Winnie Davis Camp No. 108 UCV Records from Membership Register   Dr. R. P. Sweatt Born in Wilson County, Tenn. April 1830; moved to Waxahachie 1852.  Enlisted Co. C. 19th Texas April 1862.  Soon promoted to rank of assistant surgeon of Parsons' Brigade.  Died Nov. 21, 1902 and was buried by Waxahachie Lodge No. 90, F. and A. M. of which he was Master in 1865. [Confederate Veteran, Vol. XI, No. 7, July 1903] (Contributed by Ruth Walsh) [Source: Memorial and Biographical History of Ellis County, Texas, Goodspeed, Chicago, 1892.] Dr. R. P. Sweatt was born in Wilson County, Tenn.  April 19, 1830.  His family was among the early settlers of Middle Tennessee, moving there  in the late 1700s. His parents, Robert Pierce Sweatt and Elizabeth Glenn Sweatt, were natives of Surry County, N. C. They married in Wilson County  where his mother died in 1843.  His father remarried and died in 1866, at the age of 74 years.  There were nine children by his first marriage and two by the second. R. P., the fifth child of the first marriage, grew up in Wilson County and received a common school education.   In 1849 he began to study medicine under Dr. J. C. Eatherly of Greenhill, Tenn  After  a year, he took a course at the medical department of the University of Louisville, Louisville, Ky., after which he practiced a year as a licentiate in Wilson County.  In January 1852, he moved to Texas, first settling in Collin County where he practiced with Dr. J. W. Throckmorton of McKinney (who later became governor). In December 1853, Dr. Sweatt moved to Ellis County and settled on Chambers Creek, where he stayed until he moved to Waxahachie in September, 1854.  At that time, Dr. Briggs was the only other physician in the county.  Dr. Sweatt continued his practice until June 1862 when he volunteered as a private in Company C, Nineteenth Texas Cavalry.. He was sent to Arkansas the next month where he was appointed assistant surgeon of the Twelfth Texas, and served in that capacity until the end of the Red River campaign.  In 1864 he was ordered from the field to conscript service and returned home.  Due to poor health, he resigned in October 1864 and resumed his medical practice. In 1873 he received his M. D. degree from the medical department of the Soule University at Galveston, he having practiced upon a license until that time.  Dr. Sweatt took an active interest in everything relating to his profession and  was recognized as its leader in Ellis County.  He assisted in organizing a County Medical Society in 1870 and served two or three times as president. He was never in public life, with the exception of the office of County Treasurer, which he filled during the reconstruction period.  In those days, his practice extended throughout the county.  There were no roads, nothing but bridle paths and open prairie and it was quite difficult to cross streams, frequently swollen and, for many years, without bridges.  Calls were numerous, since there were few doctors and considerable sickness, and he often made long trips through dismal swamps and over cheerless prairies, with pay uncertain and the people poor. Dr, Sweatt was twice married.  His first wife was Miss Victoria A. Marchbanks, daughter of Calvin and Josephine Marchbanks, whom he married May 14, 1861.  She died June 8, 1875 leaving three children: Elizabeth (Mrs. R. J. Moore of Waxahachie); Osa Pierce, (now practicing medicine in Waxahachie) and Julia (unmarried).  Dr. Sweatt married secondly Oct. 3, 1875 Miss Ellen Dunlap, daughter of Samuel Dunlap, native of Alabama. They had one child, Mary Edda.   Copyright © 2002-2016, Ellis County TXGenWeb. All Rights Reserved. This page was last modified: Thursday, 01-Jul-2021 13:19:24 MDT