USA > Michigan > American Biographical History of Eminent and Self-made Men.: Michigan Volume > Part 29
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born near Sackett's Harbor, Jefferson County, New York, November 20, 1807. He is the son of Richard and Martha ( Seaman ) Swain. Thomas Sea- man,-the founder of his mother's family in this country, - came from Rehoboth, England, in 1696, and settled in Massachusetts, on a tract of land twelve miles east of Providence, which he named Rehoboth. There one of his grandsons preached until he was one hundred and four years old. Three others attained a similar age. Mrs. Swain had a mind of rare intelligence, cultivated by extensive reading; and was especially familiar with the Scriptures. She lived a widow thirty years, doing good. Her death occurred at Watervliet, in 1864, when she was ninety-three years old. Isaac Swain's father, Richard Swain, was a conscientious, hard working man, whose ancestry were among the earliest Quaker settlers in this country. They came over from Plymouth, in Devonshire, England, and settled in Salem; but removed to Nantucket, in 1690, on account of the persecutions which grew out of the Salem witchcraft excitement. Many of their descendants are living there at this day. Richard Swain was born in 1773, and was left an orphan at an early age. When he was eighteen, he engaged in mercantile and real estate business. In 1796, he mar- ried, and purchased a valuable tract of land on the east shore of Lake Cayuga, in the town of Scipio, Cayuga County. After he had improved the property for several years, the title proved to be defective, and he removed to Jefferson County, New York. There his son Isaac N. Swain passed the first nine years of his life. His home was near Sackett's Harbor; the scene of many events in the last war with England, and with her In- dian allies. He heard the first guns that were fired in the war, and remembers many exciting incidents which happened on the frontier. Hle acquired by this experience a horror of war and its attending evils, es- pecially drunkenness, which was so common among the soldiers and sailors of that time. In 1816 the family settled in a dense wilderness, on the Holland Purchase, since known as Royalton, in Niagara County, New York. His father made a large clearing and sowed with wheat, which he purchased at two and a half dollars a bushel, expecting that his first crop would pay for the land. The yield was excellent. The entire crop was reaped with sickles and thrashed with flails; and then hauled made his permanent home in Michigan. In 1831 he in wagons fifty-five miles, over bad roads, to the nearest bought some Government land, in what is now Spring Arbor, Jackson County; on this land he built a house, market,- now the city of Rochester, New York,- where it brought only twenty-five or twenty-eight cents a . and plowed and planted forty acres. While the work bushel. Other farm produce brought little or nothing; was in progress, a wandering tribe of l'ottawatomie potatoes selling for three cents a bushel, while Onon- ; Indians encamped near the place; and, for many days, dago salt cost seven dollars a barrel, and other articles, of merchandise were proportionally dear. The erection of the first school-house in that neighborhood was an event which Mr. Isaac N. Swain remembers vividly ; the
WAIN, ISAAC N., of Detroit, Michigan, was | building was completed in one day, by the farmers who came from many miles around. The first teacher received ten bushels of wheat per month and his board. Books were so scarce that Isaac Swain, when only ten years old, gladly dug potatoes two days for the use of Mr. Stone's Pike's Arithmetic; and husked corn four days to get money enough to buy a slate. This scarcity made him feel the value of books, and gave him a love for them which years have increased. . All the money given him by his father for Fourth of July, or general training day, was carefully hoarded to form a fund for the purchase of new books. The books thus obtained have now an honored place in his valuable library, and possess a charm outside of their intrinsic merit, con- nected, as they are, with the history of his early strug- gle and privations. In the fall of 1821, when Mr. Swain was fourteen years old, contracts were let, and the great work of constructing the Erie Canal commenced. The news spread that the contractors would pay a man with a team and scraper one dollar per day in cash ; and Mr. Swain persuaded his father to fit him out for the work, to which he went alone, and did good service. He returned, when the frosts prevented further labor, with his team and scraper in perfect condition, and all his wages in silver coin, which he placed in his mother's lap. Mr. Swain takes pride now in the fact that he was enabled to assist, even in so obscure a way, in the great work that served to make the products of the West accessible to the markets of the world. Mr. Swain's elementary education was continued in the log school-house, with the encouragement and assistance of his much loved mother, until he was sixteen. At that age, he secured a certificate as a teacher, and taught dur- ing the winters of the next four years. He devoted the proceeds to defraying his school expenses at the Middle- bury Academy, some forty miles distant, to which he was in the habit of walking, when he could be spared from work on the farm. lle sometimes accomplished the distance in one day. In order to obtain funds for a collegiate education, he went South and taught until his health failed. On his return North, after teaching a year, he made a prospecting tour of three months through Michigan, and purchased eighty acres of land near the present sight of Jackson. In 1830 he married Vallonia, daughter of Deacon William Smith, of Royalton, and
harrassed him, not only by begging, but by stealing and butchering his stock. They were finally moved West by order of the Government. Mr. Swain has had more than sixty years of frontier life, and familiar ac-
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quaintance with the various Indian tribes, from the Six | ners; prompt, courteous, and agreeable in all business Nations of New York State to the Sioux and Foxes of transactions ; and delights in relating his varied adven- the West; and, basing his opinions on his knowledge of | tures, especially to the young. He married, the second their character, believes the race must and ought to be time, September 1, 1859, Mrs. Eleanor J. Champion, of exterminated. In the early settlement of Michigan, Ypsilanti. She is still living.
wild beasts were troublesome, especially wolves; and Mr. Swain protected, only by his dog Ponto, and his rifle, had many rough encounters with them, which are evi- denced by the many scars he still carries. In 1834 he moved his residence about four miles nearer the vill. ge of Concord, on to lands which he owned there. There he continued his farm, carried on surveying and engineer-
WIFT, REV. MARCUS, of Detroit, was born in the township of Palmyra, Wayne County, New York, June 23, 1793. His father, General John
ing; and, as he acquired means, became interested in Swift, was originally from Connecticut, but was the first the lumber business,-running a mill, and engaging in landed proprietor of the township of Palmyra and the mercantile pursuits. He used his influence to secure a adjoining township of Macedon, and located the village canal or railroad in the vicinity of Concord. As he of Palmyra. He was commissioned a Brigadier-General failed to succeed, he once more removed into the dense in the War of 1812, and was killed, July 13, 1814, at forest, down the Paw Paw Valley, and settled at the the capture of Fort George. He was a man of strong present site of Watervliet, Berrien County, supposing he powers, which were inherited by his son. Mr. Marcus had made a certainty of being on the route of the Mich- Swift passed his youth in the occupations of farming igan Central Railroad, when it should be built. In this, and milling. He married, at the age of eighteen, Anna however, he was disappointed. The State sold its fran- O-band, whose father, Weaver Osband, was a soldier in chise to the present Michigan Central Railroad Company, the Revolution. Mr. Swift's mind was of a religious which departed from the State's plighted faith, and left and philanthropic type; and, when twenty years of age, Watervliet twenty miles off in the forest. Notwith-tand- he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. ing these unexpected obstacles, Mr. Swain prosecuted His early educational advantages having been somewhat his business enterprises with the utmost energy and suc- above the average of the pioneers of the time, he was cess. The time from 1855 to 1858 he spent in traveling soon after licensed to preach the Gospel. About the in the hope of restoring his wife's health. Change of same time, a sudden reverse of fortune caused him to air, however, proved unavailing. After her death, which seek a new home in the wilds of Michigan; and, in occurred in 1858, he bought twelve acres of land on the 1825. he lo. ated a tract of land in the present township western bank of the Detroit River, and commenced of Nankin, Wayne County, reaching Detroit October 9, its cultivation and adornment. In 1861, '02 and '63, of that year. At this time, but two teams of horses he built there one of the most substantial mansions were employed in moving emigrants to the interior, and of the West, which is now his home. Mr. Swain is neither team was just then available. A row-boat con- a man of considerable literary attainment; and has; veyed the emigrants, by way of the Detroit and Rouge formed a valuable library, which is one of his chief rivers, to a point near the present village of Dearborn, sources of delight. Though by birth, principle, and ; and the remainder of the journey was made by the aid education a Democrat, he has never sympathized with of three Indian ponies. Mr. Swift, with his wife and four children, and the family of Luther Reeve, who the so-called Democratic party since its first concession to the slave power, in 1850; and has voted with the " accompanied him, found quarters at the house of Ben- Republican party since 1864. During the civil war, he | jamin Williams, some three miles from their location. His cabin, consisting of but one room, accommodated all the party until the following spring. Without money, team, or human aid, except his two boys, aged respectively eight and twelve years, Mr. Swift got out the timber and all the accessories for building a log house. The house was completed and occupied the
gave his carnest influence and support to the victorious prosecution of the Union cause. He has sympathized with the temperance movement from its beginning; and has occasionally delivered public addresses on the sub- ject. He has especially urged new settlers, as they came in, to sign the temperance pledge, and keep it faithfully. Hle has never taken wine, or malt. or spritituous liquors following March, having been erected with no other help than that of the few settlers, who lent willing hands to roll up the logs for the body of the house. Before the building possessed door or window, it was dedicated to Aimighty God by prayer and singing. Mr. Swift's was emphatically a life of faith; and, as he
as a beverage, nor does he use tea, coffee, or tobacco. Hle is six feet two inches in height, and is compactly built. He has a full, flowing beard, iron grey hair, light, clear complexion, and a fine set of natural teeth. He has passed through many hardships, yet is as erect as most men of fifty. He is simple and easy in his man- | undertook no enterprise upon which he could not ask
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the divine blessing, he trusted implicitly to God. His | doctrines and discipline chiefly compiled by Mr. Swift. moral standard was high, and he would brook no devi- In May, 1843, a large convention of Methodists was ation from it. This is illustrated by his refusing to
shoot a fine buck which strayed into his enclosure on Sunday, during a time of great scarcity of food. The fact that the next day the buck returned, bringing with him two of his fellows, and that Mr. Swift shot the three, may be regarded as a reward for his faith, or a happy accident, according as one's belief inclines him. Mr. Swift believes the animals were mercifully sent. The same attribute of trust led him, during a time of threat- ening want, in the summer of 1826, to ask credit of an acquaintance and trader in Detroit, for supplies to the amount of twelve dollars, upon a full statement of his circumstances. Pay day came, but no money; trembling and disconsolate, Mr. Swift resolved to see his creditor and tell him his extremity, when he unex- pectedly received a letter from his native place with an inclosure of thirteen dollars. The townships of Red- ford, Livonia, Nankin, and Dearborn, were, at this time, embraced in one, under the name of the township of Bucklin; and settlers were coming in rapidly. In 1827 Mr. Swift was elected Supervisor, then a most important office. He was elected for nine successive years, and then declined to serve longer, wishing to give his attention wholly to the sacred ministry, which was the main purpose of his life. He also served as Justice of the Peace, under appointment by President
Jackson, until the admission of Michigan as a State.
Mr. Swift was, from the first, a preacher and missionary among the settlers, holding services regularly on Sun- days, at convenient points. The Methodist Episcopal Church having organized a conference, in 1833, he took charge of the Oakland circuit, involving a ride of one hundred and twenty-five miles. This he made every
. four weeks, preaching thirty-one times each month, and receiving, in payment for two years' services, the sum of one hundred and twenty-five dollars, and almost every known article except money. The pleasures and trials of the pioneer preacher need not be here detailed. After a year's subsequent labor on Plymouth circuit, Mr. Swift withdrew from further conference supervision, and performed voluntary labor, preaching every Sab- bath, and sometimes on week days, with no compensa- tion except occasional contributions from the indigent people whom he served. Ile always responded with alacrity to calls for pastoral service, often taking a horse from the plow to go and preach one of the funeral sermons for which he was famous. Mr. Swift dissolved
his connection with the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1841, uniting with others in a written communication to
held in Utica, New York, to which Mr. Swift was a delegate, and at which nine States were represented. This convention organized the Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America, with about one hundred and seventy preachers, representing eight thousand members. This organization absorbed that formed in Michigan two years before. It is needless to say that this schism grew out of the agitation of the slavery question in the church, Mr. Swift having been among the first to take
antislavery grounds. As seen above, he was substan- tially the father of Wesleyan Methodism, his agitation of the slavery question beginning as early as 1835. In the conference, with none to second him, he insisted that the church should take such action as would show to the world that, in its councils, the higher law gov- erned. While regarding with the amplest charity those who differed with him, "his heart burned in him like a fire," and the wrongs and sufferings of the slaves stung every fiber of his sympathetic nature with pain. When such a man feels, he works, regardless of con- sequences. Though Mr. Swift had filled all the require- ments and passed a complete and satisfactory examination, the Bishop and conference refused to ordain him an elder, except upon the condition that he cease the agi- tation of the slavery question. The spirit of his man- hood arose in rebellion at the infamous proposal; he threw his whole soul into the warfare, and his with- drawal from the church became a necessity. Nothing could separate him from the love of liberty; and all cries of "peace, peace," were answered with "first pure, then peaceable." He became the subject of mob vio- lence, his house was burned over his head, and property he had gained by patient industry was destroyed by ruthless hands. Though not a Garrisonian abolitionist, Mr. Swift acted with most of the antislavery organiza- tions, prior to their being merged into the Republican party, in 1856. The antislavery agitation, and its effect upon both parties and churches, is matter of history, as is also the self-sacrifice of its devotees. Mr. Swift's work increased in its earnestness and in- tensity until the final overthrow of the "sum of all villainies." In 1865, while preaching in the Baptist' Church at Northville, then his residence, he was taken with a chill; and, being removed to the home of his youngest son, Dr. J. M. Swift, expired, February 19, after an illness of six days. His last words were, "Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, accord-
ing to thy words, for mine eyes have seen thy salva- tion," referring to the near close of the war and fall of
the conference, in which the reasons for withdrawal slavery. He also said, "The great principles for which were fully stated. In May, 1841, an organization of I labored and fought, amid reverses and persecutions,
seceding ministers was effected, under the name of the are now the ruling sentiment of the nation. I have . Wesleyan Methodist Church, according to a book of | lived in a glorious age, and my eyes have seen the
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powers of darkness give way before the reign of liberty | with his esprit de corps, insured him an extensive and and equality." Socially, Mr. Swift was kind, benevo- lent, and hospitable, of a cheerful, sanguine tempera- ment, and possessed of a considerable fund of humor. In person, he was six feet three inches in height, gaunt
lucrative practice, and gave him a wide reputation. In IS67 he was thrown from a carriage, and so severely injured as to be forced to retire from the more arduous duties of a country physician, and turn his attention to and muscular; physically designed by nature to endure |mercantile pursuits. He is still a leading physician in " the hardships of pioneer life, and protect the brave spirit | his section, being frequently called to consult with the
fighting the long battle of reform. Faculty of the University, and medical men of Detroit and the surrounding country. Ile is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society. He aided in the organ- ization of the Union Medical Society of Oakland, Wayne, and Washtenaw counties, which he served as presiding WIFT, HON. JOHN MARCUS, of Northville, officer. He has been elected a member of various other Michigan, was born in Nankin, Wayne County, medical societies, both in this country and in England. February 11, 1832. He is the grandson of Gen- In 1875 he was a delegate to the American Medical eral John Swift, a prominent citizen of Palmyra, New Association. In 1864 he was elected to the Legislature York, and the youngest son of the Rev. Marcus Swift, | from the Fourth District. He has been an earnest and one of the early settlers in Michigan. Ili- mother was active Republican from the birth of that party. Previ- Anna Osband, a daughter of Weaver Osband, a soldier | ous to its existence, he was an old-time abolitionist, of the Revolution. His parents emigrated to Mich- 'and an ardent advocate of the rights of the slave. The igan in 1826, and settled on a farm in Nankin. Here outspoken defense of his principles gained for him in Doctor Swift's youth was passed with such limited edu- childhood the contemptuous title of the "little nigger cational advantages a. the pioneer days afforded, 'preacher." A well-read man, not only in his profession, and here his mother died when he was but ten years but also in much of the science, literature, and politics old. His father afterwards married Huldah (. Peck, ; of the day, and ever reading and thinking, he is ready who became the boy's teacher during the hours when ' on all suitable occasions to give utterance to his views, he was released from farm work. His additional school | and defend them with earnestness and ability. He facilities consisted of one year in the common school at speaks easily and with emphasis on subjects in which he Plymouth, and three terms at Griffin Academy, Ypsi- is interested, particularly on those having a moral bear- lanti, previous to his thirteenth year; and one term- ing. At the age of ten years, he united with the shortened by illness induced by overwork-at college in ! Wesleyan Methodist Church. He disagreed, however, his nineteenth year. Often he studied with his book with that body on the subject of secret societies, and, fastened to the plough-handle, as he drove his team: in maturer years, allowed his connection with it to and acquired much in the long winter evenings in his lapse. He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, and father's farm-house kitchen. A retentive memory and of the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows. In 1876, a taste for reading enabled him, in a great measure, to with his wife and daughter, he joined the Presbyterian Church, with the understanding that he was not required to assent to any doctrines but those held by all Evan- gelical Churches. Hle is the beloved teacher of the
overcome the lack of early tuition. In 1851 he com- menced the study of medicine. He received his diploma, in 1854, from the Eclectic Medical Institute at Cincinnati, Ohio. Rush Medical College, Chicago, conferred a | large and flourishing Bible-class connected with that degree upon him in 1864, on recommendations from Z. Pitcher, M. D., of Detroit. Prof. Moses Gunn, and other medical men of note, in consideration of his val-
church, and is actively interested in Sunday-school work. Hle gives time, money, and influence to aid the various churches in his village; and they are indebted uable contributions to current medical literature, and ! to his freedom from sectarian bias for services in Sun- original treatment of diseases, particularly diptheria. day-schools, business and religious meetings, and in the Doctor Swift established himself in Wayne County in / choirs which have been successfully instructed by him. 1853; and entered upon the practice of his profession in | Hle has a good knowledge of music, and a fine tenor connection with an older brother, Dr. Orson R. Swift, which connection continued about three years. Doctor
voice. Ile has made great sacrifice in the interests of sacred and secular music; and to him is largely due the Swift, in his medical course as a student, exhibited, in . wide-spread reputation of Northville as a musical town. the different departments of study, unusual powers of He has always been an advocate of total abstinence application, quick discernment, and ready analysis. He | from intoxicating liquors, and has given his support to brought these requisites, so essential to success in medi- cine, into his profession, with a determination ever to
the temperance cause in its various phases of action. As a Christian physician, he has ever felt it his duty in be abreast of the times. These qualifications, coupled | all cases of serious sickness, to know the relations of his
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patients toward their Maker; and is often heard direct- | The field not being sufficiently large for that branch of ing them to Jesus Christ, and encouraging them with | the profession, which he preferred, he removed to De- the hopes and consolations of the Gospel. In 1876 a troit; at which place, for the past ten years, he has made the treatment of the eye and ear a specialty. After a practice of five years here, he went abroad, and spent several months in the leading hospitals of Europe. Doc- tor Smith is a member of the American Medical Associa- tion ; Vice-President of the State Medical Society of Michigan, and of the Detroit Medical Library Associa- tion. He was a delegate to the International Medical Congress held at Philadelphia, in 1876, representing the State Medical Society from the Tenth Congressional District. He was also a member of the International Opthalmological Congress held in New York City, in 1876. He is opthalmic and aural surgeon to St. Mary's Hospital, and surgeon in charge of St. Mary's Free Eye and Ear Infirmary. He married, at Buffalo, New York, on the 25th of June, 1866, Miss Jennie A. Townsend, of that city. Doctor Smith ranks high in the regular profession and in his specialty, and has an extensive and lucrative practice. commission was appointed by Governor Bagley to locate the State House of Correction. The commissioners were : Hon. H. Rich, of Ionia; Charles T. Hills, of Muskegon; and Hon. J. M. Swift. The work of the commission was satisfactorily performed by the location of the house at Ionia. Doctor Swift married, February 11, 1852, Emily B. Barker, daughter of Captain George J. Bar- ker, of Grand Rapids. They have one child, -Mrs. George A. Milne,-who inherits musical talents from both her parents. The orphan children of his brother, Dr. Orson R. Swift, of whom he was guardian during their minority, hold places side by side with his own daughter in their uncle's heart and home. Marcus G. B. Swift, the nephew, resides in Fall River, Massachu- sets; the niece is Mrs. James A. Dubnar, of Detroit. Doctor Swift is a member of the School Board, and is active in all matters pertaining to the moral and material growth of Northville. He occupies various places of public and private trust, and his advice and judgment are highly esteemed. He is in the prime of life, and, with his experience, varied acquisitions, and continued habits of study, may still anticipate many years of happy usefulness.
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