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 60
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In 1868 Mr. Swarner was united in mar- riage with Catherine Zin. daughter of Peter
and Elizabeth Zinn, of Lancaster county. To bless their union have come children as follows: Harry E., born May 31. 1869. married Minnie C. Roush, daughter of John and Maria Roush, and died in Carlisle May 15. 1903. his widow still residing in that city : she has one child. Earl Bryan Swarner. Frank, born Oct. 18, 1873. in South Middle- ton township. married Effie Albright. daugh- ter of William and Fannie Albright, and lives on one of his father's farms in Dickin- son township, four and a half miles south- west of Carlisle: they have two children. Paul Z. and Frank B. Charles C .. born Feb. 4. 1884. is at home.
PETER ZINN, father of Mrs. Swarner. was born and raised in Lancaster county. About 1832 he came with his family to Dick- inson township. Cumberland county, and lo- cated about seven miles from Carlisle, at a place called Mooredale. He married Eliza- beth Kegerries, who was also born and raised in Lancaster county, and they became the parents of the following children : Mary, who married John King, who lives in lowa. and has a family of five children : Amos, who was drowned at the age of eleven, by falling into a well. about two miles from home; John H., mentioned below: Elizabeth. who married Charles Feree, of near Williamson. Franklin county, and has two children, Har- vey and Clemie: Catherine, born Jan. 21. 1843, in Dickinson township ( where site was educated ). who married George W. Swar- ner ; and Frank, who is married and has one child, and who makes his home in Peoria, Illinois.
REV. JOHN H. ZINN was born in Dickinson township, Cumberland county. Pa., July 25, 1836. He was the second child and son born to his parents. At the age of six years he entered the public school at Shady Grove, in sight of the "Old Stone
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Tavern." and continued his training there un- til his common school education was com- pleted. He engaged as teacher, his first term being in 1856, at the Richland school, known at that time as the William Line school. After his first term he entered the first normal school of the county, being held at Newville. Pa .. and conducted by the county superin- tendent. Daniel Shelly, one of the foremost educators at that day in the county. He al- ternated teaching and studying, until the breaking out of the Civil war. At this time he was pursuing the study of the classics. privately, but was interrupted by entering into the United States service in 1863. con- necting himself with a regiment already or- ganized. the 17th Pa. Cavalry, being a mem- ber of Company F. By a reference to "Bates' History" it will be seen that this reg- iment, in common with others, saw much hard service, being led by the gallant Sheri- dan in many victorious battles. The last battle in which he was engaged was at Win- chester, Va., on the 19th of September. 1864. Being on detailed service, subsequent to this battle, on the 24th of the same month. he was captured by Moseby's men at Sum- mit Point, on a reconnoissance, between Har- ; per's Ferry and Winchester. He was held as a prisoner of war, passing through the 1
Libby, Belle Island (Va.) and Salisbury ( N. C.) prisons, and came out from the last place on the 22d of February, 1865. He was paroled at Goldsborough, N. C., on the : 26th, and was discharged from the service on general order No. 76, at Annapolis, Md .. on the 28th of June, 1865. After his return home he immediately entered his old profes- sion, that of teaching, but soon became im- pressed with the idea that he should prepare himself for the Gospel ministry of the church of which he was a member, the Evangelical Lutheran (General Synod). He entered the
Theological Seminary at Selins Grove, Pa., and after a three-years' course of hard and faithful study he was ordained by the Susquehanna Synod at Jersey Shore. Pa. He was called to the charge at St. Clairsville, Bedford county, Pa., begin- ning his labors there July 16, 1871, and . served the charge eleven years. From there he was called to Glade, Somerset county, Pa .. and served nine years. Then he was called to Tippecanoe City. Ohio, where he remained three years, and then to Leetonia, Ohio, serving that charge six years. after which he removed to his present charge, Akron, Ohio, on March 1, 1900. In an offi- cial capacity he served Allegheny Synod as secretary from 1882 to 1884; was president of Allegheny Synod from 1889 to 1891 ; president of the East Ohio Synod from 1899 in 1901.
Rev. Mr. Zinn has been twice married, the first time on Aug. 19, 1858, to Sallie A. Weaver, of Rossville, York county, Pa. To this union there were born three children : Ada A., now the wife of Samuel K. Moses, of Osterburg, Pa .; Florence Esther, who died at the age of one year and four months ; Clara Edna, now the wife of Ed. S. Frease, of Akron, Ohio. His wife died March 13. 1882. On Sept. 18, 1884, he married his second wife, Mary E. Campbell, of Addi- son. Pa., who is in full sympathy with her husband's calling and is a most efficient help in his arduous labors. He is successfully serving a laborious charge in the growing city of Akron, and while he is growing in years, with the inheritance of a robust con- stitution and care in living he appears as a man of twenty years less his age.
JAMES ELLIOTT. On April 3, 1801, James and Nancy ( Kelly) Elliott and their only child, a son, intending to leave for
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America, were dismissed as members in good standing from the associate congrega- tion of Scorvah, North Ireland. They landed at Wilmington, Del., where their son, who had died on the voyage, was buried.
Journeying from there to Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, they settled in the lo- cality now known as "The Pines," in Dick- inson township, where they purchased a farm. On Jan. 26, 1822, James Elliott leased from the estate of the Hon. Thomas Duncan, deceased, the place known as the "Smokeytown Farm," and moved to it in the following April. In March, 1833, he purchased this farm and lived upon it until his death, which occurred Aug. 24, 1849, at the age of seventy years. In 1837 the pres- ent mansion house was erected, and the same year the Cumberland Valley railroad was built through the farm.
James Elliott was survived by five daughters, Margaret Stephens, Nancy Kirk- patrick, Sarah Kirkpatrick, Eliza McCleary and Mary Ann White; and one son, John Elliott, who was born Sept. 8, 1804, and named after the boy who died on the ocean.
Upon the death of the father, the farm, through inheritance and purchase, descended to the only son, John Elliott, the father of the subject of this sketch. On Jan 10, 1854, John Elliott was married to Mrs. Maria Kirkpatrick, the widow of Isaac Kirkpat- rick, who was drowned in the Juniata river at Millerstown in January, 1848. Mrs. Elliott's maiden name was Stroop, and she was a granddaughter of George Stroop, a former sheriff of Cumberland county. George Stroop and his sons assisted in the erection of Perry county, and, it is supposed, were largely instrumental in giving it its name. His dwelling house standing at Alinda, is one of the most commodious country residences in Perry county, and still
belongs to relatives of the family. The Stroops are interinarried with the Holmans and Sheibleys, and their family history is a part of the history of Perry county. To John and Maria Elliott were born two chil- dren. Clara, now the wife of A. S. Mont- gomery. of Big Spring, Cumberland county ; and James Elliott. John Elliott died at the old home Aug. 20, 1864, aged sixty years; and Maria Elliott died at the same place April 25, 1893, aged seventy-two years.
James Elliott was born in the old home- stead July 7, 1857, and remained there at- tending the public schools of Plainfield until his fifteenth year. After two years of pre- liminary study he entered Dickinson Col- lege. at Carlisle, from which institution, in 1878. he graduated in the classical course with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He then entered the civil engineering department of LaFayette College, and graduated from it in 1879 as civil engineer. His two class- mates at LaFayette were G. W. Snow, since United States Surveyor General of Utah : and Hidatake Taro Yegawa, a Japanese. who was one of his country's plenipotentia- ries at the conclusion of peace between Japan and China in 1895. After teaching a term in the classical academy at Stewartstown, Pa .. he turned his course westward, and after a long journey which included a trip of 225 miles by wagon, he reached Buffalo in northern Wyoming. After clerking in Yrabing Brothers' general store for six months, he here opened the first school of that section. He was induced to do so un- der the promise of-aid from the school au- thorities of Carbon county, which county then embraced that part of the territory. The promised aid failed to materialize, and the school was closed, but soon thereafter every store, hotel, road ranch and stopping place was supplied with petitions, prepared by El-
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liott, for signatures praying the governor of Wyoming for the erection of a new county separate and apart from Carbon. Two pre- vious efforts for a new county had failed, but this one carried with a rush and the new county of Johnson. with Buffalo as the county seat, was established. Upon the or- ganization of the new county, he was nom- inated for superintendant of county schools, but his youthful appearance was against him, and he failed to be elected by the narrow ma- jority of forty-four votes. Going to Utah in 1881 he became assistant engineer on con- struction on the SanPete Valley railroad. Upon the completion of that road he was em- ployed on the Oregon Short Line, then be- ing built across the sands and lava rock of southern Idaho. Next he was employed as an assistant engineer on the Walla Walla & Pendleton Branch of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company's lines; also on the Colfax & Moscow branch and the Grand Ronde Valley and North Powder extensions, both on location and construction; and later in the Portland offices of the O. R. & N. and N. P. R. R. Companies. In 1885, owing to the impending failure of Henry Villard, and the curtailment of work on the Northern Pacific and allied railroad enterprises, he returned to Pennsylvania, where he for some time assisted in surveying and mapping a line of railroad between Newville and Lan- disburg, which, however, was never com- pleted. Having come in possession of the old homestead, and desiring to give up the rov- ing life of a civil engineer, he entered the grain business in a warehouse which had been built by his father on the east end of the farm about the year 1851, at a station on the Cumberland Valley railroad then known as Good Hope. Here he opened a grain, coal and forwarding business, and in 1886 was appointed freight agent for the
Cumberland Valley Railroad Company. On Dec. 26, 1888, the name of the station was changed to Elliott. In the year 1889 he rented the ware house to Thomas R. Burg- ner, and accepted the chief engineership of the Perry county railroad, and his energy played an important part in pushing that enterprise to its completion. After its com- pletion he acted for one year as its superin- tendent and chief engineer.
On March 12, 1891, James Elliott was married to Miss Bertie F. Fredericks, a daughter of Joel F. and Eleanor ( Eagle) Fredericks, of New Bloomfield. Joel F. Fredericks was captain of Company F, 133d P. V. I., in the War of the Rebellion. His wife, Eleanor ( Eagle), McFredericks, was a granddaughter of Francis McCown, one of the first settlers in Perry county, whose home, one mile east of New Bloomfield, is now owned by Oliver Rice. Mrs. Elliott is a lady who is much interested in music and art, and previous to her marriage took a prominent part in all musical entertainments in New Bloomfield.
In February, 1889, Mr. Elliott purchased from the estate of John F. Lindsey, deceased, the large stone mill situated on the Cone- doguinet creek a mile due north of Elliott- son. This he, in 1891, changed into a rol- lermill, and associating with him Thomas R. Burgner has since been operating it under the firm name of Burgner & Elliott. He also the same year resumed the grain and for- warding business at Elliott Station, and has continued in it ever since. Passenger train service, which had been discontinued at that point about ten years before, was re-opened. and in March, 1895, the Adams Express Company also opened an office. In 1896 the name of Elliott Station was changed to El- liottson to conform with the name of the post office, which was established there Jan.
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15. 1896. Elliottson has grown into quite a town. and has a population of about one hundred and twenty-five. It was largely built by James Elliott. lies in the most beau- tiful part of the Cumberland Valley. four miles west from Carlisle, and numbers among its industries the Elliott flouring mills. the Bricker lime kilns, the Brehm car- riage shops, and extensive green houses of George W. Bear. The Burns Academy, a classical school famous in the ante-bellum days. which flourished here while the place was known as Good Hope, passed out of the Burns name in 1864. part of the buildings burned down in 1890, and nearly all that the fire spared have since been removed. The property is now owned by Mrs. Rheta Carl. Among the older generation in Cumberland county are yet persons who treasure with the hallowed recollections of their youth the name and associations of the Burns Acad- emy. Mr. Elliott still resides in the old home in which he was born. The only junior member of his family is Frederick Snow El- liott. named after his father's classmate in LaFayette College.
Very meager data exist relative to the El- liott family previous to their emigration to America, but from what is at hand we gather that James Elliott had two brothers, Thomas and Moses. Thomas retained the old home- stead in Ireland, and his granddaughter, Elizabeth A. Elliott, is living upon it at the present day. Moses left two sons, Alex- ander, who moved to Campville, Conn. ; and James, who settled at Osgood, Ontario, at which places their descendants continue to live.
GEORGE C. KUTZ, one of the most prosperous farmers of North Middleton township, Cumberland county, was born in 1854, on the old homestead in that township,
a son of Joseph and grandson of Gideon Kutz. The latter was born in Bucks county, this state, and was among the early settlers of Cumberland county, upon his location in this county buying land in Middlesex town- ship. He married Mary Wonderly, of Boil- ing Springs, this county, and their children were: Anne, who died in Carlisle, was mar- ried to John Plank: John, living at Carlisle. married Lottie Barton ; Gideon, who died in Carlisle, married Mary Gottshall: Joseph is mentioned below: David, who died in Cum- berland county. married Elizabeth Eckert; Lydia, living at Newville, married Jacob Abrahims ; Elizabeth married James Smith, who died in 1902 in Carlisle, and she is still living there with her daughter, Annie; An- drew. living at Carlisle, married Sarah Base- hore ; Mary, living at Mechanicsburg, mar- ried David Rider; Emanuel died at Harris- burg: Sarah died at Newville; Rebecca is living in North Middleton township, mar- ried to Kennedy Reed.
Joseph Kutz was born Jan. 8, 1821, in South Middleton township, where he was educated and followed farming. In 1847 he married Eliza Kiel, daughter of George and Polly ( Hanshew) Kiel, of Frankford town- ship, and after that event located in North Middleton township, buying the Mentzer farm, which consisted of 129 acres of good farming land. There he remained a number of years, but at present he is living with his daughter, Mrs. Hoy, in North Mid- dleton township, his wife having died in that township at the age of sixty- four years; she is buried at Car- lisle Spring. Their children were: John, living in Middlesex township, married Julia Litner; George C. is mentioned below ; Mary, living in Dickinson township, married Peter Strohm: Ellen, living in Middlesex township, married Samuel Kitner; William
.
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died when two years of age: Joseph and Sarah were twins ( Joseph, still living in Middlesex township. married Harriet Stowe) : Sarah, living on the old home- stead in North Middleton township, married J. W. Hoy, a sketch of whom will be found elsewhere: Annie, living at Steelton, Dau- phin county, married John Stone.
George C. Kutz was born in 1854 on the old homestead in North Middleton town- ship. and received a common school educa- tion. He worked for his father until his marriage, on Jan. 12, 1877. to Annie L. Lightner. a daughter of William and Fannie ( Shaeffer) Lightner, of Landisburg. Perry Co. Pa .. and that same year bought the herre-tead. in North Middleton township. consisting of 154 acres of good land, which he has greatly improved, spending a large sum of money upon it. He has erected a fine residence and a good barn, and made many other changes. His house is beautifully lo- cated, and as it is on a high elevation, from it there is a fine view for many miles around. Mr. and Mrs. Kutz became the parents of two children : William, born Nov. 27, 1878, mar- ried Maud Shughart, and lives on a farm ad- joining his father: Albert, born May II. 1882. is living at home. In politics Mr. Kutz is a Democrat; he has never sought offce. He is a member of the Lutheran Church at Carlisle Springs and is very prom- inent in that body. By industry, thrift and good management Mr. Kutz has made money, and firmly established himself in the conficience of his friends, by whom he is respected and admired.
STAUFFER. The first emigrants of the name of Stauffer came to America in 1709. and settled in the part of Pennsyl- vania 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 Car- lisle, 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 com- mon 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 Up- per 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 extraor- dinary 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 integ- rity, and his judgment and advice were fre- quently sought both in business and in social affairs. He was a farmer and stock raiser, but was also extensively interested in bank- ing and other business. In religion he was a Lutheran and did much for the support of that Church. Emanuel Swope married Bar- bara Eby, by whom he had two children,
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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 dol- lars 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 Cum- berland 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 (lied March 14. 1900; his wife died March 14. 1879, and both are buried in the old graveyard at Carlisle.
Jolin 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 Car- lisle, 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 okl Mennonite ancestry. but in matters of re- ligion 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 faith- ful 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 com- fortable living. She lives a modest quiet life, and is much esteemed by her neighbors and respected by all who know her.
ADAM FISHBURN, who is now living retired from active work on his farm in Dickinson township. Cumberland county, is a native of Dauphin county, Pa., as were his parents, John and Catherine (Carmana) Fishburn.
The Fishburn family was founded in America by Philip Fischborn (as the name was then spelled), who was born in Plan- nich der Churfatz, Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany, May 7, 1722, and who emigrated to America in 1749, settling in Derry town- ship, Dauphin Co., Pa. He married Cath- erine E. Bretz, who was born Sept. 27, 1724, and their nine children were: Margaretta, John Philip, Ludwig, Peter, Magdalena,
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Anthony, Dietrich. Catherine and Anna Maria.
John Philip Fishburn, son of the emi- grant, was born in Derry township Nov. 15, 1754. On Aug. 14, 1780, he married ( first ) Barbara Greiner, and of their six children- Catherine E., Magdalena, John, Anthony, Margaret and Anthony (2)-two only. John and Anthony (2), lived to maturity. The mother died June 19. 1790. John Philip Fishburn married ( second ) Dec. 25. 1792 Anna M. Hack (born June 9, 1771), and they reared ten of the twelve children born to them. viz. : Eve, Barbara, Jacob, Michael, Elizabeth, Benjamin, Jones, Sophia. Thomas and Joshua.
John Fishburn, son of John Philip, was born in Derry township, Dec. 12, 1784, and was married Nov. 26, 1809, to Catherine Carmana (born April 9, 1791, died March 15. 1874). who bore him ten children, one dying young. The others were : Philip, born in 1811. married, and died in 1842 ; John, born in 1813. married Susanna Reaber, had three children. A. Frances, John H. and Harvey M., and died at Beaver Falls, Pa., in 1882; Anthony, born in 1815. married Salome Ann LeFevre, had three children, Philip H., Anna Maria and Louisa Elbe, and died in 1889; Barbara, born in 1817, died in 1903, married James Myers, had children George, John, James, Albert, Charlie, Edward. Cath- erine, S. Ellen, Elizabeth. Annie and Edwin, and resided in Carlisle: Helena, born in March, 1822, married Abraham Myers, and had children-Theodore. Albert ( who died "when three years old), Emma and Mervin; Rudolph, born April 5, 1824, married Mary Layman, and lives in St. Louis; Adam is mentioned below; Abraham, born in July, 1828, married Sarah E. Peffer, had two chil- dren, Annie and Edna P., and died in 1890; Marie, born in June, 1832, married Henry
Lee. of Iowa, and died in December, 1902. When John Fishburn, the father of this family. moved from Dauphin county to Cumberland he purchased the Jacob Myers farm. of 175 acres, five miles west of Car- lisle.
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