About the Sweaneys

Edgar Sweaney Daniel Sene (Seney) came to America in 1674 to Maryland by ship, probably from Ireland or England. He was believed to be the son of French Hugeunots, who fled from France to escape persecution during Elizabethan times.

The Sweaneys were Quakers that lived in Queen Anne's County, Maryland and converted to the Moravian faith, which like the Quakers, held a puritan set of beliefs.

When the Sweaneys migrated to Ohio, Tuscawaras County had been created and American Indians there were converted to the Moravian faith. Frederick Sweaney married Sarah Ann Thompson, a descendant of these American Indian tribes (probably Erie or Delaware). This was in 1859. Their final settlement was in Chanute, Kansas. Their eldest son, Edgar, married three times -- with his children leaving a long line of descendants that are spread mostly across the western half of the United States.

Charlotte Melissa Carter

Charlotte Melissa Gants was born on 5 March 1844 in Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois to William Gants and Dyalthia Kimes. Her father probably died at an early age, because she was raised by her mother and her step-father Benjamin Reed, according to the 1850 U.S. Census in Allapoose, Iowa.

She married young to an Englishman named William Barker. They had 2 sons: Willie and James Barker. It is unknown what happened to Willie, but James married Amanda Casabeer and they had 5 children. James died in a tractor accident in 1924.

Charlotte remarried to John W. Carter in Neosho County, Kansas. They had 4 children: Charles (Charley), Clara (Sweaney, Lundy), Bernice (Perkis), and Ida Carter.

Charlotte worked as a nurse, probably during World War I, and the family settled in Portland, Oregon, where John Carter died in 1909 (Pendleton, Oregon). Charlotte died on 7 June 1924 of old age and senility She was 80 years old.

Her death certicate is available for free download here.