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For those who have never researched "Maryland Van" - I was able to visit his haunts near Hagerstown, MD. I went to St. James School located within the old Ringgold Manor (around 7 miles south of town). I wasn't able to find a lot of information on him at St. James School but there is a building dating to 1793 there and the steps of his or someone's home still form the front of the administration building. The old administration burned and they have kept the front steps intact from the old house before. There is a spring that feeds a lake in back of the administration building called "Fountain Head." That's where the name of the original house came from. I found no grave sites. His son John Swearingen married a Stull daughter whose father owned the original mill in Hagerstown. According to my information their home was where the Hagerstown baseball team plays right near the creek and then the mill was there on the creek (it burned down later). John Stull settled in the area before Mr. Hager but surely knew him. (Why isn't it called Stulltown?) There is also a small historical office in downtown Hagerstown where you can do research. John Swearingen and his wife eventually moved to PA. It was really neat walking the area where my two great (whatever) grandparents and families lived. I have now been able to visit - going back to Gerritt Van Swearingen all the areas my Swearingen direct descendents have lived - except for Thomas Van Swearingen (Somersett Co., MD?) and John Swearingen in PA. Thanks. Tom Swearingen
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