Silas C. Swallow

Methodist preacher Silas Comfort (1808 - 1868) was a courageous anti-slavery member of the Genesee, Oneida and Missouri Conferences. While serving in St. Louis, he admitted as evidence in a church trial the testimony of a Negro – which was forbidden in public trials in Missouri. He was censured by his Conference, but that censure was overturned by the 1840 General Conference – which then bowed to Southern pressure and passed a resolution prohibiting the testimony of Negroes in church trials within states that forbade such testimony in public trials. That resolution was rescinded in 1844.

Courageous anti-alcohol Methodist preacher of the Central Pennsylvania Conference Silas Comfort Swallow (1839 - 1930) could not have been any better or more prophetically named. He was born of staunch Methodist parents, his father being a trustee of Wyoming Seminary. Before entering the ministry he taught school, studied law, and served as a lieutenant in the Civil War. Having entered the Baltimore Conference in 1863, he became a charter member of the Central Pennsylvania Conference upon its organization in 1869. An eloquent and forceful preacher and revivalist, he was eminently successful as a church builder, presiding elder, and editor of The Central Pennsylvania Methodist. In that latter position he vigorously attacked alcohol, spiritual indifference, and corruption in state government. His enemies led a campaign to have him prosecuted and convicted of slander, which verdict was later reversed by the State Superior Court.

Dr. Swallow’s official conference service record lists the following appointments: 1863-64 Milton circuit; 1864-66 Berwick; 1866-68 Catawissa; 1868-71 Newberry; 1871-73 Williamsport Third Street; 1873-75 Milton; 1875-77 Altoona Eighth Avenue; 1877-81 presiding elder, Altoona District; 1881-84 York First; 1884-86 Williamsport Grace; 1886-87 agent, Dickinson College; 1887-92 Harrisburg Ridge Avenue; 1892-02 superintendent, Harrisburg Methodist book room; 1902-08 no appointment, by request; 1908-30 retired. He was the Prohibition Party’s candidate for mayor of Harrisburg, state legislature, State Treasurer, Governor and in 1904 for President of the United States. Being an editor, Swallow made certain that his life story was recorded for posterity. Upon reaching his 70th birthday in 1909, he published a 482 page hardback autobiography:III Score and X – Selections, Collections, Recollections of Seventy Busy Years. This proved to be so successful that he came out with periodic updates as follows.

   Toasts and Roasts of III Score and X, 1911
   Then and Now – Some Reminiscences of an Octogenarian, 1919
   IV Score and More, 1922

Other booklets and pamphlets by Swallow, all of which are preserved in the archives of the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church, range in date and content from his 1879 Camp Meetings and the Sabbath to his 1917 A Sermon on Thanksgiving and Thanksliving.