John I. Swinehart
Back to the stirring days of the American Revolution John I. Swinehart, a representative citizen of Wayne county, Ohio, traces his ancestry, and it is a matter of no small amount of self-gratification that he can say that, without exception, they have borne honorable names and played well their parts in whatever community they have lived. The immediate subject of this sketch was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, September 16, 1857, the son of Josiah and Martha (Meck) Swinehart. His maternal grandparents, John and Elizabeth (Nudeing) Meck, were also natives of Pennsylvania, in which state they spent their entire lives. John Meck was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and a man of much physical courage. The paternal grandparents of the subject also lived and died in the old Keystone state. Josiah Swinehart, father of John I., was born in Pennsylvania in 1825 and his wife, Martha Meck, was also born there in the same year, having been one month older than her husband. They grew up in their native community and married there; coming to Ohio in 1871, they settled in Chester township on a farm; however, much of Josiah's time was taken up with his practice of veterinary surgery, he having been regarded as an expert of the old school. He first settled on a farm on one hundred and sixty acres which he rented in Chester township, but later purchased a farm of an equal number of acres, and after making several changes spent his last days in Lattasburg, dying in 1903. His widow, who is still living, is a woman everybody admires for her motherly kindness. She and her husband became the parents of eleven children, namely: George, Kate, Henry, Maria, Amos, John, Lydia (deceased), Philip, Lizzie, William and Ezra (deceased). The father of these children gave most of his attention to his personal affairs, taking little interest in public matters. In 1864 he was drafted for service in the Union army, but hired a substitute.
John I. Swinehart was educated in the public schools of this county, having been twelve years of age when he came to this community. He worked on the home farm in his boyhood days, consequently he quite naturally took to agricultural pursuits and, having made a success of the same from the first, he was enabled to purchse a fine farm of ninety-five acres in about 1890, his place being one of the best improved in Chester township. In 1905 he built a new barn, ample and modren, but unfortunately lost it by fire. He also remodeled his house, making it quite comfortable. Besides carrying on general farming, he breeds Durham cattle and Ohio Improved Chester hogs, preparing considerable stock for market, which always brings excellent prices, owing to their high grade.
Mr. Swinehart was married on February 13, 1883, to Emma Berry, a native of Ashland county, Ohio, and the dughter of William and Margaret (Shutt) Berry, old settlers of Jackson township, Ashland county. William Berry was a native of this state and his father, Jacob Berry, came here from Pennsylvania in a very early day. Margaret Shutt was also born in Ohio, and was believed that her people also came from the old Keystone state in a very early day.
To Mr. and Mrs. Swinehart two children have been born, Kenneth, who died in infancy; Wayne B., born on October 4, 1888, is now a student in the Bixler Business College, where he is making a record.
In his political relations Mr. Swinehart is a Republican; though for a time he voted the Prohibition ticket. Both Mr. and Mrs. Swinehart belong to the Lutheran church in New Pittsburg, Wayne county.
From The History of Wayne County, Ohio, Vol. 1, B. E. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, 1910