The Swan and Kenworthy Families of Mankato

A good anchor point for the story of great grandfather Henry Edson Swan is this lithograph published by Alfred Theodore Andreas in 1874 as part of a larger collection of 19th century maps of the midwest.  Grandma Margaret gave a copy of this to Claire years ago.

Henry’s parents (our second great grandparents) were James B. Swan (1836-1901) and Mary M Kenworthy (1841-1912).  They were married in October 1858 in Le Sueur, Minnesota.    The first record of the Swan family in Le Sueur is of James’ brother Joseph who is credited with being one of the people to first lay out the town in 1854, working for the railroad.  It seems likely that James and other relatives followed Joseph to Le Sueur over the next few years.

James and Mary had three children, Silas Ora (sometimes called Asa) (1861-?), Henry Edson (1863-1924), and Bertha Evelyn (1867-1927).  Henry Edson was born in Minnesota, not Indiana as has sometimes been recorded—his mother was from Indiana.  The first known record of James and Mary’s family in Rapidan Minnesota is in the 1870 census.

Mankato is about 50 miles southwest of Minneapolis, where the Blue Earth River flows into the Minnesota River, which flows northeast toward the Mississippi River.  Halfway between Mankato and Minneapolis, also on the Minnesota River, is the town of Le Sueur (named after a French explorer).  Rapidan is a small township on the south side of Mankato, both part of Blue Earth County, Minnesota.

In the 1850s and 1860s American settlement was pushing westward along the rivers from the Mississippi, along with the railroads.  Most of our ancestors who settled there came from Indiana and Ohio, so were part of a movement along the Ohio River, up the Mississippi, and west from there.  

The first settlers of Rapidan/Mankato were evicted by the Government in the mid-1850s because the land was still recognized as part of the Winnebago Indian Reservation, but by 1863 the Indians had been displaced and the area opened to settlement.  Rapidan was located on a part of the Blue Earth River suitable to powering mills and, eventually, the generation of hydroelectric power.

As to the three names in the lithograph caption, in correspondence with Claire the Blue Earth Historical Society identified James B. Swan and H.W. Mendenhall as sons-in-law of Silas Kenworthy. This was enough information to begin reconstructing this branch of the family tree.  

In the family tree diagram, we can see the three men identified in the lithograph, third great grandfather Silas Kenworthy, second great grandfather James B. Swan, and (husband of third great aunt Nancy Kenworthy) Hiram W. Mendenhall.

Let’s look at the families of James B. Swan and Mary Kenworthy Swan. On the Swan side, James’ parents were (third great grandparents) Silas Swan (1792-1868) and Mary Burroughs (1799-1842).  Silas Swan  was born in Berlin, Vermont (near Montpelier).  He married Sally (from Maidstone, Vermont near the New Hampshire border) in Derby, Vermont, near the Québec border in 1824.   For reasons unknown, the couple soon found themselves in Melbourne (near Sherbrooke), Québec where they had six children through 1835.  The last child, the first James Swan, died in his first month.  In the following year, the family moved to Sharon, Ohio where they had three more children including 2nd great grandfather James B. Swan in April 1836.

The odd situation of a family suddenly moving from Québec to Ohio raises suspicions that there could be two Silas Kenworthy families getting mixed up.  In similar cases I’ve come across, the situation may be further confused by families copying errors made by other families into their family trees.  Happily in this case, I found the 1899 obituary of Col. Joseph Henry Swan, James B. Swan’s brother, which confirms the story of the Swans going from Vermont to Québec to Ohio and ties some other things together as well.  It confirms that Joseph (born in Québec) and James B. (born in Ohio) were brothers.  It also tells the story (mentioned at the start of this post) that Joseph was a lawyer working for the railroad who first laid-out the town of Le Sueur Minnesota.  The obituary of 3rd great uncle Joseph contains other interesting details about an interesting life, and is worth the read.

Sally Burroughs Swan died in Ohio in 1842 at age 42, just two years after the birth of her last child. Silas Swan remained in Ohio and died there in 1868, likely with other children who did not make the move to Minnesota.

On the Kenworthy side, (third great grandparents) Silas Kenworthy (1803-1883) and Miriam Mote (1809-1883) married in 1827 in Indiana and had five children through 1841, Mary being the youngest.  Silas was born in North Carolina (the furthest south of any ancestor I’ve found) but lived in Indiana where he and Miriam raised their family.  The first record of the Kenworthy family moving to Le Sueur Minnesota is in the 1860 census.

Silas and Miriam remained in Rapidan throughout their lives, although Silas’ will was executed in Indiana, so he must have maintained some connections there. Silas died in 1882, Miriam a year later.

Additional information on the Rapidan flour mill can be found in the History of Blue Earth County, by Hughes Thomas.

Henry Edson Swan married Mabel Tuttle in Mankato in 1890.  Grandmother Margaret Sandford was born in Mankato in 1895.  Citing the need to find a warmer climate to raise frail Margaret, the family moved to Ontario, California in 1896.   But they returned to Minnesota in 1898, lured back by a good offer from the bank that had previously employed him.   Changing their minds one last time, they returned to settle permanently in Ontario in 1902.

James B. Swan died in Mankato in 1901 perhaps contributing to Henry and Mabel’s final decision to move back to California. Mary Kenworthy died in 1912 in Fort Dodge, Iowa, presumably cared-for by one of her other two children.

In 1910-1911 a hydroelectric dam was built across the Blue Earth River at Rapidan, where the Kenworthy flour mill once stood.