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in 1845. Three years later he entered the Franklin Medical College, remained there one year, and then entered Jefferson Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1851. He chose West Fairfield as a proper place in which to settle and begin the practice of his profession, which he followed up to the time of his death, April 30, 1902, and never found cause to regret his choice. He joined the Presbyterian Church at West Fairfield, and his political affiliations were with the Republican party. He served many years on the school board and in 1861 represented Westmoreland County in the Pennsylvania Legislature, making an enviable record. He was married in January, 1849, to Susan M. Ogden, the daughter of Col. Amos and Elizabeth Ogden. Their children were: Dr. J. Swan, the subject of this sketch; Dr. Amos O., a graduated of Hahnemann Medical College, who located in Bedford County, Pa., but now is practicing at Altoona, Pa.; Jefferson W., a member of the bar of Westmoreland County, located at Greensburg; and Dr. Joseph M., a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, Md., and Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. He practiced at West Fairfield with his father until the latter's death, then continued his father's practice until 1906, when he came to Johnstown.
On his mother's side Dr. J. Swan Taylor is descended from Dr. Joseph Ogden, who served as a distinguished surgeon on a British man of war, and is descended from the celebrated Scotch-Irish Ogden family of New Jersey. David Ogden, the eminent jurist, was born in 1707, and graduated from Yale University, then a college, in 1728. He served as judge of the Supreme Court of New Jersey and died in 1800. His son, Hon. Abraham Ogden, was the founder of Ogdensburg, N. Y., and was one of the greatest lawyers of the country in his day. He was the father of Thomas Ludlow Ogden, law partner of Alexander Hamilton, and with Hamilton helped draw up the articles of incorporation of the estate of Snug Harbor, a home for old sailors in New York City. He was also legal adviser for the Great Holland Land Company. Maj. Gen. Aaron Ogden, L. L. D., served with Washington during the Revolution, was governor of New Jersey, and served as president general of the Society of the Cincinnati from 1829 until 1839. He died April 19, 1839, at the age of 83 years.
The early education of J. Swan Taylor was received in the common schools of the township and he then attended Elder's Ridge Academy, Indiana County, Pa. From this he went to the Western Reserve Medical College at Cleveland, the Jefferson Medical, Philadelphia, Pa., and then to
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