Jimmy Swaggart

==Early life==
Jimmy Lee Swaggart was born on March 15, 1935, in [[Ferriday, Louisiana]],<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6AJZQuuS6SUC&q=jimmy+swaggart+march+15%2C+1935&pg=PA197 |title=Jesus: Myth or Reality?|isbn=978-0-595-39764-8|last1=Curtis|first1=Ian|date=June 2006|publisher=iUniverse }}</ref> to fiddle player and Pentecostal preacher Willie Leon (known as "Sun" or "Son") Swaggart and Minnie Bell Herron, daughter of sharecropper William Herron. Swaggart's parents were related by marriage, as Son Swaggart's maternal uncle, Elmo Lewis, was married to Minnie Herron's sister, Mamie. The extended family had a complex network of interrelationships: "cousins and in-laws and other relatives married each other until the clan was entwined like a big, tight ball of rubber bands".<ref>''Saved by Song: A History of Gospel and Christian Music'', Don Cusic, University of Mississippi Press, 2012, p. 321</ref><ref>''Roots of the Rich and Famous'', Robert R. Davenport, Taylor Publishing, 1998, p. 131</ref><ref>''Swaggart: The Unauthorized Biography of an American Evangelist'', Ann Rowe Seaman, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2001, pp. 33–35</ref>

Swaggart is the cousin of [[rockabilly]] pioneer [[Jerry Lee Lewis]] and [[country music]] star [[Mickey Gilley]].<ref>[http://www.unconqueredthebook.com/ ''Unconquered: The Saga of Cousins Jerry Lee Lewis, Jimmy Swaggart, and Mickey Gilley''] 488 pages Brown Books Publishing Group (May 1, 2012), English {{ISBN|978-1-61254-041-2}}</ref> He also had a sister, Jeanette Ensminger (1942–1999). With his parents, Swaggart attended small [[Assemblies of God]] churches in Ferriday and Wisner.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}

In 1952, aged 17, Swaggart married 15-year-old Frances Anderson, whom he met in church in Wisner, Louisiana while he was playing music with his father, who pastored the Assembly of God Church there. They have a son named Donnie. Swaggart worked several part-time odd jobs to support his young family and also began singing [[Southern Gospel]] music at various churches.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}

According to his autobiography ''To Cross a River'', Swaggart, along with his wife and son, lived in poverty during the 1950s as he preached throughout rural [[Louisiana]], struggling to survive on an income of $30 a week ({{Inflation|US|30|1957|r=-1|fmt=eq}}). Being too poor to own a home, the Swaggarts lived in church basements, homes of pastors, and small motels. [[Sun Records]] producer [[Sam Phillips]] wanted to start a [[Gospel music|gospel]] line of music for the label (perhaps to remain in competition with [[RCA Records|RCA Victor]] and [[Columbia Records|Columbia]], who also had gospel lines at the time) and wanted Swaggart for Sun as the first gospel artist for the label. Swaggart's cousin, Jerry Lee Lewis, had previously signed with Sun and was reportedly earning $20,000 per week at the time. Although the offer meant a promise for significant income for him and his family, Swaggart turned Phillips down, stating that he was called to preach the gospel.<ref>{{cite book|title=To Cross a River|year=1984|publisher=Jimmy Swaggart Ministries |location=Baton Rouge, La.|isbn=978-0-88270-221-6|author=Jimmy Swaggart|edition=3rd |author2=Robert Paul Lamb|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/tocrossriver00swag}}</ref>