John M. Switzer was born around 1842 in Maryland to Isaac and Lucinda Switzer. His father was a farmer. The family moved to Richland, Ohio, in the 1850s, and Switzer settled in Decatur, Illinois, by the early 1860s.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on July 25, 1861, and mustered in as a private in Company B of the 8^th Illinois Infantry later that day. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 10½ tall, with brown hair and blue eyes. The regiment took part in the Battle of Fort Henry, the Battle of Fort Donelson, the Battle of Shiloh, the siege of Corinth, and the siege of Vicksburg. He eventually earned a promotion to sergeant, and he deserted on December 13, 1865.

 

Switzer returned to Ohio after the war, and he married Eliza Waxler there on March 25, 1869. They had at least eight children: Irvin, born around 1870; Ida, born around 1871; Orah, born around 1872; John, born around 1874; Charles, born around 1876; William, born around 1879; Jacob, born around 1880; and Oliver, born around 1882. They lived in Delaware, Ohio, and Switzer worked as a farmer and day laborer. They moved to Dudley, Ohio, in the 1870s, and he died on May 6, 1883.

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