Person:Mary Van Cleve (3)

For more information, contact the Dayton Metro Library for these articles.

Mary Swaynie Dayton Daily Journal March 4, 1882 v. XIX, iss. 185 : pg. 3, col. 7 died March 3, 95y 21d, funeral from her residence at 251 Bainbridge Street, Raper Chapel, Woodland Cemetery

Mary Van Cleve Swaynie Dayton Daily Journal March 7, 1882 pg. 4, col. 4 Died March 3, 1882, buried in Woodland Cemetery; article in lieu of obituary

Mary Swaynie Dayton Daily Journal March 10, 1882 v. XIX, iss. 190 : pg. 3, col. 5 Died week ending March 9

Mary Swaynie Dayton Daily Journal January 8, 1883 v. XX, iss. 126 : pg. 4, col. 4 died March 1, 1982, age 95

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Woodland Cemetery & Arboretum. Woodland Cemetery Records Database.
2.   Four Score and Ten: The Thirteenth Re-Union of the Relatives of Mrs. Mary Van Cleve Swaynie--Natal Day of Daytons Oldest Resident. article in the Dayton Journal.
   page 4, column 2, 12 Feb 1877.

   Dayton Daily Journal, 12 February 1877, page 4 column 2
   
   FOUR SCORE AND TEN
   The Thirteenth Re-Union of the Relatives of Mrs. Mary Van Cleve Swaynie – Natal Day of Daytons Oldest Resident.
   
   The 10th of February is a day of some importance in the history of Dayton. It is the birthday of the oldest resident, the sold survivor of the first family that settled on the banks of the Miami within what is now the corporate limits of the city, Mrs. Mary Van Cleve Swaynie. For a number of years past, her birthdays have been the gathering of relatives, friends, and the pioneers of the city and vicinity. On Saturday was celebrated the thirteenth of these re-unions at the resident of her step son, Mr. John Swaynie, 247 Bainbridge street.
   As has been the custom, these gatherings are wholly informal. No invitations are issued; but everybody is made welcome, and everybody enjoys him or herself to the utmost. At eleven o’clock the guest began to arrive and continued to do so until two. The first table sat down to a bountiful dinner at twelve, and the last table finished at four, over eighty souls altogether. There were present twenty-five of Mrs. Swaynie’s direct descendants besides nearly an equal number of persons deriving a relationship by marriage. Beginning with Mrs. Swaynie herself, we have compiled the following table of those present:
   FAMILY TABLE
   Mrs. May [sic] Van Cleve Swaynie.
   CHILDREN
   Mrs. W. R. Howell, Mrs. Sarah Swaynie, Mr. John McClain.
   GRAND CHILDREN
   Mrs. Margaret McMaster, Mrs. Mary Dow, Mrs. Amanda Gloyd, Miss Abbie Rhein, Miss Fannie Swaynie, Miss Ella Vaughan, John Swaynie, Joseph Swaynie.
   GREAT GRANT CHILDREN
   John McMaster, Emery G. McMaster, Nettie McMaster, Mary Brecuniar, Miss Mary Dow, Eddie Gloyd, Gertie Gloyd, Clara Gloyd, Frank Gloyd.
   GREAT GREAT GRAND CHILDREN
   Laura McMaster, aged 7 years; Grace McMaster, 6; Joseph McMaster, 3; Tommy McMaster, 20 months; Sammy Brecuniar, 17 months.
   It isn’t often that one is thus permitted to see five of her great great grand children.
   Among the guests were a few of the respected old of the city, who have known Grandmother Swaynie in years of the past. The oldest among them was Aunt Ann Marie Hellriggle, who is in her 91st year and smart yet. With a little assistance she does her own house work. Before coming to the reunion Saturday, she did the morning house work and then got a baking of pies ready to put into the stove on her return.
   Next, was aunt [sic] Polly Cain, who is eighty-five, and did the baking for a large family before leaving home. Uncle Moses Simpson, eighty-three years old, who read the Bible through last month without spectacles, also paid his respects. Uncle Joseph Bond, seventy-nine, with his lady, seventy-one, and Mrs. Effie Whitley, were as youthful and lively as the youngest, stirring themselves around, seeing that everybody was properly entertained. Among other guests, we noticed Rev. Milton Wright (of the Religious Telescope) and his lady, Mr. Joseph Bimm, Mrs. Samuel Marshall, and Mrs. James Hoglen. Rev. Wright is a grandson of Mrs. Swaynie’s sister, Mrs. Margaret Reeder.
   The afternoon was spent by the old folks in recalling old times, and by the young folks listening with eager ears to their stories. Mrs. Swaynie, whose maiden name was Mary Van Cleve, was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, February 10th, 1787. The family moved to Cincinnati shortly before Mary was three years old, and there her father was killed by the Indians in 1791. Her mother afterward married Mr. Samuel Thompson; and in 1796, in company with a family by the name of McClure, they loaded their effects upon a keel-boat, and floated down the Ohio to the mouth of the Miami, and from there “po’ed” up the river to Dayton, which then consisted of three log cabins, none of which, however, were as yet occupied. The boat was hauled up some place about where the head of St. Clair street now is. Mrs. Swaynie’s mother was the first to land, in order as she afterward said, to be the first white woman who set foot upon these shores. And here Mrs. Swaynie has resided ever since, eighty-one years. She can tell many an interesting and thrilling story of those early days of “hairbreadth ‘scapes and dangers hap’ly o’er.”
   She is the only survivor of her family; all her brothers and sisters are dead. Her stepfather, Mr. Thompson, was drowned in Mad River about twenty years after they settled here. She was married in 1813 to Mr. McClain, by whom she had seven children, Catherine, Mary, Margaret, Sarah, John, Jerome and Benjamin. All of these are alive except Catherine, who died about a year ago, in the 70th year of her age. Her second daughter, Mrs. Mary Clark, is now living in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The third, Margaret, is the wife of Mr. W. B. Howell, of this city. Sarah is the wife of Mr. John Swaynie whom she also survived. By him she had no children.
   Mrs. Swaynie is wonderfully well preserved for her age. She is quite lively and communicative, and has full possession of her mental facilities. During the last eight years she has pieced seventy-five quilts, which she has given to various relations, and is now engaged on the seventy-sixth. It is composed of 231 blocks, each of which is made of nine smaller ones. She has been at work on this about four weeks and expects to complete it within one more; a feat that will challenge many a younger woman to best. And all of this Mrs. Swaynie does without spectacles, which she has not used for four years, having attained her second sight about that time. Before we close we must mention Miss Abbey Rhein, the charge d’affaires at the re-union, to whose energy and management mush is owing. She is a granddaughter of Mrs. Swaynie, and is proud, she says, of being the heaviest one of the family; a fragile flower of 245 pounds avoirdupois. One by one the guests departed after wishing Mrs. Swaynie many returns of the happy day.