Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/94

 SWAIN

SWAVNE

cess was remarkable, the institution prowinp;, under his administration, from h^ss tlian one hundred to over four hundred and fifty pupils. After assuming the presidency Mr. Swain mas- tered the branches which he taught in tiie de- partment of international law, moral science, political economy, and English literature, from the study of which he had been deprived by his early environments, and by his rapid advance in tiie public service. In 1865 he was appointed by Governor Vance a member of a commission to visit General Sherman, whose army was ap- proaching Cliapel Hill, to petition him to spare the state capitol and the university. He was a trustee of tl>e University of North Carolina, 1831- 1808. being president of the board, 183iJ-35, and visited the North in the interest of the uni- versity after the war. President Johnson ap- pointed him a visitor to the U.S. Military acad- emy, and in May, 1865, he visited Washington and conferred with the President in reference to the reconstruction of the Union. His knowledge of the history of North Carolina and of her public men was unequalled. His acquaintance with unwritten family history, his memory of persons, servants, and his familiarity with biography in all countries and all ages were extraordinary. Swain county. N.C., was named in his honor in 1871. He received the degree of LL.D. from the College of New Jersey, Princeton, in 1S41, and from Yale in 1843. His son, Dr. Richard Caswell Swain (1837-1872), University of North Carolina, A.B., 1858, was the last living male representa- tive of the name. Gov. Zebulon B. Vance wrote a sketch of Governor Swain's life for Peele's " Lives of Distingui-shed North Carolineans" (1898). He died at Chapel Hill. N.C., Aug. 27, 1868.

SWAIN, Joseph, educator, was born in Pen- dleton. Iiid.. .luiie 10, 1857; son of Woolston and Mary Ann (Thomas) Swain; grandson of Samuel Swain and of Jonatlian and Anne (Lewis) Thomas. He was graduated from Indiana uni- versity. A.B., 1883. M.S., 1885. He was married, Sept. 22. 1885. to Frances H. Morgan, daughter of Charles D. and Alvira Morgan of Knightstown, Ind. He wjis assistant instructor in mathe- matics at the Indiana university, 1883-85, and in biology, 1884-85; studied mathematics and as- tronomy in the University of Edinburgh, 1885-86, and upon his return was associate professor of mathematics and biology in Indiana university, and professor of mathematics and astronomy, 1886-91, succeeding Dr. Daniel Kirkwood, re- signed. He w;is professor of mathematics in the Leland Stanford Junior university, from 1891 to 1893, when he became i)resident of Indiana uni- versity. In June. 1902. he became president of Swarthmore college. Pennsylvania. He received the honorary degree of LL.l). from Wabash col-

lege. Crawfordsville. Ind., in 1893. He was president of the Indiana State Teachers' associa- tion, 1894, of tiie higher education section of the National Teachers' association, 1898, and is the autlior of numerous scientific papers published by the Smitlisonian Institution.

SWANN, Thomas, governor of Maryland, was born in Ale.xandria, Va., in 1805; .son of Tiiomas and Jane Byrd (Page) Swann; grandson of Mann and Mary (Mason) Page, and of Thomas and ]\Iary Swann, and a descendant of George Mason, statesman (q.v.). His father was U.S. district- attorney for the District of Columbia under President Monroe. Thomas Swann, Jr., attended Georgetown college and the University of Vir- ginia; studied law under his father, and served as secretary of the Neapolitan U.S. commission under President Jackson. In 1834 he settled in Baltimore, Maryland, in the same year becoming director of the Ohio and Baltimore railroad com- pany, of which he was also president, 1847-53. He was subsequenth' president of the North- western Virginia railroad company, and during his administration as mayor of Baltimore, 1856 and 1858, originated the " park tax " measure and was a recognized leader of the " Know- Nothing " party in Maryland. He was a strong advocate of anti-slavery and of the Union cause in 1861. and was elected governor of ^Maryland by the Union party in 1864. serving, 1865-69, declining his election as U.S. senator in 1866. During his guber- natorial term he joined the Democratic party; endeav- ored to repeal the war measures of 1864; removed the police commissioners of Baltimore for their opposition to the assignment of Democratic judges of election, and was active in securing the adoption of a new state constitution in 1867. He was a Democratic representative from the fourth Mary- land district in the 41st-45th congresses, 1869-79, serving as chairman of the committee on foreign affairs. He was first married in November, 1834, to Elizabeth Gibnor, daughter of Joim and Eliza- beth Sherlock, granddaughter of Robert Gilmor, a merchant of Baltimore, Md., who emigrated from Scotland to America about 1806, and Mary, his wife. Their daughter, Louisa, married Ferdinand Claiborne Latrobe (q.v.). He was married secondly, June 20, 1878, to Josephine, daughter of Gen. Aaron Ward (q.v.), and widow of John Reiishaw Thomson (q.v.). Governor Swann died near Leesburg, Va., July 24, 1883.

SWAYNE, Charles, jurist, was born in New- castle county. Del.. Aug. 10. 1842; son of Henry and Ann (Parry) Swayne; grandson of Joel Swayne (a missionary to the Seneca Indians at