USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Biographical annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the early settled families > Part 12
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SWARTZ. The Swartz family were residents of Upper East Pennsboro town- ship. 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 tra- dition has it that he came from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania.
Jacob Swartz was a carpenter, an en- ergetic, 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
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distance north-west of West Fairview. Mary Longnecker was a direct descendant of John Jonas Rupp. who emigrated to America about one hundred fifty years ago. Jacob and Mary (Longnecker) Swartz had the following children : George, Abraham, Jo- seph, Catharine, and Mary 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 Dun- cannon. 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 per- iod 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 Dun- cannon. Catharine never married, and re- mained 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 atten- tion 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 mathe- matics ; firmness of discipline was one of his strongest characteristics. and good order al- ways prevailed in schools over which he pre- sided. He graduated from the Millersville State Normal School, receiving a diploma upon passing the examination prescribed by the laws of the commonwealth, notwith- standing 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 suc- cess and ability. In 186; 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 re- mainder 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, mar- ried 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 5, 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 Boil- ing Springs May 5, 1870, married Bessie
G. Wilson warty
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S. Lenhart, of New Cumberland, Sept. 16, 1897, and now lives in Emigsville, York Co., Pa., where he is engaged in the mercantile business.
GEORGE WILSON SWARTZ, the eldest child of the family and the subject of this sketch, was born in Shiremanstown. Aug. 27, 1864. Later the family moved to Boiling Springs where he passed through the primary stages of his education. In 1874 his parents moved to East Pennsboro township. He attended the country district school known as Lantz's. where teachers changed almost as regularly as did the seasons. Among his instructors was the well-known Jesse Laverty, then far advanced in years; also Stephen Magee. Charles H. Smith and Daniel E. Burtner, who taught the youth many valuable lessons. In the fall of 1881 he had a protracted spell of typhoid fever, which caused him to miss an entire term of school. However, as soon as he had sufficiently recovered, he took up the studies of trigonometry and surveying at his home, and under the instructions of his father, who was a skillful and practical sur- veyor, acquiring an efficiency in these branches that has always remained with him and served him well. Afterward he entered the Harrisburg Academy, of which Profes- sor Jacob F. Seiler was the principal. This institution he attended for three years, tak- ing the honors of the school for two terms. Under thorough instructors he paid special attention to mathematics, Latin, Greek, and history. Having made rapid progress in his studies, he, in 1884, took up teaching, and for three successive annual terms taught the Mount Vernon school in Hampden town- ship; then for one term the Wormleysburg high school, and after that for one term was an assistant in the Harrisburg Academy. In 1886 he registered as a student-at-law with Stuart & Stuart, Carlisle, and engaged the
greater part of his time at reading law until 1888, when he entered the law offices of his preceptors,and gave law his entire attention up to Sept. 9, 1889, when he was admitted as a member of the Cumberland county Bar. He immediately settled down to the practice of his chosen profession, and has kept stu- diously at it ever since. He is one of the most careful, persistent, determined lawyers at the Bar, and his rule is to push the business en- trusted to him step by step without delay, until it is finally concluded. This industrious habit has won for him favor and prominence, and he is now rated as one of the ablest and busiest young attorneys at the Cumberland county bar. He has a large, valuable and well selected law library of about seven hun- dred volumes, to which he is constantly add- ing new books, as they are published, and as the need for them arises in his practice. He also has a fine miscellaneous library at his home, and is well-equipped for any profes- sional or literary work that may come in his way. In September, 1901, he was elected a member of the faculty of the Dickinson School of Law, as professor of practice in the courts of common pleas, to the duties of which he devotes much time and labor.
On June 2, 1898, Mr. Swartz was mar- ried to Miss Margaret V. Kenyon, of Ship- pensburg, who formerly was a teacher in the public schools of that place. They live in a modest home on Walnut street, Carlisle, and have one child, a daughter, Helen, who was born March 27, 1902.
MAJOR EBENEZER DENNY is one of the most notable early contributions of Carlisle to the present prominent families of Pittsburg, Pa. His ancestors came to Ches- ter county, Pa., from Ireland, but at what time is not precisely known.
In 1745 William Denny and his wife
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Agnes came to Cumberland county, from Chester county, with three children. He settled on a large tract of land in South Mid- dleton township. about two miles south of Carlisle, of which the farm of Jacob Ritner is a part, where he died in 1751. His eldest child ( 1) Martha, married John McClure. named in his will, on record in Cumberland county. as his son-in-law and one of his ex- ecutors, probably a son of John McClure and Janet McKnight, who lived near Letort Spring. He removed to Pittsburg, and the family is a prominent one in western Penn- sylvania. (2) Walter, the eldest son, by the will of his father. according to the custom of the day, inherited the "place," one half at the decease of his father. the other half at the decease of his mother. He commanded a company, and was killed at the battle of Crooked Billet, in Bucks county, in May, 1778, and his eldest son, Walter, was capt- ured at the same time, and kept for three months on a Jersey prison-ship. His wife, Mary, received a pension from the State of Pennsylvania, through the commissioners of Cumberland county. His sons Daniel and John lived and died at the old home- stead, south of Carlisle. William married a Miss Crain, and settled in Crawford coun- ty. Pa .; David was graduated at Dickinson College in 1788, and also studied divinity under its distinguished "principal." Dr. Nis- bet. He was licensed by the Carlisle Pres- bytery in 1792, and remained a member of it for thirty-eight years. He married Mar- garet, eldest daughter of William Lyon, a very prominent citizen of Carlisle, Pa., and died in 1845, aged seventy-eight years. They had seven sons and three daughters who lived to adult age, of whom Daniel, a lawyer, and graduate of Dickinson College, removed to Natchez, Miss .; John F. prac- ticed law at Chambersburg; Ann married
. Hon. Nathaniel Ewing, of Uniontown, Pa .; Alice and Margaretta lived unmarried at the old home in Chambersburg. Mary Denny, daughter of Walter, son of William, married Searight Ramsey and lived and died in Carlisle, without issue.
(3) William Denny, father of the subject of this sketch, born in Chester county, was brought to Cumberland county in 1745. As younger son he was left, by his father's will, £20, a horse, and the cost of his schooling and learning a trade, to be paid out of the estate. He became quite a skilled cabinet- maker and carpenter, and was the contractor for the court house built in 1765, which served until destroyed by fire in 1845. He married Agnes Parker, born in 1741, eldest daughter of John Parker, son of Richard and Janet Parker, immigrants from Ulster, Ireland. in 1725. He appears as a citizen of Carlisle in the tax-list of 1762, and on Armstrong's plot of Carlisle, of 1763, as the owner of Lot No. 29, on West Main street, on which he resided in a substantial log cabin, which only gave way to a more mod- ern building in 1894, and was at that time one of the best authenticated old land-marks of Carlisle. It was presented, together with the lot. to Dickinson College, by Miss Ma- tilda Denny, granddaughter of Ebenezer Denny, and the proceeds from sale of it were used in the erection of Denny Memorial Hall. In the days of pack mules it was a prominent public house, and depot of sup- plies in the trade with Pittsburg. In it were born his nine children, the eldest being Eben- ezer, the subject of this sketch. William Denny was coroner of Cumberland county, which then included a great part of the west- ern portion of the State, by commission from John Penn, 1769, and as such re-ex- amined the important case of James Smith, pronounced at an inquest in Bedford guilty
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of willful murder, and after three days the jury found it impossible for him to have committed the crime. [Loudon's Narratives (Indian Wars), Vol. I. p. 256.] He appears as called out with the militia in 1778, and in 1780 was assistant commissary of supplies. He died about 1800, and is buried in the old cemetery in Carlisle.
Major Ebenezer Denny, the son, was born in Carlisle March 11, 1761. Although a lad of only fifteen at the opening of the Revolution he was employed as bearer of important dispatches to Fort Pitt. crossing the Alleghenies alone, lying out at night, chased by Indians. He is described at the time as a "slender, fair, blue-eyed. red- haired boy." He also assisted his father in the store in Carlisle. Later he shipped as a volunteer, on a vessel of marque and repri- sal which made a daring cruise in the West Indies, in which the intrepidity and trust- worthiness of the youth led to his promotion to the command of the quarter-deck. After a short stay at his home in Carlisle, although discouraged by his family, he shipped again, this time as supercargo. Having invested the proceeds of this venture in flour and whiskey for the Philadelphia market, just after crossing the Susquehanna he was of- fered a commission as ensign, which he promptly accepted, disposed of his goods, and was attached to the command of Lieut. Col. William Butler, rendezvoused at Car- lisle, and transferred to York in May, 1781, in the 7th Pennsylvania Regiment, incorpo- rated with the 4th. His journal, begun at this time, and continued with varied inter- missions through the Revolutionary and subsequent Indian wars, until 1795, is not only highly interesting, but filled with val- uable information. It has been published by the Pennsylvania Historical Society.
After the forced marches and sharp fight- ing under Gen. Wayne, in Virginia, he took part in the siege and capture of Yorktown, and was in the advanced attack on the Brit- ish redoubts, and was designated by Col. Richard Butler to plant the colors on the rampart, after the surrender, but Baron Steuben dismounted, took them from his hand, and planted them himself, a procedure that only the efforts of Washington and LaFayette prevented from leading to a hos- tile meeting between Col. Butler and the Baron. After Yorktown he served under St. Clair in the Carolinas, and in the subse- quent Indian wars was adjutant to Gen. Harmar, and aide-de-camp to Gen. St. Clair. He was present at the disastrous defeat of the latter, Nov. 4, 1791, and delivered the news, in person, by express to President Washington, in Philadelphia, who was very much affected by it, and is said to have broken out into a violent passion. Shortly after, Major Denny resigned his commis- sion, and July 1, 1793, married Nancy Wil- kins, who was born in Carlisle, youngest daughter of John Wilkins, Sr., a noted busi- ness man of Carlisle, who removed to Pitts- burg, in 1783, to engage in business, Col. E. Blaine being his partner. He had been a captain in the Continental service, partici- pating in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, was a member of the conven- tion of 1776, and afterward one of the associate judges of Allegheny county, chief burgess of Pittsburg, treasurer of as many as nine counties at one time, member of the Supreme Executive Council, etc. He had twenty children, and many of his descend- ants are of national prominence as well as in the western part of his State, among them his son John, in the Surgeon's Department ; his grandson, William Wilkins, judge of
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United States District Court, United States Senator, Minister to Russia, Secretary of War. etc.
In 1794 Major Denny was appointed chief in command of the expedition to Le Beuf, and in the war of 1812 was commis- sary of purchases. He was a commissioner of Allegheny county, and its first treasurer. and also first mayor of Pittsburg. He was equally prominent in many business enter- prises, one of the pioneers in the manufact- ure of glass, director in a branch of the Bank of Pennsylvania, and of the Bank of the United States. He was a large holder of real estate in the vicinity of Pittsburg, which acquired great value subsequently as part of the city. The death of his wife, May I, 1806, affected hin greatly. He died at Pittsburg. after a brief illness, July 21, 1822. His descendants are prominent and influential in Pittsburg, Pa. Of his chil- dren, (1) Harmar, born May 13, 1794, named after his intimate and dear friend, Gen. Harmar, was graduated at Dickinson College in 1813, was a prominent lawyer and politician, a member of the Legislature, member of Congress, 1829-1837, member of the Constitutional Convention, 1838. He married Elizabeth O'Hara, daughter of Gen. O'Hara, of Pittsburg. They had eleven children. (2) William H. became a physi- cian. (3) St. Clair became a major in the United States Army. (4) Agnes (Nancy) married Edward Harding of the United States Army.
MORRIS WATSON PRINCE, S. T. D., has been connected with Dickinson Col- lege, Carlisle, since 1896, as Professor of History and Political Science.
Dr. Prince comes from old Colonial and Revolutionary New England stock, and the family has been represented in every war
in which this country has been engaged from the French and Indian to the Spanish-Amer- ican. The first ancestor of whom there is record was John Prince, of Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, to whom Queen Elizabeth, by her Garter King at Arms, granted the coat of arms still borne by the Prince family in England.
The first of the family to come to this country was John Prince, the son of the rector of East Stafford, Berkshire, and he came to escape the persecutions of Archi- bishop Laud, emigrating to America in 1633. His son, Thomas, was born in Hull in 1658, and in 1685 married Ruth, daughter of John Turner, and great-granddaughter of Elder William Brewster, who came to America in the "Mayflower," landing Dec. 20, 1620. Sewell Prince, grandfather of Morris W., was in the battle of Lake Cham- plain on the Flagship "Champlain," with MeDonough.
Ammi C. Prince, father of Dr. Prince, was born in Portland, Maine, July 16, 1818, and died Dec. 7, 1894, in Warren, Maine. He entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church when about thirty years of age, giving up a prosperous business, but he felt that duty called him. He was an able preacher, and for forty years prominent and influential in the councils of the church. He was Presiding Elder for eight years, serving a term of four years each on the Rockland and Bangor districts, Maine. He was rec- ognized as one of the strongest minds in his church, and was a member of several General Conferences. He married Miss Jane Davis, of Kennebunk Port, Maine, who was also of Revolutionary stock.
Morris Watson Prince was born at East Boothbay, Maine, and received his educa- tion at Bucksport, that State, and in the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn.
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In 1871 he entered the ministry of the M. E. Church, his first parish being at Plym- outh, N. H., and he subsequently served pastorates at Concord, N. H., Dover, N. H., Haverhill, Mass., until he became president of Bucksport ( Maine) Seminary. After three years in this incumbency he returned to the active work of the ministry, and was stationed at Stamford, Conn., Brooklyn, N. Y., Meriden, Conn., again at Stamford, at Bristol, Conn., and Trinity Church, New Haven, Conn. During these years he re- peatedly declined the Presidency of Educa- tional Institutions, but in 1896 accepted an election to the Chair of Political Science in Dickinson College. He has won deserved recognition as an educator, preacher and lecturer, having frequently taken the lecture platform, though he has never allowed such work to interfere with his regular duties. Dr. Prince is a member of several historical, scientific and literary societies, and is a Knight Templar Mason. In politics, he thinks and acts independently.
Dr. Prince married Miss Katherine Buck, of Bucksport, Maine, which town her family founded. Mrs. Prince also has Rev- olutionary ancestors. Two children have blessed this union : Leon C., who is Profes- sor of history and International Law in Dickinson College; and Edith, who is at 'home with her parents.
Dr. Prince has written quite a number of pamphlets on different topics, principally ad- dresses, lectures, etc., along church lines, which he has published. He has also done considerable in assisting in the compilation of various works, notable among which might be mentioned "Simpson's Encyclo- pedia of Methodism," etc. He has made two trips abroad, the first, in 1885. purely for pleasure, covering most of Europe. Again in 1903 he and his wife traveled extensively
through the British Islands and on the con- tinent of Europe, he at the same time making considerable research along scientific lines. He has traveled over the greater portion of the United States and Canada.
PROF. HENRY MATTHEW STE- PHENS, A. M., B. S., Professor of Biology at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Cumberland county, has been connected with that insti- tution as one of the instructors since 1892. He has filled his present chair since 1899.
Mr. Stephens comes of a race which has given Pennsylvania many of her best citi- zens, being a great-great-grandson of Rev. Matthew Stephens, a Presbyterian min- ister, and Scotch native of the North of Ireland, who came to America at an early day and made his home in Huntingdon county, Pa., where he passed the remainder of his life. William Stephens, son of the emigrant, was born in Huntingdon county, and he and his wife Hannah had a son Matthew, the Professor's grandfather, who was likewise born in Hun- tingdon county. He married Ann Gilliland, of that county, whose mother was an Alex- ander. Matthew Stephens died at the age of ninety years, in 1893, at Neosho, Missouri.
William Alexander Stephens, D. D., father of Henry Matthew, was born on a farm in Huntingdon county, Pa., in 1835, and was reared at the place of his birth. He received his early education in the district schools, prepared for college in Bedford county, Pa., and entered Dickinson College in 1859. At the outbreak of the Civil war he left college to enter the Union service, being a member for a time of a regiment of Penn- sylvania volunteers. At the close of his term of enlistment he commenced to read law in the office of John Scott, of Hunting- don, who was afterward attorney for the
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Pennsylvania Railroad, and in due time he was admitted to the Bar in Huntingdon county. Going West to the State of Mis- souri, he located at Neosho for practice, but after a few years decided to enter the min- istry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and completed his preparation within a short time. His first pastorate was at Carthage, Mo .. and he also served charges at Sedalia and Butler, in that State. Then he was transferred to Ennisville, Pa., in his native county, and he subsequently was located at various places in Pennsylvania-Jersey Shore. Renovo, Shamokin, Clearfield, and Bellefonte. For a term of six years he was presiding elder of the Williamsport district. Dr. Stephens was married, in Huntingdon, to Miss Letitia M. Africa, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Zimmerman) Africa, and they are the parents of two children, Henry Matthew and Walter C., the latter a resident of Clearfield, Pennsylvania.
Henry Matthew Stephens was born Jan. 4, 1868, in Neosho, Mo., and came East with the family in 1877 to Ennisville, Pa. His preliminary training was obtained in the public schools of the various places in which his father was located, at the high school of Renovo, and at Dickinson Seminary, Wil- liamsport, Pa., from which latter institution he graduated in 1888. Then he entered Dickinson College, whence he graduated in 1892, and the same year he commenced his professional work, being elected as instrue- tor in physiology and hygiene in his Alma Mater. He continued as such until 1895, in which year he was made adjunct professor in that branch, which position he filled until 1897, when he was made adjunct professor of biology. In 1899 he became professor of biology, and has continued to fill that chair to the present time, having proved an ac- ceptable addition to the Faculty. His studies
did not cease after graduation. In 1894 he went to Leipsic, Germany, to further his knowledge in the line of his specialties, was subsequently a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, and in 1897, 1898 and 1899 studied at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Cold Spring Har- bor, on Long Island. Thus it will be seen that he had a thorough and elaborate prepar- ation for the work he has undertaken, and that he has a gift for teaching is proved by his success with the pupils who have come under his care.
Prof. Stephens was married in Carlisle, in 1900, to Miss Elizabeth Young Stuart, of that city, daughter of William P. and Eliza- beth Graham (Young) Stuart, the former of whom is deceased. One child has come of this union, William Stuart, born Jan. 24, 1904. The Professor and his wife attend the M. E. Church, and fraternally he is con- nected with the Phi Delta Theta and the Phi Beta Kappa, the latter being an honor fra- ternity. In politics, he is independent, act- ing as his conscience and principles dictate.
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