Lake County IN Archives Biographies.....Swartz, Henry P. 1841 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 8, 2006, 5:01 pm

Author: T. H. Ball (1904)

HENRY P. SWARTZ, M. D.

    For thirty-three years Dr. Henry P. Swartz was engaged in the practice of
medicine and the conduct of a drug store at Crown Point, and is now closely and
actively identified with business interests as president of the Commercial Bank.
Thus, for many years he has been one of the forceful and honored factors in
professional and financial circles, and his influence has not been a minor
element in public affairs in northwestern Indiana. He has attained to prominence
through the inherent force of his character, the exercise of his native talent
and the utilization of surrounding opportunities, and he has become a capitalist
whose business career has excited the admiration and won the respect of his
contemporaries.

    Dr. Swartz was born at Spring Mills, Center county, Pennsylvania, July 12,
1841. The family is of German lineage and was founded in America by the
grandfather of Dr. Swartz, who settled in the Keystone state. There the father,
Jacob Swartz, was born and reared, and by occupation he became a stonemason. He
also followed farming and on leaving the east he removed to DeKalb county,
Illinois, where he worked at farming. He also became the owner of a tract of
land and carried on general agricultural pursuits. Politically he was a
Democrat, and was a member of the Lutheran church. His death occurred when he
was sixty-three years of age. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Catherine
Mosser, was also a native of Pennsylvania and died in Freeport, Illinois, in
January, 1903, in her eighty-eighth year. They were the parents of ten children,
three daughters and seven sons, all of whom reached adult age, and with the
exception of the eldest, who died at the age of sixty-six years, all are yet
living.

    Dr. Swartz is the third child and third son of the family, and was reared in
the place of his nativity until thirteen years of age, during which time he
attended the public schools of Pennsylvania. On going to Illinois he became a
student in the public schools of that state and assisted his father in farm work
until twenty years of age. August 4, 1861, he enlisted as a member of Company A,
Fifty-second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, becoming, a private in the ranks of
the Union army, with which he served until the close of the war. In the meantime
he re-enlisted in the same company and regiment in 1863, and thus as an honored
veteran he continued with the boys in blue. He was promoted to the position of
commissary sergeant of his regiment, and after his re-enlistment he was made
quartermaster, but this position was conferred upon him so near the close of the
war that he was mustered out as commissary sergeant. He participated in all of
the battles with Sherman's forces and also made the celebrated march to the sea.
His regiment brought the prisoners from Ft. Donelson to Chicago and returned by
way of Paducah, Kentucky, and Shiloh. Mr. Swartz was with the regiment at the
grand review in Washington, D. C., the most celebrated military pageant ever
seen on the western hemisphere, and in July, 1865, he received an honorable
discharge. At the battle of Shiloh Dr. Swartz was severely wounded, being shot
through the body by a minie ball. This occurred in April, 1862, and October had
arrived ere he was able to rejoin his regiment at Corinth. The succeeding
morning he entered the battle at that place and was slightly wounded on the
right side, which caused him to remain for four weeks longer in the hospital.

    When the country no longer needed his services Dr. Swartz took up his
residence in Freeport, Illinois, and pursued a two years' course of study in
Rush Medical College of Chicago. He then engaged in the drug business as a clerk
for his brother in Freeport, Illinois, where he remained until 1871, when in the
month of December of that year he located in Crown Point, Indiana. Here he
established a drug store, which he conducted in connection with the practice of
medicine. He has here been engaged in practice for more than thirty-two years
and has always maintained a position in the foremost ranks of the
representatives of the medical fraternity in this portion of the state. Reading,
experience and observation have continually broadened his knowledge and kept him
in touch with the progress of the times. Dr. Swartz is also president of the
Commercial Bank of Crown Point, and as chief executive officer of the
institution his sound judgment and business ability are frequently called into
use and have contributed in large measure to the successful conduct of the
institution.

    In 1868 Dr. Swartz was united in marriage to Miss Mary Frances Bell, a
daughter of William and Mary (Atkins) Bell. She was born in Elmira, New York,
and during her infancy her mother died so that she was reared by an aunt, Mrs.
Kimball, of Freeport, Illinois. She was a graduate of the high school there and
pursued a literary course at Aurora, Illinois. She was afterward employed in the
postoffice department at Freeport, Illinois, by her uncle, General S. T. Atkins.
To Mr. and Mrs. Swartz have been born four children: Carrie Belle, at home,
Harry D., who is assisting his father in the drug store; Mamie G., the wife of
Walter I. Coble, of Chicago; and Catherine C., the wife of Alonzo D. Shoup, of
Chicago.

    Dr. Swartz is a charter member of Lake Lodge No. 152. F. & A. M., and has
been a life-long Republican. He served as township trustee for a number of
years, was president of the Commercial Club for two years and has taken an
active interest in all public matters-social, political and educational. He is a
man of distinct and forceful individuality, of broad mentality and most mature
judgment, and has left and is leaving his impress upon professional and
financial interests in northwestern Indiana. He has contributed to the
advancement of the general welfare and prosperity of the city in which he makes
his home, and at the same time has so conducted his private business interests
as to win gratifying success.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

ENCYCLOPEDIA
OF
Genealogy and Biography
OF
LAKE COUNTY, INDIANA,
WITH A COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY 
1834—1904

A Record of the Achievements of Its People in the Making of a Commonwealth and
the Founding of a Nation.

REV. T. H. BALL
OF CROWN POINT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO   NEW YORK
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1904


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