Elias “Eli” Swab was born in Mifflin Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 7 October 1824.
The first ancestor in the line of his family to come to America was his great-grandfather, John Schwab, who was born an reared in Germany, where he learned his trade of linen weaving and was married. At the age of thirty or thirty-five he came with his wife and children to this country, about 1735, and for a time settled in Philadelphia, and engaged in the manufacture of linen. From Philadelphia he went to Reading, and finding the lots were selling by lottery, he procured two of the principal ones and traded them for farming land in Berks County, at a place afterward called Shupert’s Mills. Here he engaged in farming, also working at his trade. He took part in the Revolutionary War. He was noted for his equestrian feats, one of these being riding at a furious pace and leaning from his horse to pick up a hat from the ground.
John Jacob Swab, grandfather of Eli Swab, was born in Philadelphia, about 1763, and reared on the farm in Berks County. He was married there about 1788 or 1789, to Catherine, wife of Philip Brown, lived in Williams Valley, had seven children, three sons and four daughters:
Jacob Swab, father of Eli Swab;
Julia Ann Swab, married Christian Matter, removed to Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, reared a family and died there;
John Swab, born in Berks County and reared in Dauphin County;
William Swab, born in Dauphin County, married and settled in Washington Township, where he died;
Daniel Swab, born and reared in Dauphin County, married Katie Koppenheffer, removed to Ohio, where he died;
Susanna Swab, married Jacob Herman, settled in Berrysburg, Dauphin County, and died there;
George Swab, born in Dauphin County, married and died in Washington Township, aged sixty eight years;
Elizabeth Swab, married David Bitterman, died in Mifflin Township.
The grandfather settled in Mifflin Township, now Washington Township, where he died in 1819, aged fifty-six years.
Jacob Swab, father of Eli Swab, was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, 7 October 1791, and in his ninth year came with his parents to Dauphin County, where he was reared on the farm, and practically learned the art of weaving from his father. He assisted the father in clearing the land and making the home. He was married in Mifflin Township, to Catherine Metz, daughter of Sebastian Metz. He succeeded to part of the homestead farm, and lived on the place which his son Eli Swab now owns. He served in the War of 1812 and died 14 February 1866, aged sixty-four years. His wife died in 1854. Their children are:
Daniel Swab, farmer, died in Washington Township;
Sarab Swab, married Simon Matter, reared a family and died in Washington Township;
Catherine Swab, married John Wagner, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, reared a family;
Jacob Swab, married and retired, Elizabethville, Pennsylvania;
Eli Swab;
Simon Swab, blacksmith, married and reared a family and died Washington Township;
Mary Swab, married David Romberger, reared a family, is living in Mifflin Township.
Mr. Swab was a member of the Lutheran church.
Eli Swab had slender opportunities for acquiring an education. He attended subscription schools and grew up on the farm, assisting his father with the work until he was seventeen years old. He then learned tanning, at which he worked more or less steadily for ten years, but finally made farming his chief occupation. In 1854 he took charge of the home farm and cultivated it until 1876, when he came into possession of it by paying $91 and acre. One hundred and six acres constituted the farm, at an allowance of six per cent.
Eli Swab was married, in Washington Township, in 1844, to Miss Nellie Cooper, daughter of John Cooper and Mary Cooper, a native of Washington Township. Their children are:
Allen Swab, born 17 March 1845, a farmer, now engaged in the tanning business, married Eliza Lehman;
Philip C. Swab, born 10 September 1847, married Catherine Koppenheffer, formerly merchant at Williamstown, recorder of deeds at Harrisburg, and now a coal merchant at Hartranft, Tennessee;
Hannah Swab, born 15 November 1854, unmarried;
Aaron Swab, born 11 February 1854, died young;
Amanda Swab, born in 1857, married Daniel Brower, resides in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania;
Isaiah Swab, born 25 September 1861, farmer in Washington Township, married Ida Kawell;
Mary Swab, born 24 September 1864, married Oliver Shantz, lives in Lehigh County;
George Swab, born 21 October 1869, conveyancer, married Frances A.. Auldhouse, resides in Harrisburg.
Mr. Swab owns three farms adjoining each other, one of one hundred and six acres, one of one hundred and one of eighty acres; also two tracts of wood land. In politics he is a Republican, and was elected county commissioner in 1873 and served two terms. He is active and prominent in church affairs and is a member of the Lutheran church, in which he has held important offices. Mr. Swab is one of the best known men in the community, and is highly honored and esteemed.
The family name was formerly spelled Schwab, but after the death of Mr. Eli Swab‘s grandfather it was incorrectly written in certain legal documents as Swab, and the family finally adopted that spelling.
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Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.
The above information was modified/edited from Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, published in 1896 by J. M. Runk and Company of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. A free download is available from the Internet Archive.
See also:
Findagrave Memorial #66459931. Elias Swab. Elias died 1 November 1898 in Elizabethville, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. He is buried at the Maple Grove Cemetery at that place.