Susannah Swingle, 3rd Great-Grandmother

 

If you are ever in the vicinity of Knoxville, Tennessee

and you are in the mood for visiting the graves of any of your ancestors, well just wander a bit north of there to the vicinity of Maynardville, in Union County and then commence a few miles further north of that hamlet to the vicinity of Pinhook which is just a tiny bit to the west of Lickskillet.  You then are very close to an old cemetery, seemingly on private land today, by the name of Butcher Cemetery.  I suppose it got that name from someone by the name of or the occupation of Butcher.  Not a pressing issue to sort that out at the moment.  Just be assured that if you are on Butcher Hollow Road and just a tad bit south of Pinhook well then you are really close to the graves of two of your distant ancestors, that of one John Mohlar, commonly spelled Moulder today by all the descendants, and his wife, Susannah Swingle.  Somehow and someplace along the line the spelling of the surname was adapted in lieu of a much more difficult spelling of Schwaengeler as revealed by her family heritage somehow ferreted out by someone of very good genealogical sources.  How the spelling change came about is probably rather obvious for a Swiss born young lady finding herself in a land of “Bloody English” or Irish.  

 

 

The internet is a fascinating place these days.  A brief description for John Moulder’s wife, Susannah, that has trickled down from various family genealogical sources, reveals something of her beginnings and also the place of burial for her and her husband.  A little scrambling around on the internet reveals a picture of their grave as well as a somewhat obscure satellite view of the very cemetery where they were laid to rest between 1810 and 1833 .  Another very important web source for family history research also provides pictures of their graves as they are today. 

 

 

Vicinity of Butcher Cemetery,

Union County, North Tennessee

 

 

 

Current Memorial Markers

John (Moulder) Mohlar 1733-1810

and his wife

Susannah Swingle 1733-1833

 

It Wasn’t Always Easy Coming to America-  A Tale Worth Noting-

Five generations back in our family tree one finds a Susannah Swingle, of Swiss birth, to be our 3rd Great-Grandmother.  Sometimes it is difficult to relate to such a distant relationship but suffice it to say we all carry some sort of a genetic path that can be scientifically traced directly back to her and or her husband.  Susannah’s life spanned approximately 100 years, stated in a family history as 1733-1833.  Those years may be approximate but they do establish the background period of her lifespan.

The woman has a history that the current generations would have difficulty comprehending but I do find a portion of it interesting and worth posting here in order to highlight how difficult times were for our ancestors so many generations ago. 

The power of the internet and the growing hobby of current generations capturing their past from a massive amount of genealogical information accumulating in thousands of web-sites available to anyone interested has brought forth information pertaining to our ancestral line worth noting and reflecting on.  Specifically any small snippet of information regarding ancestors I freely copy and examine as best as possible to determine authenticity.  It isn’t an official authentication by any means but a system of patience and searching for others also claiming the same information.  Over time it is possible to obtain a level of confidence in data based on just how persistent the information is.  If it passes a test of time after being placed on the internet and is not disputed or corrected by others, over time the authenticity begins to take hold.  Such is the case for the following small fact copied from a volume of history of the Moulder family published within the past 50 years or so and seemingly validated by a very large amount of family historians following the Moulder family.  In short we are part of a countless list of Moulder descendants all sharing the same basic data and a very large number of them are presently active on the web. 

What follows is a description of some minor history of this ancestor, Susannah Swingle, that has passed the test of time and I consider it valid enough to want to post it for others to contemplate.  I find it rather interesting.

Copied from Ancestry.com, 10 June 2011:

MOULDER'S RECORD OF THE MOULDER FAMILY OF AMERICA,

written and published by George Chester Moulder; Lebanon, Missouri; 1933. FHLC Microfiche #6017757.

Introduction
"...preparation of this book would not have been possible without the...cooperation of George B. Moulder of Nashville, Tenn, and the many other descendants of the Moulder family.

"We start this work with the birth of John Moulder 1733, he came to America about 1740 or 1750, with his brothers Lewis and Valentine, first settling near Philadelphia, Pa. His wife was Susannah (Susa) Swingle.

She and her sister when children were decoyed into a ship and brought across the Ocean, and she was sold to John Moulder for her passage. She could shoulder a two bushel bag of wheat and she had no trouble in catching and overpowering her husband John, when he came home intoxicated and un-ruly.

John emigrated from Pennsylvania with his brother Valentine and settled in Rowan County, North Carolina, before the Revolutionary War. Here raised a family of eight children all whom married there. John sold his farm in Rowan County, North Carolina to Vincent Gardner in 1795, and moved with his son Felta to Granger (now Union) County, Tenn., he died May 17 1810. His grave is located on what is now the Jesse Butcher farm three miles North of Maynardsville, Union County, Tenn., gravestone and markers well preserved. His wife Susannah died in 1833. She is buried by her husband John. Their descendants are listed through the following pages. (Geo. C. Moulder)"

Another description of the fate of the Swingle sisters from a Moulder family descendant:

From: "Nina Robertson" <ninaer@yahoo.com> 4-15-2002

It is said that Susannah "Susa" (wife of John) and her sister, when they were children in the "Old Country" were decoyed into a ship, locked up,brought to Philadelphia and sold "for their passage" to Lewis and John Moulder. The girls were properly raised on Henry (father of John and Lewis) Moulder's farm. Later, Lewis and John would legally marry them.

This was posted on Moulder GenForum 4/21/00 by Tonie Bedell, a descendant of John Moulder.

In times past it seems than not only were men kidnapped and forced into the crews of sailing ships, but it also appears that the practice at times involved children, kidnapped and sold as indentured servants.  Those were tragic times for many families I am sure.

The area where Susannah and her husband finally settled in Tennessee appears to be in the area of the TVA dam building activities of the 1930’s when viewed in satellite photos of today.  Here is another set of ancestors graves calling to me to someday search out to photograph and pay respects to.  Perhaps I will eventually.  At least it goes on the list of possible projects.