WILLIAM SWAIN

The following bio was taken from page 401 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

William Swain, born in North Carolina in 1789, came to Rusk County, Texas from Alabama before 1850 and settled near Minden.

 William married Mary, who was born in South Carolina in 1802.  Their children and their birth years were: William, 1832; Thomas, 1835; Martha, 1836; Elizabeth, 1840; and Sarah, 1842.

 In the 1850’s, Sylvester Swain, William’s son, who was born in 1826 in Alabama, came to Rusk County where he married Bedy (Beda) Whitton in 1851.  Beda, born in Georgia in 1830, was the daughter of William Washington and Catherine Whitton, and the sister of Ben Whitton.  The couple settled at Wood Glen where Sylvester had a shingle mill.

 Sylvester and Beda’s children were: William (Bud), who married Nancy Nelson Little, widow of James Little; C.I. (female), born 1852; James, born 1854;  Mary C., born 1858, who married James Robert Little; Jane, born 1855; Sarah, born 1859, who married John Little; twins, Francis and Nancy, born 1866; and Larisa (Laura) born 1869, who married George Washington Little.

 Submitted by Ron Gregory