My Genealogy Hound

SWARTZ. The Swartz family were residents of Upper East Pennsboro township, Cumberland county. The precise time of their coming into that locality is not now ascertainable, but it is reasonably certain that it was in the early part of the last century. The county records show that a Jacob Swartz purchased a tract of land on the State road, a short distance west from West Fairview, April 6, 1827. He was then a citizen of East Pennsboro, but a family tradition has it that he came from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania.

Jacob Swartz was a carpenter, an energetic, adept mechanic, and while in his prime built many houses and barns, and did much other work in that part of the country which still bears pronounced evidence of his skill and industry as a builder. During the active period of his busy life farming was to him only a secondary employment. He married Mary Longnecker, a daughter of Joseph Longnecker, who was one of the early settlers in that section. Jacob Swartz died Nov. 11, 1872, at the age of sixty-eight. His wife died Jan. 20, 1893, at the age of eighty-six. The remains of both lie buried in the cemetery of the Brick Church, a short distance north-west of West Fairview. Mary Longnecker was a direct descendant of John Jonas Kupp, who emigrated to America about one hundred fifty years ago. Jacob and Mary (Longnecker) Swartz had the following children: George, Abraham, Joseph, Catharine, and Marv Jane. Abraham learned the carpenter trade with his father, went West and died in St. Louis, Missouri, when he was about twenty-eight years of age. He was never married. Joseph studied medicine, graduated from Jefferson Medical College, in Philadelphia, and located at Duncannon, Perry Co., Pa., where he met with great success and practiced his profession until his death. During the Civil War he was a surgeon in the Union Army for a period of three years. He married Susan C. Ebert, a daughter of Dr. Ebert, of Fishing Creek Valley, Perry county, by whom he had one child which died in its infancy. Dr. Swartz died suddenly of apoplexy in 1887, at the age of fifty-one, and is buried at Duncannon. Catharine never married, and remained at home until after the death of both parents. Mary Jane married Andrew Stone, of Hampden township, by whom she had one child, a daughter who married David A. Darr, a carpenter, and is now residing in Wormleysburg.

George Swartz, the oldest member of the family, grew to manhood on the Swartz farm in East Pennsboro. Like his brother Abraham, he learned the carpenter trade, but possessing a vigorous intellect his attention naturally turned to books, and he soon acquired an education far beyond that of the average young man in his neighborhood. He then began teaching in a school close by the Brick church, and not far from his home. His success as a teacher was marked, and, as his reputation spread, his services were called for in other places, and when, in 1857, a Normal school was opened at Newville, he was selected as one of its leading instructors.
Subsequently he became principal of the school, which position he filled for two terms. He rose rapidly in his profession and was noted for his proficiency in higher mathematics; firmness of discipline was one of his strongest characteristics, and good order always prevailed in schools over which he presided. He graduated from the Millersville State Normal School, receiving a diploma upon passing the examination prescribed by the laws of the commonwealth, notwithstanding the fact that he never attended said school as a student. In 1860 he became a candidate for the county superintendency, but the contest was close and an older man was then elected. Three years afterward he was elected on the first ballot, serving through two terms with acknowledged success and ability. In 1867 he purchased a small farm near Boiling Springs, and lived upon it until the death of his father, when he sold out and bought the old homestead in East Pennsboro, where he spent the remainder of his days. He died March 30, 1899. His remains rest in the cemetery of the Brick church, not far from the place of his birth, side by side with those of his father and mother.

George Swartz, on Aug. 30, 1860, married Hester Eveline Fleming, of Boiling Springs, and they had children as follows: George Wilson, Flora Eveline and Robert Fleming, The daughter, Flora Eveline Swartz, born May 3, 1866, married Austin G. Rupp, one of the descendants of John Jonas Rupp, above-named, and lives near Shiremanstown, the former home of her husband. They have five children, one boy and four girls.

Robert Fleming Swartz, born at Boiling Springs May 5, 1870, married Bessie S. Lenhart, of New Cumberland. Sept. 16, 1897, and now lives in Emigsville, York Co., Pa., where he is engaged in the mercantile business.