Submitted
by: Cathy Millburn
RICHARD BILES SWINNEA
Richard Biles
Swinnea, b December 27, 1871, d February 11, 1920 and buried in Stranger
Cemetery in Falls County, Texas - was a son of James Richard and Susan
(Holloway) Swinnea of Giles County, Tennessee who settled in the Stranger
Community in about 1869, after the Civil War.
Richard Biles
Swinnea married Mary Elizabeth ("Bettie") Elder, b October 10, 1877 in
Tennessee, d October 3, 1976 in Marlin and also buried in the Stranger Cemetery
- a daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Nancy Jane (Vinson) Elder - natives of
Giles County, Tennessee, who settled at Stranger in 1889.
The Swinnea and
Elder families both bought land, and farmed in the Stranger Community, and they
were both of the Methodist denomination - with their memberships in the
Methodist-Presbyterian Union Church at Stranger.
Richard and
Bettie reared six daughters of nine known children:
Claud Swinnea, b
November 15, 1897, d July 20, 1898 and buried in Stranger Cemetery.
Thelma Swinnea,
b May 20, 1899, now deceased married Percy William Henley, b June 7, 1900, now
deceased - lived in Texas City, Texas.
Carl Lee Swinnea
- a daughter, b July 3, 1901, d July 20, 1902 and buried in Stranger Cemetery.
Sarah Oneida
Swinnea, b February 26, 1903, d October 31, 1960 - married Charles Ernest Burns,
b August 26, 1898, d November 25, 1963.
Infant Son, b &
d May 25, 1905 and buried in Stranger Cemetery.
Anna Elizabeth
Swinnea (called "Ann"), b July 30, 1908 - married first to Jack Thompson Burns,
b March 7, 1903, d April 18, 1963; and married second to Carney Earl Pharis, who
transferred their church membership to First Presbyterian Church in Marlin,
Texas on June 1, 1986. Ann has no children.
Irma Richie
Swinnea, b February 14, 1910, d March 18, 1984 and buried in Hillcrest Cemetery
in Marlin - married February 14, 1929 in Fairview Cumberland Presbyterian Church
in Coit, Limestone County, Texas to Roy Albert Briggs. Roy and Irma (Swinnea)
Briggs were the parents of five children including three sons and two daughters:
Gene Briggs of Marlin, Texas; Billy Briggs - a Marlin, Texas Butcher; and John
Briggs of Abilene, Texas; Betty Sue Briggs, now deceased, who married first to
John Rasco and had a daughter, Carol Rasco, and married second to C. C. Kasner;
and a daughter who is Mrs. James Rowell of Marlin, Texas. Irma worked at Parten
Meat Company, and she and Roy were members of the First Presbyterian Church in
Marlin.
Nancy Margaret
Swinnea, b May 28, 1912 - married Thomas Clair Roberson, b September 28, 1909, d
April 12, 1974.
Susan Alice
Swinnea, b September 10, 1916 married James Milton Dustin, b May 22, 1910. On
June 1, 1986, James was baptized by Reverend John Wamsley in the First
Presbyterian Church of Marlin, where his wife transferred her membership.
Copyright Permission granted to Theresa Carhart for printing the
biographies of these Falls County Families to this Web page.
"Families of Falls County", Compiled and Edited by the Falls County Historical
Commission, page 442 column 1 and 2.
Member of Falls County Historical Commission.
