ABOUT SCHWEIKER

THE PHOTO...Senator Richard Schweiker

THE KNOWN...The family connection starts with Shirley Jeanne Schweiker who married Harry Morgan Fagan, Jr. They had four children, who are four of the five Fagan Cousins who inspired this website (actually, the three Schweiker cousins were also present the day this site was 'conceived' and are an integral part of this family's story, but trying to explain more family relationships in the opening introduction got too convoluted! My apologies, Ladies!). The son of one of the four cousins (one of Harry and Shirley's grandsons) has volunteered to be the 'keeper' of this site (and the related Clitter site), when the time comes to 'pass it along' to the next generation!

The Schweiker ancestry has been traced back to Shirley's great grandfather, John B. Schweiker, born in 1831 in Wurttemburg, Germany. The 1880 census shows that all five of their children were born in Pennsylvania, so John and his wife Catherine also, also born in Wurttemburg, emigrated from Germany before 1862, settling in Pennsylvania. Family lore has John arriving in the United States at age seventeen and becoming a citizen when he was twenty-three. He also fought in the Civil War. Another of John's and Catherine's great grandchildren is Richard Schultz Schweiker, a former U.S. Congressman, Unites States Senator (R-PA), and later the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Cabinet of President Reagan.

The Ancestry, Family Search and Rootsweb search engines show that many if not most of the listed Schweiker families were born and lived in Wurttemberg, Germany, with ancestors dating back to the 1500s. And John B was not the only young Schweiker to emigrate to the young Unites States. Several descendant lines exist today. It is interesting if not coincidental that another male Schweiker was involved in Pennsylvania politics. Mark S. Schweiker was Governor of Pennsylvania from 2000 to 2003 and yet according to Wikipedia, an internet encyclopedia, he is not a close relative of Richard S. Schweiker as is commonly believed.

AND THE UNKNOWN...While many Schweikers are shown on internet search engines, present information does not exit to easily identify the parents of John B. Schweiker. Hopefully one day this will change.

It would also add to the knowledge of the Schweiker history if the genealogical ancestral line of Mark Schweiker could be identified. Hardly any such internet information is available today.