WILLIAM DAVID SWANN, active vice president of the Guaranty State Bank, of Tyler, Texas, has spent fiftysix years as a resident of Smith county. The record of his activity and of his family is therefore of interest in this work of Texas biography.
William David Swann is a native of Sumpter county, Alabama, and was born March 5, 1845. In 1856 he accompanied his father and family to Texas, and here he has since made his home.
Of his father and grandfather, James H. and Isaac Swann, respectively, we record that the latter, a native of the Emerald Isle, came as a young man to America and cast his fortunes with the people of South Carolina, where he married a Miss Sims. Their children were James H.; Caroline, who became Mrs. Ben F. Marshall and died in Carroll county, Mississippi; Elam F., who passed away in Tyler, Texas, and left a family; William, who died in Grimes county, Texas; Amanda, who married Richard Jenkins and died in Smith county, Texas; Tinsy, who married a Mr. Ellis and went to Mobile, Alabama, where both died, leaving several children who were reared in the homes of Isaac and Samuel D. Swann, of Smith county, Texas; Thomas, Isaac and Samuel all had families when they passed away in Smith county, as did Jack, who died in Tyler.
James H. Swann, a native of Alabama, died in Smith county in 1862, only a few years after his settlement here. He had established his home ten miles north of Tyler, in what was then known as the "Hopewell' community, since named the Swann community, and where at the time of his death he was successfully engaged in farming and owned a number of slaves. He was a man of much force, clung tenaciously to honor as man's best asset, and performed every personal obligation as a sacred duty. He belonged to no church, but he practiced those moral precepts that are everywhere recognized as the mark of a true man. It was said by a well-known minister of the county, that "While the Barron and the Swann families produced no statesmen or eminent men of the professions, he had never seen a shabby shoat among the lot." During the Civil war James H. Swann's attitude was that of a secessionist, and he passed away without knowing the fate of his two sons who enlisted in the Southern cause.
James H. Swann married Miss Margaret Sims, whose parents were farmers in Sumpter county, Alabama. They were married at Marengo, and Mrs. Swann's death occurred in Sumpter County, Texas. The children born to them were as follows: Martha, who died, unmarried; Fannie became the wife of D. S. Lavender and spent her life in Smith County, Texas; Thomas died in Smith County in 1908 and left a family of ten children; Irene is Mrs. Ham Thompson, of Smith county; William D., of Tyler; Sallie A. married Newton Stovall and resides in Eastland county, Texas. For his second wife James H. Swann married Mrs. Margaret Stephens, and she bore him four children: Henry M., who resides near San Angelo, Texas; John H., of Comanche County, Texas; James S., of Taylor County, and Alfred R., of Tyler, Texas.
William D. Swann attended the country school for three months yearly, until sixteen years of age. And the greater part of his boyhood was given to work in the fields, assisting in the cultivation of his father's crops. He was attracted to the army of the Confederacy when the war got well underway and served for a time in the Trans-Mississippi Department. In 1862 he enlisted for a long term in Douglass' Battery, First Texas, and joined the Army of the Tennessee. With his command he was in heavy engagements all the way to Atlanta, including Mission Ridge, Dalton, Peachtree Creek, Kennesaw Mountain, Ringgold, and several battles in defense of Atlanta His command formed a part of Gen. Pat Cleburne's army in the Confederate force under Hood that made a raid into Tennessee and fought at Franklin, where Cleburne and Adams were killed, and at Nashville, where the usefulness of Hood's army as a fighting machine was destroyed. Then the battery to which Mr. Swann belonged retreated to Columbus, Mississippi, and there spent the rest of the winter. In the spring of 1865, it joined the Confederate resistance at Mobile. When Forts Blakely and Spanish fell the battery retreated to Artesia, Mississippi, where it surrendered and was paroled.
Instead of returning to Texas at the end of the war, Mr. Swann went to Sumpter County, Alabama, to his relatives, and remained there until the fall of 1866. In the spring of that year, he made arrangements to grow a crop on rented land on the shares, having no means with which to maintain himself while a crop was coming on. He continued as a tenant for three years. Then he engaged in freighting between Tyler, Marshall, and Jefferson. There being no railroad in this section of the country at that time, the years he spent hauling goods showed a profit sufficient to enable him to buy and pay for a farm. He resumed his former vocation and carried on the industry expansively and extensively until 1907. During this time he amassed a fortune in land, represented by 1800 acres in Smith County and a half interest in a ranch with his brother, in Jones County, Texas.
The health of his wife compelled Mr. Swann to abandon Smith County after he had quit farming and given four years to merchandising with his son at Swann, Texas, and he moved to San Angelo, in the hope that the climatic change would restore the vanishing vigor of Mrs. Swann. Conditions arrayed themselves so that he returned home in a few months and he then took up his residence in Tyler. That was in 1908. Here Mrs. Swann passed away on July 15, 1911. She was formerly Miss Sallie H. Hitt, and her parents were Lazarus and Rutha C. Hitt, from Sumpter County, Alabama. She and Mr. Swann were married on January 15, 1873, and the children of their union are as follows: William R., a merchant of Swann, Texas, married Miss Cordelia Shank, and their children are Ione, Sadie, Nellie, William, and Gladys; J. Roy, the second son is a farmer and stockman near Swann; Fred died at the age of twenty-five years, unmarried; Miss Irene E. is a music teacher in Tyler and Miss Bessie E. is a teacher in the public schools of this city; Elam F. and Harold are young men preparing themselves for business careers.
Mr. Swann built his present modern residence on Mary and Bryan Streets in 1912. Since coming in contact with commercial activity in Tyler he has been drawn into it as a banker, and since February 1910, has been active vice president of the Guaranty State Bank. His political affiliations have always been with the Democratic party, and his religious faith is that set forth in the creed of the Baptist church, with which he has been identified as a member for a period of thirty-five years.
Source:
A History of Texas and Texans
Volume 5
By Frank White Johnson, Eugene Campbell Barker, Ernest William Winkler · 1914
Contributor: Kerry Ann Szymanski # 49782268
Wife:
Sarah "Sallie" Hitt-Swann
Parents:
James Harris Swann
Margaret Nancy Sims
William David Swann is a native of Sumpter county, Alabama, and was born March 5, 1845. In 1856 he accompanied his father and family to Texas, and here he has since made his home.
Of his father and grandfather, James H. and Isaac Swann, respectively, we record that the latter, a native of the Emerald Isle, came as a young man to America and cast his fortunes with the people of South Carolina, where he married a Miss Sims. Their children were James H.; Caroline, who became Mrs. Ben F. Marshall and died in Carroll county, Mississippi; Elam F., who passed away in Tyler, Texas, and left a family; William, who died in Grimes county, Texas; Amanda, who married Richard Jenkins and died in Smith county, Texas; Tinsy, who married a Mr. Ellis and went to Mobile, Alabama, where both died, leaving several children who were reared in the homes of Isaac and Samuel D. Swann, of Smith county, Texas; Thomas, Isaac and Samuel all had families when they passed away in Smith county, as did Jack, who died in Tyler.
James H. Swann, a native of Alabama, died in Smith county in 1862, only a few years after his settlement here. He had established his home ten miles north of Tyler, in what was then known as the "Hopewell' community, since named the Swann community, and where at the time of his death he was successfully engaged in farming and owned a number of slaves. He was a man of much force, clung tenaciously to honor as man's best asset, and performed every personal obligation as a sacred duty. He belonged to no church, but he practiced those moral precepts that are everywhere recognized as the mark of a true man. It was said by a well-known minister of the county, that "While the Barron and the Swann families produced no statesmen or eminent men of the professions, he had never seen a shabby shoat among the lot." During the Civil war James H. Swann's attitude was that of a secessionist, and he passed away without knowing the fate of his two sons who enlisted in the Southern cause.
James H. Swann married Miss Margaret Sims, whose parents were farmers in Sumpter county, Alabama. They were married at Marengo, and Mrs. Swann's death occurred in Sumpter County, Texas. The children born to them were as follows: Martha, who died, unmarried; Fannie became the wife of D. S. Lavender and spent her life in Smith County, Texas; Thomas died in Smith County in 1908 and left a family of ten children; Irene is Mrs. Ham Thompson, of Smith county; William D., of Tyler; Sallie A. married Newton Stovall and resides in Eastland county, Texas. For his second wife James H. Swann married Mrs. Margaret Stephens, and she bore him four children: Henry M., who resides near San Angelo, Texas; John H., of Comanche County, Texas; James S., of Taylor County, and Alfred R., of Tyler, Texas.
William D. Swann attended the country school for three months yearly, until sixteen years of age. And the greater part of his boyhood was given to work in the fields, assisting in the cultivation of his father's crops. He was attracted to the army of the Confederacy when the war got well underway and served for a time in the Trans-Mississippi Department. In 1862 he enlisted for a long term in Douglass' Battery, First Texas, and joined the Army of the Tennessee. With his command he was in heavy engagements all the way to Atlanta, including Mission Ridge, Dalton, Peachtree Creek, Kennesaw Mountain, Ringgold, and several battles in defense of Atlanta His command formed a part of Gen. Pat Cleburne's army in the Confederate force under Hood that made a raid into Tennessee and fought at Franklin, where Cleburne and Adams were killed, and at Nashville, where the usefulness of Hood's army as a fighting machine was destroyed. Then the battery to which Mr. Swann belonged retreated to Columbus, Mississippi, and there spent the rest of the winter. In the spring of 1865, it joined the Confederate resistance at Mobile. When Forts Blakely and Spanish fell the battery retreated to Artesia, Mississippi, where it surrendered and was paroled.
Instead of returning to Texas at the end of the war, Mr. Swann went to Sumpter County, Alabama, to his relatives, and remained there until the fall of 1866. In the spring of that year, he made arrangements to grow a crop on rented land on the shares, having no means with which to maintain himself while a crop was coming on. He continued as a tenant for three years. Then he engaged in freighting between Tyler, Marshall, and Jefferson. There being no railroad in this section of the country at that time, the years he spent hauling goods showed a profit sufficient to enable him to buy and pay for a farm. He resumed his former vocation and carried on the industry expansively and extensively until 1907. During this time he amassed a fortune in land, represented by 1800 acres in Smith County and a half interest in a ranch with his brother, in Jones County, Texas.
The health of his wife compelled Mr. Swann to abandon Smith County after he had quit farming and given four years to merchandising with his son at Swann, Texas, and he moved to San Angelo, in the hope that the climatic change would restore the vanishing vigor of Mrs. Swann. Conditions arrayed themselves so that he returned home in a few months and he then took up his residence in Tyler. That was in 1908. Here Mrs. Swann passed away on July 15, 1911. She was formerly Miss Sallie H. Hitt, and her parents were Lazarus and Rutha C. Hitt, from Sumpter County, Alabama. She and Mr. Swann were married on January 15, 1873, and the children of their union are as follows: William R., a merchant of Swann, Texas, married Miss Cordelia Shank, and their children are Ione, Sadie, Nellie, William, and Gladys; J. Roy, the second son is a farmer and stockman near Swann; Fred died at the age of twenty-five years, unmarried; Miss Irene E. is a music teacher in Tyler and Miss Bessie E. is a teacher in the public schools of this city; Elam F. and Harold are young men preparing themselves for business careers.
Mr. Swann built his present modern residence on Mary and Bryan Streets in 1912. Since coming in contact with commercial activity in Tyler he has been drawn into it as a banker, and since February 1910, has been active vice president of the Guaranty State Bank. His political affiliations have always been with the Democratic party, and his religious faith is that set forth in the creed of the Baptist church, with which he has been identified as a member for a period of thirty-five years.
Source:
A History of Texas and Texans
Volume 5
By Frank White Johnson, Eugene Campbell Barker, Ernest William Winkler · 1914
Contributor: Kerry Ann Szymanski # 49782268
Wife:
Sarah "Sallie" Hitt-Swann
Parents:
James Harris Swann
Margaret Nancy Sims
WILLIAM DAVID SWANN, active vice president of the Guaranty State Bank, of Tyler, Texas, has spent fiftysix years as a resident of Smith county. The record of his activity and of his family is therefore of interest in this work of Texas biography.
William David Swann is a native of Sumpter county, Alabama, and was born March 5, 1845. In 1856 he accompanied his father and family to Texas, and here he has since made his home.
Of his father and grandfather, James H. and Isaac Swann, respectively, we record that the latter, a native of the Emerald Isle, came as a young man to America and cast his fortunes with the people of South Carolina, where he married a Miss Sims. Their children were James H.; Caroline, who became Mrs. Ben F. Marshall and died in Carroll county, Mississippi; Elam F., who passed away in Tyler, Texas, and left a family; William, who died in Grimes county, Texas; Amanda, who married Richard Jenkins and died in Smith county, Texas; Tinsy, who married a Mr. Ellis and went to Mobile, Alabama, where both died, leaving several children who were reared in the homes of Isaac and Samuel D. Swann, of Smith county, Texas; Thomas, Isaac and Samuel all had families when they passed away in Smith county, as did Jack, who died in Tyler.
James H. Swann, a native of Alabama, died in Smith county in 1862, only a few years after his settlement here. He had established his home ten miles north of Tyler, in what was then known as the "Hopewell' community, since named the Swann community, and where at the time of his death he was successfully engaged in farming and owned a number of slaves. He was a man of much force, clung tenaciously to honor as man's best asset, and performed every personal obligation as a sacred duty. He belonged to no church, but he practiced those moral precepts that are everywhere recognized as the mark of a true man. It was said by a well-known minister of the county, that "While the Barron and the Swann families produced no statesmen or eminent men of the professions, he had never seen a shabby shoat among the lot." During the Civil war James H. Swann's attitude was that of a secessionist, and he passed away without knowing the fate of his two sons who enlisted in the Southern cause.
James H. Swann married Miss Margaret Sims, whose parents were farmers in Sumpter county, Alabama. They were married at Marengo, and Mrs. Swann's death occurred in Sumpter County, Texas. The children born to them were as follows: Martha, who died, unmarried; Fannie became the wife of D. S. Lavender and spent her life in Smith County, Texas; Thomas died in Smith County in 1908 and left a family of ten children; Irene is Mrs. Ham Thompson, of Smith county; William D., of Tyler; Sallie A. married Newton Stovall and resides in Eastland county, Texas. For his second wife James H. Swann married Mrs. Margaret Stephens, and she bore him four children: Henry M., who resides near San Angelo, Texas; John H., of Comanche County, Texas; James S., of Taylor County, and Alfred R., of Tyler, Texas.
William D. Swann attended the country school for three months yearly, until sixteen years of age. And the greater part of his boyhood was given to work in the fields, assisting in the cultivation of his father's crops. He was attracted to the army of the Confederacy when the war got well underway and served for a time in the Trans-Mississippi Department. In 1862 he enlisted for a long term in Douglass' Battery, First Texas, and joined the Army of the Tennessee. With his command he was in heavy engagements all the way to Atlanta, including Mission Ridge, Dalton, Peachtree Creek, Kennesaw Mountain, Ringgold, and several battles in defense of Atlanta His command formed a part of Gen. Pat Cleburne's army in the Confederate force under Hood that made a raid into Tennessee and fought at Franklin, where Cleburne and Adams were killed, and at Nashville, where the usefulness of Hood's army as a fighting machine was destroyed. Then the battery to which Mr. Swann belonged retreated to Columbus, Mississippi, and there spent the rest of the winter. In the spring of 1865, it joined the Confederate resistance at Mobile. When Forts Blakely and Spanish fell the battery retreated to Artesia, Mississippi, where it surrendered and was paroled.
Instead of returning to Texas at the end of the war, Mr. Swann went to Sumpter County, Alabama, to his relatives, and remained there until the fall of 1866. In the spring of that year, he made arrangements to grow a crop on rented land on the shares, having no means with which to maintain himself while a crop was coming on. He continued as a tenant for three years. Then he engaged in freighting between Tyler, Marshall, and Jefferson. There being no railroad in this section of the country at that time, the years he spent hauling goods showed a profit sufficient to enable him to buy and pay for a farm. He resumed his former vocation and carried on the industry expansively and extensively until 1907. During this time he amassed a fortune in land, represented by 1800 acres in Smith County and a half interest in a ranch with his brother, in Jones County, Texas.
The health of his wife compelled Mr. Swann to abandon Smith County after he had quit farming and given four years to merchandising with his son at Swann, Texas, and he moved to San Angelo, in the hope that the climatic change would restore the vanishing vigor of Mrs. Swann. Conditions arrayed themselves so that he returned home in a few months and he then took up his residence in Tyler. That was in 1908. Here Mrs. Swann passed away on July 15, 1911. She was formerly Miss Sallie H. Hitt, and her parents were Lazarus and Rutha C. Hitt, from Sumpter County, Alabama. She and Mr. Swann were married on January 15, 1873, and the children of their union are as follows: William R., a merchant of Swann, Texas, married Miss Cordelia Shank, and their children are Ione, Sadie, Nellie, William, and Gladys; J. Roy, the second son is a farmer and stockman near Swann; Fred died at the age of twenty-five years, unmarried; Miss Irene E. is a music teacher in Tyler and Miss Bessie E. is a teacher in the public schools of this city; Elam F. and Harold are young men preparing themselves for business careers.
Mr. Swann built his present modern residence on Mary and Bryan Streets in 1912. Since coming in contact with commercial activity in Tyler he has been drawn into it as a banker, and since February 1910, has been active vice president of the Guaranty State Bank. His political affiliations have always been with the Democratic party, and his religious faith is that set forth in the creed of the Baptist church, with which he has been identified as a member for a period of thirty-five years.
Source:
A History of Texas and Texans
Volume 5
By Frank White Johnson, Eugene Campbell Barker, Ernest William Winkler · 1914
Contributor: Kerry Ann Szymanski # 49782268
Wife:
Sarah "Sallie" Hitt-Swann
Parents:
James Harris Swann
Margaret Nancy Sims
William David Swann is a native of Sumpter county, Alabama, and was born March 5, 1845. In 1856 he accompanied his father and family to Texas, and here he has since made his home.
Of his father and grandfather, James H. and Isaac Swann, respectively, we record that the latter, a native of the Emerald Isle, came as a young man to America and cast his fortunes with the people of South Carolina, where he married a Miss Sims. Their children were James H.; Caroline, who became Mrs. Ben F. Marshall and died in Carroll county, Mississippi; Elam F., who passed away in Tyler, Texas, and left a family; William, who died in Grimes county, Texas; Amanda, who married Richard Jenkins and died in Smith county, Texas; Tinsy, who married a Mr. Ellis and went to Mobile, Alabama, where both died, leaving several children who were reared in the homes of Isaac and Samuel D. Swann, of Smith county, Texas; Thomas, Isaac and Samuel all had families when they passed away in Smith county, as did Jack, who died in Tyler.
James H. Swann, a native of Alabama, died in Smith county in 1862, only a few years after his settlement here. He had established his home ten miles north of Tyler, in what was then known as the "Hopewell' community, since named the Swann community, and where at the time of his death he was successfully engaged in farming and owned a number of slaves. He was a man of much force, clung tenaciously to honor as man's best asset, and performed every personal obligation as a sacred duty. He belonged to no church, but he practiced those moral precepts that are everywhere recognized as the mark of a true man. It was said by a well-known minister of the county, that "While the Barron and the Swann families produced no statesmen or eminent men of the professions, he had never seen a shabby shoat among the lot." During the Civil war James H. Swann's attitude was that of a secessionist, and he passed away without knowing the fate of his two sons who enlisted in the Southern cause.
James H. Swann married Miss Margaret Sims, whose parents were farmers in Sumpter county, Alabama. They were married at Marengo, and Mrs. Swann's death occurred in Sumpter County, Texas. The children born to them were as follows: Martha, who died, unmarried; Fannie became the wife of D. S. Lavender and spent her life in Smith County, Texas; Thomas died in Smith County in 1908 and left a family of ten children; Irene is Mrs. Ham Thompson, of Smith county; William D., of Tyler; Sallie A. married Newton Stovall and resides in Eastland county, Texas. For his second wife James H. Swann married Mrs. Margaret Stephens, and she bore him four children: Henry M., who resides near San Angelo, Texas; John H., of Comanche County, Texas; James S., of Taylor County, and Alfred R., of Tyler, Texas.
William D. Swann attended the country school for three months yearly, until sixteen years of age. And the greater part of his boyhood was given to work in the fields, assisting in the cultivation of his father's crops. He was attracted to the army of the Confederacy when the war got well underway and served for a time in the Trans-Mississippi Department. In 1862 he enlisted for a long term in Douglass' Battery, First Texas, and joined the Army of the Tennessee. With his command he was in heavy engagements all the way to Atlanta, including Mission Ridge, Dalton, Peachtree Creek, Kennesaw Mountain, Ringgold, and several battles in defense of Atlanta His command formed a part of Gen. Pat Cleburne's army in the Confederate force under Hood that made a raid into Tennessee and fought at Franklin, where Cleburne and Adams were killed, and at Nashville, where the usefulness of Hood's army as a fighting machine was destroyed. Then the battery to which Mr. Swann belonged retreated to Columbus, Mississippi, and there spent the rest of the winter. In the spring of 1865, it joined the Confederate resistance at Mobile. When Forts Blakely and Spanish fell the battery retreated to Artesia, Mississippi, where it surrendered and was paroled.
Instead of returning to Texas at the end of the war, Mr. Swann went to Sumpter County, Alabama, to his relatives, and remained there until the fall of 1866. In the spring of that year, he made arrangements to grow a crop on rented land on the shares, having no means with which to maintain himself while a crop was coming on. He continued as a tenant for three years. Then he engaged in freighting between Tyler, Marshall, and Jefferson. There being no railroad in this section of the country at that time, the years he spent hauling goods showed a profit sufficient to enable him to buy and pay for a farm. He resumed his former vocation and carried on the industry expansively and extensively until 1907. During this time he amassed a fortune in land, represented by 1800 acres in Smith County and a half interest in a ranch with his brother, in Jones County, Texas.
The health of his wife compelled Mr. Swann to abandon Smith County after he had quit farming and given four years to merchandising with his son at Swann, Texas, and he moved to San Angelo, in the hope that the climatic change would restore the vanishing vigor of Mrs. Swann. Conditions arrayed themselves so that he returned home in a few months and he then took up his residence in Tyler. That was in 1908. Here Mrs. Swann passed away on July 15, 1911. She was formerly Miss Sallie H. Hitt, and her parents were Lazarus and Rutha C. Hitt, from Sumpter County, Alabama. She and Mr. Swann were married on January 15, 1873, and the children of their union are as follows: William R., a merchant of Swann, Texas, married Miss Cordelia Shank, and their children are Ione, Sadie, Nellie, William, and Gladys; J. Roy, the second son is a farmer and stockman near Swann; Fred died at the age of twenty-five years, unmarried; Miss Irene E. is a music teacher in Tyler and Miss Bessie E. is a teacher in the public schools of this city; Elam F. and Harold are young men preparing themselves for business careers.
Mr. Swann built his present modern residence on Mary and Bryan Streets in 1912. Since coming in contact with commercial activity in Tyler he has been drawn into it as a banker, and since February 1910, has been active vice president of the Guaranty State Bank. His political affiliations have always been with the Democratic party, and his religious faith is that set forth in the creed of the Baptist church, with which he has been identified as a member for a period of thirty-five years.
Source:
A History of Texas and Texans
Volume 5
By Frank White Johnson, Eugene Campbell Barker, Ernest William Winkler · 1914
Contributor: Kerry Ann Szymanski # 49782268
Wife:
Sarah "Sallie" Hitt-Swann
Parents:
James Harris Swann
Margaret Nancy Sims
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