Notes
Note for: Oliver EWING, BEF JAN 1818 - 1823 Index
Note: [McNutt7.FTW]
196-98 Oliver Ewing; Will, 17 Jan 1818 probated Jun 1823. Nephew; Olive
Ewing s/o Samuel; niece, Sidney Ewing d/o Samuel. Other devisees; Fanny
Ewing d/o brother Joseph Ewing, Gean (Jean) Charlton d/o sister Fanny
Ewing, heirs of brother James Ewing, sister Gean (Jean) Patton, heirs of
sister Fanny Ewing, heirs of sister Susanna Sprowl, heirs of brother John
Ewing, heirs of sister Sidney McNutt, brother William Ewing. Exec: Isaac
Hanly, Joseph Ewing s/o brother Samuel Ewing. Wit: Andrew Walker, John
Tackett. Source: "Monroe Co. (W)Va Abstracts (Wills 1799-1829)" by Larry
G. Shuck
References in Early West Virginia Settlers, 1600s-1900s; West Virginia
Estate Settlements, Monroe County, P. 170:
EWING, Oliver - Will 6-1823; Dev. Oliver Ewing, Sidney, others; I.S.
3-1824From "Monroe Co. (W)Va Abstracts (Wills 1799-1829)" by Larry G.
Shuck, 196-98:
Oliver Ewing; Will, 17 Jan 1818 probated Jun 1823. Nephew; Olive Ewing
s/o Samuel; niece, Sidney Ewing d/o Samuel. Other devisees; Fanny Ewing
d/o brother Joseph Ewing, Gean (Jean) Charlton d/o sister Fanny Ewing,
heirs of brother James Ewing, sister Gean (Jean) Patton, heirs of sister
Fanny Ewing, heirs of sister Susanna Sprowl, heirs of brother John Ewing,
heirs of sister Sidney McNutt, brother William Ewing. Exec: Isaac Hanly,
Joseph Ewing s/o brother Samuel Ewing. Wit: Andrew Walker, John Tackett.
Notes
Note for: Samuel EWING, BEF JAN 1818 - 1815 Index
Note: [McNutt7.FTW]
References in Early West Virginia Settlers, 1600s-1900s; West Virginia
Estate Settlements, Monroe County, P. 170:
EWING, Samuel - Inv. 6-20-1815; I.S. 10-15-1816; Set. 3-21-1822
Notes
Note for: William ["Swago Bill"] EWING, 24 DEC 1756 - 7 OCT 1822 Index
Burial:
Date: 1822
Place: Ewing Cemetery, Huntington Township, Gallia County, Ohio
Note: [McNutt7.FTW]
Jackson Standared-Journal newspaper, Jackson, Ohio, September l, 1910:
"William was known as "Swago Bill," because his old home, in Greenbrier
County, Va., was on a creek called Swago......."
---------------------
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.
The very day before her birth, a neighbor boy by the name of William
Ewing, arrived at the proud age of fifteen years. This William Ewing was
the youngest son of James Ewing, a Scotch-Irish immigrant to Old Virginia
of perhaps about 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 . 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 the grandmother of 81, the majority of
whom grew up and had families of their own. Only seven of the eighty-one
are now living, to-wit: Margaret Ewing Leonard, Fostoria, Ohio, age 88,
Janette Ewing White, Camden, Mich, age 86; W. Leander Ewing, Latham,
Kansas, age 79, Leatha Ewing, Burlington, IA, age 78, Jane Ewing Carter,
Vinton, O., age 75; Henry McKendree Ewing, Pioneer, O, age 73 and James
K. Ewing, Seattle, Wash, age 69. This is the way Mary McNeils descendants
increased. Her son Thomas had nine 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 Margaret Ewing Leonard, of the 2nd generation. This
committee would like to have the name
of her youngest and most remote descendtant; whoever it is, is probably
in the sixth or seventh generation. And who can approximate the number of
living descendants today; five 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, when at the age of 82, 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 by 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, then they went to Iowa, then back to Missouri, where she died,
in Mercer County, near the town of Ravanna; in 1858, at the good old age
of 87 years.
Descendants of William and Mary Ewing, hats off to our 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 her 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 eighty-one, the great 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 to 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 the secretary's letter
enclosed.
Yours truly,
Sadie Porter 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
***We do not have a copy of the above mentioned "secretary's letter".
This was accomplished: See copy of Ewing Cemetery graves , Gallia Co.,
OH, obtained from the Gallia Co., OH Historical Society
---------------------
A William Ewing lived in the Swago/Mill Point area of Greenbrier now
Pocahontas Co.,WV around 1778. He is a Rev. War Vetern. He married MARY
TAYLOR who was the wife Daniel TAYLOR. William and Daniel were in the
same outfit during the war but Daniel never returned home after the War.
William and Mary were married in Bath County, VA in 1791. However Daniel
returned from Fredrick Co.,VA and found his wife had remarried. A Bath
Co.,VA Grand Jury indicted MARY and "LONG WILLIAM" for intermarring. The
case was dismissed in 1793. WILLIAM and MARY had one known son THOMAS
EWING b. 1792 and d. March 17, 1867. I am looking for the maiden name of
Mary before she married DANIEL TAYLOR in Augusta Co.,VA