Swearingen family

Bedinger Line

Adam Bedinger (sometimes spelled "Biedinger") was born to a German Protestant family near Strasbourg, France. Around 1736, he moved with his wife and four young sons to Conewago, York County, Pennsylvania, to escape religious persecution. His sons were: Nicholas (b. ca. 1723), Henry (1726-1772), George Michael (b. ca. 1725), and Peter (b. ca. 1727).

Around 1750, Henry Bedinger married Magdalena Slagle, with whom he had four children: Henry, Jr. (1753-1843), Elisabeth, George Michael (1756-1843), and Daniel. The family moved to Shepherdstown (then known as Mecklenburg) in present-day West Virginia. The three brothers of this generation all fought in the American Revolution. Henry, Jr., entered service in Captain Hugh Stevenson's company of riflemen in June 1775 and was captured at the Battle of Fort Washington in November 1776, remaining a prisoner of war for four years. Daniel Bedinger served as a lieutenant with the Virginia Line from 1776 to 1783. George Michael moved to Kentucky in 1779 and fought in the Battle of Chillicothe with the Kentucky militia, and later served during the Siege of Yorktown. He also fought at the rank of major in the Northwest Indian War from 1791 to 1793. He then entered politics and was elected to the Kentucky State House of Representatives (1792), the Kentucky State Senate (1801-1802), and the United States House of Representatives (1803-1807).

In 1784, Henry Bedinger, Jr., married Rachel Strode in Berkeley County, Virginia (now West Virginia), and they had several children including Nancy Bedinger (b. ca. 1785), who married Colonel James Swearingen in 1811.

Swearingen Line

Josiah Swearingen was born in 1744 in Berkeley County, (West) Virginia, the son of Colonel Van Swearingen (1719-1788) and his cousin and wife, Sarah Swearingen (1722-1766). Sarah was the daughter of another Van Swearingen (nicknamed "King") and his wife, Elizabeth Walker. Josiah worked as the surveyor of Berkeley County and married Phoebe Strode in 1777. They had several children, including Colonel James Swearingen, who married Nancy Bedinger in 1811. The children of Josiah and Phoebe Swearingen included Henry Bedinger Swearingen and Sarah Bedinger Swearingen (1819-1886). Josiah Swearingen had several siblings, including a doctor, Hezekiah Swearingen (1747-1817), and Thomas Swearingen.

From the guide to the Swearingen-Bedinger papers, 1759-1948, 1770-1795, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)