Peter Swoope, Jr., was born in Huntingdon, then called Standing Stone, in 1799. He received an English education. He owned a furnace in Bedford County, which he conducted for a number of years, but the latter part of his life was spent as a merchant in Huntingdon. He was an old line Whig, afterwards an ardent Republican. He was for fifteen years a justice of the peace in Huntingdon. Peter Swoope married Miss Van Devender, of Huntingdon county. They had twelve children, all deceased but Henry J., of St. Louis. Mrs. Swoope died, and Mr. Swoope married Maria Brumbaugh. Their children are: Cyrus, of Bedford county; James C. keeps a shoe store in Huntingdon; George W. R. ; Elizabeth (Mrs. Peter Gerlock), of Huntingdon; Benjamin, of Wayne township; and ten who died in childhood. Mr. Swoope was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He died in 1880. Mrs. Maria Swoope resides in Huntingdon, aged eighty-three.
