~~~~~Swisher Illinois~~~~~

Sharon Swisher writes some additional history on Swisher Illinois and the Swisher family there:

Regarding the settlement of Swisher in DeWitt County, Harp Township, "Some of
the earliest stores were located in the area on the road south of Swisher Hill
known as 'Smoky Row'. It was quite a thriving little community in the early
1870's. There was a saw and grist mill run by the Wilsons, Williams and
Williamsons, a blacksmith run by the Walker Brothers, and a grocery run by the
Lucases, Millers and Curls. A 1918 atlas shows some of the Walker family
opened a cobbler and blacksmith there. These all closed by 1920 and all that
remained open was the Swisher School. 

School District #20...Swisher School. faced the north on a plot where the
roads met on Isaac Swisher's land in the southeast corner of Section 1( I
believe this was in Harp Township. It was at first a frame building till a
new one was built in 1915. This building was sold, moved and used as a garage
when the district joined Farmer City in 1947. When the school districts were
organized and there were two schools two miles a part, the school east of
Leman was named for the Swisher family and gradually the arear became known as
Swisher (listed as an Illinois ghost town, now.)

Jonathan Swisher lived across the road from the school. The G. B. Leman and
Isaac Swisher families arrived in Harp township, section 1 in 1836. Other
families and friends followed. The area became known as Swisher but was
originally called the Lemen Settlement. There was also a Swisher Hill bridge
built nearby. South of the settlement (about 1/2 mile there was an early
burial ground which is now nearly obliterated. It was called Lemen Cemetery."
Thought this might be of interest to put out to your other Swishers. 


If you have any other details about Swisher, Illinois, or the Swisher's 
there, please email me, or Sharon....or both!

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