Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger, whose name also appears in records as Jeanette Swaggart Ensminger and Sharon Jeanette Swaggart Ensminger, was the younger sister of televangelist Jimmy Swaggart. She was born in Ferriday, Louisiana, on October 28, 1941, and died on July 19, 1999, at age 57. Unlike her famous brother, Jeannette did not build an international television ministry or public entertainment career. She married Bobie Earl Ensminger, became a mother of three, and lived a much quieter life within the large and closely connected Swaggart family.
Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger Quick Bio
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Recorded Full Name | Sharon Jeanette Swaggart Ensminger |
| Commonly Searched As | Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger |
| Maiden Name | Swaggart |
| Date of Birth | October 28, 1941 |
| Birthplace | Ferriday, Concordia Parish, Louisiana |
| Date of Death | July 19, 1999 |
| Age at Death | 57 |
| Nationality | American |
| Father | Willie Leon “Son” Swaggart |
| Mother | Minnie Bell Herron Swaggart |
| Famous Brother | Jimmy Lee Swaggart |
| Infant Brother | Donnie Swaggart |
| Husband | Bobie Earl Ensminger |
| Children | Tamela Dawn, Darvin Rodgers and Daryle Lee Ensminger |
| Known For | Being Jimmy Swaggart’s sister |
| Public Career | Not reliably documented |
| Burial | Herron Family Cemetery, Clayton, Louisiana |
| Net Worth | Not publicly verified |
Ancestry’s Find a Grave index records her as Sharon Jeanette Ensminger, born October 28, 1941, in Ferriday and buried at Herron Family Cemetery after her death in July 1999. The same record names Willie Leon Swaggart and Minnie Bell Swaggart as her parents, Bobie Earl Ensminger as her spouse, and three children.
Who Was Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger?
Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger was a member of one of Louisiana’s best-known religious and musical families.
Her older brother Jimmy Swaggart eventually became an internationally known Pentecostal preacher, gospel singer, author and television evangelist. Jimmy Swaggart Ministries’ official obituary confirms that he was preceded in death by his sister Jeanette Ensminger, along with their parents and infant brother Donnie.
Jeannette’s life was very different.
She did not become a nationally known preacher.
She did not have a television program built around her name.
She did not release famous gospel albums.
Instead, the surviving public records present her mainly through family connections: daughter, sister, wife and mother.
That is why many details of her everyday life remain private even decades after her death.
Was Her Name Jeannette, Jeanette or Sharon Jeanette?
Different websites spell her name differently.
The user-search version Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger is common on biography pages.
Jimmy Swaggart Ministries uses Jeanette Ensminger in Jimmy’s official obituary.
Ancestry’s Find a Grave index gives the fuller name Sharon Jeanette Ensminger, with Swaggart as her maiden name.
Her gravestone itself displays Jeanette Swaggart with her married Ensminger surname above it.
So the spelling variation is real.
For this article, “Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger” is kept as the focus keyword, while “Jeanette” reflects the spelling seen in family and cemetery records.
When Was Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger Born?
Jeannette was born on October 28, 1941.
Her birthplace was Ferriday, Concordia Parish, Louisiana. Both the indexed cemetery record and family-history records support that date and location.
Ferriday is especially important in the wider Swaggart story.
Jimmy Swaggart was also born there, in 1935. His official ministry biography describes Ferriday as the small Louisiana town where he grew up before entering evangelical ministry.
So Jeannette and Jimmy shared deep roots in the same community.
Who Were Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger’s Parents?
Her parents were Willie Leon “Son” Swaggart and Minnie Bell Herron Swaggart.
This relationship is confirmed by Ancestry’s cemetery index for Jeannette and by Jimmy Swaggart Ministries’ obituary for Jimmy.
Willie Leon Swaggart was connected with Pentecostal preaching and music. Jimmy’s biographies describe his father as a fiddle player and preacher, while Minnie Bell was part of the Herron side of the large Ferriday family network.
A surviving family photograph shows Willie Leon and Minnie Bell together, giving modern readers a rare visual look at Jeannette and Jimmy’s parents.
Was Jeannette Jimmy Swaggart’s Only Sister?
Yes, she is consistently identified as Jimmy Swaggart’s sister.
The family also had an infant son named Donnie Swaggart, who died as a baby. Jimmy Swaggart Ministries specifically lists a “baby brother, Donnie Swaggart” and “sister, Jeanette Ensminger” among the relatives who died before Jimmy.
This can confuse readers because Jimmy later named his own son Donnie Swaggart.
They were two different people.
The first Donnie was Jimmy and Jeannette’s infant brother.
The better-known modern Donnie Swaggart is Jimmy’s son and therefore Jeannette’s nephew.
What Was Jeannette’s Relationship to Jimmy Swaggart?
She was Jimmy Swaggart’s younger sister.
Jimmy was born on March 15, 1935, while Jeannette was born in October 1941, making her about six and a half years younger.
Public records do not provide a large collection of interviews in which Jeannette discusses her brother.
That is an important limitation.
Some modern biography websites describe them as extremely close, but those statements are rarely supported by direct quotations from either sibling.
What is clear is that both belonged to the same Ferriday Swaggart family and remained linked in later family records.
When Jimmy died in 2025, his own ministry specifically remembered Jeannette by name in his obituary.
Jeannette Grew Up in a Famous Louisiana Family
The wider Swaggart family became unusually famous.
Jimmy Swaggart became a televangelist and gospel musician.
Their cousin Jerry Lee Lewis became one of rock and roll’s most famous piano players.
Another cousin, Mickey Gilley, became a successful country singer. Jimmy’s official obituary also names musician David Beatty among the talented cousins associated with the Ferriday family.
The Los Angeles Times described the extended Lewis-Gilley-Swaggart family as a complicated network of cousins and relatives deeply rooted in the Ferriday area.
Jeannette was therefore born into an extraordinary family environment.
But she never chased the same level of fame.
Who Was Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger’s Husband?
Her husband was Bobie Earl Ensminger.
The name “Bobie” is sometimes mistaken for “Bobby” or “Bobbie,” but public records use Bobie Earl Ensminger.
Ancestry identifies Bobie as Jeannette’s spouse.
Family-history records give his lifespan as 1938–2021, and Jeannette’s gravestone is shared with Bobie, showing his dates as December 12, 1938, to June 28, 2021.
The stone carries the phrase “Together Forever,” providing one of the most personal surviving public details connected with their marriage.
When Did Jeannette and Bobie Ensminger Marry?
The exact wedding date is not reliably available in the strongest sources reviewed for this article.
That means it should not be invented.
What public records clearly establish is that Bobie and Jeannette were husband and wife and had three children together.
Their family was already established by 1960, when their daughter Tamela Dawn was born.
How Many Children Did Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger Have?
Jeannette and Bobie had three children:
Tamela Dawn “Tammy” Ensminger
Darvin Rodgers Ensminger
Daryle Lee Ensminger.
Sadly, family records show that all three children died before Bobie.
Tamela lived from 1960 to 1962.
Darvin lived from 1964 to 1988.
Daryle lived from 1966 to 2017.
Those dates show that the Ensminger family experienced significant personal loss across several decades.
Who Was Tamela Dawn Ensminger?
Tamela Dawn “Tammy” Ensminger was Jeannette and Bobie’s daughter.
Family-history records give her lifespan as 1960–1962, meaning she died when she was still a very young child.
A cemetery index also places Tamela Dawn Ensminger at Herron Family Cemetery, the same family burial ground where Jeannette was later buried.
Because Tamela died so young, very little additional public biographical information exists.
Who Was Darvin Rodgers Ensminger?
Darvin Rodgers Ensminger was another of Jeannette’s children.
The family-history timeline lists him as born in 1964 and dying in 1988.
That means Jeannette experienced the loss of a second child before her own death in 1999.
Detailed circumstances surrounding Darvin’s life and death are not well established in major public sources, so they should not be guessed.
Who Was Daryle Lee Ensminger?
Daryle Lee Ensminger was Jeannette and Bobie’s youngest documented child, born in 1966.
Unlike many details about Jeannette’s private family, Daryle appears in a published Louisiana court decision.
In Ensminger v. McCormick, Bobie Ensminger brought a claim connected with serious injuries Daryle suffered in an April 1983 automobile accident. The court record identifies Bobie as administrator of his minor son Daryle Lee Ensminger’s estate.
Family records give Daryle’s death year as 2017.
Did Jeannette Work for Jimmy Swaggart Ministries?
This is one area where online information becomes unreliable.
Some small modern websites claim Jeannette worked as a bookkeeper or administrator for Jimmy Swaggart Ministries.
However, stronger sources reviewed for this article do not provide dependable documentation proving a specific official ministry role.
Because of that, it would be misleading to give her a formal ministry job title as confirmed fact.
Her profession should be listed as not reliably documented.
This is a good example of why obscure celebrity-family biographies need careful fact-checking.
A repeated online claim is not automatically true.
Was Jeannette a Preacher?
There is no strong evidence that Jeannette built a major public preaching ministry like Jimmy.
Her father and brother were strongly connected with Pentecostal ministry, but Jeannette herself does not appear in reliable records as a nationally known evangelist, television preacher or ministry founder.
She may have participated in church and family religious life, but that is different from claiming a documented professional preaching career.
Was Jeannette a Singer?
Again, no strong public music career is documented for her.
This is interesting because music surrounded the Swaggart family.
Jimmy became a gospel singer and pianist.
Jerry Lee Lewis became a rock-and-roll legend.
Mickey Gilley became a country star.
Their father Willie Leon played fiddle.
Yet Jeannette appears to have remained outside the professional music spotlight.
Where Did Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger Live?
Her birth record places her in Ferriday, Louisiana.
FamilySearch also records her living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1960.
Later records again connect her with Concordia Parish at the time of her death.
So her life remained strongly tied to Louisiana.
Exact residential addresses are unnecessary and should remain private.
When Did Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger Die?
Jeannette died on July 19, 1999.
She was 57 years old.
The Ancestry cemetery index lists her death place as Concordia Parish, Louisiana, and records her burial at Herron Family Cemetery in Clayton.
Her gravestone independently shows:
Oct. 28, 1941 – July 19, 1999.
These dates are among the strongest verified facts in her biography.
What Was Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger’s Cause of Death?
A reliable cause of death is not clearly documented in the sources reviewed for this article.
Some family-related websites may provide guesses or repeat unsourced claims, but no strong original record was located that establishes a medical cause.
Therefore, the accurate answer is:
Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger’s publicly verified cause of death remains unclear.
Where Is Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger Buried?
She is buried in Herron Family Cemetery in Clayton, Concordia Parish, Louisiana.
Her shared gravestone with husband Bobie provides a particularly useful record.
Jeannette died in 1999.
Bobie lived more than two additional decades and died in 2021.
Their names now appear together on the same memorial.
Did Jimmy Swaggart Outlive His Sister?
Yes.
Jeannette died in 1999.
Jimmy Swaggart lived until July 1, 2025, when he died in Baton Rouge at age 90. His official ministry obituary specifically lists Jeanette Ensminger among the close family members who had died before him.
That means Jimmy lived roughly 26 years after his sister’s death.
His 2025 death also caused renewed interest in Jeannette because newspapers revisiting Jimmy’s family background again mentioned his late sister.
Was Jeannette Related to Jerry Lee Lewis?
Yes, through the extended family network.
Jimmy Swaggart and Jerry Lee Lewis were cousins, meaning Jeannette also belonged to that same interconnected Ferriday family. Mickey Gilley was another famous cousin.
The family connection is one reason Ferriday became so remarkable in American music history.
One small Louisiana town produced relatives who became important in gospel, rock and country music.
Jeannette herself, however, stayed outside that fame.
Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger’s Net Worth
Jeannette’s net worth is not publicly verified.
There is no trustworthy financial record showing:
her income,
career earnings,
property value,
investments,
inheritance,
or debts.
Some websites try to estimate her fortune simply because Jimmy Swaggart became financially successful.
That is not a reliable method.
Jimmy’s ministry wealth was not automatically Jeannette’s personal money.
A responsible biography should therefore list her net worth as unknown.
Why Is Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger Famous Today?
Jeannette is mainly remembered because of her famous family.
Her brother Jimmy Swaggart became one of the best-known American televangelists of the twentieth century.
Her extended family included musicians Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley.
But Jeannette did something very different.
She lived privately.
She married.
She raised children.
And she stayed mostly outside national publicity.
That contrast is exactly why people search for her today.
They know Jimmy.
Then they discover he had a sister.
And they want to know who she was.
Final Thoughts on Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger
Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger was born into an extraordinary Louisiana family.
She arrived in Ferriday on October 28, 1941, the daughter of Willie Leon and Minnie Bell Swaggart.
Her older brother Jimmy would eventually become internationally famous through Pentecostal preaching, television, gospel music and books.
Their extended family would produce stars such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley.
Jeannette chose—or simply lived—a far quieter path.
She married Bobie Earl Ensminger and became the mother of three children: Tamela Dawn, Darvin Rodgers and Daryle Lee.
Her family also experienced enormous loss.
Tamela died as a small child.
Darvin died in 1988.
Jeannette herself died in 1999 at only 57.
Daryle died in 2017, while Bobie survived until 2021.
Her life was never preserved in the same detail as Jimmy’s.
We do not have a dependable public record of her education.
Her professional career is unclear.
Her cause of death is not firmly documented.
Her finances were private.
That does not make her story less meaningful.
It simply means she was a private person connected with a very public family.
Her strongest surviving records are family records—birth, marriage, children, burial and the fact that decades later, Jimmy Swaggart Ministries still named her among Jimmy’s closest family members.
That is probably the simplest way to understand Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger.
She was not a televangelist celebrity.
She was Jimmy Swaggart’s sister, Bobie Ensminger’s wife, a mother of three, and a woman whose life remained rooted in the Louisiana family that became famous far beyond Ferriday.
FAQs About Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger
Who was Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger?
Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger was the younger sister of televangelist Jimmy Swaggart and the daughter of Willie Leon and Minnie Bell Swaggart.
What was Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger’s full name?
Ancestry’s Find a Grave index records her as Sharon Jeanette Ensminger, née Swaggart.
Is it spelled Jeannette or Jeanette Swaggart Ensminger?
Both spellings appear online, but family and cemetery records commonly use Jeanette.
When was Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger born?
She was born on October 28, 1941.
Where was Jeannette born?
She was born in Ferriday, Concordia Parish, Louisiana.
Who were Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger’s parents?
Her parents were Willie Leon Swaggart and Minnie Bell Herron Swaggart.
Was Jeannette Jimmy Swaggart’s sister?
Yes. Jimmy Swaggart Ministries’ official obituary names Jeanette Ensminger as his sister.
Was Jeannette older or younger than Jimmy Swaggart?
She was younger. Jimmy was born in 1935 and Jeannette in 1941.
Did Jeannette have another brother?
Yes. The family had an infant son named Donnie who died as a baby.
Is that Donnie the same as televangelist Donnie Swaggart?
No. Jimmy’s infant brother Donnie and Jimmy’s son Donnie Swaggart are different people.
Who was Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger’s husband?
Her husband was Bobie Earl Ensminger.
How many children did Jeannette have?
She had three documented children.
What were Jeannette’s children called?
They were Tamela Dawn “Tammy” Ensminger, Darvin Rodgers Ensminger and Daryle Lee Ensminger.
Did Jeannette’s daughter Tamela die young?
Yes. Family records list Tamela as living from 1960 to 1962.
Who was Daryle Lee Ensminger?
Daryle was Jeannette and Bobie’s son. A 1986 Louisiana appeals case documents Bobie acting on behalf of Daryle following injuries from a 1983 car crash.
Did Jeannette work for Jimmy Swaggart Ministries?
Some secondary websites claim she did, but strong public documentation of a formal ministry position was not located.
Was Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger a preacher?
No major public preaching career is reliably documented for her.
Was Jeannette a singer?
No established professional singing career has been found.
When did Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger die?
She died on July 19, 1999.
How old was Jeannette when she died?
She was 57 years old.
What was Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger’s cause of death?
Her cause of death is not reliably documented in the available strong public sources.
Where is Jeannette buried?
She is buried at Herron Family Cemetery in Clayton, Concordia Parish, Louisiana.
Is Jeannette buried with Bobie Ensminger?
Their names appear together on the same gravestone, which carries the words “Together Forever.”
When did Bobie Earl Ensminger die?
The shared gravestone gives his death date as June 28, 2021.
Was Jeannette related to Jerry Lee Lewis?
Yes. She belonged to the same extended Swaggart-Lewis family in which Jimmy Swaggart and Jerry Lee Lewis were cousins.
Was Jeannette related to Mickey Gilley?
Yes. Mickey Gilley was another famous cousin within the extended family.
Did Jimmy Swaggart outlive Jeannette?
Yes. Jeannette died in 1999, while Jimmy died on July 1, 2025.
What was Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger’s net worth?
Her net worth was never reliably documented.
Why is Jeannette Swaggart Ensminger still searched today?
She remains of interest because she was Jimmy Swaggart’s sister and part of the famous Ferriday family connected with Jimmy Swaggart, Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley.
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