Adams county farm owner, his farm was located along the Mummasburg road. The first day fighting at Gettysburg took place on his property. The farm was located near the present peace memorial on the Gettysburg battlefield. Sought gold in California after gold was discovered. Married Mary E. Schriver, 1862. Son of Samuel and Eliza (Swope). Father of 3 children.
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John Swope Forney was born in Gettysburg, Pa., February 17, 1830. He married, February 21, 1861, Mary Shriver. He received his education at Oak Ridge Academy and Pennsylvania College. In 1849 he joined a company for California. They spent the winter of '49 and '50 at Salt Lake with the Mormons. Continuing their journey in the Spring they crossed the Sierra Madre mountains with no guidance but blazed trees at long intervals. He began prospecting in 1851, but not being successful he left California for Oregon, where he remained a year. Returning to California he spent some time vainly "wooing fickle fortune." He returned to his home in Gettysburg 1859. The following year he bought the farm on which he now resides, 1 1/4 miles north of Gettysburg, on Seminary Ridge. This farm is part of the historic battlefield of Gettysburg. About the 28th of June, 1863, Jenkins' Cavalry, an advance scouting party of the Confederate Army occupied the place, and a few days later, during the battle, the house was made the headquarters of General Ewell. Just above the house was placed the largest gun of the Confederate army, which discharged its shell over Gettysburg to Round Top, a distance of four miles. Everything about the place was completely destroyed by the battle except the house and barn, and they were all riddled by shot and shell. The house now bears but few scars from that memorable event, the skill of the artisan having erased them, while the well-kept terraces of the lawn gives no evidence of the terrible combat that raged on its surface, or the brave men who were embraced in its bosom, after giving up their lives for their country. The farm is now marked by some of the finest monuments on the battlefield and traversed by several avenues. Mrs. Forney relates some very thrilling experiences incident to the battle. One was her escape from her home with an infant in her arms at midnight, through a country filled with soldiers, to her father's house, a mile away. Another was her return to her home during the battle and her efforts to save from destruction some of her household treasures. In this she was partly successful, as the Confederate soldiers in possession treated her with the courtesy due a lady.
Source: History of the Swope Family and their Connections, 1678 - 1896, Compiled by Gilbert Ernest Swope, Lancaster, Pa., 1896, page 118.
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John Swope Forney was born in Gettysburg, Pa., February 17, 1830. He married, February 21, 1861, Mary Shriver. He received his education at Oak Ridge Academy and Pennsylvania College. In 1849 he joined a company for California. They spent the winter of '49 and '50 at Salt Lake with the Mormons. Continuing their journey in the Spring they crossed the Sierra Madre mountains with no guidance but blazed trees at long intervals. He began prospecting in 1851, but not being successful he left California for Oregon, where he remained a year. Returning to California he spent some time vainly "wooing fickle fortune." He returned to his home in Gettysburg 1859. The following year he bought the farm on which he now resides, 1 1/4 miles north of Gettysburg, on Seminary Ridge. This farm is part of the historic battlefield of Gettysburg. About the 28th of June, 1863, Jenkins' Cavalry, an advance scouting party of the Confederate Army occupied the place, and a few days later, during the battle, the house was made the headquarters of General Ewell. Just above the house was placed the largest gun of the Confederate army, which discharged its shell over Gettysburg to Round Top, a distance of four miles. Everything about the place was completely destroyed by the battle except the house and barn, and they were all riddled by shot and shell. The house now bears but few scars from that memorable event, the skill of the artisan having erased them, while the well-kept terraces of the lawn gives no evidence of the terrible combat that raged on its surface, or the brave men who were embraced in its bosom, after giving up their lives for their country. The farm is now marked by some of the finest monuments on the battlefield and traversed by several avenues. Mrs. Forney relates some very thrilling experiences incident to the battle. One was her escape from her home with an infant in her arms at midnight, through a country filled with soldiers, to her father's house, a mile away. Another was her return to her home during the battle and her efforts to save from destruction some of her household treasures. In this she was partly successful, as the Confederate soldiers in possession treated her with the courtesy due a lady.
Source: History of the Swope Family and their Connections, 1678 - 1896, Compiled by Gilbert Ernest Swope, Lancaster, Pa., 1896, page 118.
Adams county farm owner, his farm was located along the Mummasburg road. The first day fighting at Gettysburg took place on his property. The farm was located near the present peace memorial on the Gettysburg battlefield. Sought gold in California after gold was discovered. Married Mary E. Schriver, 1862. Son of Samuel and Eliza (Swope). Father of 3 children.
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John Swope Forney was born in Gettysburg, Pa., February 17, 1830. He married, February 21, 1861, Mary Shriver. He received his education at Oak Ridge Academy and Pennsylvania College. In 1849 he joined a company for California. They spent the winter of '49 and '50 at Salt Lake with the Mormons. Continuing their journey in the Spring they crossed the Sierra Madre mountains with no guidance but blazed trees at long intervals. He began prospecting in 1851, but not being successful he left California for Oregon, where he remained a year. Returning to California he spent some time vainly "wooing fickle fortune." He returned to his home in Gettysburg 1859. The following year he bought the farm on which he now resides, 1 1/4 miles north of Gettysburg, on Seminary Ridge. This farm is part of the historic battlefield of Gettysburg. About the 28th of June, 1863, Jenkins' Cavalry, an advance scouting party of the Confederate Army occupied the place, and a few days later, during the battle, the house was made the headquarters of General Ewell. Just above the house was placed the largest gun of the Confederate army, which discharged its shell over Gettysburg to Round Top, a distance of four miles. Everything about the place was completely destroyed by the battle except the house and barn, and they were all riddled by shot and shell. The house now bears but few scars from that memorable event, the skill of the artisan having erased them, while the well-kept terraces of the lawn gives no evidence of the terrible combat that raged on its surface, or the brave men who were embraced in its bosom, after giving up their lives for their country. The farm is now marked by some of the finest monuments on the battlefield and traversed by several avenues. Mrs. Forney relates some very thrilling experiences incident to the battle. One was her escape from her home with an infant in her arms at midnight, through a country filled with soldiers, to her father's house, a mile away. Another was her return to her home during the battle and her efforts to save from destruction some of her household treasures. In this she was partly successful, as the Confederate soldiers in possession treated her with the courtesy due a lady.
Source: History of the Swope Family and their Connections, 1678 - 1896, Compiled by Gilbert Ernest Swope, Lancaster, Pa., 1896, page 118.
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John Swope Forney was born in Gettysburg, Pa., February 17, 1830. He married, February 21, 1861, Mary Shriver. He received his education at Oak Ridge Academy and Pennsylvania College. In 1849 he joined a company for California. They spent the winter of '49 and '50 at Salt Lake with the Mormons. Continuing their journey in the Spring they crossed the Sierra Madre mountains with no guidance but blazed trees at long intervals. He began prospecting in 1851, but not being successful he left California for Oregon, where he remained a year. Returning to California he spent some time vainly "wooing fickle fortune." He returned to his home in Gettysburg 1859. The following year he bought the farm on which he now resides, 1 1/4 miles north of Gettysburg, on Seminary Ridge. This farm is part of the historic battlefield of Gettysburg. About the 28th of June, 1863, Jenkins' Cavalry, an advance scouting party of the Confederate Army occupied the place, and a few days later, during the battle, the house was made the headquarters of General Ewell. Just above the house was placed the largest gun of the Confederate army, which discharged its shell over Gettysburg to Round Top, a distance of four miles. Everything about the place was completely destroyed by the battle except the house and barn, and they were all riddled by shot and shell. The house now bears but few scars from that memorable event, the skill of the artisan having erased them, while the well-kept terraces of the lawn gives no evidence of the terrible combat that raged on its surface, or the brave men who were embraced in its bosom, after giving up their lives for their country. The farm is now marked by some of the finest monuments on the battlefield and traversed by several avenues. Mrs. Forney relates some very thrilling experiences incident to the battle. One was her escape from her home with an infant in her arms at midnight, through a country filled with soldiers, to her father's house, a mile away. Another was her return to her home during the battle and her efforts to save from destruction some of her household treasures. In this she was partly successful, as the Confederate soldiers in possession treated her with the courtesy due a lady.
Source: History of the Swope Family and their Connections, 1678 - 1896, Compiled by Gilbert Ernest Swope, Lancaster, Pa., 1896, page 118.
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