8. Joshua and Caleb Swingley, Randolph County's Oldest Twins

This was originally printed in The Union City Eagle, August 9, 1917.

  The above picture contains the oldest set of twins in the state. They are Joshua and Caleb Swingley. They are eighty-five years of age, having been born in Antioch, Ohio, on February 2, 1832, which at that early date was considered the frontier of the United States.
  In the year 1849 the parents began to feel the march of civilization westward and with their family took up the journey westward and settled in Stoney Creek Township, Randolph County, when the twins were seventeen years of age. Here the family remained, the young men becoming instructors in the schools, a profession they followed for several years.
  Both were married in the year 1852. Unto Joshua and his wife were born eight children, while Caleb and his wife became the parents of nine children, several of whom have passed to the great beyond.
  Although this part of the country at that time was nothing more than a vast wilderness, they believed in the future and lived to see the neighborhood become thickly populated and become one of the richest farming communities in the county. Joshua and Caleb Swingley are considered two of the township's most substantial farmers.
  Joshua, whose picture appears on the left of the group, takes great pride in the fact that he owns the Andrew Riley homestead. Andrew Riley was the grandfather of the great Hoosier poet, James Whitcomb Riley, and oftimes during his lifetime, the poet took great pleasure in visiting the old place and spending the day with Mr. Swingley.
  Joshua Swingley is the grandfather of Mrs. William Farmer of Union City. He has visited here on many occasions and has many friends who hope he and his twin brother will live to enjoy many more years.
  Jonathon, whose likeness appears in the center of the group, is another brother and is ninety years of age. He is as spry and active as his twin brothers, although five years their senior. His home is at Amboy, Indiana.
  Joshua and Caleb live on farms two and one-half miles south of Parker, Indiana, near the place where their parents settled with their family in 1849 and live within a mile of each other. They have been residents of Stoney Creek Township for sixty-eight years.
  These men formed the habit several years ago of wearing their beards trimmed alike but on this occasion, the photographer caught them otherwise. They are both hearty and are enjoying the best of health, being more active than many men several years their junior.