My Genealogy Hound

JOHN SWISSHELM, retired, P. O. Monroeville, was born at Swissvale, in 1820, a son of John and Matilda (Swallow) Swisshelm, the latter of Welsh parentage. His grandfather, John Swisshelm, came from Germany, and secured a large tract of land in Wilkins township, Swissvale being named after him. His son, the second John, sold out his interest in the estate in 1856, and moved to Stark county, Ohio, where he died in 1875, aged about seventy-five years. He had five children: John Eliza, Mrs. Thomas Smith, of Anthony, Kan.; Jeremiah, in Swissvale; Isaiah, in New Philadelphia, Ohio, and Joseph, in Malvern, Ohio. When small our subject was bound out until he was sixteen years old, when he learned the blacksmith’s trade. He bought a farm in Penn township, but later sold out and purchased one hundred acres where he resides, in Patton. Here he carried on wagon-work until he received a stroke of paralysis which disabled his right side. He has always been a democrat. He married, in 1845, Jane, a native of Philadelphia, and a daughter of Robert and Mary (McVicker) Hasley, of Irish birth. Of the twelve children born to Mr. and Mrs. Swisshelm, eight are living: Mary Jane (Cyphers), in East Liberty; Robert Hasley, in Penn township; Sarah Jeannetta first married to a Mr. Gill, secondly to a Mr. Porter, in East Liberty; Jeremiah DeKnight; Harry Walker, at home; John Morrow Wilson, at Turtle Creek; Eva Minnie, Luella Matilda, with parents. William John, the first-born, died at the age of five years; Laura, at seventeen, and two in infancy. The family are united with Hebron U. P. Church.