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Facts and Events
References
- Hill, S. Pony. Strangers In Their Own Land. (Palm Coast, Florida: Backintyme Publishing, 31 Dec 2009)
Pages 4, 30, 31, 56. - Wise, Erbon W. (Erbon Wesley). Sweat families of the south. (Sulpher, Louisiana: E.R. Wise, 1983)
Pages 15 to 17.
- Ephraim Sweat, born say 1755, was counted as white in the 1790 census for Burke County, North Carolina: head of a household of one male over 16, two under 16, and 3 females, adjacent to Gilbert Sweat [NC:108] and counted as white in Greenville District, South Carolina, in 1800, head of a household of one male over 45, two males 16-26, two males under 10 years of age, one female 26-45, two 10-16, and four under 10 [SC:264]. Ephraim married Olive Perkins according to the 18 April 1811 Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana marriage bond of their son Gideon [marriage license no.6]. Ephraim was head of an Opelousas, St. Landry Parish household of 7 "other free" in 1810 [LA:325] and 4 "free colored" in 1820. He petitioned the St. Landry Parish Probate Court as the only heir of his brother Gilbert who died on or about 25 May 1830. (Source: Paul Heinegg, Free African Americans of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware)
- Gilbert Sweat Case…21 Aug. 1829…St. Landry’s Parish LA…
Testimony of Joshua Perkins – Gilbert Sweat was born about 1756 in what was then Marion Co. SC on the Pee Dee River. About the year 1777, Perkins helped Sweat run away with Francis Smith, the wife of J.B. Taylor. Sweat moved from SC to Tenn, to NC to Big Black River, Miss. And arrived in LA in 1804.
Testimony of Aaron Dial - remembered seeing Gilbert Sweat and his brother Ephraim at the iron works in SC, moved with him to Tenn. [Parish of St. Landry, case no.1533]
- Erbon W. Wise stated that the descendants of Ephraim and Gilbert Sweat, brothers who moved throught the Southern to Louisiana and Texas, possessed strong Indian characteristics and it is most likely that earlier Sweats, moving westward into the mountains from the Eastern coast, took Indian brides as was commonly done by the early mountain men. Early census and other records carry varied identifications but there seems to be little doubt that their inheritance was from English frontiersmen mating with the native American--the Indian--and establishing robutst and adventuresome pioneer American families.
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