Welcome to the
Swindell Family Web Site
Site Updated 03-15-2015
Leander Jehu
James Leon
Our Swindell Family
Our Swindell Family roots have not been easy to follow as very little was known of them prior to 1902 with the birth of James Leon Swindell. However, after many years of extensive research, letter writing, phone calls, and e-mails, we have successfully traced our Swindell Heritage back to Ireland in the early 1820's!
The name Swindell was not given to those that would indulge in shady activity as one might expect. It basically denotes those that "live in the valley where swine are bred', a very noble trade in it's time.
Our research started in the late 1970's but by this time the only living connections to James Leon Swindell were Ruth Swindell (his wife), his sister Mary Elizabeth, and some of their children. From about 1915 on, the Swindell children did not talk about their father, Leander, because he left home in 1912 never to return. Leander left home with his son, James, and after three years his son returned home but Leander was never heard from again.
We knew that James Leon's father was Leander Jehu Swindell. He was born in the late 1850's in Ohio, and he later married Olive Odessa (Idessa?) Michaels Twigg in Brownsville, PA.
In a letter written by Mary Elizabeth (Leander's daughter) to Ruth she stated the above information, adding that he was a paperhanger and did some artist work. She remembered her parents were married in the Pittsburgh or Brownsville, PA area around the late 1890's, lived in PA for a short time, then moved to Akron, Ohio. Mary said that after her dad left home with her brother, she and her mom went back to Pennsylvania for a short time and stayed with her mom's son from a previous marriage! This led to a whole new family tree. The son was Frank Twigg, son of Olive!
In researching the information in the letter, we found Leander Jehu Swindell was born 12 Nov 1859 to a James H. Swindell and Mehetable Ackley Swindell in Newark, Ohio. We also found other siblings of Leander and of James H.
A trip to Newark, Ohio proved to be invaluable as we found a small cemetery plot of other Swindell names we were able to connect with Leander's family! The cemetery records of Cedar Hill Cemetery provided us with the parents' names of James H. Swindell.
He was born to William and Mehetable (Huse) Swindell in 1935 in Madison Township, near Newark, Ohio. Our research led to the names and birth dates of their eight children, many of which are buried in the Cedar Hill Cemetery in Newark, Licking Co., Ohio. William Swindell is also buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery along with his wife, Mehetable (Huse) Swindell who was born to James and Betsy Huse.
William Swindell was born in Ireland and his parents were listed as John and Mary Swindell. The cemetery records show he was born about 1810 in Ireland. William died in 1881 in Newark, Ohio. With the use of the Internet, ship manifest records, and immigration records, only one family was found with the names of John and Mary Swindell having a son, William Swindell-being about 11 years old, that arrived in Philadelphia, Ohio in 1821 from Ireland! Some of John and Mary's other children include David, Rhodey, Mary, Nancy, Anna, Jane, and Catherine!
This web site was put together for other family members to enjoy and also in hopes that there might be others out there connected with our Swindell Family that find it and get in touch with us.
We want to continue the growth of our family along with learning about other distant cousins we haven't had the honor of finding yet. The following pages will provide you with the names, spouses, children, birth dates, and places, death dates and places, and other information we found to be quite interesting! We have included several pictures so be sure to also check out our "Photo Gallery"!
If you've come across this web site while searching the Swindell Family surname, it could be that we are related in some distant fashion. If so, we would be very excited to hear from you. If you are not sure whether your lineage is a part of ours, please feel free to contact us and we will help research any possible connection!
- Note! -
For security and privacy reasons, detailed information has been eliminated throughout this site to protect the more recent generations.
Please feel free to Contact Us if you have any questions concerning a possible familial connection.
- Navigation Note! -
The links in the navigation bar at the top of this and all the pages link to information regarding direct descendants of my cousin (Karen Ruth Swindell Bosecker) and myself.
Once you navigate to one of those pages there will be links to other pages pertaining to information about other indirect family lineage.