Person:Peter Swoope (1)

There are two Swope families living in Huntingdon county, Pa., one spelling their name with two o's and the other with one. The ancestors of both families settled in that county in the last decade of the eighteenth century....

The Swoope family of Huntingdon descended from Peter Swoope, who was a son of John Jacob Swoope, of Hellam township, York county, Pa. Peter was born April 1, 1763; died June 30, 1839. He was apprenticed to the hatting business, Aug. 17, 1773. He afterwards removed to Hagerstown, Md., where he married, July 5, 1784, Elizabeth Snyder, born Dec. 22, 1768; died July 21, 1851. He subsequently settled in Huntingdon, where his children, ten in number, were born. There he engaged in merchandising and the iron business, and accumulated a nice fortune. He was commissioned captain of the Huntingdon county militia by Governor Mifflin, Aug. 31, 1793.

Peter Swoope, a hatter by trade, came from the vicinity of Hagerstown and settled in Huntingdon before 1790. He also opened a store there. He had two daughters, who married Daniel Huyett, of Maryland, and S. S. Wharton, of Huntingdon. The sons were John, who became an iron-master in Bedford County; Samuel, the second son, lived at Martinsburg. Henry, the third son, was an iron-master, living in Woodberry until his death, about 1849; he was the father of John N. and H. W. Swoope, of Porter. Peter Swoope, the fourth son, was a merchant at Huntingdon. Dr. William Swoope, the youngest son, died in Porter township, and was the father of H. E. Swoope.