Ancestry of
Hilary Swank

Movie Actress

John Swank

View famous kin of John Swank

• • 5th Great-grandfather of Hilary Swank — 8th Generation
  • Ahnentafel No:
  • 128 
  • Father:
  • Balthasar Schwenck 
  • Mother:
  •  
  • Birth Date:
  • ABT 1750 
  • Birth Location:
  • Maryland 
  • Christening Date:
  •  
  • Christening Location:
  •  
  • Death Date:
  • 1793 
  • Death Location:
  • Hardin County, Kentucky 
  • Burial Date:
  •  
  • Burial Location:
  • Edlin Cemetery, Hardin County, Kentucky 
  • Spouse Name:
  • Rosannah Summit
  • Marriage Date:
  • 28 Nov 1769 
  • Marriage Location:
  • Berks County, Pennsylvania 
  • Child:

  John Swank Jr. (Ahnentafel No:64 )

  • Notes: 

  • John Swank's name is also seen as Johannes Schwenck.

    The following account was taken from A History of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and Its Surroundings, (pp. 21-22).

    July Term 1794 [Hardin County Court]

    Rosannah Swank administered upon the estate of her deceased husband, John Swank. John Swank lived in a fort of his own two miles northeast of Elizabethtown. He and his wife on a travel to Bardstown were waylaid and attacked by the Indians. Both of their horses were shot under them and Mrs. Swank was wounded in the arm. In attempting to make their escape after running a short distance her horse fell dead under her; she had a new saddle which she stripped from the dead animal and hung it in a tree. Swank's horse, being yet able to go, he dismounted and put his wife on his saddle, and he fled on foot to a cave on the old Cofer farm two miles from his fort. His dog betrayed him by barking at the pursuing Indians, and he was pierced by nineteen bullets and killed instantly.

    Mrs. Swank fled on her husband's wounded horse until he failed. She left the dying horse and escaped on foot, and being a fleshy woman and clad in a new heavy linsey dress, she pulled it off as she ran, and so strong was her carefulness that she saved every pin and stuck them in an even row in the bosom of her dress.

• Sources for John Swank

  • ¹ Daughters of the American Revolution Genealogical Research System, Ancestor #A112068.
  • ² Gravestone image at FindAGrave.com, (accessed 01/27/2016).
  • ³ Pennsylvania, Church Records - Adams, Berks, and Lancaster Counties, 1729-1881, Marriage record for Johannes Schwenck and Rosina Sammet.
  • ⁴ Andreas, A. T., An Illustrated Historical Atlas of Des Moines County, Iowa, Chicago: Unknown (1873), 32.
  • ⁵ Haycraft, Samuel, A History of Elizabethtown, Kentucky and Its Surroundings, Elizabethtown, Kentucky: The Woman's Club (1921), 21.

Hilary Swank photo by ECVpictures (CC BY-SA 3.0)