Chat
|
Daily Search
|
My GenForum
|
Community Standards
|
Terms of Service
|
|
|
Hello all,
I recently stumbled across a lot of swearingen family information from an very unusual source: The National Conservancy Training Center, a branch of the US Fish and Wildlife Services. This organization sits on land formerly owned by the branch of the family that located in Shepherdtown, WV. Their website has historical information compiled by Dan Everson, a field biologist turned swearingen family historian, in conjunctioin with the late Karel Whyte and others. To view this work, go to the website at
http://training.fws.gov/history/PropertyHistory/index.html
There is a lengthy preface written by Mr. Everson at the beginning stating,
"My purpose for writing this history of the NCTC property and surrounding lands has been to describe the families that lived here, their strategies for making a living from the natural resources it had to offer, and their activities during the time they occupied the land. Most of my professional career has been spent as a field biologist, and I don’t have a long list of credentials as either a writer or historian. I simply ran across a story that intrigued me more and more as the details fell in place, and felt compelled to share it with others who might be interested in local history. My curiosity was first piqued during several afternoons I spent rambling over the property documenting the presence and distribution of plants. Old foundations and fence lines, broken pottery, bits of brick and glass all suggested a long history of use. Who were these people? What did the landscape look like before and after they arrived? Archaeological reports describing thousands of years of human occupation, the results of surveys and research conducted prior to the construction of NCTC facilities, also furthered an interest in who had lived here in the past...........
Parts of the original Swearingen estate were consolidated into a single property again in the early 1940s by the Hendrix family. A member of this family sold the property to the US Fish and Wildlife Service in March of 1992......
I consider this a work in progress and welcome new sources of information and further details on any of the topics I have written about.
Dan Everson
NCTC Course Leader "
This extensive work centers around the branch of the family that migrated to Sheperdstown: Garrett-Thomas-Thomas-Thomas. This branch includes Thomas, the ferry boat operator, his sons, Col. "Indian" Van Swearingen, Andrew, and others. If you are descended from this branch of the family, it is well worth looking at.
Mark.
Notify Administrator about this message?
Followups:
|
| http://genforum.genealogy.com/swearingen/messages/3747.html | ||
 |
Link to GenForum Add Forum |
|