th Regiment Kentucky Mounted Volunteer Militia in the War of 1812.
He served until 20 September 1813 and was paid for 1 month, 2 days in the amount
of 8 dollars, 51 cents. He was paid 13 dollars, 20 cents for the use of his
horse at 40 cents per day.
Henry
"Harry" Swain died on 07 February 1856 in Ohio County, Kentucky, at
age 75. He was buried in Swain Cemetery, Ohio County, Kentucky. The cemetery
[also called the Hudnall Cemetery] is located above Green River at the mouth of
the Thoroughfare on Highway 169 below Prentiss and Schultztown.
Some
members of the Swain family have tried to locate a Swain Cemetery in Ohio
County. I have two saved emails
discussing the cemetery (although it appears that the Hudnall Cemetery is probably the
same as the Swain Cemetery).
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001
From: "Swain, Ed"
Charles, I just ran across
this message in my files and am passing it on. Doug, my brother, was looking
for the cemetery that had Henry and Polly Swain and we had not found out that
it was on the farm or where the farm was located.
From: Doug Swain
Sent: Sunday, March 29, 1998
To: Swain, Ed
Subject: Ohio County
Ed:
I went to Ohio County today looking for
the Swain Cemetery. I don't know if I
found it or not. The first cemetery I went to was south of Schultztown. There was one stone with Swain
on it. It was of the young daughter of
P.T. and L.E. Swain, named Premley E., born Nov 21 1883 died Aug 7 1884. There were a few graves
with just rough sandstone rocks for
markers, with no names.
The second cemetery I went to was in the
area called Schultztown. It was the
Schultz Cemetery. There were no markers in this cemetery with Swain on them.
The third cemetery was between Prentiss
and Schultztown called Slaty Creek. There were a number of Swains in this cemetery. I didn't write them down, just took
pictures. I will let you know the complete
details when I get the pictures back. Some names I can remember are Mittie, Willie, and Leonard.
I talked to a couple of people in the
area and they did not know of a cemetery
named Swain. It could be possible that the first cemetery or the last might have been the Swain Cemetery.
The second cemetery was the Schultz
cemetery and it had some very old Schultz stones in it, so it is doubtful that it is the Swain Cemetery, and
there were no Swains there either.
Doug
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Email from Glenda Price:
I have these dates:
Henry Allen Swain, born March 26, 1827
in Ohio (or Butler) County, KY, married on February 20, 1851 in Ohio County, KY
to Eliza Garner Morton, born October 21, 1829 in Kentucky, and died April 19,
1901 in Ohio County, KY. Henry Allen
Swain died in 1878.
I have copied information from an Ohio County Will book
that says: "p. 435, Will of ELIZA
G. SWAIN, gives to son ELLIS H. SWAIN the farm on which she now resides, about
25 acres, to be his for as long as he lives and then to descend to his
heirs. Should he die without children,
then said land to descend to his brothers and sisters or their heirs. To other children or their heirs, she gives
farm lying on Green River, about 118 acres, which farm is to be sold and the
proceeds divided equally. This bequest
to P. A. SWAIN, P. T. SWAIN, F. L. LEACH for LELAH BUCKLEY, dec'd, J. D. SWAIN,
J. B. SWAIN, ELIDA COOPER, and ORPHA BUCKLEY, granddaughter, daughter of Lelah
Buckley. What goes to Orpha Buckley is
to be held in trust for her until she reaches the age of 21 years or marries,
with JAMES READ as trustee. All of the
personal property to go to her children and grandchild, said property to be
sold and proceeds equally distributed.
Said personal property not to include certain articles of household and
kitchen furniture which Ellis H. Swain, her son, owns in his own right and
which articles he shall be allowed to select.
Appoints James Read, son-in-law, as sole executor. April 15, 1901. ALLEN GENTRY and H. B. TAYLOR, both of
Prentis, Kentucky, witnesses, Probated
May 6, 1901."
I also have a listing of
graves at the Swain farm, which I believe to be the 116 acres mentioned
above. Martha Leach, 1876-1917 is there.
Henry and his wife Mary "Polly" Howell is there. According to one reference, there are also 16
unmarked graves and evidence of more graves there.
Here is what I have for Henry
Allen SWAIN and Eliza Garner MORTON's children:
Mary
Frances SWAIN, b. 1851, Ohio Co, KY, m. James R. READ
Parcipial
Authine "Sip" SWAIN (1853-1951), b. Prentiss, Ohio Co., KY, m.
Willelmina Elminia "Willie" ANGLE;
Peyton
Timoleon SWAIN, b. 1855 in KY, m. Laura E. TURNS
Finis
Leona SWAIN , b. 1857, KY, m. Samuel W. LEACH
Laura
Lelah SWAIN, b. 1860, Ohio Co., KY, m. John S. BUCKLEY
Jefferson
Davis SWAIN, b. 1863, KY
Ellis
Harper SWAIN, b. 1865, KY
John
Wilkes Booth SWAIN, b. 1868, KY, m. Iona CARTER
Elida
Quantrilla SWAIN, b. 1871, KY
(I
love these names--very unusual!)
This
information came from a direct descendant of Parcipial's.
I agree that the Swain farm
and cemetery are in the Prentiss vicinity.
The descendant I referred to above gave me a picture of the house in
which he was born in Prentiss. Yesterday
I ran across this notation that the Hudnall cemetery (which is sometimes called
the Swain cemetery and is where Henry Swain and Mary Howell are buried) is
located on the north bank of the Green River at the lower mouth of the
Thoroughfare at Hudnall's Landing.
(Hudnall owned the land, at least some of it, after the Swain's.) Now, if I could just figure out which is the
lower mouth of the Thoroughfare as it looks like both ends of the river meet
the Green River. Another description
says that HudnaIl's Landing is just below the mouth of the Thoroughfare and up
river from Rochester. I have been told that there is nothing left there any
more due to damage by the cows.
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Maps showing the approximate
location of the Swain farm and possibly the cemetery. Note: These two maps show the same location - the scale changes with the second map.
