Voyage to the New World.

Two of my great-great grandfather’s (Hinderikus Martens Swart) sisters married into the Nanninga Family of Manslagt, Ostfriesland, Germany. These two sisters were Hinriette van der Horst Swart who married Garrelt Reinders Nanninga in 1876 and Martha Annette Swart who married Tjaart Reinders Nanninga in 1873.

G.R. and Hinriette Swart Nanninga

Tjaart and Martha Swart Nanninga

I believe both of these men were sons of Reinders Tjaart Nanninga, pictured below.

Reinders Tjaart Nanninga and his second wife Geelke Garrelts.

Reinders Tjaart and Geelke Nanninga sailed for America from Germany in 1871. Just as my Swart family came to America in 1872, they wound up living at Leonardville, Riley County, Kansas. Though the Swarts went to Castle Garden in New York City and the Nanningas went to Baltimore, I think the experiences on the ship were probably similar.

I found an excerpt from a diary kept by Teetje Nanninga, eldest daughter of Reinders. She was born in 1854 and died not long after the family homesteaded in Kansas. The family said she died of homesickness for her native land. She would not eat or sleep, and soon lost all interest in life.

The Diary

Translated from German by my cousin Myrtle Picking Nanninga Myers in 1961.

April 14, 1871 – It is certainly in God’s divine plan and will that one must part from the dearest that one has. How well I know, there is still nothing in the Walk of Life that is so painful to the heart, as to part, yes, to part! Now you must understand me right if people part they say “Good-Bye” or Aufwiedersehen. I shall leave my homeland and go to the foreign country. Leave my Fatherland and emigrate to America. My parents and brothers and sisters will go also but my grandfather, aunts, uncles, a loving sister, cousins, friends and acquaintances remain here.

April 15, 1871 – At 9:00 o’clock this morning we went to Emden, and changed to the train. The train stopped in the villages of Odersum, Meermor, in the city of Leer, again in the villages of Wustling, Stickhausen, Wight, Delmonhorst, then in the city of Oldenburg, where the houses were painted white and had red roofs, then through more villages to Bremen. Along the way were shrubs and pasture land. The Colsul Jehon waited for us in Bremen, and with his help, our luggage was placed on a wagon. We went to the Inn, our host knew of our arrival and put us in a room that was not very clean. The same evening Father went with the Consul Jehon and secured us passage on the Sail Ship “Iris”. The Captain’s name was Schuette. We were to have two cabins.

April 17, 1871 – At eleven o’clock, we went to the Station in Bremen and went to Bremerhaven; it rained so hard that we had trouble finding the ship, “Iris.” Several other ships were also leaving the Port.

Wednesday, April 19, 1871 – At 11:00 o’clock we left Bremerhaven with especially good wind. In the evening, there was a storm and we were very scared. On the next day we were all sea sick, and stayed in bed two days.

April 22, 1871 – Saturday we were much better. In the afternoon, it was very foggy. The ship did not toss much.

April 23, 1871 – Sunday. This was a long day. There was no work to be done. The ship moved forward only a short distance.

April 25, 26, 1871 – We passed England.

April 27, 1871 – We were sea sick again as the ship tossed violently. I stayed in bed on Friday.

April 30, 1871, Sunday – This was a long tiresome day. The was was so strong that the water splashed over the deck so no one could go there. In the evening it was much nicer while the ship was still, we danced with our young friends. We did not move forward, the ship stood still.

May 1, 1871 – We came out of the English Channel. We were on the way twelve days but if the wind had been favorable then we could have travelled that far in three days.

May 2, 1871 – This was a nice day, the wind was favorable. It was so warm that we could scarcely be on the deck. In the evening, Father and I enjoyed the fine view.

May 3, 4, 1871 – The wind was not good.

May 6, 1871 – Today is my birthday. I received congratulations and good wishes. The wind was very favorable.

May 8, 1871 – The wind was favorable. In the evening, we saw different kinds of fish.

May 9 to 12, 1871 – The wind was not favorable. On Saturday, the ship tossed so much that I stayed in bed all day with a bad headache, so did many others.

May 13, 1871 – This was a nice day with good weather.

May 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 1871 – The weather was nice, real hot but so calm we did not move forward.

May 27, 1871 – The ship tossed violently but we were not sea sick. We had a bad Pentecost as we were in the Gulf Stream of the Gulf of Mexico. It was better than we thought it would be as we could go on deck. The next day in the evening, there was much playing and dancing. However, I kept away as during this Pentecostal time we were not allowed to dance.

May 31, 1871 – Again it is real warm. The wind is unfavorable, this lasted until June 6th. We made no progress on our journey.

June 7, 1871 – Again the was was favorable. The day was warm, we went without stockings and underjackets. In the evening there was a violent storm. The rain fell in streams, the winds were violent. The ship crew understood this storm for they had lived through such storms in the Gulf Stream.

June 8, 1871 – It was so still that the ship did not move, Friday.

June 9, 1871 – The wind was favorable and by evening we were so near land that the Captain could see a light house. However, no, we must turn back again while yet no Pilot had come on board and the Captain could not see the place by night.

Sunday, June 10, 1871 – On this day we were together on the deck almost all of the time, we wanted to see the Land. At noon, a Pilot came on board, he was a negro. In the afternoon, a heavy storm and rain came, the sailors were soaked as they drew in the sails.

June 11, 1871 – This morning we thought that we would leave the ship quickly and we thought that we would be in Baltimore by evening, however, it was otherwise. Because of wind, at 9:00 o’clock, they had to cast anchor. At noon a Pilot came and took us into Port of Baltimore. We remained here until the next morning. Then after the Doctor had seen the sick on Board, we were taken by steamship into the harbor of Baltimore.

June 13, 1871 – As soon as we were in Baltimore, and we had our luggage, several men came to inspect our luggage; everything must be open; some they only saw what was on top, others they looked through, finally they put a stamp on the luggage and made a record of it. At noon, we left the ship with the other passengers. Everything was very difficult as the people and the language were strange. First, we must take leave from our friends then we must go to the train.

June 14, 1871 – The coach was different than those in Germany. There were seats or benches on both sides of a middle aisle. The seats were upholstered. In ever coach there was a can of fresh water, also a water closet. One could go from one coach to another, at the end was a glass door and a small hallway, where three or four men could stand. We were in the first coach with Mr. Groenhagen and his wife. Various friends were in the third coach. We went through mountains, the valleys and forests. We had never seen anything like this before. We saw beautiful waterfalls. When the train stopped we got out quickly and picked the lovely flowers and branches of shrubs that grew along the way. Soon all the windows in the coach were filled with flowers. All these weeks, we had missed the flowers very much.

* * *

The family then went on to Kansas City, then to Manhattan, Kansas, where they were met by Jacob and John Benninga who had come to America several years before. The second Nanninga son, Tjaart Reinders Nanninga has come to America in 1869, and was living with the Benningas who had homesteaded northwest of Riley, Kansas.

Dust Bowl Memories in Oklahoma

An article came out in the newspaper recently which mentioned that film maker Ken Burns is asking for resources on a new project about the dust bowl. This made me think of the stories that my grandfather, Lewis Swart, told me when I was growing up.

His stories were part of the reason I became a historian.

My granddad was born on November 2, 1921 near Rocky, Washita County, Oklahoma. He was raised on the family farm southeast of town. His parents were Herman and Bessie Kleiner Swart.

He said that when a dust storm would come up from the west that the chickens would think it was nighttime (even in the middle of the afternoon), and they would head to the hen house to roost.

He also said that they would find cattle out in the fields that were dead. They would cut them open and find the lungs were full of mud. The cattle had suffocated from the dirt and dust.

His mother would hang wet sheets over the windows to keep the dust out of the house.  The entire family slept with wet washcloths over their faces to keep from inhaling the small dust particles.

I grew up learning to put dishes upside down in the cupboards. Could this be a habit stemming from the dust bowl days?

Lewis L. Swart

The photo above was taken for his high school senior photograph. He graduated in 1939, and was the first son in his family to do so. He had two older sisters and two older brothers.

Grandpa worked for a time after high school graduation with a local Electric Co-Op. He helped dig holes for utility poles along Oklahoma roads and highways. This was during the time after FDR started the Rural Electrification Association in hopes to bring electricity to rural parts of the country, including Western Oklahoma. I think alot of people don’t realize that farm families in Oklahoma lived without electricity until the late 1930s and some didn’t have this luxury until after the war.

My grandmother, born in 1929, said that her father would go get the battery out of the Model T to power their radio for a little bit on Saturday nights.

He volunteered for service in the U.S. Navy in September 1942, and served as a machinest aboard the USS Belknap, which was part of the Pacific Fleet. A kamikaze hit the ship one morning in January 1945, and my granddad sustained shrapnel wounds from the impact. He was later awarded the Purple Heart.

His five brothers also served during WWII. Luckily, all six men came back to Oklahoma after the war.

Back home in Oklahoma, he worked as a farm hand for his sister’s brother, Ammon Owen, and later for his Aunt Emily and her husband, G.A. Rose, who lived out in California. I suspect they had moved to California during the depression.

My grandparents went on their first date in August 1946, but didn’t marry until August of 1957.

I’m not certain what years grandpa worked out in California, but once back in Oklahoma he worked as a carpenter and touted, “I built half of the houses in Burns Flatt.” There’s a photo of him (I’ll have to look for it) on scaffolding, helping to build a grain elevator in Rocky in 1946.

I know he worked for several months in Goodwell, Oklahoma in 1951 (or 1953?) to help build the dairy barns at the Panhandle A&M College (now Panhandle State).

He was hired on as a carpenter at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, and my grandparents moved from Rocky to Fletcher in 1968. Their house would follow in 1972!

He retired from the Post in 1989 and has been enjoying retirement for the two decades. He’s still a hard worker, and stubborn just like all other Swart men I know.

He still has the habit of keeping scraps of string, wire, bicycle inner tubes, old license plates, scraps of wood, pails of old nails and screws, etc. He says, “You never know when you’re going to need that.” I think this is from his younger days as a child living during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. He’s still as frugal as ever, and to this day, my grandparents haven’t bought anything on credit. (They’ve also saved every check they’ve ever written during their married lives.) In their eyes, if you can’t pay for something outright, you don’t really need it. Or if you do, you save up until you get it. They don’t spend money they don’t have. (Which might be a good lesson for Americans to learn AND practice. We wouldn’t be in this economic mess if people lived like my grandparents and others in their generation.)

My granddad is still telling his stories at the age of 87. He has this rare ability to remember what the weather was like for any given day. Sometimes he’ll hear on the weather report that a record was set on this day back in 1936, and he’ll tell me what he was doing that day. He might’ve been out on a wheat harvesting crew or whatnot, and he’ll say when it finally rained and how much it rained. It’s fascinating. I hope that I am blessed with memory like he is.

He broke his leg over a month ago, but seems to be coming along alright. Although he wasn’t too happy when his doctor told him not to put any weight on the foot for six weeks.

Thank God for grandpas.

Here I am listening to another of my granddad's fantastic tales. He's a great story-teller.

Last Will and Testament of William L. Baker

[My great-great-great grandfather.]

I, William L. Baker, of Rocky, in Washita County, State of Oklahoma, being of sound mind and memory and in possession of all my faculties do hereby make, publish, and declare the following to be my last will and testament, hereby revoking and cancelling all other or former wills by me at any time made.

First: I direct the payment of all my just debts and funeral expenses.

Second: I will that my son William F. Baker [ my great-great grandfather ] shall have all my interest in and to the lease of the N.E. Quarter of Section Sixteen Township Eight North, Range Seventeen West, I.M. [Indian Meridian]

Third: I will that the remainder of my property of whatever it may consist including my interest on lease of S.E. Quarter of Section Sixteen Township Eight North, Range Seventeen West, I.M. be sold and that my just debts be paid out of the proceeds of sale of said property, and that the remainder of the proceeds of sale of said property be divided evenly among the following heirs: Nancy R. A. Baker, my wife, Mollie I Scott, daughter who now resides at Ft. Cobb, Okla, Fanny M. Robinson, daughter of Rocky, Okla, Sally Miller, who now resides at Chickasha, Okla, Charley W. Baker, son of Rocky, Okla, Laura C. Lewis, daughter, Rocky Okla, Lenora Baker, daughter.

Fourth: I hereby nominate, designate, and appoint William E. Clanahan Executor of this my last will and testament.

In witness wherof I, William L. Baker, have to this my last will and testament, hereunto set my hand this 18th day of December 1913.

William L. Baker [signature]

W. E. Clanahan [signature]

I am.

My wife put together a poem for her English class as an example for the students. So I wrote one too.

I am from ancestors.

A rich inheritance

of blood in my veins.

I am from loved ones.

Linked by blood and memory.

Family reunions, sharing our lives.

I am from Germany.

The sacred Motherland.

A family-owned bakery along the Ems.

I am from pioneers.

Seeking a better life.

Risking their lives and fortunes for me.

I am from Hinderikus.

A bona fide beard.

German by birth, Oklahoman in death.

I am from Granny.

With sparkles in her eyes.

Playing cards and giggling.

I am from Papa.

Striped overalls,

Blue oxford shirt, and shiny black shoes.

I am from Cleo.

Prim, proper, and proud.

Be careful what you wish for…

I am from Clarence Jackson.

Quoting the Scripture.

And ornery.

I am from Edith.

Feisty Nonagenarian.

Stubborn and sassy.

I am from Herman and Bessie.

Never did meet them.

Yet I know them in heart.

I am from soldiers,

World War Two, The Revolution

And The War For Southern Independence.

I am from grandmothers, tender yet strong.

Fried pies, biscuits and gravy

Warm blankets quilted by hand.

I am from grandfathers, both sailors.

Keepers of hand-worn tools.

Oklahoma Earth beneath fingernails.

I am from Swart men.

Stubborn and pompous.

Who never back down.

I am from Mama.

Freshly baked vanilla daisies

With icing in yellow and blue.

I am from Daddy.

A son’s best friend.

Ever-seeking knowledge.

I am from Fletcher.

Once called Frisco.

A veritable one-stoplight town.

I am from sires.

Now I am one too.

Father of Lila and Jack.

I am from freedom.

The sacred blood of patriots.

Live free or die.

I am from hands that held me.

Fed me, taught me, disciplined me.

Showed me right from wrong.

I am from joy and sorrow.

I am from laughter and tears.

I am from love.

Emma Josephine Joli Dove

Some months ago, I learned the name of my great-great-great-great grandmother.

E. J. Joli.

She married John Godfred Dove in Fannin County, Texas in 1874.

John Godfred Dove and Children

I contacted a cousin on ancestry.com who had more information on this family, including the above photograph.

He also shared information about E. J. Joli and his search for her enrollment to the Cherokee Tribe! I’d not yet heard any rumor of Native American ancestry on this branch of our family.

When I spoke to my great-aunt Mary about this, she said she was not surprised. She always thought that photographs of her grandmother, Emma Josephine Belyeu Vantine, showed facial features that might have been indicative of Indian ancestry.

Emma Josephine Belyeu Vantine.

It also turns out that my great-great grandmother, Emma J. Vantine, was named for her grandmother, Emma Josephine Joli!

Once I learned of the possibility of Native blood on this branch of the family tree, I began looking through indexes of the various rolls. The distant cousin who had researched this before, came to a brick wall after learning that she had applied for membership in the Cherokee Nation and that she had applied under the name Elizabeth J. Jolloy. Even though she would have been married to J. G. Dove by this time.

I found the application number and contacted researched at the National Archives in Ft. Worth. I’ve received word that Emma’s application is 67 pages long!

From looking at other applications from 1896, I know it should include copies of documents proving her lineage as well as transcriptions of interviews with the applicant and other affidavits.

I’ve also learned that the majority of the 1896 applications were thrown out with little or no review due to rampant dishonesty. The applicants were to re-apply starting in 1898.

Emma died in 1897 at the age of 43. She was never listed on the Final Dawes Rolls for this reason.

But! If her parents were still living in 1898 and applied to be on the rolls, there is a good chance that I may apply for my membership in the tribe.

I also found a cousin that had a photograph of Emma. It is now framed and on display in my home along with other family portraits.

Emma Josephine Joli Dove

The application should arrive next week in the mail, and I will look for the names of Emma’s parents to determine if they are indeed listed on the rolls.

I’m so excited!!!

EDIT: July 25, 2009.

I received the information from the NARA. The Elizabeth J. Jolloy that applied for tribal membership in 1896 was not our Emma. So I’m still at a brick wall with this line of research. It was so sad to discover that this wasn’t her application. Not to mention the $40 it took to get the copies mailed to my house. Oh well. Not every venture is always a success.

I contacted cousins who are also working on this branch of the family tree, and they plan to track down an old family Bible that had a slew of papers tucked inside. They always assumed it was the Dawes Application that never got filed in 1898 since she died in 1897. I’m hoping they can find if the Bible still exists.

Death of Etna L. Davis

A letter written to my great-great-great grandparents, Rev. Andrew Nathaniel Jackson Davis and Sarah Greene O’Bryan Davis on the occasion of the death of their daughter.

Proctor, Indian Territory

April 29, 1896

Dear Mother, Father, and Family

It is with sorrow that I write to you stating to you that we have had some very grievous trouble.

You wanted to know when Etna would come to see you. I am sorry to tell you that you will have to go see her.

Etna has passed from this Vale of Tears and has gone to her place of rest. While it seems hard to give her up, there is one consolation, she was ready to go and this is the greatest and most important part in our existance [sic]. And soon in the Bye and Bye we will meet her in the New Jerusalem there to part no more and then and there our sorrows will be over, where the weary are at rest and the trouble[d] cease to mourn. When you read this and think of Etna, do not look toward the Creek Nation, but look toward Heaven, where she is at the present time. She is there singing the songs of the redeemed.

She was puny for some time but not confined to her bed all the time.

She was sick 5 or 6 days and seemed to be a great deal better, but last night at about 10 o’clock she took the cramp colic and that eased about 11 o’clock. About one o’clock she got very sick and at 3 o’clock she passed away.

The doctor says it was inflammation of the bowels — She died perfectly easy and had her presence of mind until the last.

We would have sent a telegram but did not think you could get here. Etna will be buried at Choat[e]s Prairie graveyard tomorrow A.M.

Bro. York will preach the funeral. The rest are all well as far as I know.

I will close for this time.

Your loving son,

T. J. Davis

Slave Schedules

A couple of years after I began my genealogy research, I learned that the Thomason Family of Georgia had owned slaves back in the 1840s. I think I mentioned this in one of my first posts on this weblog.

This weekend I looked into the U.S. Census Slave Schedules from 1850 & 1860 to see if other ancestors had owned slaves. I don’t know why I hadn’t looked before.

I found some VERY interesting information. Branches of my family that I didn’t think owned slaves in fact DID.

Here’s a list of what I’ve found.

1850 Slave Schedules

1850 – Berkshire Gwinnett Co., Georgia

Nancy Davis – My great-great-great-great grandmother – owned six slaves. She was the widow of George Davis, and mother of Andrew Nathaniel Jackson Davis.

• 27 Female, Black
• 8 Female, Mulatto
• 6 Female, Black
• 4 Female, Black
• 3 Female, Black
• 2 Female, Black

Nancy’s mother, Sarah Akers, my great-great-great-great-great grandmother also owned 10  slaves, and lived next door to Nancy. Both of the women were widows.

• 60 Female, B
• 48 Female, B
• 39 Female, B
• 35 Male, B
• 12 Female, B
• 11 Female, B
• 7 Male, B
• 6 Male, B
• 5 Male, B
• 3 Male, B

On my mother’s side, the Winton Clan lived in Polk County, Arkansas. George M. Winton, led a wagon train from Tennessee to Arkansas in the 1840s. He owned quite a few slaves as well. He was one of  the 15 slave owning families in the county.

1850 Polk County, Arkansas

George M. Winton -my great-great-great-great-great grandfather:

• 30 Female, Black
• 10 Female, Mulatto
• 8, Male, M
• 6, Female, M
• 5, Female, M
• 3, Male, M

My great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Richard S. Powell also lived in Polk County. His daughter, Pernella Pernicia, married Hiram Kinerson Winton, son of George M. Winton.

Richard S. Powell-

• 17 Female, Black
• 15 Male, Black
• 1 Female, Black

Thomas D. Cook – My great-great-great-great-great grandfather lived in Anderson County, South Carolina. He owned two slaves in 1850.

• 9 Female, Black
• 60 Male, Black

His father-in-law, Jacob Mouchet owned a few in Anderson County.

• 50 Female, Black
• 28 Male, Black
• 20 Female, Black
• 2/12, Black

Isham F. Davis, was a brother to my great-great-great-great grandfather. He lived in Wilson County, Tennessee.

• 37 Female, M
• 30 Female, B
• 28 Male, B
• 22 Male, B
• 14 Male, B
• 12 Male, B
• 10 Female, B
• 10 Male, B
• 10 Male, B
• 9 Female, B
• 8  Male, B
• 8 Male, B
• 6 Male, B
• 4 Male, B
• 2 Male, B
• 4/12 Female, B

His brother was Wilson C. Davis, also of Wilson Co., Tenn.

• 30 Female, Black

1860 Slave Schedules

George M. Winton – Polk Co., Ark.

• 17 Male, Mulatto

Catharine Winton- She might be George’s wife.

• 43 Female, Black

James Winton- son of George M. Winton

• 19 Female, Mulatto
• 5 Female, Mulatto

Stephen Winton – Son of George M. Winton

• 19 Female, Mulatto
• 7 Female, Mulatto
• 3 Female, Mulatto

Pancia Winton – I think this is Pernissa Powell Winton, daughter-in-law of George M. Winton and wife of Hiram Kinerson Winton.  She would have been my great-great-great-great grandmother.

• 9 Female, Black

Richard S. Powell

• 25 Male, Black
• 25 Female, Black
• 5 Female, Black
• 2 Female, Black

Geraldus McDonald O’Bryan – Rome, Floyd Co., Georgia. He was my great-great-great-great grandfather.

• 25 Female, Mulatto
• 6 Female, Black
• 2 Male, Black

Jacob Mouchet – Anderson Co., South Carolina. My great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather.

• 60 Male, Black
• 50 Female, B
• 35 Female, B
• 11 Male, B
• 5 Female, B
• 4 Female, B
• 4 Male, B.

Davis Portraits

Yesterday I received a package in the mail from my step-aunt, C. Thomas Murphy. She drew a couple of portraits for me.

The portraits are of my great-great-great grandparents, Rev. Andrew Nathaniel Jackson Davis and his wife Sarah Greene O’Bryan Davis.

The photograph I had of them was just a xerox copy, which was very poor quality.

The portraits are wonderful!

Sarah Greene O'Bryan Davis 1846 - 1901

Andrew Nathaniel Jackson Davis 1844 - 1938

Herman Swart on KOMA in 1949

I wrote about the 78 LP record in my cousin Bruce’s possession in an earlier post. He sent me a digital file of the recording last night. I’ve since cleaned it up a bit to remove the clicks and some of the scratchiness of the recording.

The recording of a radio broadcast on October 29, 1949 includes Mr. Swart and another member of the Oklahoma Farmers Union Board of Directors from Enid.

Herman Swart died in July of 1962, six months before my father was born. Last night was the first time for my dad and I to ever hear Herman’s voice. It was quite exhilarating!

Long Lost Sisters

My great-great grandfather, Hinderikus Martens Swart, was born in Mark, Germany in 1848 to Marten Hinderks Swart and his wife, Hindertje van der Horst Swart.

Hindertje gave birth to three other children before dying of tuberculosis on her 25th birthday in 1851. Those children were: Wilhelm Hinderks Swart, Catharina van Heeren Swart, and Gepke Greitjedine Swart.

Wilhelm came to the United States in 1867. He was the first Swart to do so.

His father and her second wife, Addina Bronlewe Swart, and their children followed suit in 1872.

The other three children: Hinderikus, Catharina, and Gepkea stayed in Germany.

Hinderikus and his family would also come to America in 1894 & 1895.

I’d love to contact descendants of Catharina & Gepkea. Here is the information I have on them.

Catharina van Heeren Swart was born on October 12, 1846 in Mark, Germany. She married Gerhard Heinrich George Meyer on May 20, 1867 in Mitling, Germany. She died in Borgholzhausen, Germany in 1878.

Gepkea Greitjedine Swart was born on December 17, 1850 in Mark, Germany. She married Heinrich Friedrich Siegmann on January 12, 1872. Gepkea died in Borgholzhausen, Germany in 1875.

It’s possible that Gepkea died with no children, but she was married for 3 years. I’m going to see if any church records exist for Borgholzhausen to see if their children were born/baptized there.

Wish me luck!