BIO: William E. SWILER, Cumberland County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joe Patterson OCRed by Judy Banja Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/ _____________________________________________________________ >From Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Chicago: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905, pages 104-109 _____________________________________________________________ NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/zeamer/ WILLIAM E. SWILER, M. D. In October, 1751, there came to America in the ship "Queen of Denmark," a George Schweiler. In September, 1752, there came in the ship "Nancy," a Jacob Schweiler. In October, 1753, there came in the ship "Louisa," a Johan Christian Schweiler. CUMBERLAND COUNTY. 105 These three immigrants shipped from Rotterdam and disembarked at Philadelphia, where their names were entered upon the official records. As their first names have been perpetuated through several generations in the different branches of the family, it is probable that the three men were brothers, though they did not cross the ocean at the same time. The third of these brothers settled in Lancaster county, where he married Susannah ---, and engaged in farming. In course of time his name became adjusted to its new environments. The name Johan was dropped, as was generally done in German names after those who bore them associated for awhile with English speaking people. Also the German form Schweiler, in which it stands recorded in the archives, became Anglicised into Swiler. He lived in Lancaster county almost forty years, by which time he had quite a good sized family, and realized that by moving farther to the westward he could more easily provide for them. In August, 1748, there was patented to Edward Shippen, a tract of land in East Pennsboro township, then in Lancaster county, containing 196 acres. Edward Shippen conveyed it to Rev. Richard Peters, whose executor, Richard Peters, Esq., of Belmont, Philadelphia county, on March 30, 1792, for the sum of £467, 10s, conveyed it to Christian Lawerswyler, of Lancaster county. This Christian Lawerswyler was no other than the aforenamed Christian Swiler, the name having been distorted probably through a whim of the scrivener who drew up the conveyance. There were other Lawerswylers in the province, some of whom were prominent, but Christian Swiler never wrote his name Lawerswyler. Once in transferring part of the land which was conveyed to him as Lawerswyler he signed it Christian L. Swiler, but in receipting on the same deed for the money paid him he wrote it simply Christian Swiler. This land lies to the north or the Conedoguinet creek in the eastern part of what is now Silver Spring township, Cumberland county. It remained in the Swiler name till 1859, when in the settlement of the estate of the second Christian Swiler, it was sold to Samuel Eshelman. Christian Swiler and his family moved from Lancaster county to this farm in 1793, and lived there until his death, in 1857. He had children as follows: Jacob, Matthias, John, Christian, Catharine and Elizabeth. All of these six children grew to manhood and womanhood, married and reared families, and some of their descendants figured prominently in the affairs of the country, but it is the object of this sketch to dwell principally upon the genealogical line of the son Christian. Christian Swiler was born in Lancaster county July 4, 1782, and was only a little more than ten years old when the family came to Cumberland county. He always lived on and near the homestead which his father purchased in 1792. Although a farmer, and giving much attention to the cultivation and improvement of his acres, he had, during the active period of his life, much to do with the settling up of estates and other business. He also took a deep interest in public affairs, and was a prominent figure socially and politically in his part of the county. He was constable for East Pennsboro township for nine consecutive years, and discharged the duties of the position with an intelligence and fidelity that won him flattering compliments from the court, and also from the public. When the Swilers settled in East Pennsboro, there was already living there a family of English nationality named Hume. 106 CUMBERLAND COUNTY. They were among the earliest settlers of the section, William Hume, the first of the name, having come there prior to 1774. William Hume had a son named James, who was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and served as a private in Capt. John McTeer's Company of Cumberland County Militia, called into service in July, 1777. Along with the distinction of having been a Revolutionary soldier, James Hume was a prominent citizen. He owned a large amount of land, and engaged in farming, also carrying on tanning and other enterprises, and did much toward the development of the country. James Hume married Frances Robinson, of Maryland, and by her had ten children, six sons and four daughters. The sons were Samuel, William, James, Andrew, John and David. The daughters were, Ann, Isabella, Frances and Jane. James Hume died in June, 1811, his wife, in March, 1841, and both were buried in the graveyard of the Silver Spring Church. Their lands descended to their children, some of whom lived out all their days in the immediate locality in which their ancestors settled when they first came to America. The settling of families in the same neighborhood established social relations which grew and strengthened with time. This was the case with the Swilers of German and the Humes of English descent. Christian, son of Christian and Susannah Swiler, married Ann, daughter of James and Frances Hume, and by her had children as follows: ( 1) James, born Jan. 7, 1807, died Sept. 20, 1869. (2) John, born Aug. 9, 1809, died Dec. 25, 1839. (3 ) Susan, born Dec. 15, 1813, died Nov. 7, 1866, (4) Josiah, born Jan. 22, 1817, died Sept. 15, 1891. (5) David Hume, born July 16, 1819, died July 25, 1894. John Swiler the second son of Christian and Ann (Hume) Swiler, grew to manhood in the locality in which he was born, with such training as fell to the lot of country boys at that day. Being naturally of a bright mind, he acquired knowledge notwithstanding the unfavorable conditions in which he was placed, and became a teacher. It being prior to the era of free schools, and the school term being short, he engaged at farming, along with his intellectual pursuits. On Feb. 9, 1832, John Swiler was married to Isabella Eckels, the ceremony being performed by Rev. James Williamson, pastor of the Silver Spring Presbyterian Church. Isabella Eckels was the eldest child of William and Rebecca (Huston) Eckels, and a descendant of two of the oldest and most prominent Scotch-Irish families of that part of the country, the Eckelses having located in East Pennsboro in 1779, and the Hustons some time prior to 1752. John and Isabella (Eckels) Swiler had issue as follows: (1) William Eckels; (2) Josiah Huston, born July 22, 1835, died Oct. 11, 1901; (3) John Christopher, born Sept. 18, 1839. William Eckels Swiler, the eldest of these three children, was born Oct. 23, 1833, on Chestnut Hill, one and one-half miles due south of Mechanicsburg, on a property which then fronted on the road which leads to Shepherdstown. The buildings of the place have long ago disappeared, and there now is no trace of where they once stood. His parents lived there but a short time. That same fall they moved to the north of the Conedoguinet creek to a property which originally had been a part of the Swiler homestead, and which through sundry conveyances came into the possession of John Swiler. Here they lived and farmed for six years, and in the winter months Mr. Swiler taught school in a log house that the citizens of the vicinity had erected for church and school purposes, on the State Road, CUMBERLAND COUNTY. 107 where now stands the stone church known as St. Paul's. In the same house he also held the first Sunday school that was organized in that part of the county, and was superintendent of it at the time of his death. He died at the age of thirty years, and his death, coming while their children were yet small, was a heavy blow to the wife and mother. The little farm had been sold the previous summer, but the sum received from it was small, considering that from its proceeds there were four mouths to feed and four backs to clothe. The bereaved woman faced a gloomy prospect, but, relying upon that Power whence cometh the hope and courage for such ordeals, she bravely entered upon it. Three months after her husband's death she and her children went to the hospitable home of her father-in-law, Christian Swiler, where they remained until the following fall. Then for a period of eighteen months she kept house at Hogestown for her brother, Jonathan Eckels, a school teacher. Then her brothers, Jonathan and William Huston Eckels, jointly went to farming, and both being single they employed their widowed sister to keep house for them. With them she remained three years. Next she kept house for William Huston Eckels and John Chambers Sample, who also jointly farmed, and while with them she married for her second husband, Isaac McGuire. She died in May, 1858. Isaac McGuire died in May, 1869, and she and her two husbands lie buried in the cemetery of the Silver Spring Church. After his mother's marriage to Isaac McGuire, William E. Swiler made his home with his grandfather, Christian Swiler, and remained with him for four years doing farm work in the summer, and attending the country district school in the winter. He was not large for his years, nor strong, but self-reliant and an all-around useful boy. Often he undertook tasks that older and stronger hands feared to undertake, and upon one occasion had a thrilling adventure in which he narrowly escaped being killed. He was preparing corn ground with a large heavy cultivator, drawn by three frisky horses. Being too small to follow on foot and guide the team with a line, as a full-grown man would have done, he rode the nigh horse, and in that way drove the team, leaving the cultivator to follow without any one steering it. While going along in this way the horses took fright and ran off. Over the levels and down the hills they went, as fast as they could gallop, the big cultivator bounding behind. In his frantic efforts to stop the team the lad was slipping off his horse backward, but realizing that it was sure death to him to fall under the cultivator he clutched the rein with renewed desperation and finally stopped the team by running them against a post fence. This experience he often vividly recalls, but seldom without a shudder. From his grandfather Swiler, William E. went to his uncle, David H. Swiler, who with Mr. H. H. Fells had a general store in Mechanicsburg, and for two years he clerked for them. Here he managed to get time enough off to attend a select school, then conducted by Frank Gillellan, and under that noted educator made good progress in his studies. Leaving Swiler & Fells he for a short time was clerk in a large store in Harrisburg. Next we find him with his uncle, William Huston Eckels. who then had a store at Sporting Hill, and while with him he found time to attend Prof. Denlinger's academy at White Hall, and also to take private lessons in Latin from his uncle, James S. Eckels, who was a graduate of Washington and Jefferson College, and had 108 CUMBERLAND COUNTY. been an instructor in an academy. Along about this time a man named David M. Snavely entered upon a mercantile venture at Yocumtown, York county. and having heard of young Swiler's proficiency as a clerk, he offered him good wages to come into his employment. He went, and for ten months very acceptably managed Mr. Snavely's business. At Yocumtown he was beyond the bounds of his native county, away from his relations and the comrades of his youth, yet in a little while he won many new associates who afterward became long-time friends. From his earliest recollection William E. Swiler felt a natural interest in the science of physiology, and whatever pertained to the human anatomy and its diseases attracted his attention and engaged his leisure time. Even the regulation medical almanac was to him a source of instruction, and being thus predisposed he early resolved to become a physician. Conditions favoring his purpose, he, in the spring of 1854, entered the office of Dr. R. G. Young, of Shiremanstown, and began the customary course of medical reading. On completing his course with Dr. Young, he matriculated at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and after two years more of close application graduated from that institution, on March 9, 1857. Having thus regularly prepared himself, his next step was to look up a place in which to begin practice. His financial circumstances did not permit him to spend much time or money on this part of the program. During his stay at Yocumtown he had formed many pleasant associations, and, while in his judgment it was not an ideal locality in which to build up a practice, he concluded that it was a good place to make a start, and he accordingly began his life work in that modest country town, with the mental reservation that as soon as he had accumulated experience and some means he would locate in a more desirable field. His selection of place, however, proved more satisfactory than he had anticipated, for his industry and skill soon brought him as much work as a physician ordinarily can attend to, and he continued at Yocumtown for thirty-five long years. His practice there extended over a wide range of country, which necessitated much traveling and made it very laborious, especially in the winter months. He had deferred making the contemplated change quite a long time, and the accumulating years were beginning to remind him of the fact. Feeling that his strength was waning under the long continued strain, he in 1892 turned his patronage at Yocumtown over to his son, and removed to Mechanicsburg, with the intention of there limiting his practice in amount, and enjoying some well-earned ease in his declining years. But his fame had preceded him to his new location, and without seeking it he in a few years again had a large practice, and was again a very busy man, and he still attends to his professional work. Dr. William E. Swiler has been twice married. On Nov. 23, 1859, he was united in wedlock to Miss Catharine E. Pretz, by Rev. George Morris, pastor of the Silver Spring Presbyterian Church. Catharine Pretz was the daughter of Abraham and Catharine (Monosmith) Pretz, and was born at Lewistown, Mifflin Co., Pa., but when she was eleven years old the family moved to the lower end of Cumberland county and lived there the rest of their lives. To their union came the following children: (1) Minnie Isabel, born April 22, 1861, married William F. Troup, and has two children living, Catharine and Ralph, their second child, a son, Swiler, having died in in- CUMBERLAND COUNTY. 109 fancy. (2) Elizabeth L., born June 2, 1864, was married, May 13, 1882, to John H. Troup, and has had five children: Vernie (who died young), Robert D., Charles, Edith and John. William F. and John H. Troup are brothers, sons of Abraham and Mary Troup, of Lewisberry, York county. They have long been engaged in the sale of pianos, organs and other musical instruments, and are located at Harrisburg, from which point their business radiates over a large scope of territory. (3) Robert David, born June 7, 1868, read medicine, graduated from Jefferson College, and when his father retired from Yocumtown assumed his practice at that place. He remained at Yocumtown until in 1902, when he removed to Harrisburg, where he is now in successful practice. He married Susan Fortenbaugh, daughter of Henry and Julia Fortenbaugh, of York county, and they have two children living, Margaret and Julia, their first child, a daughter, Ruth, having died while small. (4) Carrie Eckels, born Sept. 19, 1873, married William W. Conkling, formerly of Highspire, Dauphin county, and they began married life at Steelton, where they resided several years, thence moving to West Fairview, where they are now keeping a boarding house and doing a prosperous business. To them have been born two children: Ruth and Swiler. (5) Annie Hume, born May 9, 1876, died July 11, 1876. Mrs. Catharine (Pretz) Swiler died Dec. 9, 1878, and is buried in the cemetery of St. John's church, near Shiremanstown. Dr. Swiler afterward married Mrs. Matilda Groom, widow of William D. Groom, and daughter of Hiram and Susan (Reeser) Prowell, of York county, by whom he has no children. Dr. Swiler is a member of the Cumberland county Medical Association, and has been its president. He is also a member of the State Medical Association, and ranks high as a physician and a man wherever he is known. During his long professional career, which is not yet ended, seven different students have read medicine under his instructions, all of whom graduated at Jefferson Medical College, and are successful physicians and devoted friends of their preceptor. In religion, Dr. Swiler is a Presbyterian ingrained, having inherited the faith through both his paternal and maternal lines of ancestry. Though worshiping in other churches while residing beyond the reach of his own he never faltered in his adherence to the principles of piety taught him by his parents and grandparents. In politics, he has always been a Democrat, but has made it a rule of his life to decline office and consequently has never figured in public affairs. He is deeply imbued with a love for his profession, labors conscientiously to elevate and dignify it, and the honors which he prizes most highly are such as come to him through it. He is a true type of American manhood, and has set before the struggling youths of the land the inspiration of a good example.