My Genealogy Hound

Professor Daniel Swindler, now classed with the representative agriculturists of Union county, was for a considerable period numbered among the leading educators connected with the public-school system of Iowa. He is a man of marked intellectual force, whose sound judgment is brought to bear upon the farming interests as it was upon his work of the schoolroom and in both departments of labor, unlike as they are, he has been successful.

Professor Swindler was born in Guthrie county, Iowa, August 5, 1861. His father, Robert Swindler, was a native of Montgomery county, Indiana, where he spent the days of his boyhood and youth and married Catherine Brumbaugh, a native of Pennsylvania. In the year 1852 he came to Iowa and cast in his lot with the first settlers of Guthrie county. He entered a tract of wild land there and began converting the raw prairie into cultivated fields, opening up a farm of two hundred acres, aiding at the same time in laying the foundation for the present prosperity and progress of the county. Upon that place he reared his family and spent his last years, death claiming him on the 3d of July, 1907. His wife passed away in 1898.

Professor Swindler was reared to manhood in the county of his nativity and supplemented his early education by study in the Guthrie county high school from which he was graduated in the class of 1883. Previous to this time however, he began teaching and later he pursued a course of study in the State University, which he completed by graduation with the class of 1887. Turning his attention to the teacher’s profession, he followed that for a number of years with excellent success, possessing marked ability in imparting with clearness to others the knowledge that he had acquired. His ability was widely recognized and from 1892 until 1900 he was principal of the Wellman, Iowa, high school.

On the 8th of August, 1893, Professor Swindler was married in Johnson county, Iowa, to Miss Mila McCleery, who was born in Johnson county, Iowa, was educated in Iowa City and later engaged in teaching for four years. She is a lady of knowledge, culture and refinement, as well as superior intelligence gained from wide reading and study. Professor Swindler, following his marriage, continued in the profession of teaching until 1900, when he came to Union county and purchased the farm upon which he now resides, since which time he has given his attention to general agricultural pursuits. He owns a well improved tract of land of eighty acres and is a successful farmer and stock-raiser, keeping his fields under a high state of cultivation and raising annually high grades of cattle and hogs. A spirit of thrift and enterprise pervades the farm and is manifest in the excellent results which attend the efforts of the owner.

Professor and Mrs. Swindler are both members of the Methodist Episcopal church but as there is no organization of that denomination in their neighborhood they attend the Evangelical church and are active in the work of both church and Sunday school. Professor Swindler will be a delegate to the Sunday school convention at Marshalltown and Mrs. Swindler has been a teacher in the Sunday school and a leader of the choir. This worthy couple have but one child, Helen, a young lady at home. Professor Swindler belongs to the Knights of Pythias fraternity and in his life exemplifies the humanitarian spirit upon which the lodge is based. He and his family are well known in Jones township and their home is most attractive by reason of its warm-hearted hospitality and its culture. Their influence is ever found on the side of right, progress and improvement and of all that tends to enlighten the race and uphold the best interests of the community. In the educational field Professor Swindler gained a reputation that placed him among the foremost teachers of this part of the state and the same spirit of thoroughness characterizes him as an agriculturist in the development and conduct of his farm.