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 16
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dwindled to a few members and to relieve the growing lonesomeness he moved to the village of Churchtown, and for a while tried living in retirement. It was the second time in his experience that he had met with a Churchtown. Before another year had gone he bought a little farm a mile west from Churchtown, which he made his home for the next twenty-three years.
It was circumstances that led John Zeamer to leave his former moorings and settle in Cumberland county. The change was against his judgment. but once made he never went back to Lancaster county, as did the other members of his father's family. He. however, sometimes contemplated moving farther west or south. About the year 1846 he and a neighbor made a horseback trip into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, visiting Harper's Ferry. Charlestown, Winchester and other points in that section. He was so well pleased with the country that he after- ward made a second trip on a visit. In 1855 he went West, visiting Ohio, Michigan, Illi- nois and Indiana, bringing back with him very favorable impressions of the West and its grand opportunities, but he thought it wise to let well enough alone and remained in the Cumberland Valley. At the close of the Civil war he and a friend made a visit to eastern Virginia, but what they saw there was not sufficiently tempting to induce them to locate or invest, and so he ended his days in the section to which circumstances had brought him.
In January, 1849, John Zeamer's mother, Regina (Gephart) Zeamer, died in the sixty- third year of her age. She was buried in the graveyard where now is the Stone Church on the State road, in Silver Spring township. After her death, her husband, Jeremiah Zeamer, made his home with his eldest son, Isaac. In March, 1852, Isaac Zeamer moved
back to Lancaster county, and a few days after reaching his new home, Jeremiah Zeamer died at the age of seventy-four years. His remains were buried in a little private graveyard near the banks of the Chickies creek. in Rapho township. He was more than six feet tall. of powerful build, and weighed over three hundred pounds. His large form, great strength and good humor were subjects of comment wherever he went.
The little farm near Churchtown, which John Zeamer purchased in 1870, was a place adapted to his years and strength, and he there spent his declining years reasonably contented and happy until the death of his wife, which occurred July 16, 1889, at the age of seventy-seven years. Her remains were laid to rest in the Longsdorf graveyard in Silver Spring township, where a daughter and her entire family had already been buried. Susanna ( Hartman) Zeamer was a kind and loving wife and mother, modest and affectionate, but the most marked of all her admirable qualities was her piety. After the death of his wife John Zeamer continued on the farm with his youngest daughter till in the spring of 1893, when he moved to Carlisle, that he might be convenient to more of his children. He had now passed four- score years of life and while he was compar- atively strong it was yet apparent that he was rapidly approaching the end. Naturally in his closing years he became indifferent to the affairs of the world, but he retained his interest in horses until the last and owned one as long as he could give him attention. Hle died May 19, 1903, aged ninety years and ten days, and his remains were buried by the side of his wife in the Longsdorf graveyard. Physically John Zeamer was a large man, and while in his prime very strong. He was a little over six feet tall, straight as an arrow, and well proportioned
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both in form and weight. Never having had the advantages of the schools he lacked book learning, but the varied and trying experi- ences of his early life gave him a practical education that served him well in his inter- course with men, and his opinions and ac- tions always commanded respect. Integrity was an especially strong trait in his charac- ter, and with people who knew him his ver- bal promise made his bond superfluous. He was a Democrat and as firm and consistent in his political convictions and practices as in otlier respects. He belonged to the Re- formed Church, which was the church of his ancestors, as it was also the church of his wife's family.
Jolın and Susan ( Hartman) Zeamer had issue seven children, viz .: Mary, born April 4, 1839; Jeremiah, April 5, 1842; Saralı, Aug. 10, 1844; Harriet, 1847 : Chris- tiana, Dec. 22, 1850 (died March 5, 1852) ; Susan, March 7, 1853: and John Henry, Jan. 12, 1856.
Mary married Charles Miller, of Perry county, by whom she had three children, only one of whom is living. In October. 1873. Charles Miller was killed at Mary- ville while in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railway Company. Frank H. Miller, her surviving son, married Alta Diener, and has issue two daughters.
Jeremiah, the second child, remained upon the farm until his twenty-first year, when he began teaching school, teaching his first year in West Hempfield township, Lan- caster county. Afterward he took a course at the Millersville State Normal School, where he graduated in 1868. He then taught and read law until 1872, when he was admitted to the Cumberland County Bar. In the spring of 1873 he was elected cashier of the Columbia Deposit Bank, which posi- tion he held until December, 1878, when he
resigned to purchase the American Volun- teer, a newspaper at Carlisle which he owned and edited for twenty-two years. Since re- linquishing newspaper work he has been doing special writing, principally of an his- torical character. In August. 1871. he mar- ried Isabella B. Benner, of North Coventry, Chester county, who has borne him two chil- dren, Maud and Jay. Maud is a graduate of Dickinson College, holding the A. B. and A. M. degrees from that institution. She has also done post-graduate work at Colum- bia University, and for five years past has been engaged in teaching. being now vice- principal of the Carlisle high school. She was married to John H. P. Keat, and has one son, Harold, born Jan. 16, 1896. Jay is a stenographer and clerk in the employ of the Mexican National Railroad Company, in the City of Mexico, Mexico.
Sarah, the third child. married Jacob Barnhill, by whom she had three children. She and her husband and all her children are dead. They are buried in the Longsdorf graveyard.
Harriet, the fourth child. married George W. Reeser, of Upper Allen township, by whom she has three children, two daughters and a son. The eldest, Lizzie, is married to Robert Armstrong, and has issue one daugh- ter, Pauline. The son, Richard, is a grad- uate of Jefferson Medical College, and for several years has been surgeon on the Penns- sylvania school ship "Saratoga." The youngest child, Susan Gertrude, is at home. George W. Reeser and family at present live in Mechanicsburg.
Susan, the sixth child. is unmarried and is living with her sister. Mrs. Mary Miller, in Boslertown, a suburb of Carlisle. Since October, 1893, she has been an instructor in the sewing department of the Carlisle In- dian School.
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John Henry learned the blacksmith's trade and followed blacksmithing for thir- teen years, for a number of years in the town of Mechanicsburg. He afterward went into the livery business in Mechanicsburg which he has been conducting successfully for twenty years.
Such is the biography of John Zeamer, written and respectfully submitted by one of his family.
JOHN BLAIR DAVIDSON, bank cashier, and a very prominent man of New- ville, comes of an old and honorable family of this locality, his family history being re- corded as follows :
(1) John Davidson was one of the first to take up land in West Pennsboro township. and his farm is still in the possession of a descendant. James A. Davidson. John Dav- idson was born in 1743. and died in 1823.
(II) John Davidson (2), son of Jolin (1), was born in 1772, married Elizabeth Young, and died in ISIo, his widow dying in 1823. They had five children,-Eleanor, John Young, Samuel, Nancy and William.
(III) Samuel Davidson, son of John (2), was born April 20, 1804, and after ob- taining such education as the schools of that day afforded went to Carlisle, and learned the trade of tanner with Andrew Blair. Mastering his trade, he came to Newville. and worked in a tannery which he soon bought, operating it for a number of years. An upright, hard-working, generous man, he often assisted others to his own loss.
On Oct. 19, 1830, Samuel Davidson married Catherine Leckey, who was born May 21, 1807, daughter of Alexander Leckey, of West Pennsboro township. To this union were born three children : Alex- ander Leckey, who died in 1852; John Blair ; and Elizabeth A., who lives at Newville.
The father died in August, 1880, the mother in April of the same year. For forty-four years he was elder of the Big Spring Presby- terian Church, and he was a thoroughly good man.
John Blair Davidson was, born Dec. 24, 1833, in Newville, Pa., and after attending the common schools completed his education at Jefferson College, in Washington county, Pa., graduating in 1852. For the following ten years he taught school, and then entered the Quartermaster's Department at Wash- ington, remaining five and one-half years, and learning those methodical habits he has ever since found so useful. In 1869 he re- turned to Newville and entered the First National Bank, in 1882 receiving promotion to the responsible position of cashier, which he still holds, discharging his onerous duties with faithful accuracy.
In October, 1857, Mr. Davidson mar- ried Margaret Ellen, daughter of William Burnside, of Center county, Pa. One of the early members of the family, Thomas, a great-uncle of Mrs. Davidson, became a judge of the Supreme court of Pennsylvania.
The Davidson family are all members of the Big Spring Presbyterian Church. Mr. Davidson's career has been characterized by straightforward methods throughout. He is unremitting at his work, and has many friends among those he has served for so many years, and, in fact, all over Cumber- land county.
WILLIAM E. SWILER, M. D. In October, 1751, there came to America in the ship "Queen of Denmark," a George Schweiler.
In September, 1752, there came in the ship "Nancy," a Jacob Schweiler.
In October, 1753, there came in the ship "Louisa," a Johan Christian Schweiler.
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These three immigrants shipped from Rotterdam and disembarked at Philadelphia, where their names were entered upon the offi- cial records. As their first names have been perpetuated through several generations in the different branches of the family, it is probable that the three men were brothers, though they did not cross the ocean at the same time. The third of these brothers set- tled in Lancaster county, where he married Susannah -, and engaged in farming. In course of time his name became adjusted to its new environments. The name Johan was dropped, as was generally done in Ger- man names after those who bore them asso- ciated for awhile with English speaking peo- ple. Also the German form Schweiler, in which it stands recorded in the archives, became Anglicised into Swiler. He lived in Lancaster county almost forty years, by which time he had quite a good sized family, and realized that by moving farther to the westward he could more easily provide for them.
In August, 1748, there was patented to Edward Shippen, a tract of land in East Pennsboro township, then in Lancaster coun- ty, containing 196 acres. Edward Shippen conveyed it to Rev. Richard Peters, whose executor, Richard Peters, Esq., of Belmont, Philadelphia county, on March 30, 1792, for the sum of £467, Ios, conveyed it to Chris- tian Lawerswyler, of Lancaster county. This Christian Lawerswyler was no other than the aforenamed Christian Swiler, the name having been distorted probably through a whim of the scrivener who drew up the con- veyance. There were other Lawerswylers in the province, some of whom were prominent, but Christian Swiler never wrote his name Lawerswyler. Once in transferring part of the land which was conveyed to him as Lawerswyler he signed it Christian L. Swi-
ler, but in receipting on the same deed for the money paid him he wrote it simply Chris- tian Swiler. This land lies to the north of the Conedoguinet creek in the eastern part of what is now Silver Spring township, Cumberland county. It remained in the Swiler name till 1859, when in the settle- ment of the estate of the second Christian Swiler, it was sold to Samuel Eshelman. Christian Swiler and his family moved from Lancaster county to this farm in 1793, and lived there until his death, in 1857. He had children as follows: Jacob, Matthias, John, Christian, Catharine and Elizabeth. All of these six children grew to manhood and womanhood, married and reared families, and some of their descendants figured prom- inently in the affairs of the country, but it is the object of this sketch to dwell princi- pally upon the genealogical line of the son Christian.
. Christian Swiler was born in Lancaster county July 4, 1782, and was only a little more than ten years old when the family came to Cumberland county. He always lived on and near the homestead which his father purchased in 1792. Although a farmer, and giving much attention to the cultivation and improvement of his acres, he had, during the active period of his life, much to do with the settling up of estates and other business. He also took a deep in- terest in public affairs, and was a prominent figure socially and politically in his part of the county. He was constable for East Pennsboro township for nine consecutive years, and discharged the duties of the posi- tion with an intelligence and fidelity that won him flattering compliments from the court, and also from the public.
When the Swilers settled in East Penns- boro, there was already living there a fam- ily of English nationality named Hume.
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They were among the earliest settlers of the section. William Hume, the first of the name. having come there prior to 1774. William Hume had a son named James, who was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and served as a private in Capt. John McTeer's Company of Cumberland County Militia. called into service in July, 1777. Along with the distinction of having been a Revolution- ary soldier. James Hume was a prominent citizen. He owned a large amount of land, and engaged in farming, also carrying on tanning an 1 other enterprises, and did much toward the development of the country. James Hume married Frances Robinson, of Maryland, and by her had ten children, six sons and four daughters. The sons were Samuel, William, James, Andrew, John and David. The daughters were. Ann, Isabella, Frances and Jane. James Hume died in June, 1811, his wife, in March, 1841, and both were buried in the graveyard of the Silver Spring Church. Their lands descended to their children, some of whom lived out all their days in the immediate locality in which their ancestors settled when they first came to America. The settling of families in the same neighborhood established social rela- tions which grew and strengthened with time. This was the case with the Swilers of German and the Humes of English dle- scent. Christian, son of Christian and Su- sannah Swiler, married Ann, daughter of James and Frances Hume, and by her had children as follows: (1) James, born Jan. 7. 1807, died Sept. 20, 1869. (2) John, born Aug. 9, 1809, died Dec. 25, 1839. (3) Susan, born Dec. 15, 1813, died Nov. 7, 1866. (4) Josiah, born Jan. 22, 1817, died Sept. 15, 1891. (5) David Hume, born July 16, 1819, died July 25, 1894.
John Swiler the second son of Christian and Ann ( Hume) Swiler, grew to manhood
in the locality in which he was born, with such training as fell to the lot of country boys at that day. Being naturally of a bright mind, he acquired knowledge notwithstand- ing the unfavorable conditions in which he was placed, and became a teacher. It being prior to the era of free schools, and the school term being short. he engaged at farm- ing, along with his intellectual pursuits. On Feb. 9. 1832. Jolin Swiler was married to Isabella Eckels, the ceremony being per- formed by Rev. James Williamson, pastor of the Silver Spring Presbyterian Church. Isabella Eckels was the eldest child of Wil- liam and Rebecca (Huston) Eckels, and a descendant of two of the oldest and most prominent Scotch-Irish families of that part of the country, the Eckelses having located in East Pennsboro in 1779. and the Hustons some time prior to 1752. John and Isabella (Eckels) Swiler had issue as follows: (1) William Eckels: (2) Josiah Huston, born July 22, 1835, died Oct. 11. 1901 ; (3) John Christopher, born Sept. 18. 1839.
William Eckels Swiler, the eldest of these three children, was born Oct. 23, 1833, on Chestnut Hill, one and one-half miles due south of Mechanicsburg. on a property which then fronted on the road which leads to Shepherdstown. The buildings of the place have long ago disappeared, and there now is no trace of where they once stood. His parents lived . there but a short time. That same fall they moved to the north of the Conedoguinet creek to a property which originally had been a part of the Swiler homestead, and which through sundry con- veyances came into the possession of John Swiler. Here they lived and farmed for six years, and in the winter months Mr. Swiler taught school in a log house that the citi- zens of the vicinity had erected for church and school purposes, on the State Road,
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where now stands the stone church known as St. Paul's. In the same house he also held the first Sunday school that was organized in .hat part of the county, and was superintend- ent of it at the time of his death. He died at the age of thirty years, and his death, coming while their children were yet small, was a heavy blow to the wife and mother. The little farm had been sold the previous sum- mer, but the sum received from it was small, considering that from its proceeds there were four mouths to feed and four backs to clothe. The bereaved woman faced a gloomy prospect, but, relying upon that Power whence cometh the hope and courage for such ordeals, she bravely entered upon it. Three months after her husband's death she and her children went to the hospitable home of her father-in-law, Christian Swiler, where they remained until the following fall. Then for a period of eighteen months she kept house at Hogestown for her brother, Jonathan Eckels, a school teacher. Then her brothers, Jonathan and William Huston Eckels, jointly went to farming, and both being single they employed their widowed sister to keep house for them. With them she remained three years. Next she kept house for William Huston Eckels and John Chambers Sample, who also jointly farmed, and while with them she married for her sec- ond husband, Isaac McGuire. She died in May, 1858. Isaac McGuire died in May, 1869, and she and her two husbands lie buried in the cemetery of the Silver Spring Church.
After his mother's marriage to Isaac Mc- Guire, William E. Swiler made his home with his grandfather, Christian Swiler, and remained with him for four years doing farm work in the summer, and attending the country district school in the winter. He was not large for his years, nor strong, but
self-reliant and an all-around useful boy. Often he undertook tasks that older and stronger hands feared to undertake, and upon one occasion had a thrilling adventure in which he narrowly escaped being killed. He was preparing corn ground with a large heavy cultivator, drawn by three frisky horses. Being too small to follow on foot and guide the team with a line, as a full- grown man would have done. he rode the nigh horse, and in that way drove the team. leaving the cultivator to follow without any one steering it. While going along in this way the horses took fright and ran off. Over the levels and down the hills they went, as fast as they could gallop, the big cultivator bounding behind. In his frantic efforts to stop the team the lad was slipping off his horse backward, but realizing that it was sure death to him to fall under the cultivator he clutched the rein with renewed despera- tion and finally stopped the team by sun- ning them against a post fence. This expe- rience he often vividly recalls, but seldom without a shudder.
From his grandfather Swiler, William E. went to his uncle, David H. Swiler, who with Mr. H. H. Fells had a general store in Mechanicsburg, and for two years he clerked for them. Here he managed to get time enough off to attend a select school. then conducted by Frank Gillellan, and under that noted educator made good pro- gress in his studies. Leaving Swiler & Fells he for a short time was clerk in a large store in Harrisburg. Next we find him with his uncle, William Huston Eckels. who then had a store at Sporting Hill, and while with him he found time to attend Prof. Denlin- ger's academy at White Hall, and also to take private lessons in Latin from his uncle, James S. Eckels, who was a gradaute of Washington and Jefferson College, and had
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been an instructor in an academy. Along about this time a man named David M. Snavely entered upon a mercantile venture at Yocumtown, York county. and having heard of young Swiler's proficiency as a clerk. he offered him good wages to come into his employment. He went, and for ten months very acceptably managed Mr. Snavely's business. At Yocumtown he was beyond the bounds of his native county, away from his relations and the comrades of his youth. yet in a little while he won many new associates who afterward became long- time friends.
From his earliest recollection William E. Swiler felt a natural interest in the science of physiology. and whatever pertained to the human anatomy and its diseases attracted his attention and engaged his leisure time. Even the regulation medical almanac was to him a source of instruction, and being thus predisposed he early resolved to become a physician. Conditions favoring his purpose, he, in the spring of 1854, entered the office of Dr. R. G. Young, of Shiremanstown, and began the customary course of medical reading. On completing his course with Dr. Young. he matriculated at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and after two years more of close application graduated from that institution, on March 9, 1857. Having thus regularly prepared himself, his next step was to look up a place in which to begin practice. His financial circumstan- ces did not permit him to spend much time or money on this part of the program. Dur- ing his stay at Yocumtown he had formed many pleasant associations, and, while in his judgment it was not an ideal locality in which to build up a practice, he concluded that it was a good place to make a start, and he accordingly began his life work in that modest country town, with the mental reser-
vation that as soon as he had accumulated experience and some means he would locate in a more desirable field. His selection of place, however, proved more satisfactory than he had anticipated, for his industry and skill soon brought him as much work as a physician ordinarily can attend to, and he continued at Yocumtown for thirty-hive long years. His practice there extended over a wide range of country, which necessitated much traveling and made it very laborious, especially in the winter months. He had deferred making the contemplated change quite a long time, and the accumulating years were beginning to remind him of the fact. Feeling that his strength was waning under the long continued strain, he in 1892 turned his patronage at Yocumtown over to his son, and removed to Mechanicsburg, with the intention of there limiting his prac- tice in amount, and enjoying some well- earned ease in his declining years. But his fame had preceded him to his new location, and without seeking it he in a few years again had a large practice, and was again a very busy man, and he still attends to his professional work.
Dr. William E. Swiler has been twice married. On Nov. 23, 1859, he was united in wedlock to Miss Catharine E. Pretz, by Rev. George Morris, pastor of the Silver Spring Presbyterian Church. Catharine Pretz was the daughter of Abraham and Catharine ( Monosmith) Pretz, and was born at Lewistown, Mifflin Co., Pa., but when she was eleven years old the family moved to the lower end of Cumberland county and lived there the rest of their lives. To their union came the following children : (1) Minnie Isabel, born April 22, 1861, mar- ried William F. Troup, and has two. chil- dren living, Catharine and Ralph, their sec- ond child, a son, Swiler, having died in in-
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fancy. (2) Elizabeth L., born June 2, 1864, was married, May 13. 1882, to John H. Troup, and has had five children: Vernie (who died young ). Robert D., Charles, Edith and John. William F. and John H. Troup are brothers, sons of Abraham and Mary Troup, of Lewisberry, York county. They have long been engaged in the sale of pianos, organs and other musical instru- ments, and are located at Harrisburg, from which point their business radiates over a large scope of territory. (3) Robert David, porn June 7. 1868, read medicine, graduated from Jefferson College. and when his father retired from Yocumtown assumed his prac- tice at that place. He remained at Yocum- town until in 1902. when he removed to Har- risburg, where he is now in successful prac- tice. He married Susan Fortenbaugh, laughter of Henry and Julia Fortenbaugh, of York county, and they have two children living, Margaret and Julia, their first child, 1 daughter, Ruth, having died while small. (4) Carrie Eckels, born Sept. 19, 1873. married William W. Conkling, formerly of Highspire. Dauphin county, and they began married life at Steelton, where they resided several years, thence moving to West Fair- view, where they are now keeping a boarding house and doing a prosperous ousiness. To them have been born two chil- Iren: Ruth and Swiler. (5) Annie Hume, born May 9, 1876, died July 11, 1876.
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