Fearless Females - March 1 - Susan SCHWYHART KINNICK

Fearless Females - March 1 

Susan SCHWYHART KINNICK

Once again, in honor of National Women’s History Month (http://www.nwhp.org/whm/history.php), Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog (http://www.theaccidentalgenealogist.com/) presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.

March 1 — Do you have a favorite female ancestor? One you are drawn to or want to learn more about?

Susanna (Susan) SCHWYHART KINNICK YARINGTON was my third great-grandmother, married originally to my third great-grandfather (back from my mother), Walter W. KINNICK. He died at the young age of 43 and she was left to look after the large family. She married Ephriam YARRINGTON for a time, but he died, too, and she reverted to her KINNICK name for the balance of her life. She lived to be 75.

Her various names is one of things that has drawn me to her as a genealogy research topic. She was born SWINEHEART as a surname, but, in her teens or very young adulthood, along with all her siblings and one set of first cousins, assumed the SCHWYHART surname. This surname seems unique to these two families (where two brothers married two sisters) - all of their children adopted the new surname.

 I believe this photo was taken in 1844 just before the young family, with other neighbors, left  eastern Ohio, Belmont County, to float down the Ohio River, then up the Mississippi to their new home in rural Bureau County, Illinois. It is the only photo I have seen of her. I have it thanks to contact with other branches of the family during my early research.

Families are Forever!  ;-)