There is a mantra in the movie “Galaxy Quest”. “Never give up! Never surrender!” This is my mantra in genealogy. There are many of you out there that have brick walls that have not yet fallen. We are all in the same boat. Although I still have other brick walls to conquer, this one was a pleasure to knock down.

Six years ago, I was able to trace back my mother’s side of our family tree, and found her connection to the Miller family on my father’s side. Yes, my father and mother are sixth cousins, once removed. In my maternal connection to the Miller surname, dwells the family surname of Fenical (there are many variations on this name like Fengel). I wrote a post about this discovery called “Easter Eggs at Christmas?” In that post, I was able to prove the connection through my 5x great-grandparents, Johannes Fenical and his wife Margaret. Margaret was a brick wall for me, as I could not find any records that showed her maiden name. This particular brick wall I would occasionally come back to and “beat away at it” with no success of bringing it down.

All of that changed recently. I was on the Ancestry website, looking at other people’s family trees for John and Margaret Fenical. I was searching using different spellings of the Fenical name and using the Americanized version of the name Johannes.

Some of the family trees were showing Margaret’s maiden name as Swarner and her parents as being Henry Swarner (1766-1831) and Elizabeth Mintz (1770-1828). I put my excitement in check though because I’ve been disappointed before being led down the primrose path (as they say) to a dead end, with no proof of a relationship. So, I went to work in proving the relationship.

In the past, my first move would have been rechecking records for Margaret, now that I had her maiden name, but I went directly for the jugular. I did a search for a will for Henry Swarner on Ancestry and I wasn’t disappointed.

Pennsylvania, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1683-1993, Henry Swarner, 28 July 1828, Tyrone Twp., Perry County, PA – Wills, Vol A-B, 1820-1854:

Courtesy of Ancestry©

Partial transcription reads as follows:

“…it is my further will that my oldest daughter Margaret intermarried with John Fenical…”

After finding this golden nugget of information, I expected to come up against another brick wall with Henry Swarner, but the fact is, there are some crumbs of information that I found that at least gives me hope that I have found Henry’s family.

Following a hunch, I went back to the book, “Churches Between the Mountains, A History of the Lutheran Churches, Perry County, Pennsylvania” by Rev. D. H. Focht, 1862. In the book, I had found previously recorded my 6^th great-grandmother, Justina Mueller in attendance at the Lebanon Lutheran Church. She is the mother of daughter, Justina Mueller married to Adam Fenical (Fengel) who are also recorded in attendance. Henry Swarner is also listed in attendance.

This adds credence in my mind that the connection between the Mueller, Fenical and Swarner families existed at this time and this location.

Another book I found, “The Origins of the Kuney Family in America and the Descendants of Melchior Kuney – Volume 2” by Blake Aaron Willey, 2001 states the following:

Based on the last line of this excerpt, Henry Swarner was the son of Johann Adam Swarner and Elisabetha Margaretha Demmler. I’ll need more proof for this, but for now I’m excited that I came this far so quickly.

With the brick wall of Margaret (Swarner) Fenical knocked down, I decided to do a broader search on the Swarner family and I came across something that stopped me in my tracks.

I found a man by the name of Adam Swarner (1836-1864) who was born in Pennsylvania and if records can prove it out, Adam would have been Henry Swarner’s grand-nephew. Adam Swarner was the son of John Swarner (1785-1864) and Rebecca Bixler (1800-1862). Adam’s grandfather was Adam Swarner (1765-1842), son of Johann Adam Swarner and Elisabetha Margaretha Demmler.

What caught my attention in the results I got through my internet search was the mention of the Civil War service of the younger Adam Swarner and where Adam passed away.  From Find a Grave:

Courtesy of Find a Grave©

Adam Swarner was the very first prisoner in Andersonville Prison, Sumter Co., GA to pass away 27 Feb., 1864 and is buried in the Andersonville National Cemetery in Macon Co., GA. Adam’s eldest brother Jacob was also a prisoner, being in the same company as his brother Adam, Company H, 2nd Regt. NY. Jacob was captured and sent to Andersonville some months after Adam was. Jacob was grave number 4005.

There is so much information written about Adam Swarner, I decided to not expound upon what is already out on the internet. If you’d like to find out more about Adam Swarner, I’ve included links to some of the sites honoring Adam and Jacob Swarer in the sources section below.

Initially, after the death of Adam Swarner, a hospital clerk recorded Adam as Jacob Swarner. When the first wooden grave headboards (grave markers) were placed in 1865 at the gravesites, the first grave was marked as “Jacob Swarner”.

It was not until 1961, when Adam’s great-grandson contacted the National Cemetery with documentation proving the man buried in the first grave was Adam Swarner.

Remember, once you have taken a brick wall down, it’s not only important to see how far back you can go on the line of your family you have just discovered, but also to branch out to extended family because you never know what you might uncover.

Sources:

Find a Grave© – Pvt. Adam Swarner

Ancestry©

National Park Service – Prisoner Details – Adam Swarner

National Park Service – Prisoner Details – Jacob Swarner

National Park Service – Dates at Andersonville

Facebook – Andersonville National Historic Site

Google EBooks – Andersonville: The Last Depot – Wm. Marvel – 2006

“Churches Between the Mountains, A History of the Lutheran Churches, Perry County, Pennsylvania” by Rev. D. H. Focht, 1862

“The Origins of the Kuney Family in America and the Descendants of Melchior Kuney – Volume 2” by Blake Aaron Willey, 2001

Featured Image:

Map of Liberty Mills, VA., 23 Dec. 1864 Civil War Map – Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Acknowledgements:

Cheryl, my wife…thank you for your insight, intelligence and love!