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To: Blog Deadwood
Sent: Sat, 10 Jun 2006 13:54:57 -0500
Subject: Al Swearingen
You have some interesting information on Al Swearingen's family history, but
it's a little incomplete.
Al Swearingen was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa and so was I -- my great great
grandmother, Mary Elizabeth, is his older sister.
I've been researching this family for years and recently found Al's obituary
and now know how he died, where he died and where he is buried, along with
quite a bit of other information.
Al came from a family of ten children (three died young) and so far I've
traced five of the men to South Dakota at some time or another (the first as
early as 1863), so there's quite a Dakota Territory connection for this
family.
Let me know if you'd be interested in some additional information on the
family...I've got his genealogy going back to the year 1200.
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HBO Community Forum, Re: Al Swearengen played by Ian McShane Posted: Mar 21, 2006 10:41 PM (2920 of 3128)
"Ellis "Al" Swearingen was born in Iowa, not Ohio, descended from Garrett Van Swearingen of the Netherlands who came to New Amsterdam in 1656 (his grandson dropped the "Van" and Americanized the name). The origins of the name are probably Bavarian, at least for the real Al Swearingen. But Al has deep English roots as well - going back about 24 generations.
Al was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa and so was I - my great great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth, is his older sister.
by ASwearingen"
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HBO Community Forum, Re: Al Swearengen played by Ian McShane Posted: Apr 24, 2006 11:17 PM (2929 of 3128)
"Hi All -
Thanks, Eccles, for the warm welcome! Sorry I haven't responded for so long - I've been looking in for about a year or so to see what people have been saying about Al and the show, and it's all been pretty entertaining - but I should have responded to you sooner.
I'm sort of the family historian and a genealogist, too, so I was impressed when you indicated the Swearingen surname was originally German - not too many people know that. As far as confusing Iowa with Ohio, don't worry; we're all used to the Iowa/Ohio/Idaho confusion. As it turns out Al's mother Keziah was actually born in Ohio so I thought you might be referring to her, although not many people know that either.
Anyway, I've known about Ellis - as he's known to the family - since about 2002 and knew from an 1894 family register that he was in Deadwood. And when I found Winfield Scott (Al's younger brother) listed in the 1880 Deadwood census living with him I knew Ellis Albert (not "Alfred") was one of ours.
I've spent years researching this family and have uncovered a lot of really good information. I've located the original family farm where he was born, traced his immediate family and have Al's lineage back to about the year 1200.
And, or course, I have a lot of information about Mary Elizabeth, Al's older sister (my great great grandmother). As far as we know, Al did not have any children (either that he would claim or would claim him) so his closest living relative would be some derivative of a niece or a nephew. And since Al has been dead for 102 years (four generations, in Iowa) that makes him my great great granduncle ("Uncle Al" - kinda has a ring to it...)
Anyway, last month, after years of searching I finally found his obituary and now know where he died, how he died and where he is buried (and he wasn't killed "hopping a freight train as a penniless tramp shortly after leaving Deadwood", as the generally accepted myth goes).
As it turns out, I work for an Iowa company that has a division that is an HBO affiliate (small world! - although I don't work in that division). I gave the corporate office a call two weeks ago to try to invite the cast and crew to go to the gravesite prior to the June premiere of the third season to dedicate a stone for Al (as he's in an unmarked grave - typical for the period). But, so far, no response. I'm hoping some of the Deadwood community on this board will help convince HBO that this might be good PR for the season. Besides - I'd like to meet the cast, producer and writers, and so would a dozen or so Swearingen relatives, although we would have to travel some distance.
I was really hoping to get a response from HBO before Elizabeth aired this weekend because there is a family connection that would have made a great promo for the series. Now I see there's actually a topic on this board related to Elizabeth - so, if you all don't mind, I'll post a note on that topic as an example of some of the Swearingen genealogy I've found.
by ASwearingen"
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HBO Community Forum, Re: Al Swearengen played by Ian McShane Posted: Apr 28, 2006 9:32 PM (2936 of 3128)
"Daniel J. Swearingen married Keziah Montgomery in 1835 in Illinois. Daniel and Keziah moved to the Iowa Territory in 1839/40 and eventually settled in an area west of what is now Oskaloosa known as "Six Mile Prairie" in 1843. They were among the first few dozen settlers in the county.
Al's surname is Dutch (spelled "Swieringh" in 1635) but his heritage is mostly English, some Irish and a little French and German. Garrett Van Swearingen, the family patriarch, came to New Amsterdam from Holland in 1656 (he met and married Barbara de Berette a few years later). While Barbara was a Protestant Huguenot who fled her home in France, Garrett remained Catholic until his death in Maryland in 1698. And as far as we know, most of Al's family was Methodist for generations. So far I've found no clear Jewish connections, but I haven't researched the Bavarian connections too deeply.
Ironically it was the Methodist Church in Deadwood that took the lead in the crusade to clean up the town in the 1890's and specifically targeted the Gem Theater. But by then I doubt Al was active in any Church (although he married Odelia Turgeon in the St. Ambrose Catholic Church on July 3, 1889).
As far as information on Al's death goes ? sorry I haven't been more forthcoming but I've looked for his obituary for years and have spent a lot of time and money tracking it down. Since there's been some recent interest in publishing this story, I can't just post his obituary on this website. What I can say is this: according to his obituary, Albert Swearingen was found dead in the middle of a suburban Denver street in late 1904. He apparently died of a massive head wound and was not "hopping a freight train as a common tramp". But no one witnessed his death.
Anyway, I'm trying to track down Al's baby pictures now and a few more details of his life - I'll let you all know what I find out.
by ASwearingen"
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HBO Community Forum, Re: Al Swearengen played by Ian McShane Posted: Jun 24, 2006 7:17 PM (2995 of 3111)
"While Al did have a mustache, he was no Ian McShane.
Here's a recently discovered vintage photo of him behind the bar of the Gem - probably taken in the 1890's (he's third from the right).
http://www.dakotaexperience.org/cvfrontier/wild_gemtheater.html
This is one of two known photos of Al - and this confirms that he was in the left buggy in front of the original Gem in the more famous picture.
I may have a lead on some pictures of him growing up as well (along with Lem, his twin brother) - I'll post what I find.
by ASwearingen"
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HBO Community Forum, Re: Al Swearengen played by Ian McShane Posted: Jun 24, 2006 10:59 PM (3005 of 3128)
"Prior to the pilot episode of Deadwood, very few people knew anything at all about Al Swearingen. As the show developed there was suddenly a lot of focus on an historical character no one knew very much about at all, and there was a lot of speculation and poorly researched information published and broadcast about Al and his (my) family.
A great case-in-point is this early "Legends of America" article about Al:
"Ellis Alfred Swearingen and his twin brother Lemuel were born in Mahaska, Iowa on July 8, 1845. The twins were the oldest of eight children, raised by parents Daniel and Keziah Swerengen until they were adults in Iowa.... In 1899, the Gem suffered its final destructive fire and Swearingen called it quits, leaving Deadwood for good. Not long after, the drunk and penniless Swearingen was killed while trying to hitch a ride on a Colorado train like a common tramp"
Actually, Ellis Albert Swearingen, was born in Mahaska County/Iowa Territory into a family of ten (while three died young, he had an older brother John and an older sister Mary Elizabeth - my great great grandmother).
Anyway, I've spent years researching Al's genealogy and have the family back to the year 1200 (see my prior posts). Along the way I found a lot of original material - including his obituary - that I've literally had to blow decades of dust off of, so I don't think anyone else has found it yet. It states he died in late 1904 in a Denver suburb and was working mining interests in the area - hardly penniless, although the jury's out on his being drunk at the time of death. His body was transferred by railcar soon after accompanied by his brother Theodore of Leadville, Colorado for a private funeral ordered by Lemuel, his surviving twin. As it was a family funeral, no one was forced to attend at gunpoint - a detail probably invented to promote the "Deadwood Tech" episode since I've never heard it mentioned anywhere else.
And, as far as I can tell, Ellis (as the family knew him) was married twice, not three times and none of his wives died as a result of abuse. But, there's no doubt he was brutal to women and as the father of three daughters I have exactly zero tolerance regarding violence of any kind to women for any reason. So I'll offer no defense of Al on that count.
For some time I wasn't sure if I wanted to raise my hand and claim this particular ancestor, but in the end in came down to this - we're from the Midwest, and family is family no matter what, forever. So, for better or worse, I've got to say he's one of ours.
And there's a great story left to tell.
Edited by ASwearingen at 06/24/2006 8:12 PM"
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HBO Community Forum, Re: Al Swearengen played by Ian McShane
Posted: Jun 26, 2006 11:35 PM (3013 of 3128)
"John H. Swearingen was Al's oldest brother, born in 1838 in Jefferson County, Iowa.
John first appears in census records in 1840, again in 1850 but is missing by June 29, 1860 - the date of the Oskaloosa census - along with Abe Dillon, John's brother-in-law (my great great grandfather). Our family history says John and Abe went west to the gold fields - we assumed California - after the death of William Swearingen, Al's 16-year-old brother in January of 1860 (William died at home, probably of diphtheria, when Al and Lem were 14 - undoubtedly a traumatic event all around).
According to newly-discovered records, though, it seems John and Abe were "Pike's Peakers" and followed about 60,000 other gold miners to the Central City area in the Colorado Gold Rush of 1859/60. Neither found their fortune as miners, though, and when Abe returned home to Iowa John apparently enlisted in the Union Army and was one of the first to join the 1st Colorado Volunteer Infantry, later becoming the infamous 1st Colorado Cavalry.
The 1st Colorado Cavalry was formed from the 1st Colorado Volunteer Infantry beginning November 1, 1862. The 1st Colo Inf. had been instrumental in repulsing the Confederate invasion of the far west whose ultimate goal was to take the rich gold mines of Colorado. For this reason a high percentage of the Colorado regiments were made up of miners from the gold towns, such as Al's brother John.
The conversion from infantry to cavalry was undertaken because cavalry troops were more effective for Indian-fighting purposes - their assignment was to guard the Territory and its mines from possible invasion and to protect the ever-expanding white settlements from Indian raids. In 1863, they participated in isolated skirmishes against the Utes, (in "Idaho Territory", part of present-day Wyoming) Kiowas, and Comanches (in Kansas).
In January 1864, re-enlisting troops from this regiment formed the 1st Colorado Veteran Volunteers, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Tappan. Troops from this regiment are generally considered to have begun the Indian War of 1864 by attacking a party of Cheyenne at Fremont's Orchard in April 1864. Thereafter, detached companies from the regiment met the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians throughout the Spring, Summer, and Fall of 1864. Traffic on the Platte River trail, one of the main immigration routes into Colorado, came to a halt as the tribes retaliated and by late summer of 1864 Denver was totally cut off from the east.
In September 1864, several chiefs of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes came to Denver for the Camp Weld Meeting, in an attempt to make peace. Territorial Governor John Evans spurned this attempt, and referred the matter to the military commander, Colonel Chivington, setting the stage for a major confrontation. In November 1864 Chivington led about 200 men from the 1st Colorado Cavalry, among others, in an unprovoked attack later known as the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 - one of the worst atrocities ever perpetrated by a US military unit (later memorialized by James Michner in Centennial as the Skimmerhorn Massacre, among other literary references).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_Creek_Massacre
The Cheyenne and Arapahoe were quick to retaliate. The first attack came on January 7, 1865, at Julesburg, Colorado. Companies of the 1st Cavalry took part in actions against the Cheyenne in General Patrick Connor's Powder River Campaign in the spring of 1865. The last actions of the 1st Colorado Cavalry came in June, 1865 with a minor skirmish at Rock Creek, Dakota Territory (so John was the first Swearingen in the Dakotas...)
Colonel Chivington's enlistment expired in September 1864; and he mustered out of the service in January 1865, when relieved as commander by Colonel Thomas Moonlight of the 11th Kansas Cavalry. Colonel Moonlight ordered an investigation into Chivington's actions at Sand Creek, which was conducted by officers of the 1st Cavalry. In addition, a joint committee of the United States Congress investigated the military actions at Sand Creek. Despite his early successful engagements against the Confederates at Apache Canyon and Johnson's Ranch, John M. Chivington passed into history condemned for all time as the author of the Sand Creek Massacre.
John Swearingen also mustered out, returned to Oskaloosa and became a house painter and plasterer (like his grandfather, Abraham). And as far as we know, he never once mentioned his Indian fighting experiences.
It's likely, though, that he did tell his younger brothers of life as a gold miner in the boom town of Central City and how difficult it was for a miner to strike it rich. Saloon owners, though, seemed to do extremely well in any camp.
And we thought Al was the black sheep of the family.
by ASwearingen at 06/26/2006 9:05 PM"
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HBO Community Forum, Re: Deadwood History Posted: Jul 12, 2006 11:17 PM (266 of 282)
"A souvenir from the First National Bank of Deadwood, Dakota Territory:
Click
Right click on the image, edit copy, then paste into a word processing program as an image and print it.
Makes a good bookmark.
by ASwearingen"
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HBO Community Forum, Re: Al Swearengen played by Ian McShane Posted: Jul 13, 2006 12:11 AM (3082 of 3128)
"Here's a little more information on Al's background...
Al's family settled in the Iowa Territory west of what is now Oskaloosa in 1843. As the original prairie was cleared extensive deposits of coal were discovered throughout Mahaska, Marion and Monroe counties. Coal mining quickly became a major source of revenue as railroads expanded (over fifty mines were eventually developed throughout the area with one shaft placed within a hundred yards of the house where Al was born).
Over time, hundreds of miners came to the area - mostly Irish, German and English with some Dutch and Cornish, according to local history. "Coal camps" were established around some of the larger mines complete with company stores, miner's cabins, saloons and brothels. It's likely that Al and his brothers had close contact with miners from an early age, probably helping Dan, their father, in his work and possibly working in and around saloons in the area. It's possible Al got his start as a saloon owner with experience picked up in the Mahaska County coal camps of the 1860's.
While there's no clear proof of this, there is a hint of Al's connection to the Iowa camps. One of the larger camps (now a ghost town) was also one of the closest to his home, and it shares its name with an early Deadwood saloon. The original Crickett coal camp (later the town of Cricket, Iowa) may well be the namesake of Al's first Deadwood venture, the Cricket Saloon.
While Cricket is not on many maps, it can generally be found on most versions of the Street Atlas PC-based mapping program (look in Mahaska County southwest of Oskaloosa).
by ASwearingen at 07/12/2006 9:25 PM"
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HBO Community Forum, Re: Deadwood History Posted: Jul 26, 2006 12:06 AM (269 of 282)
"I just watched "Unauthorized Cinnamon" - and the conversation between Al and Doc was fascinating.
Al's father, Daniel, died of tuberculosis and was most likely a "lunger" at the end of his life during the winter of 1885-86. Daniel's body was brought back to Oskaloosa (probably at Al's expense) and buried next to Keziah, Al's mother, even though they had divorced some time earlier.
Daniel left Keziah (Al's mother) for her younger sister Amerinta, resulting in the divorce of Keziah and Daniel. Amerinta lived with the family for a time prior to the divorce (when she was 16).
Here's Daniel's obituary in the local Oskaloosa paper (The Herald of February 4, 1886, page 2):
SWEARINGEN - died at Yankton, Dakota on January 29, 1886 Daniel J. Swearingen, of consumption. The body was brought here by the Odd Fellows this day, from their Hall at 2:00. The deceased was for many years an old resident here, coming here as early as 1848. For the last six years he has been a resident of Dakota. Two of his sons, John and Lemuel, are residents here, and to whom the sympathy of friends will be extended. A wife and one child by a second marriage are left to mourn his loss.
by ASwearingen at 07/26/2006 12:06 AM"
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HBO Community Forum, Re: The Earps and Deadwood Posted: Aug 14, 2006 11:19 PM (286 of 298)
"Here's some more family history regarding the real Al Swearingen...
In 1916/17 a local named Phil Hoffman drafted a history of Mahaska County, Iowa under the pen name "Roustabout". Its a long rambling anecdotal history of the County that details quite a bit of local legend and lore. Al's father, Dan Swearingen, is specifically mentioned in an incident probably occurred 40 or 50 years before this account was written - so this story must have been part of local legend to have survived that long. Here's a link to the text of the document:
click
Click on the link, select "Edit/Find (on This Page)" and search for "Dan Swearingen" to read the details (and look at the word preceding Dan's name...)
I mentioned in an earlier post that Dan Swearingen and Nicholas Earp probably knew each other professionally - here's some additional proof of that.
ASwearingen at Aug 14, 2006 11:19 PM"
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HBO Community Forum, Re: Deadwood History, Posted: Aug 20, 2006 11:19 PM (296 of 298)
"Al originally came to Deadwood from Denver, not Chicago as some accounts indicate. And he didn't come directly to Deadwood Gulch.
Al was always a developer at heart and apparently always wanted to plat out cities, sell lots and control the development of the town. It seems that he platted out one of the first towns in the Black Hills and was forced to leave by the US Cavalry after being promised he could claim his lots on his return. When he returned he found the lots occupied and the US government had no authority to enforce their promise to him - so he went on to Deadwood in 1876 (and the rest is history). From then on Al never trusted any governmental authority (federal, territorial or local...)
Here's an article from the Bismarck Daily Tribune, Sept 15, 1875 (page 2, column 3)
Custer City is the name of a new town laid out in Custer County, Dakota by Mr. A. Swearengen. It is located near the Gordon Stockade in Custer Park , Black Hills. The city is watered by two mountain streams and surrounded by rich placer mines.
ASwearingen at 08/20/2006 8:23 PM"
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HBO Community Forum, Re: Deadwood History, Posted: Oct 18, 2006 11:11 PM (341 of 342)
"The body of Albert Swearingen was found at dawn on a November morning in 1904 in the middle of a suburban Denver street by streetcar workers going to work. Al apparently died as a result of a massive wound to his forehead sometime during the night (so he was not killed hopping a freight train in a Denver stockyard in 1899 as commonly believed).
Al's younger brother Theodore (living in Leadville) accompanied Al's body back to Iowa for a funeral ordered by Lem, Al's surviving twin. Al is buried in a Mahaska County cemetery.
As Al is in an unmarked grave, I've tried to contact someone HBO to invite them out to dedicate a marker of some sort with no luck. If you have any contacts who may be interested, please have them get in touch with Jerry at the Adams Museum and House in Deadwood - he can verify this account as well.
Sorry I'm not more forthcoming with some of the details, but anything written here is pretty much in the public domain as soon as it is posted so I'm a little reluctant to provide too much detail. I've already verified an account of another ancestor's grave being disturbed recently and they were much less famous/infamous than Al so I'm a little more protective of the actual location of his grave now.
by ASwearingen at 10/18/2006 8:58 PM"
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HBO Community Forum, Re: Deadwood History, Posted: Nov 15, 2006 10:00 PM (343 of 345)
"Albert Swearingen died 102 years ago this morning.
And Al and his immediate family would be absolutely amazed at his notoriety more than a century after his death.
by ASwearingen at 11/15/2006 8:13 PM"
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HBO Community Forum, Re: Deadwood History, Posted: Dec 7, 2006 10:08 PM (349 of 349)
"Al's twin brother, Lemuel Abraham, was named after his uncle Lemuel Abraham, a younger brother of Al's father Daniel born near Maysville, Kentucky.
Ellis Albert was named after the Montgomery side of the family (a common tradition at the time, naming each twin for one side of the family). Our family history connects Keziah (Al's mother) to General Richard Montgomery who led American troops in the capture of Montreal where he was killed on December 31, 1775.
So the real Al was part Irish as well.
by ASwearingen"
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HBO Community Forum, Re: Al Swearengen played by Ian McShane , Posted: Dec 7, 2006 10:21 PM (3201 of 3216)
"Al was born July 8, 1845 on the family farm near Oskaloosa, Iowa Territory. The family moved to town when Al was about 10 or 11, shortly after his father completed his term as County Sheriff.
While the original farm has been subdivided over the past 160 years, the house is still standing and is inhabited. And as far as I know, the current owners aren't aware of the property's history, but I'm planning on stopping by in a week or so and letting them know.
by ASwearingen"
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HBO Community Forum, Re: Al Swearengen played by Ian McShane , Posted: Dec 11, 2006 10:42 PM (3207 of 3216)
"Winfield Scott was Al's younger brother (born August 1848) and Winfield (not Lemuel) married Fannie Lafollette in 1867. As the Gem Theater prospered in 1877-79 Win left Fannie (and his young son Jesse) and followed Al to Deadwood where he showed up living with Al and Nettie and working as a bartender at the Gem in the 1880 census. Win was an expert marksman and was written up in the Pioneer many times for his shooting exhibitions - so it is thought Win probably served as a bodyguard for Al at the Gem for several years, as the family had quite a bit invested in the place.
Fannie eventually divorced Win and remained in Oskaloosa for the rest of her life, as did Jesse (some of his descendants still live in the area). Win went on to remarry, lived near Aspen, CO in the early 1890's working some mining interests, lived in Carbon, WY in 1900 and died around 1920.
Theo also went to Deadwood but left for Leadville about the same time the most of the Deadwood placer miners left for Colorado. He may have tried to establish a Leadville Gem for Al but failed and he is listed as a Leadville cigar and liquor dealer in the 1900 census. Upon Al's death in Denver Theodore accompanied Al's body back to Iowa by train for the funeral. Theo was last found living in Denver in 1910 listed as a musician playing for a Denver symphony. It is thought that he left Leadville and moved into Al's Denver place shortly after Al's 1904 death.
Lemuel, Al's twin, lived in Oskaloosa nearly all his life. Lem's first wife Lizzie died in 1897 when she was 49 years old, and by 1900 he had remarried to a Fannie (not his former sister-in-law, as this Fannie was 24 years younger than him). Lem survived a suspicious attack in his home (he was shot four times in the head by an intruder a few weeks before Al died) and was eventually beaten to death by a stranger in front of his meat market (known locally at the turn of the last century as "Swearingen's Corner"). And 96 years later that's still an unsolved murder.
Contrary to most accounts, Al did not stay quietly at home during the early 1870's. His first business venture was a saloon in Mahaska County, Iowa with Lem - he apparently bought furnishings on credit from an out-of-state provider, refused to pay and was sued (he promptly left the state so he was not on the 1870 census). Al was tracked down, brought back to stand trial and apparently settled the case. He then left again, settled briefly in another state, met and married Nettie and the rest is history.
As you can probably tell, I've done a lot of research on this family. But I've had an advantage - I'm Al's great great grandnephew, and like Al I was born in Oskaloosa. I've found a lot of the original records, located most of the homesteads, gravesites, etc. and am trying to work all of this into a book, but the story has taken a few more turns in the past few months so it will take some time to nail it all down, but I'm working on it.
And the name really is 'Swearingen'.
by ASwearingen"
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HBO Community Forum, Re: Al Swearengen played by Ian McShane , Posted: Dec 12, 2006 11:46 PM (3210 of 3216)
"As far as HBO's depiction goes, my sense of it is that they got Al spot on (except for the English accent and the "Streets of London" stories). Al was one of the shrewdest operators in 1876 Deadwood - one of the first ones in, he staked out lots on Main Street as most others staked gold claims. He knew a good saloon in a mining camp was a much better bet (a lesson from his brother John, courtesy of the 1859 Colorado Gold Rush). And he probably did have a lot of influence both in the town and on the town.
The one thread of the story I would really like the writers to stop pulling at is the discussion of his mother during Al's drunken soliloquies. By all accounts Keziah "Katie" Swearingen was a loving and caring mother who buried three of her ten children young. Take a look at the last name on the 1850 census - that's Amerinta Montgomery, Keziah's younger sister living with the family in Iowa (age 16). Now look at the 1880 Dakota Territory census - you'll find Amerinta married to Daniel living in Yankton. Daniel left Al's mother for her younger sister in Iowa (Keziah reluctantly divorced him and died there in 1879). And when DJ died in 1886, Al brought him back to Iowa and buried him next to Keziah in Oskaloosa where he obviously thought DJ belonged (next to his two younger brothers as well).
So Keziah had a lot of undeserved heartache in her life and deserves better than her depiction in the series. But I'm biased - she's my third great grandmother.
by ASwearingen"
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