BIO:  Samuel SCHWARTZ, Adams County, PA

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History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania
Chicago:  Warner, Beers & Co., 1886
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Part III, History of Adams County, Page 394

SAMUEL SCHWARTZ, retired, Hanover, York County, was born September 18, 1818, 
near Berlin, but in York County.  The genealogy of this interesting family dates 
back to Switzerland, whence the great-grandfather, a farmer (and two brothers, 
all single at the time), emigrated when quite young, leaving the old country on 
account of a revolution there, and settling in Berks County, Penn.  Ludwig 
Schwartz, the son of the brother that settled in Berks County, also a farmer, 
married a Miss Lesher and had ten children, who all reached a ripe old age.  He 
was one of the heroes of the Revolutionary war, serving as a substitute for his 
father; he enlisted at the age of eighteen years, and remained in the service 
until the close of the war.  He participated in many engagements, and at one 
time was taken prisoner and treated cruelly by the Hessians.  Afterward the 
Hessians were defeated, and Ludwig met one of the officers on his father’s farm, 
working as a day laborer (a prisoner of war), recognized in him one who had 
often abused him, and told his father unless he was sent from the place he would 
shoot him on the spot.  The Hessian, it is needless to say, was sent away, for 
the old Revolutionary soldiers meant what they said.  Ludwig Schwartz and his 
wife died in York County, Penn.  Their son, John, was born in Berks County, 
Penn., and died in this county, aged nearly eighty years.  He married Barbara, 
daughter of Simon Copenhafer, who lived near Hanover, Penn.  She died on the 
homestead, aged eighty-two years and ten months.  Of the nine children born to 
John and Barbara Schwartz, seven reached maturity and four are now living.  John 
Schwartz had only a common school education, but he was a wide-awake business 
man; in early life he engaged in milling on Beaver Creek, in Paradise Township, 
York Co., Penn., but sold his mill in the spring of 1831 and came to Conowago 
Township, this county, where he bought between 300 and 400 acres of land, which 
is still owned by his children.  Samuel, his son, was educated in Adams County, 
and has been a successful farmer, now owning the old homestead, which he has 
much beautified and improved.  He was married, in this county, March 25, 1841, 
to Miss Maria Gitt, born October 17, 1817, daughter of Daniel Gitt, a member of 
the old Gitt family, and grand-daughter of William Gitt, who attained the age of 
ninety-seven years.  To Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Schwartz was born, February 10, 
1842, one child - Henry Van Buren, a bright young man, who assisted his father 
on the farm and died at his home December 17, 1864.  Our subject became 
discouraged with farming after the death of his son, and in August, 1881, moved 
to Hanover, Penn., where he now resides.  He has been successful financially; 
has been director of the Littlestown bank fourteen years, and director of the 
Hanover Branch Railroad three years, of which he is still a stockholder.  He is 
also interested in the ore business, in company with S. Boyer, near Littlestown.  
Mrs. Schwartz is a member of the Lutheran Church.  Mr. Schwartz is a member of 
the Reformed Church, and has materially assisted in the building of three 
churches, especially of the one in Hanover.  Politically he is a Democrat, but 
in local matters votes for the best men.  He filled all the important offices in 
Conowago Township, where his absence is still felt in the community.