Life History

Other facts

Notes

• Minor McSwain was a son of Charles McSwain and Lucy Ann Randle.  He was born in north Carolina and moved to Arkansas about 1849.  They were in Jefferson County, Arkansas, before 1860.  Other related McSwains also moved to Arkansas after the Civil War.
  
  David Holden has done a lot of research into the McSwain line and provides a summary of Charles McSwain's family.  I referenced David's information on Charles and Lewraner McSwain after I found them in the Arkansas census of 1860 in Jefferson County, and was uncertain how they related to the McSwains who moved shortly after that to nearby Arkansas County, from Cleveland County, North Carolina, via Giles County, Tennessee.
  
  I found Charles was a 2nd cousin or so to the McSwains who moved to Ethel, Arkansas about 1865.  Brothers of Minor also moved to Arkansas.  His older brother David K is next door to him in the 1860 census (see below) and George A lives not far away in Jefferson County.
  
  Minor's brother Gabriel Washburn McSwain, moved his family on over to Emmet, in Columbia (later Nevada) County in southwestern Arkansas.  Many of this family wound up in Johnson County, near Clarksville in western Arkansas on the Arkansas River.
  
  Minor M McSwain
  Birth ABT 1832 in North Carolina
  Father Charles McSwain b 13 Aug 1786 in North Carolina
  Mother Lewraner Washburn b 5 Dec 1794
  Marriage Lucy A. Randle b ABT 1830 in North Carolina
  Children:
  Lurena H. McSwain b ABT 1852 in North Carolina
  Lewis Gabriel McSwain b ABT Dec 1854 in North Carolina
  Nancy C. McSwain b ABT Mar 1855 in North Carolina
  William A. McSwain b ABT 1858 in North Carolina
  Martha Elizabeth McSwain b Sep 1863 in Arkansas
  Sarah (Sallie) I. McSwain b ABT Oct 1864 in Arkansas
  --  David Holden, http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=dwh1951&id=I30140
  
  The date of birth here probably derives from the 1850 census.  The 1860 census reports Minor (M M) as age 24, giving a birth year of about 1836.
  
  1850 Federal Census, Stanly County, North Carolina, 30 July, Centre District 1, p 12, Hse #79, Fam #80
  Minor McSwain 18 M Farmer $210 Real Estate b North Carolina [born abt 1832]
  -- page 321 --
  Lucy McSwain 24 F North Carolina [born abt 1826]
  Martha Merton 9 F North Carolina [born abt 1841]
  
  I do not know who the Merton child is.
  
  1860 Federal Census, Jefferson County, Arkansas, 25 September, Talladega Township, p 20, PO Locust Grove, Hse/Fam #139
  M M McSwain 24 M Farmer $No Real Estate $100 Personal b North Carolina [born abt 1836]
  Lucy A McSwain 30 F North Carolina [born abt 1830]
  Lurana H McSwain 8 F North Carolina [born abt 1852]
  -- page 21 --
  Lewis G McSwain 6 M North Carolina [born abt 1854]
  Nancy C McSwain 4 F North Carolina [born abt 1856]
  William A McSwain 2 M North Carolina [born abt 1858]
  
  The census reports all their children were born in North Carolina, and the youngest is 2 years old in 1860.  So they moved to Arkansas about 1859.  Next door to Minor is his brother David, in alone in a separate household.  David is a Mill Superintendent.
  
  1860 Federal Census, Jefferson County, Arkansas, 25 September, Talladega Township, p 20, PO Locust Grove, Hse/Fam #138
  David K McSwain 30 M Farmer $No Real Estate $5000 Personal b North Carolina [born abt 1830]
  
  Lewis G here becomes Gabriel L 1870.  In 1870 they are still in Talladega Township of Jefferson County.  Related McSwains and moved around this time to St Charles, in the neighboring Arkansas county, on the White River.  Some were there before the 1870 census and others moved there before 1880.
  
  "Our family story is that when the Civil War broke out, that Minor M. McSwain 'went to Pine Bluff Arkansas and took the train home to North Carolina where he enlisted in the CSA Army at the train depot in Raleigh.'  He enlisted with an Alexander McSwain who may have been the elder brother to William R. McSwain who was living with George A. McSwain's family in 1860 Arkansas.  Minor was wounded twice, got through Gettysburg without a scratch, and was wounded and captured in the fall of 1864 after fighting at Winchester VA, and sent to Point Lookout POW camp in Maryland."
  --  Lea Harville Morgan, Ancestry Messaging to Orville Boyd Jenkins, Apr 09, 2016
  
  1870 Federal Census, Jefferson County, Arkansas, 10 July, Talladega Township, p 4, PO Randall, Hse/Fam #34
  McSwayne, M  68 (? should be abt 38) M W  Miller $800 Real Estate $No Personal Reported b North Carolina [born abt 1802 (1832-36]
  McSwayne, Lucyann 43 F W K House North Carolina [born abt 1827]
  McSwayne, Lauriann 19 F W North Carolina [born abt 1851]
  cSwayne, Gabriel L 17 M W North Carolina [born abt 1853]
  McSwayne, Nancy C 15 F W North Carolina [born abt 1855]
  McSwayne, Martha E 8 F W North Carolina [born abt 1862]
  McSwayne, Sarah J 6 F W North Carolina [born abt 1864]
  McSwayne, Thomas M 16 M W North Carolina Cannot read or write [born abt 1854]
  
  Thomas is the son of Minor's brother George A McSwain, who is enumerated in this census in Columbia, Arkansas, west of Hot Springs.
  
  "Minor M. McSwain, George A. McSwain's brother, was my 2nd great-grandfather.  I see that Minor took in Thomas M. after George & Martha McSwain died, and that his brother, Gabriel McSwain took in the two youngest boys."
  --  Lea Harville Morgan, Ancestry Messaging to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 06 April  2016
  
  In the 1880 census, Lucy is reported as a widow and head of her household.  So we can say Minor died between 1870 and 1880.  They were reported in Jefferson County.  The area where they live is now called Dorsey County.  Dorsey County was established out of parts of Jefferson County and other counties in1873, and in 1885 it was renamed Cleveland County.
  
  1880 Federal Census, Dorsey County, Arkansas, [no date], Niven Township, District 80, page 8, Hse/Fam #71
  McSwain, Lucy W F 60 Widow Keeping House Ark -- --
  
  "Dorsey County was formed by and act of Legislature, April 17, 1873.   It was formed from parts of Bradley, Jefferson, and Lincoln Counties and was named in honor of Stephen W. Dorsey, a Republican senator, who entered Congress in that year.  On March 5, 1885, Dorsey County was renamed by an act of the General Assembly in honor of Grover Cleveland, who had just been elected President of the United States."
  --  Dorsey County, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ardorsey
  
  Minor is buried in the same cemetery with his daughter Sarah I (Sallie ) Hamilton McSwain.
  
  M M McSwain
  No birth or death date on the gravestone
  Co B, 5th NC Inf, CSA
  Burial Mount Carmel Cemetery, Cleveland County, Arkansas
  Created by TC Apr 29, 2012
  --  Find A Grave Memorial #89283558, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=McSwain&GSiman=1&GScid=1986686&GRid=89283558&
  
  Lea Morgan did some research in famly sources and records and came up with some helpful informaton that cl oses in a little on the missing details for Minor (Miner).
  
  "... for Minor M. McSwain. his granddaughter Anna Kendall gave a death date of 1873 for Minor McSwain when she applied for a veteran's gravemarker.  I recently found my mother's copy of a letter written by Minor McSwain's youngest daughter, Sallie McSwain Hamilton, and she said that Minor's wife, her grandmother Lucy Ann Randle McSwain, died about age 67 years whch would be about 1897."
  --  Lea Harville Morgan, Ancestry Messaging to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 17 April 2016
  

Sources

• 1. 1860 Federal Census, Jefferson County, Arkansas
  • 25 September, Talladega Township, p 20, PO Locust Grove, Hse/Fam #139
• 2. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
• 3. 1880 Federal Census, Dorsey County, Arkansas
  • [no date], Niven Township, District 80, page 8, Hse/Fam #71
• 4. Lea Harville Morgan
• 5. 1850 Federal Census, Stanly County, North Carolina
  • 30 July, Centre District 1, p 12, Hse #79, Fam #80
• 6. 1870 Federal Census, Jefferson County, Arkansas
  • 10 July, Talladega Township, p 4, PO Randall, Hse/Fam #34
• 7. Ancestry Trees
• 8. 1900 Federal Census, Cleveland County, Arkansas
  • 5 June, Bowman Township, District 36, page 3B, Hse #54, Fam #55
• 9. 1860 Federal Census, Jefferson County, Arkansas
  • 25 September, Talladega Township, p 21, PO Locust Grove, Hse/Fam #139
• 10. 1900 Federal Census, Cleveland County, Arkansas
  • 13 June, Niven Township, District 38, page 10B, Hse #184, Fam #185
• 11. 1920 Federal Census, Cleveland County, Arkansas
  • 2 January, Rison, District 201, page 3A, East 2nd, Hse #49, Fam #59
• 12. 1900 Federal Census, Cleveland County, Arkansas
  • 1 June, White Oak Township, District 42, page 1A, Hse #3, Fam #4
• 13. 1920 Federal Census, Cleveland County, Arkansas
  • 14 January, White Oak Township, District 24, page 3B, Hse #53, Fam #54
• 14. 1910 Federal Census, Cleveland County, Arkansas
  • 27 April, Whhite Oak Township, District 163, page 5B,  Hse/Fam #50