BIOGRAPHY: Hiram SWANK, Cambria County, PA 

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From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 367-8
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HIRAM SWANK, brick manufacturer of Johnstown, this county, is a son of Samuel 
and Katharine (Snyder) Swank, and was born on July 16, 1834, in Somerset county, 
Pennsylvania. The Swank family is of Swiss extraction. Jacob Swank (grandfather) 
was one of the pioneer settlers of Somerset county, Pennsylvania, where he owned 
and cultivated a large farm until the time of his death. Josiah Snyder, 
grandfather on the maternal side of the family, was a native of Somerset county, 
and also followed the pursuits of a farmer. Samuel Swank, father of the 
gentleman whose name heads this sketch, was a native of Somerset township, and 
was born in 1879. He, too, followed the pursuits of an agriculturist, owning and 
successfully cultivating a large farm in Somerset county, Pennsylvania. He 
married Katharine Snyder, and died in 1879, at the age of eighty-one years.
     Hiram Swank received his early education in the common schools of his 
native county, and remained on the farm with his parents until, at the age of 
nineteen years, he accepted a position as clerk in a general store for one year, 
at which time he went to Davidsville, Somerset county, where he learned the 
trade of a potter. In 1854 he came to Johnstown and engaged in the pottery 
business, which he followed until 1887, when he changed the character of his 
business.
     That year he began the manufacture of a special brand of bricks, used in 
the construction of steel works. This new plant, which cost about $50,000, is 
located in the Eleventh ward, Johnstown, and when running its full capacity, 
gives employment to one hundred men. This firm is well and favorably known, and 
their goods have been introduced into all parts of the United States. They also 
find a ready market in Nova Scotia.
     In 1862 Mr. Swank married Miss Malinda E., daughter of Elias Mills, of 
Somerset township, and to this marital union have been born four sons and three 
daughters: Charles M., a machinist by trade, but now employed in the brick works 
with his father; Albert F., who is secretary to his father; Annie E., wife of F. 
B. Harmony, of Johnstown; Milton, a plumber; Ida May, Mary B., J. Webster, and 
Ralph Lloyd.