Thomas Peter Swanger married Josephine E Maginn. She was born in 1875 in Leiperville, now Crum Lynne, daughter of James V. Maginn and Susanna Fenton. Her father James V. Maginn was a photographer with his father James J. Maginn, immigrant from Ireland and one of the earliest photographers in Chester.
Her mother Susanna Fenton, a long time schoolteacher in Chester and Ridley was unusual for the time for being an intellectual woman interested in community affairs and women's rights She encouraged her daughter Josephine to become a teacher. Josephine graduated from Chester Academy in 1893 and taught school for many years in Prospect Park
Thomas and Josephine settled in Crum Lynne where Thomas Peter worked at a bicycle store in Philadelphia. He would later work in the iron mills like his father becoming the superintendent of a rolling mill in the Cuban City of Cardenas. Later becoming a policeman in Prospect Park.
The couple's first son Laurence B. was born in April 1897.He fought in WWI and was gassed in France and blinded for two months. Although he recovered and came home his lungs were so damaged from the war that he died two years later from a bout with pneumonia
Thomas and Josephine had three more children. Ruth Swanger (June 1898), our ancestor Jared James (Oct.1900) and Thomas Lipton (Sept.1906). The children were all raised in the Catholic religion of their mother.
Thomas died of a heart attack in 1934 in Chester and was buried at Chester Rural Cemetery in Chester. Josephine died 1943 in Prospect Park and was buried on August 5th with her husband.