Dr. Silas C. Swallow had already established a widely circulated reputation for being a determined fighter against the evils of strong drink and drugs before he became a resident of Cumberland County. The good Doctor of Divinity had other lesser-known qualities of character which were revealed during the ten years he lived in Camp Hill. As a matter-of-fact. Dr. Swallow's long life - ninety-one years - was filled with frequent tempestuous events which severely tested his fundamental Christian faith.
Silas Comfort Swallow was born March I 5, 1839 in a typical Pennsylvania farmhouse of the pre-Civil War period. He was the first child in a family of three brothers and two sisters.
The Swallow farm was located about five miles north of Wilkes-Barre, in Plains Township, an area since made desolate by the strip mining of coal. Where young Silas was to spend the first eighteen years of his life was, at that time, considered "backwoods." Despite the location of their home George and Sarah Swallow were both active members in the congregation of an area Methodist Episcopal Church. Hard-working and deeply religious, they provided a home atmosphere which was to directly influence the character of their eldest son.
Indicative of this was the choice of name for their offspring. They chose to call him Silas Comfort in honor of a great preacher, a close friend of the family, and an occasional visitor to the Swallow homestead.
Other religious men of renown in that day and generation also welcomed to the table and the "preacher's room" in the rambling old farmhouse included Asa Brooks, Dr. George Peck, Marmaduke Pearce, B. W. Gorham and Ammig Owen.
Contact with men of this calibre at an impressive age undoubtedly did much to influence the path of life young Silas was to choose. Some sixty years later he was prompted to write. in a widely circulated autobiography:
I should be a much better man than I am, for I was the child of many prayers, my father having been a Methodist class leader and my mother an old -time shouting Methodist with a consistent life behind it that shouted equally as loud . She believed in direct answer to prayer, and spent much time at the throne of grace.
This backwoods Pennsylvania farm boy who was later to become a candidate for the highest office the nation has to offer early displayed a penchant for sharp observation of places, people and events, recalling many years later a rural political parade - "the long procession of farm wagons, decorated with evergreens and wild flowers, bearing the hardy yeomanry to and from the great political gatherings of the campaign of 1844."
When Silas was fourteen years of age his father was stricken with a persistent illness that precluded active participation in the demanding duties of a farmer. The steadfast faith of the family was being tested. Resorting to prayer, the family made a decision to remain on the farm and place upon the shoulders of young Silas the responsibility of management of the homestead. So, at fourteen the boy, who in later life was to do battle with politicians and giants of the business world, began a character training period which was to serve him well all his life.
For five years he labored at farming. With intelligent practice of economy and the assistance of the rest of the family he was able to run the farm at a profit. In the meantime, when he was sixteen, he got a job teaching in a country school during the winter months as a means of financing the advancement of his education.
At the age of nineteen he had saved enough to enroll as a student in the Wyoming Seminary at Kingston. While studying there he continued to help out at home, commuting by horseback each clay. Gradually his younger brothers were able to take over the farmwork. Upon graduation he took up the study of law in the office of Volney B. Maxwell, a Wilkes-Barre attorney, at the urging of his father, who considered the practice of law far more remunerative than that of the ministry, which young Silas had set his heart on. So deep was this feeling that he was later to write -"not for the reason it is easier to preach than to practice, but for the reason 'Woe is me, if I obey not the call. '"
During ten generations the area now known as Camp Hill has borne five other names: Hendricks, Fort Pleasant, Oysters Point, Bowmanstown, and White Hall. Since 10 November 1885 an incorporated borough, it is part of the West Shore community that in 1731 was offered to Indian tribes as a reservation and in 1750 became the Penn family's Manor of Lowther.
Perhaps it is only a legend that a group of dissidents from Peace Church (now "Historic Peace Church") on Trindle Road set up a camp to hold services at a tiny village then called White Hill. The name was given by Dr. John D.