HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



189 



Rochester, New York, from there to Al- 

 ban3', and thence overland to Boston, 

 Massachusetts, from which point Mr. 

 Swartzlander returned to his home in 

 Southampton, where he resumed the 

 occupation of a miller. Prior to his 

 father's death in 1S45 he removed to 

 Yardley, where he operated a grist and 

 saw mill. At the time of the Irish 

 famine he was one of the largest grain 

 dealers and millers in Bucks county, 

 operating at one and the same time the 

 Rocksville, Bridgetown, and Yardley 

 mills, handling, grinding and kiln-dry- 

 ing immense quantities of corn and 

 cornmeal which he shipped to New York 

 and Philadelphia for exportation to Ire- 

 land. Through the dishonesty or de- 

 fault of a firm of commission merchants 

 to whom he shipped his product he lost 

 over $12,000, an immense simi in those 

 days, and was ruined financially, but by 

 industry and a close application to busi- 

 ness succeeded in paying off his indebt- 

 edness and acquiring a competence. In 

 i860 he practically abandoned the grain 

 business and devoted himself almost ex- 

 clusively to. the lumber business, buying 

 native timber in the woods and sawing 

 it into ship timber which he shipped to 

 the shipyards at Williamsburg, New 

 York, and Philadelphia. He was a very 

 active business man. and continued to 

 personally conduct his business in con- 

 nection with his son Harry until within 

 a few months of his death at the age of 

 ninetyj;One years. Joseph Swartzlander 

 married, in i8.s7, Abigail Rankin, a 

 daughter of William Rankin, a well 

 known merchant at Huntingdon Valley, 

 ]\Iontgomery county. Their children 

 M^ere: Mary, wife of Daniel Beans, of 

 Newtown: Dr. Frank, the subject of this^ 

 sketch: Albert, a lawyer at Omaha, 

 Nebraska: Laura. Harry and Ella, re- 

 siding at Yardley; and Fred, a physi-' 

 cian at Omaha. Nebraska. 



Dr. Frank Swartzlander. the eldest 

 son, was born in Northampton, February 

 9, 1842. and was therefore a mere cTiild 

 when the family removed to Yardley. 

 where he attended the public schools 

 and was later a student in Philadelphia. 

 He began the study of medicine in i860 

 with Dr. Joseph Smith, of Yardley. and 

 was later under the preceptnrship of Dr. 

 Rufus Tryon, nf Philadelphia, late sur- 

 geon-general of the United States Navy. 

 Dr. Swartzlander entered the medical 

 department of. the University of Penn- 

 sylvania in 1861. Showing a remarkable 

 aptitude for surgery, he was appointed 

 in 1862, while still a student, anatomist 

 at the Military Hospital, located at 

 Twenty-fourth and South streets, Phil- 

 adelphia, where he made all_ the post 

 mortem examinations until his gradua- 

 tion at the University in 1863. In March. 

 i86,-^. he was appointed assistant sura:eon 

 of the Seventy-fourth Regiment Penn- 

 sylvania Volunteers, and went with his 



regiment to the front, passing through 

 many trying scenes during the civil 

 war. He was at the battles of Chancel- 

 lorsville, Gettysburg, John's Island, S. 

 C, and many other sanguinary engage- 

 ments. At Gettysburg he was surgeon 

 of the operating stafif of the field hos- 

 pital of the Third Division of the Elev- 

 enth Army Corps. When the Seventy- 

 fourth Regiment was mustered out he 

 accepted a commission as assistant sur- 

 geon of Volunteers and was sent south 

 to meet Sherman's army on its march 

 from "Atlanta to the Sea." General 

 Sherman had just arrived at Savannah 

 when Dr. Swartzlander reached the 

 army, and he was assigned the charge 

 of the Military Hospital at the Marshall 

 House, and later had charge successively 

 of the hospitals at the Scriven House 

 and Pavilion House, and remained in 

 the hospital service until the close of 

 the war. After attending special lectures 

 at the_ University he located at Doyles- 

 town in 1866, and began the practice of 

 his profession. He soon built up a 

 large practice, and enjoys an enviable 

 reputation as a physician and surgeon. 

 Dr. Swartzlander was married in Oc- 

 tober, 1872, to Susan, daughter of John 

 S. Bryan. She died February 4. 1884. 

 Their children are: Dr. Frank B. Swartz- 

 lander, a practicing physician at Doyles.- 

 town; Dr. Joseph Swartzlander, a prac- 

 ticing physician of Forest Grove, Buck- 

 ingham township, Bucks county, Penn- 

 sylvania: and Susan, who resides with 

 her father. Dr. Swartzlander was for 

 twenty consecutive years physician of 

 the Bucks County Almshouse, and later 

 filled the same position for three years. 

 He is a member of the County and State 

 Medical Societies, and of the Grand 

 Army of the Republic, and the Loyal 

 Legion of the United States. He is also 

 a member of the Masonic fraternity. 



DR. FRANK B. SWARTZLANDER, 

 Doylestown (son of the preceding) was 

 born December 19, 1873. He was edu- 

 cated at public and private schools in 

 Dojdestown, and spent three years in the 

 Germantown Academy. He entered the 

 Medical Department of the University 

 of Pennsjdvania, and graduated in the 

 class of 1894. In the same j^ear he ac- 

 cepted the position of resident physician 

 at the Children's Hospital, Philadelphia, 

 which he filled until January. 1895. filled 

 the same position in the Pottstown Hos- 

 pital from January to August, 1895. and 

 was then appointed a resident physician 

 in the Episcopal Hospital at Philadel- 

 phia, which position he filled until .\u- 

 gust. 1807. He then came to Doyles- 

 town and began the practice of his pro- 

 fession. 



Dr. Swartzlander was married May 4. 

 1899, to Florence R. Evans, of Potts- 



