My Genealogy Hound

STAUFFER. The first emigrants of the name of Stauffer came to America in 1709, and settled in the part of Pennsylvania that is included within the present limits of Lancaster county. The name is derived from “staff bearer to the Austrian Emperor,” and the family are able to trace their ancestry back to the year 770. In 1909 they propose to hold a grand family reunion in celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of their arrival in America.

Miss Mary Stauffer, a member of this large family and an honored resident of Carlisle, is a daughter of John G. and Fanny (Swope) Stauffer. John Groff Stauffer, her father, was a son of Henry and Mary (Groff) Stauffer, and Mary Groff, his mother, was a daughter of Marcus Groff, and lived to the great age of ninety-three years.

JOHN G. STAUFFER was born Oct. 17, 1817, in Lancaster county, where he grew to manhood on the farm and received a common school education. Fanny Swope, his wife, was a lineal descendant of Yost Swope, who came to America in 1720, from the Duchy of Baden, Germany, and settled in Upper Leacock township, Lancaster county. Yost Swope’s son, John, married, for his second wife, Elizabeth Groff, by whom he had six children, and among these children was a son named John Jacob Swope, who married Sabina Smyser. John Jacob and Sabina (Smyser) Swope had nine children, among whom was a son named Emanuel, who was a man of great natural talent and extraordinary foresight. In person Emanuel Swope was over six feet tall, well proportioned and weighed 280 pounds. He was a leader in his neighborhood, much respected for his integrity, and his judgment and advice were frequently sought both in business and in social affairs. He was a farmer and stock raiser, but was also extensively interested in banking and other business. In religion he was a Lutheran and did much for the support of that Church. Emanuel Swope married Barbara Eby, by whom he had two children, Isaac and Fanny. Fanny Swope was born Oct. 25, 1817, and on Feb. 2. 1840, married John Groff Stauffer. On the day of her marriage her father presented her with a fine Lancaster county farm, fully equipped in every department; and in addition to this generous gift, on the morning following her wedding day, he placed four thousand dollars in bank notes under her breakfast plate.

John G. and Fanny (Swope) Stauffer had the following children: Emanuel, born Nov. 6, 1843, died in February, 1864, on his way home from Libby Prison, Richmond. Mary was born April 7, 1847. John, born Mar. 3, 1846, married Kate Emerson, by whom he has five children: Fanny, John, Daniel, Charles and David. Groff, born April 14, 1849, died July 5, 1879, unmarried. Slater, born Dec. 8, 1854, married (first) Mary Hartman, of Perry county, who died in 1884, by whom he had two sons: Parker and Samuel; and he married (second) Jane Phillips, of Cumberland county. Alice, born March 22, 1859, died March 14, 1874.

In 1850 John G. Stauffer moved to Cumberland county, where he bought the farm known in local history as “Mansfield,” lying upon the Conedoguinet creek, near Carlisle, upon which he lived until his death. He died March 14, 1900; his wife died March 14, 1879, and both are buried in the old graveyard at Carlisle.

John G. Stauffer inherited a considerable amount of money from his parents; his wife, Fanny Swope, as stated above, also received a fine patrimony from her parents, but through indiscreet bailing and other causes, their joint fortune was dissipated, and their children left with but little of this world’s goods, after the death of their mother, the daughter Mary, bought what remained of the farm known as “Mansfield,” and for a year her brother Groff farmed it, while she kept house for him. Afterward she farmed it for a while, but finding it difficult work for a woman to look after all the details of a farm, she relinquished the undertaking and bought the property at the corner of North Hanover street and Kerr’s Avenue in Carlisle, formerly belonging to her mother, and moved to it. Here she has lived ever since, managed all her business affairs, and thus far has made her way through life single handed and alone. Paternally she comes through successive generations from old Mennonite ancestry, but in matters of religion she prefers to follow the example of her distinguished maternal grandfather, Emanuel Swope, and that has led her to connect with the Lutheran Church, in which she has long been a faithful worshipper. Through industry and economy she has succeeded in taking care of, and in some measure increasing, the little patrimony which descended to her from her parents, and also making for herself a comfortable living. She lives a modest quiet life, and is much esteemed by her neighbors and respected by all who know her.