Evan, Frank,
Harve, Jim, Matt, Millard, and Preston Swain were brothers who worked at
the Bon
Jellico
mines. They were the sons of
Shelby and Barbara Gerdin Swan, who had 12 children. Barbara was Cherokee.
The Swains
came to this country as whalers and settled in Maine. One branch of the
family
moved
to North Carolina in the 1700’s. There were large
slaveholders because most of the Swains today are black. David Lewis Swain
was governor of North Carolina in the mid 1800’s and there is a county
named for him, which borders the Smokies.
The Whitley
County Swains came from North Carolina and were all from the same family.
Each
one of
the
men who worked at Bon Jellico had several children except for Jim.
The
Swains
owned a large farm on Jellico Creek. Millard married Maude Jones and
they had 11 children. In the early days of their marriage they lived
in the
Bon Jellico mining camp. Milliard died at a young age and Maude, widowed
at 36,
raised the children alone with the help of her oldest children. Ten
of the children lived to adulthood. Among the children of Milliard and
Maude
was
Garrett, father of Virginia Swain White and Ruby, mother of Jerry Taylor.
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