Relay – A Family History Blog

updated to reflect additional research on candidates for “missing children”.

As I prepare a biographical write up for John Swartz (oldest son of John Swartz and Elizabeth Ohlweiler) and his 3 wives – Nancy Prather, Elizabeth Prather and Julia Ann (Adams) Stewart for my research results blog – I have been reviewing my earlier research and thinking about published genealogical sources.

One thing that really jumps out at me is that the “standard” source for this family, Elise Swartz Eberhart’s Three Swartz/Schwartz men of Floyd and Clark County, Indiana,¹ is full of errors for the family of this John Swartz. It is somewhat understandable. There were 3 adult John Swartz/Schwartz men in Clark County, Indiana in the early 1800’s and all of the them were related. The two younger men appear to have left no descendants living in Clark or Floyd counties where the research for the book was centered.

The John Swartz who lived 1767-1824, only appears on the 1820 census in Clark County (he is in lots of other records but only 1 census) as John Schwartz.  The John Swartz who lived 1797-1865, appears in multiple census and marriage records but only 2 census where his household is named.  And John C. Swartz who lived 1801-1831, appears in a single census and a single marriage record. John C. and John jr. (He is only called that on the 1820 census but for ease of discussion I will call him that) are first cousins.  Their fathers are brothers John sr.>John jr. and Christopher/Christian>John C. They both lived in the Silver Creek/Utica area of Clark County, Indiana between 1803-1831.  And they left no descendants in the immediate area, but a large mass of their Swartz siblings and cousins left descendants there.  Which seems to be enough to cause serious confusion/mistakes.

As part of the series “John Swartz and Elizabeth Ohlweiler of Pennsylvania and Clark County, Indiana and their descendants” on the McLeland-Wieser Family blog I’ve written an article on John Swartz, his three wives, his supposed middle name and sorting his children. That article corrects errors in Eberhart’s book regarding John’s wives (their number, names and families) Nancy Prather, daughter of William Prather and Ary/Airy Gaither, 1794-1832; Elizabeth Prather, cousin of Nancy’s and daughter of Walter Prather and Martha Jacobs, 1811-c. 1839 and Julia Ann Adams, widow of William Stewart and daughter of William Adams and Mary (?), 1810 – 1870.

But what about the children of those wives?  Is Eberhart’s book an accurate reflection of the names and number of  John’s children? After a careful review of the 1820, 1830 and 1840 censuses for John’s household, I think the answer is highly probably NO.

Let’s look at the evidence –

The John Schwartz junior household in the 1820 census² counts 3 female children under age 10 as well as an adult male and an adult female. The household is immediately adjacent an older John Schwartz so I am confident this is the John son of John.

John and Nancy married in 1814 so this household is likely to be John and Nancy and 3 daughters. While it is quite normal for their to be “extra” household members in pre-1850 census it is not usual for there to be extra very young children, unless there has been a death in a nearby closely related family or something similar. For comparison, John sr,’s household³ has 2 extra members, 1 male and 1 female, however both are older teenagers and most likely come under the category of “farm/domestic help”, family or not, who are living in the household.   None of Nancy’s siblings were married and creating households in 1820 and while John’s older sisters were married with young daughters by 1820 their daughters are accounted for in their own households. John and Nancy had 2 known daughters, Airy born 1815 and Elizabeth born 1818 – a third daughter could easily have been born either between the other 2 girls or after Elizabeth.

In the 1830 enumeration⁴ John jr.’s household had further additions. John and Nancy are known to have the 2 daughters listed above as well as 2 known sons Abraham born 1822 and Wiley Uriah born 1827. But the household composition has several additional young children,

• 1 male > 5 = Wiley b. 1827
• 1 male 5-9 = Abraham b. 1822
• 1 male 5-9 = unknown son (born between 1820-1824)
• 1 female > 5 = unknown daughter (born between 1825-1830)
• 1 female 5-9 = unknown daughter (born between 1820-1824)
• 1 female 10-14 = Elizabeth b. 1818
• 1 female 10-14 = unknown daughter (born between 1815-1820 – likely the unknown daughter from 1820 census)
• 1 female 15-20 = Airy b. 1815

It is entirely likely that John and Nancy would have had 3 children in the 10 years between 1820 and 1830.

At this point we are considering a household of 8 children for a couple who have been married 26 years.  Nothing particularly unusual, except for the fact that we know names of only 4 children.  The family of John Swartz jr. began to experience tragedy after 1830.  Nancy Prather Swartz died 10 Jan 1832 according to the written recollections of her younger half brother Hiram Prather.⁵  And perhaps a number of her children died around that time. Let’s continue evaluating the census with the 1840 Clark County enumeration.

Between the 1830 and 1840 enumerations, John lost a wife, married a second wife, lost that wife and married again, the last time to a woman with children of her own from a first marriage.  John and second wife Elizabeth Prather (Nancy’s cousin not her sister as some have claimed) were married 15 November 1832⁶ and had 3 known children born between 1832-1839.  Elizabeth Prather Swartz died sometime before John married again on 1 December 1839. ⁷ John and third wife Julia Ann (Adams) Stewart had 3 known children, all born after 1840 so any excess enumeration on the 1840 is mostly likely the child of either Nancy or Elizabeth or perhaps an unknown child of Julia’s from her first marriage.

The 1840 enumeration⁸ shows a large household of 10 children and 2 adults and almost all the children can be named.

• 1 male >5 = James W. Swartz b. 1839 youngest known child of John and Elizabeth
• 2 males 5-9 = John F. Swartz b. 1834 oldest known child of John and Elizabeth and one unknown male (born between 1831-1835 this could be child of either Nancy or Elizabeth)
• 2 males 10-14 = Wiley Uriah Swartz b. 1822 youngest known child of John and Nancy and James Wesley Stewart b. 1830 younger son of Julia Ann and John Wesley Stewart
• 2 males 15-19 = Abraham Swartz b. 1828 oldest son of John and Nancy and William Merchant Stewart b. 1828 oldest son of Julia Ann and John Wesley Stewart
• 2 females 5-9 = Telitha/Tabitha Swartz b. 1837 known daughter of John and Elizabeth and Mary Eleanor Stewart  c. 1831 youngest child of Julia Ann and John Wesley Stewart
• 1 20-29 = Airy Swartz b. 1815 oldest child of Nancy (considered “idiotic” she never married.)

John and Nancy’s second daughter Elizabeth was newly married to Robert Dismore ⁹ and therefore out of the house.

Between these 3 census there are 5 unknown children under the age of 10. Based on census age ranges and the spacing of known children they would most likely all be children of either Nancy or Elizabeth rather than teenagers placed in the family as “help” whether on the farm or in the house.  Of these 5, it seems highly likely that 4 died under age 10 (3 from 1830 and 1 from 1840) as they do not appear on subsequent census. The oldest additional female who appears on the 1820 and 1830 is quite likely to have married by 1840, however she could have also died between 1830 – 1840.

There are no records available that can help determine names and parentage for the 4 younger children, except, perhaps cemetery records.  A search of Clark County marriage records for an “unparented” Swartz marrying between 1840-1850 should be undertaken to rule out an early death for the older children.

John buried 2 young wives, 2 of his known children died before age 30 and 4 of his unknown children before age 10, we have to ask, “What caused the high mortality rate in John’s family?”  It seems probable that both of John’s first wives died of childbirth fever or something similar given the existence of unknown children born near the death year of those spouses.  There is also a considerable tuberculosis incidence in his later family and that may have been the cause of death of the younger children.  John’s siblings had very little known loss of children in childhood.  This must have been a traumatic situation for John and his wives.

Cemetery records in Clark County reveal only 2 candidates for the younger children in the 1830 and 1840 census.

• Sophia Schwartz ( FAG memorial 72238716) born 2 April 1826 died 23 March 1836 is buried in the New Chapel Cemetery. She has not been attached to any other Swartz family as of Oct 30, 2022.   None of John’s brothers were old enough to have a child born in 1826 and none were married in 1826.   John’s cousins, sons of his uncle Christopher Swartz, were either unmarried or had a child born in 1826 (George W. Swartz son of John C. Swartz.)  The known children of his possible uncle or cousin Michael Swartz were too young to have children in 1826 and were probably all living in Floyd County, Indiana. John’s youngest sister, born in 1820, was named Sophia. There is no stone for Sophia, this FAG memorial has been created from cemetery records.
• Elizabeth Swartz (FAG memorial 72255494) unknown birth date died 1840 buried in the New Chapel Cemetery. While she has not been attached to any other Swartz/Schwartz family John Swartz jr. had a living daughter named Elizabeth in 1840 (recently married). There is no stone for this Elizabeth, the FAG memorial has been created from cemetery records.

Cemetery and marriage records reveal only 2 candidates for the older unknown daughter in the 1820 and 1830 census.

• Sarah Ann Swartz (FAG memorial 47525314) born 1820 Clark County, married Marquis Fielding Bennett in 1838 and died in Nebraska in 1902.
• Catherine Schwartz (FAG memorial 17363503) born 1819 Clark County, married George Washington Smith in 1839 and died in Floyd County, Indiana in 1881.

Neither woman has been connected to parents on Find A Grave, FamilySearch or Ancestry as of Oct 30 2022.  Both women married into families that provided frequent marriage partners for the Swartz family members of this generation. If this parentage path is correct, Sarah Ann Swartz and Marquis Fielding Bennett would have been double first cousins once removed complicating the use of DNA evidence. Catherine may be the daughter of Christopher Swartz (he had a known daughter Katherine Ann who was born cir. 1816-19) and therefore John’s cousin not his daughter. More research is needed on the F.A.N. club for each woman.

Neither cemetery or marriage records through 1850 reveal a candidate for the unknown male child born cir 1824-1826.  There are many male Swartz/Schwartz marriages during this period but they can all be accounted for among the sons of John Swartz sr., his brother Christopher/Christian, and his cousin (?) Michael. The older known sons of John jr. – Abraham married 1st in Clark County, Indiana in 1850 and Wiley married in Adams County, Illinois in 1850. Apparently this unknown male either died between 1840 – 1850 and has no cemetery presence or moved out of state and is currently untraceable.

A side note – in John’s household on the 1850 census every occupant is accounted for as a child of either Nancy, Elizabeth or Julia Ann.¹⁰  However in the 1860 census there are 2 individuals who are not accounted for in any earlier census or in any other way – Ransom, age 10 and Mary age 20.  Mary is highly likely to be Mary E. Stewart, John’s step daughter, the child of Julia Ann Adams Stewart Swartz. Mary’s age should be 26 but most of the ages in this household are incorrect for this census.¹¹ Ransom gives his parents as John Swartz and Harriett Stewart in his 1882 York County, Nebraska marriage record.  However when the children of Julia Ann Adams Stewart divided her estate in 1870 Ransom was not named as an heir and based on age he could not be an unknown child of either Nancy or Elizabeth.  Ransom as a possible child of John Swartz needs further research. (Ransom has no living descendants so DNA testing will not be an option.)