My Civil War Connection (one of many): I am an amateur genealogist. I retired from teaching in the public schools in 2010, got divorced, and moved about an hour north to be near my daughter and grandsons. I had always remembered my aunt telling us a little of what she knew of our family history but I’d never taken the time to look into it until 2011. I discovered a book by Albert Ross Hogue (1873-1978) entitled The History of Fentress County Tennessee.
My mother was born in Jamestown, Fentress Co. Tennessee so I was immediately interested. I also knew the surname “Hogue” to be a family name so I was excited to find out who this author was! It turns out that Albert Ross Hogue was my great grandmother’s first cousin! Her name was Mary Ann Patience Hogue Madewell. Her father Vardeman Hogue and Albert’s father Anderson Hogue were brothers.
You can imagine my excitement several years later when I found an article online about Isaac Jefferson Swallows, Jr. At first, I didn’t know who wrote the piece so I did a little digging to learn the author’s name. I used the clues the author mentions about his daughter Eva being married to Walter Swallows. The author, Hogue, says that Jefferson Swallows was the grandfather to his own grandchildren, but in fact Jefferson was the great grandfather to them.
Isaac Jefferson Swallows, Jr. was my great grandfather’s uncle. My great grandfather Isaac Lafayette Madewell was the son of Moses Robertson Madewell and Dicey Jane Swallows. Her brother Isaac Jefferson Swallows, Jr. (AKA Jefferson) is the subject of this article from the view of Albert Ross Hogue.
I have taken the liberty to make minor corrections related to grammar and other English conventions to make the following piece easier to read.