1880: Sheriff Roswell Sartwell Mansion

photo credit: Ross Porter Collection

SHERIFF ROSWELL SARTWELL
Sheriff Roswell Sartwell, fourth child of famed
Smethport architect/builder Solomon Sartwell, 1827-1907. He spent most of his business career in the lumber and mercantile businesses following a short stint in the Union Army during 1861. He followed in his father's footsteps and was elected county sheriff in 1878. He married Mary A. Chapin, daughter of Henry Chapin 1829-1902. In 1880 they built the mansion at the corner of King and State Streets on property long owned by the Sartwell family.

Victorian Italianate Architecture
McKean County Sheriff Roswell Sartwell built this outstanding residence following the death of his father, Solomon Sartwell, Smethport pioneer and architect who had also served as sheriff for many years. The Sartwell mansion replaced the early Sartwell pioneer residence located just to the right of the home.

Sheriff's Race Ends In Upset
McKean County Miner, August 22, 1878
Roswell Sartwell of Smethport borough was nominated for Sheriff on the first ballot. The other candidates were James Broder of Bradford and deputy Windsor. Sartwell received 19 votes Broder 13 Windsor 2 This was blunder No. 2. Common sense and common fairness should have conceded the nomination to Broder. Bradford with its large vote was entitled to it. Broder is one of the best workers in the party and would poll a heavy vote by his personal popularity and influence. He asked for the nomination for Treasurer last fall and was kicked out in favor of a man who was so badly defeated at the polls that he hardly knew he was a candidate. He received the same treatment this year and his successful competitor will meet with the same experience at the polls that J. C. Backus did last fall. Can the party afford to set down on its best men, and nominate those in preference whose only claims are their ability to “set up” the conventions in their favor? Perhaps it can. Mr. Sartwell is a good neighbor and citizen. He could probably have filled the Sheriff’s office acceptably several years ago, but he is not the man that is wanted in that office today.

We would not advise him not to spend any money foolishly in that direction.



Sartwell Family History
from the History of Counties of McKean, Potter & Elk 1890, J.H. Beers Chicago

Roswell Sartwell of Smethport: The first of the Sartwell family in America was Simon Sartwell, who located at Charlestown, N.H. and was killed by the Indians while he was plowing on his farm. He had two sons, Obediah and John. Obediah lived in the town of Langdon, N.H. and had a family of six sones: Solomon, Phineas, Joel, Obedia, Thomas and Roswell. John had a family of nineteen sons and one daughter. Solomon, the eldest son of Obediah, was reared in Langdon, N.H. and was there married and later settled on Sartwell creek, in Potter county, Penn., and about 1815 moved to Farmers Valley, McKean county, where he died. He was twice married, and had a family of eight children: Betsey, born May 20, 1794; Solomon, January 16, 1796; Joel, April 16, 1798; Asa, August 19, 1800; Sally, February 13, 1803; Almond, November 14, 1806; Armena, July 11, 1808 and Cordelia, September 11, 1817. Solomon Sartwell, the eldest son of this family, removed when a young man to Rochester, N.Y., where he worked at the carpenter's trade, and thence came to Smethport, Penn. where he engaged extensively in the lumber and mercantile businesses. He was a prominent man in his day. He was sheriff of the county, was appointed associate judge, and at the time of his death was a justice of the peace. January 1, 1822, he married Sally, daughter of Isaac and Phoebe King, and they had six children: Alfred Mortimer, born December 30, 1822, died June 12, 1831; Chester King, born May 12, 1824; George Washington, born February 22, 1826; Roswell, born November 7, 1827; Mary, born February 28, 1830, died May 16, 1860, and Samuel Babcock, born April 8, 1833, died June 8, 1882. The father died August 24, 1876 and the mother October 28, 1877. Of these, Roswell, the fourth son, and whose name heads this sketch, enlisted in 1861 in company H, Fifty-eighth Regiment P.V.I., but was discharged after a short service on account of disability. He has been extensively engaged in the lumber and mercantile businesses,but is now living retired from active life. In 1878 he was elected sheriff of the county, and made an efficient officer. Mr. Sartwell married Mary A. daughter of Henry Chapin, and they have two sons, T.L. and F. C. T. L. is married and has one son, Roswell C. Mr. Roswell Sartwell is a member of the G.A.R. In politics he is a Democrat.