Military: Revolutionary War
Moved to Surry Co. NC in 1778 or 1779. Moved to Raccoon township, Gallia Co.
OH in 1803
maybe Centreville Cemetery
Moved to Surry Co. NC in 1778 or 1779. Moved to Raccoon township, Gallia Co.
OH in 1803.
Birth: 1754 Rockbridge Co. VA, Gallia Co. Biographies p. 655
!Marriage: Bath co. VA to Mary McNeal.. " " "
!Residency: 1810 Ewington, Gallia, OH " " "Land: Section 11, Huntington township, Gallia Co. OH
Died: 30 Jun 1858 at home of son Andrew at age of 91 Biographies-Gallia Co.p 65
5.
Letter written to descendants of Mary McNeil dated July 20th, 1913
Dear Relative:--
Please read this because it is the story of the greatest little grandmother
of the Ewing clan to which you belong, namely, the "Swago" William Ewing clan.
In the western mountains of Old Virginia, near the present spot called
Buckeye, at the juncture of Swago Creek and the Greenbrier, in the present
county of Pocahontas, W. Va., in the pioneer cabin of her father, Thomas
McNeil, was born, on December 25th, 1771, a baby girl to whom they
appropriately gave the Christmas name of Mary[1].
The very day before (of) her birth, a neighbor boy by the name of William
Ewing, arrived at the proud age of fifteen (16) years. This William Ewing was
the youngest son of James Ewing, a Scotch-Irish immigrant to Old Virginia of
perhaps about 1840 (1740). William was nicknamed "Swago Bill", to distinguish
him from the other Williams in that vicinity. William's older brother, John,
was known as "Indian" John, because of his exciting experience as an Indian
captive during his boyhood. William worked at the clearings, and, of course,
became a great hunter and mountain ranger. About the time of Mary's birth,
revolutionary mutterings were heard in the east, and the Indians were
constantly threatening the settlements from the west. When Mary was of the
dignified age of three years, her future husband, then 18, joined Captain John
Stuart's Company which became a fighting part of General Lewis' division of the
colonial militia which attacked and whipped Chief Cornstalk's Indian army at
Pt. Pleasant, W. Va., Oct. 10, 1774. William came through the battle, without
a scratch, but had several close calls. After the battle he spent a year or
two of soldier life at the fort at Point Pleasant. He was just waiting for
little Mary to grow up, but neither of them knew it. On the sixteenth day of
November, 1785, they were married and the fact is recorded at Lewisburg, W. Va.
Mary lacked over a month of being fourteen, but she was about the healthiest
and most capable specimen of girlhood that ever grew on the Blue Ridge. Her
husband had seen more than twice her years, in fact was a man of nearly 29. It
is not probable that Mary realized the size of the job she was so bravely
undertaking. But she was a sturdy little Scotch girl, and not afraid of man,
devil or Indian. At the age of 15 she was the mother of Elizabeth Ewing
(Dodrill); at 16 her playhouse contained baby Thomas Ewing. At less than 19
she was mothering three little Ewings, and before she was 21 there were four
little mouths to feed. At the age of 38, she was the proud mother of 12, all
living, and all born within a period of 22 years. Here are their names and
birthdays:
Elizabeth Ewing Dodrill, Feb. 15, 1787
Thomas Ewing, July 30, 1788
Jonathan Ewing, Aug. 1, 1790
William Ewing, April 8, 1792
James Ewing, Dec. 9, 1793
John Ewing, Sept. 9, 1795
Sarah Ewing Wallace, May 23, 1797
Enoch Ewing, July 31, 1799
Jacob Ewing, Aug. 17, 1802
Abram McNeil Ewing, Oct. 13, 1804
George Ewing, Jan. 21, 1807
Andrew Ewing, May 4, 1809
In 1810, with 10 children under age, and two who had reached the age of
majority, they left their mountain home in Virginia and began life anew in the
forests of Gallia County, Ohio, at the very spot where Ewington now stands.
Here, in time, the children married and eleven of them became heads of
families. Only one died childless and that was Sarah Wallace, who died at the
age of 30. The descendants of the eleven live in half the states of the Union.
William Ewing, the father, died in 1822, at the age of 66, and was buried near
Ewington, Ohio, where his grave is identified by a good old fashioned
tombstone.
It is not to be wondered at that this busy little mother should become
grandomther to 81, the majority of whom grew up and had families of their own.
Only six of the eighty-one are now living, to-wit: Janette Ewing White,
Camden, Michigan, age 86; W. Leander Ewing, Latham, Kas., age 79; Leatha Ewing,
Burlington, Ia., age 78; Jane Ewing Carter, Vinton, O., age 75; Henry McK.
Ewing, Pioneer, O., age 72, and James K. Ewing, Seattle, Wash., age 69 [2].
This is the way Mary McNeil Ewing's descendants increased. Her son Thomas had
9 children; Jonathan, Elizabeth, William and Jacob, 8 each; James, 4; John 2;
Sarah, none; Abram and George, 5 each; Enoch, 10; and Andrew, 14. The oldest
living descendant of Mary McNeil Ewing is Janette Ewing White, of the second
generation. This committee would like to have the name of her youngest and
most remote descendant; whoever it is, is probably in the sixth or seventh
generation. And who can approximate the number of living descendants today;
fire or six hundred is not an extravagant estimate?
William (Swago) dying in 1822, left Mary a widow at 51; her youngest child,
Andrew, was then thirteen years old. She remained on the old place at
Ewington, Ohio, till 1853[3], when at the age of 82 (87), she determined to go
west with her son Andrew. She refused to be dissuaded, and thus became for the
third time a pioneer. They moved by wagon and had a tough time getting
through; but the little Scotch girl of the Virginia mountains, who dared at 14
to become the wife of a backwoodsman of twice her age, was not the woman at 82
to be afraid of an overland trip of 500 miles by wagon. Leatha Ewing of
Burlington, Ia., was at Ewington, O., when her grandmother left for the west in
1853. She says: "I remember her as a woman of medium height, but quite stout.
Her eyes were blue, and her hair had turned white. She could ride horseback,
but had to mount from an elevation. She left for the west in a wagon, and had
a ladder for her own special use in getting in and out of her wheeled cabin."
They were delayed in Indiana by sickness in the family, but finally landed in
Missouri[4], they they went to Iowa, then back to Missouri, where she died, in
Mercer County, near the town of Ravanna, in 1858, at the good age of 87 (91)
years.
Descendants of William and Mary Ewing, hats off to out littlest greatest
grandmother!!
But as Mary was born and bred in the wilderness, so she died and was buried
in the wilderness, and no one knows the location of the grave. The spot is
unmarked. It is this fact that causes us to write this letter. Mary McNeil
Ewing, the child wife of William Ewing, the girl mother of twelve, the
grandmother of hundreds, the pioneer of four states, and the comrade of toil
and hardship, has not even a pine board to mark her resting place or to
identify her with the clan which has so much reason to be proud of her.
The mission of this letter is to arouse your interest, appeal to your pride,
and ask for a contribution of any amount toward a fund of one hundred dollars,
or more, for the erection of a suitable marker or monument in honor of Mary
McNeil Ewing, beside the grave of her husband, William Ewing, as more fully
explained in secretary's letter herewith enclosed.
Yours truly,Sadie White Cooper, Chairman
119 Charlotte Ave, Detroit, Mich.Jane White Martin, Treasurer
R. F. D. 37, Camden, Mich.Alvin E. Ewing, Secretary
347 Charles Ave., Grand Rapids, Mich.Additions and Corrections:
[1] Mary ws actually born on the South Branch of the Potomac in what is today
Hardy County, W. Va. (In 1771 it was part of Hampshire County, Va.) The
McNeills didn't move to Swago Creek until 1778.[2] When A. E. wrote this, he omitted Margaret Ewing Leonard, Thomas Ewing's
ninth, who was living in Fostoria, Ohio. She was then 88, so was older than
Janette Ewing White.[3] Mary did not remain at the old place until 1853. When her youngest,
Andrew, married in 1839, age 30, he bought property a few miles up the road in
Wilkesville Township, now in Vinton County. Mary went with him and his bride,
Taphena Holcomb, and it was from Wilkesville, not Ewington, thay they left in
1853 to go west.[4] The Ewings went first to Wayne County, Iowa, where they lived two or three
years. They then moved about 25 miles south, over the state line into
Summersett Township, Mercer County, Mo., where Mary died. In 1866 Andrew and
his family moved back to Wayne County (Ia.), where he died in 1885.P.S. They raised about $115, mostly from nickel and dime donations, and the
monument went up on Oct. 10, 1919, on the 145th anniversary of the Battle of
Point Pleasant.
Had 8 children
Had 4 children
Had 2 children
Had 10 children
Had 8 children
Had 5 children
Had 14 children
Death: what is now Pocahontas Co. WV
Immigration: came to U.S. 1792 at the age of about 35 with his wife and
!at least one brother, Emon Roe MacSweeney
!Settled on the site what is now Pittsburgh,(Allegheny), PA after coming to
!the U.S. from Ireland
left his first family in IrelandBIOGRAPHY: We have no data on his life or family in Ireland. Traditionsays he had wife and four children but nothing is known of these. Afterhis first wife died, he remarried and came to USA in 1792 at age of 35.He left his first family in Ireland and started a second family in theUS. He died at the age of 81.
SOURCE: Record of the Sweeney Family by T. F. Sweeney in 1927 at age of75.
AKA: Sweaney
lived in southeastern Ohio and northeastern Kentucky
Lived in Southeast Ohio and Northeast Kentucky.
died young
died young
died young
Moved to Ballycroy, Mayo, IRE about 1668.
The MacSweeney family built Doe Castle at Rosguill Peninsula in the 1500's. They were mercenaries who originally came from Scotland.
Taken from an Irish travel guide by Dorling Kindersley Publishing. Can be found at www.dk.com.
Dorling Kindersley Limited, London. Reprinted 1999, 1997, 1995.
Walter Macloughlin Mac Sweeney
O'Hart's Irish Pedigrees in Chicago's Newberry Library
land grant of 896 acres in 1610 by King James I (Stuart)
Bellycany and Raigh (House of Stone and Lime)
Occupation: Justice of the Peace, Fanad, IRE