Isaac Swab, foundryman, was born in Washington Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 5 October 1845. He is a son of Daniel Swab and Sarah [Heller] Swab.
Isaac Swab was educated in the common schools and at Berrysburg Academy, which he attended for two years. He worked on the farm early in life, and remained at home until he was twenty-three. He came to Elizabethville in 1868, and was for some time employed in his brother’s wagon factory. He then opened a hardware and stove store in Elizabethville. After eight or ten years in the business he sold out and went to Harrisburg, where he took a contract for putting cars together in the railroad shops. He was employed in the same manner for two years at Millerstown, Pennsylvania, after which he returned to Elizabethville and established a foundry, which he has conducted since that time. He was also for a short time engaged in broom making. His knowledge of the foundry business was derived from reading and from observation.
Isaac Swab was married in Berrysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1867, to Miss Sarah Ellen Messner, a native of Washington Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. Their children are: Harry C. Swab, married Mattie Smith, resides at Elizabethville, Pennsylvania; Arthur A. Swab, left home at fourteen years of age, found employment with Drake and Stratton, bridge builders, New York [and] was at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, repairing bridges two days after the great flood [and] was married at Hanover, Ohio, to Effie Hawarth; Sallie E. Swab, at home; Katie C. Swab, died aged six years; Warren F. Swab, at home; and Percy A. Swab, at home.
Mr. Swab is a Democrat. He has been school director for nine years, and is at present secretary of the school board. He has been town clerk for six years. He was formerly a stockholder in the Water Company and is now a member of the town council. He is also secretary of the Lutheran charge, which includes all the Lutheran churches in the Lykens Valley. Mr. Swab is intelligent and public spirited, genial in disposition and agreeable in manners. He is highly esteemed and respected.
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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.
Note: Jacob Swab died on 12 January 1924 and is buried at the Maple Grove Cemetery, Elizabethville. His grave marker is pictured at the top of this post, there being no available portrait of him at the time of this writing.