Background
William Henry Swift was born on November 6, 1800 in Taunton, Massachussets, United States. He was the son of Dr. Foster Swift and Deborah (Delano) Swift, and brother of Joseph Gardner Swift.
William Henry Swift was born on November 6, 1800 in Taunton, Massachussets, United States. He was the son of Dr. Foster Swift and Deborah (Delano) Swift, and brother of Joseph Gardner Swift.
Entering the United States Military Academy as a cadet in August 1813, when William Swift was not yet thirteen years old, he remained at West Point until December 1818, when he left to accompany the expedition of Major Stephen H. Long to the Rocky Mountains, being allowed, however, to retain his cadetship.
William Swift was commissioned second lieutenant of artillery, July 1, 1819, being ranked at the foot of his class because his academic course was incomplete; and promoted first lieutenant, August 5, 1824.
Although nominally an artilleryman he was employed constantly on engineering duties, working not only on defensive projects but also on river and harbor improvement along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, on surveys for the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, for a projected canal across the Florida peninsula, and for several railroads.
The extensive internal improvements then being undertaken - railroads and canals - caused a greater demand for civil engineers than the profession could supply, and Swift's services, like those of some other military engineers, were lent by the government to private corporations for some time.
In August 1832 he was given the brevet rank of captain as an assistant topographical engineer and in July 1838 the actual rank, upon the creation of an independent corps of topographical engineers. The elaborate post route map constructed in 1830-32 was almost entirely his work.
From 1833 to 1843 he was on duty with the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and from then until 1849 he was the principal assistant in the topographical bureau in Washington.
He built a lighthouse on Minot's Ledge, near Cohasset, Massachussets, in 1847-48, which was carried away during the great storm of April 16, 1851, probably on account of unauthorized loading beyond the limit for which it was designed.
He resigned from the army, July 31, 1849, and became successively president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, now a part of the Pennsylvania system, and of the Massachusetts Western Railroad, now the Boston & Albany.
Of the occasional professional papers which he wrote, a report on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal was published in 1846 and one on the railroads of Massachusetts in 1856.
He died in New York.
William Swift's main achievement was the construction of the first skeleton iron tower lighthouse at the Black Rock Harbor, Connecticut in the United States, having studied this design while in Europe on government business in 1840-41. Another achievement was in his service as a president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, now a part of the Pennsylvania system, and of the Massachusetts Western Railroad, now the Boston & Albany. Swift was also a director of many corporations and the trusted financial adviser of Baring Brothers, of his brother-in-law, George W. Whistler, and others. In 1845, while still in the army, he had been chosen president of the board of trustees of the Illinois & Michigan canal, an office which he continued to hold until 1871.
Quotes from others about the person
"He was a broad minded, shrewd, business-like individual, wise, helpful, always fair and scrupulously honest" (personal letter from William Patten).
William Henry Swift was twice married: first, in 1825, to Mary, daughter of Charles Stuart, British consul in New London, who died in November 1837; and second, in 1844, to Hannah, daughter of John Howard of Springfield, Massachussets.
1760–1835
1762–1824
1788–1839
1787–1805
1804–1827
1825–1911
1801–1837
1821–1884
1830–1906
1783–1865
