My Genealogy Hound

Dr. Frank Swope, an eminent physician and surgeon of Carthage, was born December 31, 1850, in Overton County, a son of Maj. A. A. and Elizabeth (McKinney) Swope. The father is of German descent, born in 1819 in Cumberland County, Ky. His parents died when in his seventh year, and he made his home with his grandfather, George Swope, until his majority. His educational advantages were very limited, and his first work was in a coal mine. He soon was given a place in the office, devoting every spare moment to learning, as he had an ambition to cultivate his mind. Later he attended school, and then began teaching. At the age of twenty-four he began studying law. October, 1847, he was examined by ex-Gen. Wm. Campbell, and admitted to the bar. The same year he married Miss McKinney, a native of Overton County, who died in 1861. In 1865 he wedded Bethenia Douglass, nee Crutcher. For several years he made Jamestown, Fentress County, his home; there he did his first practicing and became deputy clerk of the circuit court, and was afterward elected clerk but resigned to resume his professional practice. In 1850 he moved to Lingston, and the same year was appointed as major of the State militia, Overton County. In 1865 he came to Carthage, where he has since resided. He has always been a stanch Jeffersonian Democrat. In 1882 he was elected member of the State Legislature, and took an active part in settling the State debt. He is one of the oldest citizens, most able lawyers, and respected men in the county. He has always been of the highest moral standing, never using liquor, and has ever been a leader in the temperance work. He has never sworn an oath. In 1882 he had the misfortune to lose his wife. Dr. Swope was fourteen years of age when his parents came to Carthage, and in that place he received his literary education in the Geneva Male and Female College, also at the Knoxville University of Tennessee, where he remained two years. At the age of twenty he began the study of medicine under tuition of Dr. A. H. King of Carthage. In 1873 he entered the Louisville Medical College, attending two sessions. He located at Granville, Jackson County, November, 1874. Three years later, owing to ill health, he returned to Carthage, where he has since been actively engaged. December 18, 1884, he married Miss Mary Fuller, daughter of J. B. Love, who was born in Edgefield, Davidson County, Tenn., in 1862. They have one child, James B. Dr. Swope is one of the leading and most popular physicians of the county, and has an extensive and lucrative practice. He is in both private and professional life, highly esteemed. He is a stanch Democrat, giving his first presidential vote for Horace Greeley.