A biosketch of son Luther M Swigart reports that John Swigart came to Orange Twp, Richland Co, now Ashland County, at the close of the war of 1812, then to Monroe Twp, in 1821. He served in the war of 1812 under Perry at Mackinaw. He was an original member of the Pleasant Valley Lutheran Church. Married at the cabin of Jacob Young. Supposedly the 1st wedding in Orange Twp, Ashland County, Ohio. John Swigart was the the teacher at the 1st school in Orange Twp, Ashland County, Ohio (1815-1816). [1]
Research Notes:
Account of John Swigart's life which was printed in the Ohio Liberal:
"I was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania in 1793. In the year 1806 my father moved to Stark County, Ohio, then a perfect wilderness. There as only one cabin in Canton and that was a tavern. I was then about 13 years old and remember well the hardships and privations which attended our life in the woods. Wild beasts and wild men roamed the forest in all directions.
I helped my father to clear out two farms of about fifty acres on each. I had many encounters with bears and wolves, the howls of the latter being kept up nightly the year round. I have also killed many deer and wild turkeys. Rattlesnakes were abundant, thousands being scattered over the woods.
In the spring of 1814, I joined the army under Col. Cotgrove, at Cleveland, and then marched to Detroit through mud and swamp. At night, in many places, we had to build brush heaps for our beds to keep us out of mud and water. At Detroit we got in open boats and rowed up the river, to the mouth at Huron Lake and there helped to build a small fort.
On the 13th of July, we entered on board a fleet commanded by Commodore St. Clair, and sailed on Lake Huron till the 4th of August, when we were landed on the Island of Mackinaw, where we had a battle with the British and Indians. The battle was obstinate and bloody and we were forced to retreat with the loss of sixty-seven men killed and wounded. Among the killed were Major Holmes, Capt. Sanborn and Lieut. Jackson, three brave and fearless soldiers, who bared their bosoms to the storm of battle with a gallantry worthy of being held in perpetual remembrance. Poor Fellows! They died covered covered with martial honors.
The next day after the battle we sailed down through the lakes and landed at Shargrin River and from thence were marched to Painesville on Grand River, where we were discharged. On receiving my discharge, I immediately set out for home, which I reached in safety.
In the year 1815, I came to Richland County, and taught the first school in Orange township. My wife and myself were the first couple married in this township, which took place in the spring of 1816. We then commenced our life in the woods, surrounded with a dark and interminable wilderness. But, although our home was solitary and alone, yet joy and happiness reigned in our midst.
In a few years I had cleared twenty-five acres, when I sold it, and in the spring of 1821 moved into Monroe township, near the mouth of the Rocky Fork and settling down once more cleared forty acres more, besides killing any number of rattlesnakes, as there was a den of them on my farm. I counted at one time twenty of these reptiles lying in the shelving rocks; but I could not get at them to kill them. It was in the spring, and warm sun was shining over head, and the reptiles were leaving their rocky den to bask in its warm
rays. I suppose there were hundreds and probably a thousand of these reptiles lying in this den at that time.
In the spring of 1832 I moved into the woods again, on Citizens Run, near Hastings Post Office and cleared 125 acres more, and erected a Saw Mill. In 1852 I sold again and moved to an improved farm one mile further north, and lived there until the spring of 1857, when I moved to my present location ad-joing the village of Lucas. I have raised a family of five sons and four daughters, all married but one daughter. I have thirty-five grandchildren and three great-grand children." [found among other clippings pasted in a book that appeared to have been some sort of insurance journal. It is in the Ohio Historical Library at Columbus, Ohio, the numbers on it were R 977, 1280OH-3]
[1] A. A. Graham, History of Richland County, Ohio (1880), 851-852, lower, right column, [GoogleBooks].