SWISHER, Benjamin Franklin - 1914

SWISHER, WHITMORE, ANDERSON, TROUP, KINMOTH, WILSON, CRIPPEN, JONES, STEPHENSON, GLADWELL

Posted By: Colette Miles (email)
Date: 6/30/2009 at 09:32:22

HISTORY OF
Cherokee County
IOWA
VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1914
By Thomas McCulla

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SWISHER.

Benjamin Franklin Swisher, a retired farmer living in Cherokee, was born in Johnson county, Iowa, March 2, 1849. He is a son of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Whitmore) Swisher, the former born in Piqua, Ohio, and the latter in Rhode Island. The father came west to Johnson county, Iowa, in 1839, and farmed in that locality until his death. He was steward and trustee in the United Brethren church and he gave his political allegiance to the democratic party, serving for a number of years as school trustee. He and his wife became the parents of eight children: Wilson, who has passed away; Lovell, of Iowa City; Edward and John, deceased; Benjamin Franklin, of this review; Catherine and Ruth, who have passed away, and Stephen, of Iowa City.

Benjamin Franklin Swisher acquired his education in the public schools of Iowa City and when he began his independent career turned his attention to farming, following this occupation in Johnson county until 1879. In that year he came to Cherokee county and purchased land in Pilot township, bending his energies to improve and develop this property along progressive lines. The years brought his constantly increasing success and in time he accumulated a comfortable fortune, upon which, in 1912, he retired from active life, moving into Cherokee, where he now resides.

On the 7th of September, 1871, Mr. Swisher marrried Miss Elizabeth Virginia Anderson, a daughter of George W. and Delilah (Troup) Anderson, the former born near Wheeling, West Virginia, and the latter in Washington county, Maryland. Their marriage occurred in the latter state and there the father followed carpentering and farming for some years. He came west to Johnson county, Iowa, and was for a number of years connected with agricultural inter ests there, retiring ten years before his death and moving into Shueyville. He was a steward in the United Brethren church and a republican in his political beliefs, serving with credit in various township offices. Mr. and Mrs. Swisher have become the parents of eleven children: Lovell, who resides in Pilot township; Luella, the wife of Lyle Kinmoth, of Asbury Park, New Jersey; Orlista, of Pilot township; Ruth, the wife of Martin Wilson, of Afton township; Catherine, who married Raymond Crippen, of Pilot township; Grace, who married Rufus Crippen, of South Dakota; Olive B., an officer of the juvenile court of Des Moines, Iowa; Vernie, who married Claude Jones, of Afton township; Fannie, the wife of Walter Stephenson, of Silver township; Cora Belle, a student at the Drake University Conservatory of Music at Des Moines, Iowa, and Ella, the wife of Ray Gladwell, of Silver township.

Mr. Swisher is connected fraternally with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He gives his political allegiance to the democratic party and has held various public positions, including those of township trustee and school director. He has lived to witness a number of important changes in Cherokee county during the thirtyfour years of his residence here, and during the entire period his influence has been steadily on the side of advancement and progress.