Wedding Wednesday ~ Mary Moreland Saylor

For this Wedding Wednesday, I am sharing this delightful photograph of Mary Moreland Saylor, wife of Roscoe Saylor. Mary was the daughter of William and Ida Moreland of Indianapolis and Roscoe was the son of Perry and Ida Belle Swadner Saylor, grandson of Samuel and Caroline Routsong Swadner, and my 2nd cousin, 2 times removed.

Roscoe was born in Montgomery County, Ohio on 17 December, 1892 and worked as a salesman in Indiana, where he married Mary on 28 June, 1924. 

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Jacob and Anna Margaret Swadener

For today's Tombstone Tuesday, I am sharing the final resting place of Jacob and Anna Margaret Swadener, the grandparents of Charles E. Swadener, the attorney whose story I shared in an earlier post.  Jacob and Anna are my 3rd great grand uncle and aunt.

Jacob Swadener was born on 27 November, 1786 in Libertytown, Frederick County, Maryland, the son of Henrich (Henry) and Elizabeth Sentsor Schwedner.  By 1840, he was living in Van Buren Township, Montgomery County, Ohio, with his wife, Anna Margaret, and sons William and Michael (M.J.).  His oldest sons, Valentine and Abraham had not come with them.  They may have died in Maryland, but I have found no official records.
Jacob owned his farm in Van Buren Township, where he appeared on the US Census records until 1860.  Anna Margaret died in 1861 and Jacob followed her two years later.

They are buried in David's Cemetery, Kettering, Ohio.

Black Sheep Sunday ~ From Golden Goose to Black Sheep in One Afternoon

The gentleman pictured above is my 2nd cousin, 3 times removed, Charles Edward Swadener. I "discovered" Charles about a month ago, while I was spending a couple of hours searching for information on random last names in my family tree.  On that particular afternoon, I had decided to research the maiden name of my maternal great great grandmother, Clarinda Swadner, using the various ways it has been spelled throughout the years.  Using the "SWADENER" spelling, I began to search a newspaper resource.  I first discovered an article about Charles' father, Michael Swadener, whom I learned had once been the sheriff of Montgomery County, Ohio.  Feeling a sense of pride in the fact that one of my ancestors had been an early "lawman" in my hometime, I began to search for more information about Michael and his family.  Almost immediately,  in the 1882 Beers History of Montgomery County, Ohio, I found a biographical paragraph about Charles Swadener, attorney at law.  What a shining story it was!  Charles has been born in Dayton in 1853 and had attended the St. Mary's Institute and had been determined to study law.  He was accepted into the bar in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1874 and had formed several law partnerships in the city of Dayton.  He had married Leila Duel, a holder of Bachelors and Masters Degrees herself.  The final line of the biography states  "In his profession he is noted for his devotion to his clients' interests and this combined with his comprehensive knowledge of the law and correct application of its principles has carried him into important professional relations."  After reading this, I was feeling quite smug about my family member; especially since I had been writing recently about so many family scandals.  I saw my next blog post in my mind, "Charles Swadener, Attorney in the Family".  If my research had ended with that biography, that post would have probably been written.

 But, then I found the small article printed on page two, column 1 of the 18 December, 1895 edition of The Cleveland Plain Dealer.  It began  "RUIN AND DISGRACE".

You've got to be kidding. I couldn't believe what I was reading. The article began with the facts that Charles had been disbarred, was "shorn of all his former fortune, disgraced socially, his wife and children in want" and that he was a "physical and almost mental wreck".   Charles Swadener, my 2nd cousin, 3 times removed, just two years before the date of this article, was worth over $200,000, was a prominent and well respected citizen of Dayton.  Now, I was discovering that because of poor real estate investments, he had gone deeply into debt and to try to hide this debt he had begun embezzling the funds of his clients, to the tune of $90,000.  According to the article, he had to sell everything he had and even his family gave up some of their own belongings to try to pay his debt, but he still owed thousands.  His plea of guilty led to a sentence of one year in the penitentiary.   Oh shoot. There went my bragging blog post.

I was curious what happened to Charles afterwards.

Interestingly enough, on the United States Census form of both 1900 and 1910, Charles is listed as living in Dayton, with his occupation listed as "lawyer" and "attorney".  He is living with his wife, daughter, and servant, Sadie.  Obviously, Leila must have truly loved Charles since she stood by him and waited for him to come back home to her and it seems that he was able to come home and pick up the pieces of his life and become an attorney again.  I hope the victims of his crime were able to do the same.

According to his Ohio death certificate, Charles died on 9 September, 1910 from interstial nephritis with contributory arterio sclerosis. He was buried in Dayton's historic Woodland Cemetery.  Lela lived until 9 January, 1927, when she died in Chicago, Illinois.

I learned many things during that afternoon of work; not the least of which was to make sure I have researched everything I can about a subject BEFORE I start to write.  But, I guess I could still brag about the "lawman" in my family!

Surname Saturday - My new Swadner cousin

For the past couple of weeks, my life has been filled with moving boxes, U-Haul trucks, and a few tears as we have been moving my son and daughter in law into their first apartment.  It is a bittersweet time for us. We are so proud of him and the fact that he has just finished his Master's Degree in Education and will be beginning his career as a high school science teacher in just a few days.  But, watching him pack up and leave our home and the lack of his presence here has been difficult.  It's something all parents go through and even though we know that he is just fine and that it is our job to give our children both roots AND wings,  it is hard to let him go. 

With as busy as this month has been, I have had to leave my blog and most of my genealogy work on hold for awhile.  I had noticed two messages in my Ancestry.com mailbox that I wanted to get back to as soon as possible, but a phone call last night beat me to it.  I picked up a call in my voice mailbox from the very lady who had messaged me about my family tree.  She said that she had found me on both Ancestry.com and from contacting the Montgomery County (Ohio) Genealogical Society and she noticed that I was seeking information on the Swadner family.  I have written a little on past blog posts about my great great grandmother, Clarinda Swadner Routsong, and it appeared that Susan (my caller) is the great granddaughter of Ida Belle Swadner, my first cousin, three times removed.  She went on to tell me that she has a large amount of photographs, tintypes, and even some furniture that belonged to Ida Belle and since she has no children to pass them on to, she wanted to know if I would like to have anything.  I could hardly believe that I was hearing her message correctly.  I couldn't dial her number quickly enough.  Luckily for me, she answered the phone right away and was happy to hear from me.  We spoke for a few minutes and planned to meet at some time in the future so I can pick out whatever I want from her family collection.  I can hardly wait for that day.  My heart always breaks when I see "orphan" photographs in antique stores and flea markets because somewhere, there has to be someone to whom those people are family.  So, I truly appreciate the fact that Susan tried so hard to find a family member to pass the photographs on to.  I may not be able to take a great many of them, but I certainly will take as many as I can.  In the meantime, I will take the time to discover as much as I can about my cousin, Ida Belle.

Treasure Chest Thursday - First Families of Montgomery County Certificate

What I am sharing for today's Treasure Chest Thursday post is my First Families of Montgomery County certificate.  Listed on the certificate are the names Henry Sweadner, Eleanor Suman Sweadner, Henry Mathias Routsong, Jacob Routsong, Catherine Flook Routsong, and Clarinda Swadner Routsong, all of my ancestors who I was able to prove were living in Montgomery County, Ohio before 1830.  It's a treasure to me not only because of the work that was involved in the documentation, but because it proves to all my descendants that they own a portion of the history of Ohio.  

So far, I have proven First Families status in Montgomery and Clinton Counties in Ohio. I have a long way to go, but it's a good start!

Tombstone Tuesday - Samuel and Caroline Routsong Swadner

This is the gravesite of Samuel and Caroline Routsong Swadner, located in David's Cemetery, Kettering, Montgomery County, Ohio. Samuel was the brother of my great great grandmother, Clarinda Swadner Routsong. Samuel's wife, Caroline, was the sister of my great great grandfather, Henry Mathias Routsong. Brother and sister married sister and brother.

The following short biography of Samuel Swadner appears in the book, "The Centennial History and Biographical Report of the City of Dayton and of Montgomery County, Ohio" published by A.C. Bowen and Company, 1897. It appears on page 1309.


SAMUEL SWADENER, one of the successful farmers of Montgomery county, Ohio, was born in Van Buren township, this county, October 23, 1821, his farm lying in section 4, of the township. He is a son of Henry and Ellen (Suman) Swadener, the former of whom was a native of Maryland. Henry and Ellen Swadener were the parents of nine children, three sons and six daughters, six of whom are still living, as follows: Daniel; Samuel; Sarah, widow of Joseph Brown; Henry; Clarinda, wife of Henry Roussong; and Lavina, wife of Riley Shank.
Henry Swadener was a mechanic, and while yet a young man located in Montgomery county in its early pioneer days, and bought a small farm in Van Buren township. Here he died in 1858, at sixty-nine years of age. His father died in Maryland, The maternal grandfather of Samuel Swadener, Mr. Suman, located in Van Buren township as one of the earliest of the pioneers, and lived here all his life.
Samuel Swadener lived with his parents in Van Buren township until he was twenty-two years of age. He was married, February 11, 1847, to Miss Caroline Roussong, daughter of Jacob and Catherine (Flook) Roussong. To this marriage there have been born seven children, three sons and four daughters, five of whom are now living, as follows: Michael J., Frances G., Ida Belle, Margaret A., and Samuel C. Those that died were named William H. and Julia A. Michael J. married Miss Joanna Miller, by whom he has one child living, Royal. Frances G. married William Cress; they have two children, Clarence E. and Edna May. Ida Belle married Perry Saylor; they also have two children, Goldie May and Samuel Roscoe. Margaret A. married Joseph Saylor, and they have two children Otho and Clifford. Samuel C. married Miss Elnora Michaels, and they have one child, Harry LeRoy.
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Swadener are members of the German Reformed church, and in politics Mr. Swadener is a democrat. He is a most industrious and prosperous man, owning a farm of 100 acres, which is well improved. He has lived in Van Buren township during his entire life, a period of seventy-five years. His wife’s people came to Montgomery county from Maryland in the early pioneer days, and settled in Van Buren township, where they have always been held in high esteem. They have contributed largely to the growth and prosperity of the county, and have done well their part in life. Too much cannot be said in honor of the pioneer settlers of Ohio, who laid well the foundations of the commonwealth, which now deservedly claims so proud a place in the long list of great states of the Union
　
　
　
　

Tombstone Tuesday - Little Julia Swadner

This is the gravesite of Julia Ann Swadener, daughter of Caroline Routsong and Samuel Swadner of Van Buren Township, (now Kettering) Montgomery County, Ohio. It is located in David's Cemetery.

She died August 12, 1856 at the tender age of 4 years, 25 days.

The inscription states "Ere sin could blight or sorrow faid
Death came with friendly care.
The opening bud to Heaven convaid
And bade it blossom there."