Family Reunion at Schwartz Homestead
Elkville, 1888
Family Reunion at Schwartz Homestead
Elkville, 1888
Names and accompanied article:
(corrected data in (-)
Members of the Schwartz family, whose offspring
were prominent in the early life of Du Quoin,
gathered for a family reunion at the homestead
in Elkville in 1888.
Left to right, the group includes:
Seated on the ground: John (John Walter Schwartz)and
Sam(Samuel Marshall Schwartz), twin sons
of Edward (Edward & Emeline RENO Schwartz) KIMMEL,
William KIMMEL, Chester R. SCHWARTZ, son
of Samuel; Howard KIMMEL, son of Edward;
Robert J. McELVAIN, Jr.; Joe, son of Edward
Schwartz; Fred, son of Edward KIMMEL, Herbert
A. and William, sons of John D. HAYES.
Second row: Fannie SCHWARTZ HARTWELL, wife
of Phillip; (Boley Launa Kimmel Lewis); Sarah
PYLE SCHWARTZ, mother of Schwartz family;
Miss Elizabeth (Aunt Bess) SCHWARTZ, Mary
Schwartz McELVAIN, wife of Robt. J. McELVAIN
Sr.; Lottie McELVAIN, daughter of Robt. J.Sr.;
Emeline RENO SCHWARTZ, wife of Edward; Maude
KIMMEL, daughter of Wm. & Mattie KIMMEL
Third row, standing: Alifair ONSTOTT KIMMEL,
wife of Edward, holding Miss Ruth KIMMEL;
Edna Schwartz COPELAND, Mollie Schwartz CASTLETON,
Anna Schwartz VOUDRIE, Lucy Schwartz CASTLETON,
Ada KIMMEL, Miss Nellie Schwartz, Josiah
Schwartz, Edward Schwartz, Chas. Schwartz,
son of Samuel; Samuel Schwartz, Della KIMMEL
PYATT, Edward E. KIMMEL holding Leslie Kimmel;
Miss Belle KIMMEL, Robert J. McELVAIN Sr.;
Susan KIMMEL, wife of E. E. Kimmel; Henry
KIMMEL holding Jackson Kimmel.
Top row: John D. HAYES holding Milford Hayes;
Ellen Schwartz HAYES, Mrs. SKINNER and Laura
KIMMEL WILSON; Mattie Schwartz KIMMEL, wife
of William; Philip KIMMEL, Wm. KIMMEL; Hiram
SCHWARTZ, Sara JACKSON KIMMEL, wife of Henry;
Wm. A. SCHWARTZ; Daniel L. KIMMEL, father
of Clarence and Stanley.
Wm. SCHWARTZ, Gus' father, and Isabelle Schwartz
KIMMEL, oldest son and oldest daughter of
Sarah PYLE SCHWARTZ; and Isabelle's husband,
Joseph Kimmel, were deceased when this picture
was taken.
Some of County's Earliest Settlers--Pyles,
Wells, Schwartzs and Kimmels--Tied Together
Through Generations
-----§-----
Before his death, Howard Kimmel had collected
much genealogical material concerning his
various family lines. Among the notes is
an old letter from Mary WILLIAMSON BRADLEY,
mother of Judge Loyd Bradley of Carbondale.
Lewis WELLS, Sr. and "Betsy" (BATES)
WELLS were Mrs. Bradley's great-grandparents.
Their daughter Polly (Mary) married "Jack"
(John) PYLE and daughter Sally (Sarah) married
Abner PYLE SR. Jack and Polly were Mrs. Bradley's
grandparents. Her parents were Joan (PYLE)
and Frederick WILLIAMSON.
In her letter, Mrs. Bradley tells an interesting
story about her great grandmother.
"...It must have been about the time
of the Revolution that little Elizabeth BATES
was stolen by the Indians. She was 12, the
oldest of five children. Her parents had
gone to a clear spot in the South Carolina
wilderness where they had raised a crop.
The group was preparing to return to the
settlement, fearing an Indian attack. The
father was helping the mother mount a horse
when a war whoop broke the stillness.
Mrs. Bates begged her husband and neighbor
to run. The women and children were taken
prisoners. In camp, in the evening, some
of the tribe brought in scalps. Elizabeth
knew by the color of the hair and the bloody
clothes that her father and his helper had
met their deaths.
A little baby brother was born after that.
Then the Indians continued to retreat with
their captives and in attempting to ford
the swollen Roanoke river, the baby was drowned.
The rest of the family were prisoners about
a year.
Finally the whites and Indians exchanged
prisoners and the BATES family went back
to the home settlement.
Lewis Wells Sr., the original member of the
Wells family in and about Perry County, probably
was born in Yorkshire, England. The family
does not know when or where he landed, but
he joined the army in South Carolina to fight
in the Revolutionary War. Soon after he married
Elizabeth BATES.
About 1803 a group from the Carolinas came
west and stopped for a while in Hopkinsville,
Kentucky, because Indians were still troublesome
in Illinois. Tradition says that in 1803,
Lewis Wells, Thomas TAYLOR, the three PYLE
brothers, Lewis McELVAIN and maybe others,
came to Jackson county to investigate the
Indian situation and look the land over.
They returned to Kentucky and waited until
1812, when the group returned with their
families, wanting to live on free soil away
from slavery.
Mrs. Bradley says there was a large community
of WELLS, PYLE, TAYLORS, SCHWARTZ and others
who lived in and near a fort about four miles
east of Carbondale, on Crab Orchard Creek.
The Wells and Taylor families, who for years
had been friends, soon moved on into Perry
County where they settled permanently.
Mary and John Pyles daughter, Sally, married,
first, Ed Schwartz, and second, George Schwartz,
brothers. She was born in 1807, near Hopkinsville,
Kentucky. The daughter of Sally and George
Schwartz(Daughter of Sally & Edward),
Isabella, married Joseph KIMMEL. Both Isabella
and Joseph died when their son Edward was
small. He was reared by his grandmother,
Sally Pyle Schwartz.
When Edward grew up, he came to Du Quoin
to work and met Alifair ONSTOTT, daughter
of Elihu and Barbara Ann WELLS ONSTOTT. They
married and became the parents of Will, Howard,
Fred, Maurice and Ruth KIMMEL.
Ray COPELANDS grandparents were Elizabeth
(WATERS) and Josiah Schwartz, a son of Sally
and Ed Schwartz. His parents were Edna (SCHWARTZ)
and J. C. COPELAND.
Clarence KIMMELS grandparents were Elizabeth
(Schwartz) and Phillip KIMMEL, a brother
of Josiah and Isabella Schwartz. His parents
were Edith PRESTON and Dan KIMMEL...."
Thus are tied together through the generations,
some of the earliest settlers of Perry and
Jackson counties, the PYLES, WELLS, SCHWARTZS
and KIMMELS.
UPDATED INFO!!!
Isabella was the daughter of Sally and Edward,
NOT George. Edward died in 1843. Isabella
was born August 6, 1830. Sally married George
on Mar 23, 1845. The two children of Sally
and George were Samuel, who married Sarah
Jane HACKNEY, and Mary, who married Robert
J. McELVAIN.
contact GAYLE for additional information.
Used by permission of DQEC
