Yost (Joseph) Swope, the founder of this branch of the Swope family in America, was born on the 22nd of February, 1678, in the town of Sinsheim, in the Duchy of Baden, a part of the old Duchy of Swabia, Germany. His father was a burger and Burgomaster of the town of Liemen, a place of about 2,700 inhabitants near Heidelburg. There the father died; after his death, a short time, the youngest child, Yost, was born. He married in early manhood and lived in Liemen, his son John was born there in 1704. Early in 1720, Yost Swope determined to seek his fortune in the New World. He, together with his wife and five children, set sail for America in the spring of that year, and in due time safely arrived here. Yost Swope must have been an exemplary man from the recommendation given him by his pastor before his departure for America. The original is still in existence in the hands of Adam Swope, of Lancaster Co., Pa., and notwithstanding its age, 175 years, is fairly well
preserved.
We have the birth records of the five children of Yost Swope, but nothing more regarding them, except his son John, from whom the family here recorded are descended:
i. Maria, b. 1698.
ii. Anna Christina, b. 1701.
iii. John, b. May 28, 1704; d. Dec. 18, 1780.
iv. John Ulrich, b. 1707. (also referred to as Joseph)
V. AnnA Elizabeth, 1713.
