BIOGRAPHY
JOHN SWINGER.
John Swinger is one of Painter Creek's highly respected citizens whose useful and well-spent life has not only gained for him the confidence of his fellow men but has also secured for him a comfortable competence which enables him to lay aside all business cares and spend his declining days in ease arid retirement.
Our subject's paternal grandfather was George Schwinger, as he spelled the name, who was born in Wurtemberg, Germany. There he owned a little land and engaged in farming to some extent, but principally worked as a day laborer. He married Elizabeth Stout, and to them were born four children, namely : Jacob, the father of our subject; Rosanna, who first married a Mr. Hughey and located in Indiana, and secondly, Franz Metz; Conrad, who married Mary Ann Emerch and died near Kokomo, Indiana; and an infant, who died at sea. About 1812 the grandfather, with his family sailed for the United States and met with terrible suffering and distress on the voyage. Terrific storms drove the vessel out .of its course along the. coast of Greenland. The masts and sails were swept overboard, and while the passengers were all below and the hatches closed the masts were broken off and became entangled with the main ropes. This turned the vessel on her side and she gradually sank under the water and was held there. The air in the vessel became so foul that life could not be maintained an hour longer, the poor unfortunates being nearly suffocated, when the captain, who knew where to come in contact with the ropes, bored holes with an auger and made an opening large enough to insert his arm. He then severed the ropes with a halcart and freed the vessel from its fastenings. As it then righted itself those on board were saved from suffocation. After being tossed and buffeted about by the wind and waves they were finally driven ashore along the Greenland coast, where they remaied through the winter and until the following spring, when the United States government sent a vessel to their relief and brought them to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. George Swinger had several hundred dollars when he left the old country, but this he spent for the relief of his fellow passengers during the winter and arrived in Philadelphia penniless, with a wife and three children, one having died on the voyage. He sold the father of our subject to a Mr. Grumm in Philadelphia to pay his debts. He settled near Lebanon, in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, where he spent the remainder of his life. After hisi death his widow came west and died at the home of her daughter, eighteen miles west of Peru, Indiana.
Jacob Swinger, our subject's father, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, March 1, 1805, and when a boy came to America with his parents. He received a good education in the schools of Pennsylvania, and, as was previously stated, was bound out until twenty-one years of age to a Mr. Grumm, a farmer of Lebanon county. Being a good, industrious boy, Mr. Grumm took a great liking to him, sent him to school and released him at the age of twenty, at the same time giving him a little money with which to begin life for himself. Mr. Swinger worked as a farm hand, and although he learned no trade he was handy with tools and was employed in laying plank on the canal one year. He married Anna Maria Stager, a native of Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Frederick and Elizabeth (Yingst) Stager. The latter was born in Germany, December 17, 1768. Her mother's maiden name was Remgontz. In the family of Frederick and Elizabeth Stager were the following children : Henry, born December 27, 1785, died in infancy; Henry, born October 2, 1787, married Elizabeth Six and died in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania; Adam, born August 6, 1789, married Anna Maria Six and died in the same county; Elizabeth, born December 10, 1791, married John Daub; Catherine, born January 7, 1794, married John Fourman and moved to Van Buren county, Ohio, in 1833 Frederick, born January 29, 1796, married Rebecca Fousceler ; Regina, born March 28, 1798, married George Fourman and died in Pennsylvania, after which her husband came to Ohio; John, born February 4, 1800, married Sarah Fousceler; Samuel, born May 20, 1802, married Catherine Jacobi ; Hannah, born October 11, 1804, married Jacob Eierly; Margaret, born December 15, 1806, married John Mock; Anna Maria, born November 11, 1808, married Jacob Swinger; Christina, born January 8, 1812, married John Jacobi; and William, born May 28, 1814, married first Catherine Hansel, of Kensel, and secondly Caroline Walten. Our subject is the eldest of the nine children born to Jacob and Anna Maria (Stager) Swinger; Sarah, the second, married David Staffer and died in Franklin township, Darke county, Ohio ; Susannah died unmarried ; Jacob married Martha Hyer and is now a retired farmer of Crawford county, Illinois ; Catherine and Rebecca both died young; Elizabeth, wife of Abraham Minnich, of Franklin township, this county ; David is represented on an other page of this volume ; and Samuel, twin brother of David, married Mary Miller and lives in Crawford county, Illinois. In 1836 the father, with his family, emigrated to Ohio, making the journey, which lasted six weeks, with a two-horse wagon. He stopped first at the home of his cousin, John Fourman, in Van Buren township, and remained there a short time. Having brought with him a little money he purchased forty acres of land on Painter creek, in Franklin township, only an acre and a half of which had been cleared and a log cabin of one room erected thereon. The following year he added to his original purchase another forty-acre tract, and made that place his home for five years. His next purchase consisted of eighty acres, on which was a log cabin that was taken apart and rebuilt on his home farm. Subsequently he bought of Samuel Hall one hundred and sixty acres, which is now owned by his son David. He also owned the eighty-acre tract which is now in possession of Hiram Rhodes, one hundred and sixty acres owned by John Flory, Sr., and eighty acres now owned by Moses Roymer. Besides the property already mentioned Mr. Swinger owned what is known as the Burkett mills on Stillwater, below Ludlow Falls. He continued to engage actively in farming until a few years before his death, which occurred in 1866. He was a deacon and a prominent member of the German Baptist church, and a stanch Democrat in politics. His estimable wife survived him many years, dying December 31, 1893.
John Swinger, whose name introduces this review, was born September 29, 1828, in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, where he attended German schools until eight years of age, when the family removed to Ohio. At that time much of Darke county was an unbroken wilderness and deer and other wild game was found in abundance. Mr. Swinger says that he was practically reared with a gun and ax in his hands. Here he attended an English school, but every night after supper his mother made him study, German. This did not prove satisfactory, however, as he often confused the two languages, and finally he dropped the German. As his services were needed at home his educational privileges were somewhat limited, during one winter only being able to attend school for eight and a half days, another for twelve days ; but he was fond of study and applied himself at home.
Mr. Swinger assisted his father in clearing one hundred acres of land, and remained at home until twenty-two years of age, receiving five dollars per month and his board and clothes during the last year. He then began life for himself on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres belonging to his father. In the fall of 1853 he rented a farm near Troy, on which he lived for eight years, and then moved to White county, Indiana, where he rented three hundred and twenty acres of land. Returning to Darke county, Ohio, in February, 1864, he bought the Squire Hess farm of seventy acres in Franklin township, and in the fall of 1875 moved to a thirty-seven-acre tract entered by Beverly Richardson, and now owned by John Swinger. In 1862 he established a tile factory, which he moved to his present farm in 1878. Being blessed with a strong constitution he was able to withstand any amount of work. For many years he conducted a saw-mill on Painter creek, leaving home on Monday morning and running the mill every day until twelve o'clock at night. He would then sleep on a bench with a jack-plane for a pillow. He also ran a threshing machine for some years, and during the busy season he would run his tile factory day and night without any sleep whatever, doing all his own burning for ten years. In 1877 he rented his plant to his son Amos and his son-in-law, John Deeter, and when the latter went west in 1886 he and his son formed a partnership and engaged in the manufacture of tile until 1886, since which time the son has carried on the business, while our subject lives retired, enjoying a well-earned rest. He and Jacob and David Swinger and Elizabeth Minnich owned the old homestead of his father for many years, but sold it in December, 1899. Enterprising, energetic and industrious, he met with success in his undertakings, and can now well afford to lay aside all business cares.
Since 1855 Mr. Swinger has been an active worker and consistent member of the Painter Creek German Baptist church, in which he has served as a deacon for many years, and gives his support to every enterprise calculated to advance the moral welfare of his community. He has ever been found upright and honorable in all his dealings, is charitable, benevolent and hospitable and is a well-informed man, and an interesting conversationalist. In politics he is a Democrat, and he has most capably filled several township offices.
On the 1st of August, 1850, Mr. Swinger married Miss Margaret Ann Stauffer, who was born near Salem, Montgomery county, Ohio, May 15, 1831, a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Kinsey) Stauffer. She has been to her husband a faithful helpmeet, counselor and adviser, and to her children a kind and loving mother. Five children were born to them, namely : Amos H., born May 10, 1851, attended the local schools until twenty years of age and began work in his father's tile factory in boyhood. In 1886 he purchased the plant and is still engaged in the manufacture of tile. He was formerly a Republican in politics, but now supports the Democratic party, and is a member of the Ludlow and Painter Creek Baptist church. He was married, December 21, 1873, to Susan Frock, and they had five children : Oliver, who was born September 27, 1874, and married Hattie Reiber ; Edward R., who was born August 28, 1878, and married Lola Brown; Cora and Myrtle, who died in infancy; and Katy Elizabeth, the second child of our subject, was born October 13, 1852, and is now the wife o. David Dell, of Landis, Darke county, by whom she has two children—Susan and Maggie. Rachel, born October 15, 1853, was married February 8, 1874, to John M. Deeter, and to them were born six children : Charles, who died in infancy; Simon; Amos; Libbie, the wife of Clyde Stratton; John; and Lola, who died in infancy. They moved west in 1886, and in 1899 located in Eddy county, North Dakota. Margaret, born July 11, 1867, was married May 8, 1887, to John Haber, and they have four children : Verna, Roy, Oma and Charles. John L., born June 22, 1869, attended the public schools until twenty-one years of age and was married January 31, 1891, to Martha L. Hyer, by whom he has four children : Lova Ethel, born October 27, 1891; Sarah Margaret, born May 25, 1894 ; John Jesse, born February 11, 1898 ; and Elizabeth N., born August 30, 1900.
John L. Swinger is an active Democrat, and has held several township offices.
