Thomas James Axley Swagerty with his sons and daughters

L to R
Front row: Nancy Catherine, Thomas James Axley Swagerty, Andrew Jackson.

Back row: Easter, Lieutitia Jane, William Anthony, Joseph Scripps, Aquila Axley "Dick", Sarah A.
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Thomas's parents were:
Thomas Swagerty (1785 - 1838)
Anna Manning Swagerty (1788 - 1838)

From TN Thomas moved to Benton Co, AR with his parents around 1839. After getting to AR he married Mary Nail in Benton Co, AR in 1839.

Their 11 children were:
1. Andrew Jackson "Jack" b October 20, 1841
2. Sarah Ann b October 11, 1843 (wife of James Madison Osborn)
3. Charles T. b February 08, 1844
4. James N. b February 23, 1845
5. Joseph Scrips b November 29, 1848
6. Nancy Catherine b November 11, 1851 (wife of John Clay)
7. Easter E. b January 26, 1855 (wife of Abirum Caldwell)
8. William Anthony b January 26, 1855
9. Mary "Maggie" b 1857
10.Leaticia Jane "Janie" b December 20, 1860 (wife of Isaac Newton Scott)
11.Axley Aquilla "Dick" b September 24, 1863
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Sometime after their daughter, Mary, was born in AR, they moved to Linn Co, KS.

Kansas State Census Collection 1855-1925
Name - T J A Swagerty
Census Date - 1857
Residence County - Bourbon and Dorn and McGee and Allen
Residence State - Kansas
Locality - District 18
T J A Swagerty

On August 2, 1860,
T. & Mary Swagerty, ages 41 & 40, lived in Mound City, Linn Co, KS Territory where they owned land & personal estate valued at $800 & $700. Thomas, with the help of his sons, supported the family by farming. They picked up their mail in the Mound City Post Office. Their children, all born in AR were:
Andrew Swagerty 19
Sarah Swagerty 17
James Swagerty 15
Charles Swagerty 13
Joseph Swagerty 11
Nancy Swagerty 9
Easter Swagerty 7
W Swagerty 5
Mary Swagerty 3

F Holston, single, age 37, a carpenter, born in Sweden lived with them.
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Civil War Draft Registrations Records,
1863-1865
Name - T J A Swagarty
Residence - Mound, Linn, Kansas
Class 2
Congressional District Southern
Age on 1 July 1863 - 44
Race - White
Place of Birth - Tennessee
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After the Civil War

On June 9, 1865,
T J A & Mary Swagerty, ages 46 & 45, lived in Mound City, Linn Co, KS where they had land & personal estate valued at $2500 & $1800.

Their children were:
Jackson A Swagerty 23 - was farming & had personal estate valued at $300
Sarah A Swagerty 21
James N Swagerty 20
Charles T Swagerty 18
Joseph S Swagerty 16
Nancy C Swagerty 14
Easter E Swagerty 12
William A Swagerty 10
Lutitia J Swagerty 4
Aquilla A Swagerty 1
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On July 19, 1870,
Thomas J A & Mary, ages 57 & 56, lived in Stanton, Linn Co, KS. They were doing well; owning land valued at $3250 & had personal estate valued at $1365. Children at home were:
Joseph Swagerty 27
Easter E Swagerty 19
William A Swagerty 15
Lutitia J Swagerty 8
Aquilla A Swagerty 6
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On June 30, 1880,
Thomas & Mary, ages 61 & 60, lived in Prairie, Washington Co, AR. Thomas was a Miller. Two children were still at home: their daughter, Jane, & son, Arley, ages 19 & 15. Nine month old Liley Scott were living with them.
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Fayetteville Democrat
Friday, June 7, 1929

THE OLD SWAGERTY WATER-MILL
By Merton Carter

"Where is or was the Swagerty water-mill? The Swagerty water-mill was built at the close of the Civil War and operated until about 1900. To find its location is likely to be a hard task although within less than six milles of it is the learned city of Fayetteville; within less than two miles is state highway number 16 which connects Tulsa, Siloam Springs and Fayetteville; and all about it, though mostly on the ridge to the sough near the highway, are the homes of the self-sufficing Ozark farmers.

Fayetteville does not have time to hunt for water-mills which were long ago torn down; tourists on Highway 16, having their eyes glued to the highway cannot look for it; and surrounding farmers are either those who once knew of the mill but let their memories of it die with it or are those who, being recent comers, never have heard of it.

But if there is no mill, why search for it? This is a good question, it is admitted. Though no mill now exists where once it was, there is a spring.

It is Swagerty spring, which runs unceasingly from beneath a rock ledge at the foot of a steep bluff, then outward through the spring-house, across the small road nearby, through part of the meadow beyond and then into Hamestring creek, whose principal water supply is thus obtained.

Meandering both southward and northward but always westward, Hamestring creek passes through he meadow, then alongside many sycamore trees and presently some willow trees. After running a few hundred rods, it bends northward, approaches close to the same hill-ridge from which it principally issued, and then abruptly bends westward again. At this bend is Tub-hole, which attains a considerable depth for so small a stream.

Tub-hole, surrounded on the north and east by sycamore and willow trees, is very close to the site of the old Swagerty mull, being in fact fifty roads west. At the time of the mill, a branch of Hamestring emptied directly from the east into Tub-hole. On the immediate brink of this branch stood Swagerty mill, two stories high, spacious and square. On the west side of it, perpendicular to the stream, had been the water-wheel, set well above the level of the passing stream.

One wonders how the water-wheel utilized the stream passing b perpendicular to and below it. Strangely, it did not to any great extent, because water-power for this large wheel came mostly by way of a mill-race, connecting directly with the spring more than 200 rods distant. This race, the trace of which is plainly visible now, was merely a small channel dug along the foot of the bluff until opposite the mill, where it turned squarely and then passed through a culvert beneath the road. Once across the rad the race became a wooden structure, built away from the ground and with a slight gradient which conducted the stream, ever increasing in velocity, to the upper part of the water-wheel. Being lined with clay and regularly cleaned of leaves by Axley Swagerty's wooden rake, the mill-race gave efficient service.

Though the race was the principal source of power, the stream flowing beside the mill did help slightly in turning the wheel. A flume directed a part of the stream to it but at too low a level to come with force sufficient to revolve the wheel of itself.

'My Grandpap Swagerty ran the mill for a long time,' relates a granddaughter of the miller, now a grandmother herself, 'and he made cornmeal, carded wool, and ginned cotton for the farmers around here.

'I can just remember as plain going to the mill when I was a little girl and seeing Grandpap Swagerty working. When I'd go in I'd find him downstairs grinding corn or upstairs ginning cotton, and he'd be standing there just as quiet. He was jut a say-nothing kind of person.

'And I remember he used to wear a sponge over his nose to keep the lint from making him have the asthma. It certainly made him look funny, and it sounded just as funny to hear him talk. My sister and I, when we were little, would laugh out loud whenever he'd say something.'

To this little countryside mill, nearby farmers brought their Meagan cotton crops to be ginned, their wool to be carded, and their corn to be ground into meal. Presently they returned and took away their baled cotton, wool rolls, and cornmeal.

Remembering how wool was card, Axley Swagerty's granddaughter has this to say: 'First the wool was put into the wool-picker and pulled to pieces. Then it was taken to the carding machine. Uncle Dick (her grandfather's youngest son, who helped run the mill) used to get some of the picked wool and smooth it all out on the feeding table of the carding-machine, and then the belts would gradually take it in. I used to watch it go over the belts and over and over and clear across the whole machine. It went from one roller to another. Then it would drop out in little rolls ready to go to the spinning wheels.

'When there were a dozen or such a matter of the rolls Uncle Dick would come and pick all of them up in a little budget together and give them a twist so they could be easily separated. Then there was a big blanket or something in the corner where a farmer's wool rolls were put. All his wool was put on his blanket and the corners ere tied in a knot, and the farmer would come and get it.'

After operating the mill for 32 years, Mr. Swagerty became too old to continue, so the building ceased to be used as a mill. For a few years it served as a barn, then in 1898 it was destroyed.

'I remember that my daughter was a very little girl,' wistfully informs Axley Swagerty's grandddaughter, 'when my husband and Uncle Dick tore down the old water-wheel. Grandpap Swagerty told them they could have it if they would remove it, so they tore it down and sold the metal parts to a junk man in town. He gave them $10 for it.

'Then not many years after that mill was torn down,' she added regretfully, 'It's too bad, too.'

Many young willows now grow on the site of the mill. There also thrive numerous bushes and weeds, offering an effective barrier to the tourist. Little children, residents of the house by the spring, discover the old mill-race and think: 'What a nice path already made for us her; we can have a good time playing on it.' Nos sooner said than they are running races in the path."
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TJA's beloved wife, Mary, died on January 26, 1883.
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Thomas, age 64, married Julia Ann Goad, 56, in Benton Co, AR on August 26, 1883.
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On June 13, 1900,
Thomas J. & Julia J., ages 81 & 71, owned a home in Center Township, Washington Co, AR. Thomas was shown as a "Renter of Lands." By this time they had been married 17 years. Julia had not given birth to any children.

Thomas Thomas J Swagity 81 (born in TN January 1819)
Julia J Swagity 71 (born in TN October 1828)
Aquilla A Swagity, single, 36 (born in KS Sept. 1863)

More later