William and Lillian (McIntyre) Sweeney
Early 1940s
Taken on the Sweeney Ranch
Dillon, Montana
Photo Courtesy of Kathleen (Sweeney) Cragun
Their GrandDaughter

The Sweeeneys Go West

Prepared by Bob Sweeney
From Materials Contributed, Organized and Edited by
The Descendants of William and Lillie McIntyre Sweeney

August 2010

 

Kathleen Leavitt (Sweeney) Cragun is the fourth cousin of Bob Sweeney, the coordinator of this web site. Her daughters, Christy (Leavitt) Peterson and Sheree (Lweavitt) Hansen, are fifth cousins to Bob's daughter Becca Ariella Sweeney Franklin. Kathleen, Christy and Sheree all live in the general area of Issaquah and Maple Valley, Washington State, southeast of Seattle. It was at their home in July 2010, that Bob and his wife Lynn first met and mingled with these distant cousins, and heard their story of the Sweeney migration to the western United States. This is their story and the story of William "Bill" Sweeney, his brothers Patrick (who also moved West and lived with Bill) and Martin Sweeney (who stayed back in Wellsville), and their families.

The Sweeneys Reunite--100 Years On!
Kathleen (Sweeney) Cragun, Bob Sweeney, Christy Peterson and Sheree Hansen
With Bo the Bulldog in Front
Maple Valley WA
July 22, 2010
Photo Courtesy of Lynn Ann Franklin
Bob Sweeney's Wife

More than 100 years ago, these Sweeneys left their birth place in Wellsville, Allegany County, New York for the true wilds of Montana. You can learn more about the Wellsville Sweeneys in The Sweeneys of Ringer Hill. William, Martin and Patrick were children of Rodger (1838-1869) and Mary (Sweeney) (1839-1908) Sweeney, orphaned by the sudden death of their father in 1869. The informal story is that Rodger was forced to rescue his family from a wagon stuck in a flooding creek, but, in doing so, contracted pneumonia and died in the fall of 1869. His widow Mary subsequently remarried to Peter Fagan, a marriage which produced seven children of its own. While the families remained close, the Sweeney boys doubtless believed that their best opportunities in life might lie elsewhere. Little could they have realized how their decision to go west would come to fruition in the ranch country of Montana, the religious and cultural milieu of Salt Lake City, and the farmlands of Oregon and Washington.

Utensils Owned by Lillie McIntyre Sweeney
Passed Down to Her Daughter Kathleen
Photo Courtesy of Kathleen (Sweeney) Cragun

William Sweeney came to the Big Sheep Basin region of southwest Montana in 1898 with little more than the shirt on his back. By 1913, when he married Lillie McIntyre, a school teacher born in Iowa, he was a successful local rancher. Lillie, a daughter of John B. McIntyre (1834-1911) and Margaret Fraser (1825-1948), Canadians by birth, came to Montana to teach after her father died in her home town, Villisca, IA, in 1911. While their ages at marriage may seem older than normal and their age discrepancy to be somewhat significant, this pattern was not at all uncommon among the Irish. In Irish society, a son must either inherit the patriarchal estate upon the death of his father or otherwise come into his own measure of economic self-sufficiency before he can be considere a man, and therefore marry. And, so it was, on October 21, 1913, that Bill and Lillie tied the knot at Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana. Here are links to their Marriage License and Marriage Certificate.

Bill also formed a business partnership with Earl Rogers in 1900 that would last until Earl's death in 1938. They invested in land, oil and energy businesses and other enterprises. Here is a picture of the Rogers and Sweeney couples which appears to have been taken early on, perhaps about the time that Bill and Lillie married in 1913:

Earl W. and Ora E. Rogers with Lillie and Bill Sweeney
Likely Dillon, Montana
Winter Circa 1915

Photo Courtesy of Kathleen (Sweeney) Cragun

Bill was an investor in a variety of energy investments over the course of their relationship. You can see a medley of documents for these businesses at William Sweeney Share Certificates. The signatures of the two partners, Earl and Bill, appear throughout these materials.

The story told here presents a mixture of notes, photographs and anecdotes related by Kathleen and her daughters, as well as other relatives by extension. Kathleen is actually the daughter of Roger Sweeney (1914-1998), one of five children of William and Lillie. Here are several group photos showing these children. The first was likely taken on the ranch in Montana in the 1920s, the second and third taken there in 1919 and 1922, respectively:

The Children of William and Lillie (McIntyre) Sweeney
Sweeney Ranch, Dillon, Montana
1920s
Left to right: Roger, Margaret ("Peg"), John, Peter and Mary
Photo Courtesy of Kathleen (Sweeney) Cragun

Margaret "Peg" and John Sweeney
Children of William and Lillie (McIntyre) Sweeney
Sweeney Ranch, Dillon, Montana
1919
Photo Courtesy of Kathleen (Sweeney) Cragun

Bill Sweeney with Children:
L to r, on horse: Mary, Margaret and Peter
Standing: John and Roger
Sweeney Ranch, Dillon, Montana
1922
Photo Courtesy of Kathleen (Sweeney) Cragun

Here's another photo from the same time period of John and Peter Sweeney in the ranch door way:

Peter and John Sweeney
Children of William and Lillie (McIntyre) Sweeney
Sweeney Ranch, Dillon, Montana
1918-19
Photo Courtesy of Kathleen (Sweeney) Cragun

Lillie's mother, Margaret (Fraser) McIntyre, came to live with the Sweeney family in Dillon at some point and lived there until her death in 1928. Here is a group photo of Lillie with her five children and her mother, Margaret, as well. It was probably taken in 1921, since Lillie seems to be holding her newborn, Mary Sweeney, born on July 5 of that year.

Lillie (McIntyre) Sweeney, Children and Mother Margaret
Sweeney Ranch, Dillon, Montana
1921
Photo Courtesy of Kathleen (Sweeney) Cragun

What else do we know about the children of William and Lillie (McIntyre) Sweeney? Much of what we know comes from materail originally collected by Roger Sweeney and his wife, Elaine (Thatcher), in the 1960s and 1970s. We know they visited Wellsville then and subsequently prepared genealogical records which are in the possession of Kathleen and her family. Also, a set of observations set down by e-mail in 2008 between Mary Elizabeth (Sweeney) Ford, the youngest of the five children, and her son, Bryan Ford, summarizes the life events of these siblings. We will use these sources to develop a succinct overview of the relevant information.

The Children of William and Lillie

On June 28, 2008, Bryan Ford e-mailed Tom Sweeney in Norman, Oklahoma. Tom is a descendant of Thomas Sweeney, a half-brother of Rodger Sweeney, father of William Sweeney. Rodger and Thomas were both sons of Patrick Sweeney, born in 1788 in Ireland, but who married three times, then came to Wellsville as the original Sweeney settler there. Thomas was a child of his second marriage; Rodger, a child of his third. We will say more about this heritage below. Meanwhile, back to the 2008 e-mail; Bryan tells Tom that he is the son of Mary Elizabeth, one of the five children of William and Lillie (McIntyre) Sweeney. He further relates that four of these siblings themselves had children: Roger had two; Margaret, two; John, two, and Mary, one. Only Peter had no children. In 2008, all seven of these first cousins were still alive. Mary Elizabeth, Bryan's mother, lived in Portland, Oregon, and Peter Hugh Sweeney's widow, Helen Merle "Chris" (Christensen) Sweeney, was living in nearby Salem. Bryan Ford and his wife, Anne, lived in central FLorida, so the Sweeneys are truly all over the map of the United States!

These facts are related as background for a subsequent letter from Mary Elizabeth (Sweeney) Ford to Tom Sweeney on September 22, 2008, prompted by her son Bryan's earlier interactions. The letter, explaining the history of her siblings, reads as follows:

Mary S. Ford
Portland, Oregon
September 22, 2008

Dear Tom,

Thank you for all the genealogy information you have sent us.
As you know, I spent some time in Montana this summer. The special occasion was the 80th birthday of my sister in law Viola. She is the widow of my brother John (b. 1917) who died at age 37, leaving Vi and two daughters, Nancy (b. 1949) and Sandy (b. 1951) to run the ranch.
Vi remarried to a fellow rancher, Ken Iverson, who was a great help to her. When Vi and Ken retired, Sandy and her new husband, Ross Hansen, who also came from a ranching background, took over the ranch management. Sandy and Ross have two sons, Travis (b. 1976) and Peter (b. 1978), who are also involved in the ranch.
Vi's birthday party was given by Sandy and Nancy, with the help of Ross at the barbecue.
Nancy is an accomplished artist, who lives in New York City. She took her master's from Hunter College in Manhattan.
My nephew, Bill Sweeney (b. 1940), son of Roger (d. 1998) and Elaine (d. 1993), took the photos of our gathering. He and his wife Gail Peterson Sweeney have two daughters, Jackie (Jacqueline b. 1968) and Kim (Kimberly b. 1985).
Bill's sister Kathleen Sweeney Cragen (b. 1942), who lives in the Seattle area, was a professional interior decorator. Her degree was from Washington State University. She had three daughters of her first husband, Theodore Leavitt (Debra Lynn, b. 1958; Cheryl Ann, b. 1959; Christine, b. 1961) and many grandchildren.
My sister Margaret Sweeney Hagenbarth (b. 1916, d. 2002) had two sons David (b. 1946) and James (b. 1948) who now run the Hagenbarth Livestock Corporation with operations in Idaho and Montana. Dave graduated from University of Montana in Missoula and Jim graduated from Notre Dame.
Dave and wife Patricia Carrick, a nurse practitioner, have one daughter, Jessica (b. 1981), who is actually a graduate student in a program on third world economics at University of Massachusettes Amherst.
Jim and his wife Laurie Garry Hagenbarth have three children: a son Marc (Marcus b. 1975) also graduated from Notre Dame; he works for Deutsche Bank in New York City; a son John (b. 1979) is a graduate of Colorado State U. and likely to be the CEO of Hagenbarth Livestock when Dave and Jim retire; a daughter, Kate (Katherine b. 1982) is an intensive care RN working at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City.
My brother Peter (b. 1919, d. 2006) and his wife Chris (nee Helen Merle Christensen) had no children. Pete was a geologist and Chris a pharmacist. Pete was a veteran of World War II, serving in the South Pacific. He was awarded a Bronze Star for his voluntary participation in a successful rescue of a Catholic priest from behind enemy lines.
I noted the many Sweeneys who live or have lived in Utah. I believe my brother Roger met Father Lawrence Sweeney *. Roger's son Bill graduated from BYU around 1962. I myself graduated from Utah State, Logan in 1942.
My husband Lew (Lewis C. Ford III, b. 1919) was an electrical engineer. He worked for GE for 46 years. He traveled extensively and I was fortunate to be able to accompany him at times. After his retirement in 1986, we had some wonderful trips using his large accumulation of bonus air travel miles, as was possible in those days. I have been a widow since 1988.
My son Bryan (b. 1944) received his PhD in toxicology at Oregon State University in 2001 and is currently involved in cancer research, among other interests. Bryan and his wife Anne Plotto, a USDA scientist, currently live in Winter Haven, Florida.
I enjoyed reading about Joe Sweeney and his rhododendrons. I have some similar interests and am enclosing a few pictures of my yard. The western areas of Washington and Oregon are thought to be nearly perfect for these plants due to the moisture, temperature and acidic soils. Since I grew up at 7000 feet in the mountains of Montana where flowers are scarce, I have a special affection for the blooms that flourish in Portland.
I hope to meet you some day. Please keep in touch.

Mary Elizabeth Sweeney Ford (b. 1921)

* Father Lawrence Sweeney was a great grandson of James and Mary (Doran) Sweeney. James was the oldest son of Patrick Sweeney and his first wife, and actually brought his father and step mother to America in the 1830s. Father Sweeney belonged to a large branch of the Sweeney famly that settled in Utah, ironically perhaps remaining Catholic, while other Sweeney branches became Mormon!

Roger Sweeney married Elaine Thatcher (1911-1993), daughter of Howard Elmer and Amy Caroline (Larkin) Thatcher of Thatcher, Idaho. Roger and Elaine married in 1938 in Salt Lake City. Elaine was a member of the LDS and Roger joined her as a member about 1945. Thereafter, he served as a bishop of the church for seven years in Moses Lake, WA, where the family lived beginning in 1956. They had two children, William, born in 1940, and Kathleen (our contributor), born in 1942. Roger and Elaine ran Sweeney Refrigeration Inc. in Moses Lake for several decades. Here are assorted pictures of Roger and Elaine:

William and Roger Sweeney
About 1915
Sweeney Ranch, Dillon, Montana
Photo Courtesy of Kathleen (Sweeney) Cragun

Roger Sweeney
About 1922
Dillon, Montana
Photo Courtesy of Kathleen (Sweeney) Cragun

Roger and Elaine (Thatcher) Sweeney
With Son William
About 1940
Dillon, Montana
Photo Courtesy of Kathleen (Sweeney) Cragun

Also, here is a collection of postcards found in the possessions of Roger Sweeney, most likely left to him by his father William. These Wellsville Postcards date from the early twentieth century and reflect the ongoing contact with and interest in one another by the Wellsville Sweeney family and their blood relatives in Montana. To illustrate, here is a postcard note from his half-sister Mary (Fagan) Flanagan to William Sweeney in Montana, dated about four months after the death of their common biological mother, Mary (Sweeney) Sweeney Fagan. It was mailed from Genesee, PA, to the south of Wellsville and the Sweeney farm in Willing, NY.

Postcard from a Half Sister
Mary (Fagan) Flanagan to William Sweeney
June 12, 2008
Postmarked Genesee, PA
Photo Courtesy of Kathleen (Sweeney) Cragun

Here is another example--a photo of Lillie (McIntyre) Sweeney in old age with Frances Margaret Dolan, granddaughter of Mary Sweeney, William's mother by Rodger Sweeney, and Peter Fagan, Mary's second husband. Frances was the daughter of John Francis Dolan and Margaret Angela Fagan, a daughter of Peter and Mary:

Lillie (McIntyre) Sweeney with Frances Margaret Dolan
Mid 1950s
Venue Unknown But Likely Beaverhead County, MT
Photo Courtesy of Kathleen (Sweeney) Cragun

We also have photographs of Kathleen and her family of origin. Here is one taken about 1950 in Dillon, MT, showing Kathleen ("Kathy") with her brother William ("Bill"), father Roger and aunt Margaret ("Peg") Sweeney:

Sweeneys in Dillon
L to r: Judy Hubbard (childhood friend of Kathleen), Kathleen Sweeney, William Sweeney, Roger Sweeney and Margaret "Peg" Sweeney
Photo Courtesy of Kathleen (Sweeney) Cragun

Copyright © 2010 Robert E. Sweeney and Individual Contributors. All Rights Reserved. Prior written permission is required from Robert E. Sweeney or the Individual Contributors before this material can be printed or otherwise copied, displayed or distributed in any form. This is a FREE genealogy site sponsored through PAGenWeb and can be reached directly at ~Sullivan County Genealogy Project (http://www.rootsweb.com/~pasulliv)