Subject/Title:Margaret Louisa Steele Swain Steele (Maggie) (1844 -1895) [note: in some historical files she is referred to as Margaret “Louise” or Margaret “Lydia”], native of Shelbyville, TN
Owner/Location:great great granddaughter, Eleanor Swain Hotton Uhlinger; Monterey California
Frame Dimensions:38 3⁄4” High x 32 7/8” Wide x 1 1⁄2” Deep x 3” Wide gold on wood frame molding
Image Dimensions:sight 33 1⁄2” High x 27 1⁄2” Wide verso canvas on board 34” High x 28 3/8” Wide x 1⁄4” Deep
Materials/Media:Oil, canvas that has been mounted on wood (possibly mahogany) backing
Date Documented:August 2026
Condition:Good
Description:no visible signature on front; verso of canvas not visible due to mounting on board
History:I am a direct descendent of Governor and University of North Carolina President, David Lowry Swain (1837-1872); his wife, Eleanor Hope White Swain (1800-1883); their son Dr. Richard Caswell Swain, M.D. (1837-1872); and Dr. RC Swain’s second wife, Margaret Louisa Steele Swain Steele (1844 -1895). Our family traces back to the Mayflower (Peregrine White, first child born to Pilgrims in America) and pre-/post-1776 America through Richard Caswell (who represented North Carolina in the Continental Congresses of 1774 and 1775, was Major General of Militia during the war years, president of the North Carolina Provincial Congress that wrote the first North Carolina Constitution in 1776, and served as the fifth Governor of North Carolina). Margaret Louisa Steele Swain Steele (Maggie) (1844 -1895) [note: in some historical files she is referred to as Margaret “Louise” or Margaret “Lydia” or simply Margaret “L.”], was a native of Shelbyville, TN. Her parents Volney Hazzard Steele (1803-1870) and Sarah Louisa Houston (1815-1877) were among the region’s earliest settlers. Maggie married her first husband, Dr. Richard Caswell Swain, M.D., assistant surgeon in the Thirty-ninth Regiment North Carolina Infantry, who was treating soldiers at the military hospital in Shelbyville, TN from August 1862 until his discharge in May 1863. Maggie and Bunkey as he was known (as a junior namesake of his father the “Old Bunk”, Governor/UNC President David L. Swain) married on January 6, 1863 and their daughter, Eleanor Louise Swain (Lula) was born November 2, 1863. (Note: Dr. Swain’s first wife, Susan E. Burt, also a native of Shelbyville, TN, died of consumption less than a year after 4 their 1861 marriage. The Swain family had property holdings in Shelbyville, TN, and Bunkey had been sent there by his father to survey the property.). Relocating his family to Chapel Hill, NC, in 1863 Dr. Swain had difficulty establishing a medical practice after leaving the Confederate Army. At the urging of his brother-in-law (former Union General) Smith Dykins Atkins and his wife, Eleanor Hope Swain Atkins (Bunkey’s sister), the couple moved to Shannon in Carroll County, IL, in early 1868. With Atkins’ help Bunkey established a successful medical and surgery practice focused on serving immigrants. Maggie and Lula lived in IL but spent extended periods of time in TN and NC with relatives. Dr. Swain was killed in a tragic train accident in 1872 whereupon Maggie and Lula moved home to Shelbyville, TN. In 1878 Maggie married her cousin, (former Confederate Captain) Bailey Peyton Steele (1836-1911), in Bedford, TN. BP Steele served in the Rock City Guards of Nashville, TN in a company of the 1st Tennessee Regiment. The family (Maggie, Lula and BP Steele) relocated to Asheville, NC, where they had several children. They remained close to the Swain and Atkins families and Maggie died there in 1895.
Notes:Maggie’s portrait has been passed down in the family through her daughter and grand daughters who have loved, cared for, and cherished this portrait along with our family history. I am currently in the process of offering this painting to a museum so it can be preserved and presented to future generations.
