Sacramento County
Biographies
CHARLES SWANSTON
CHARLES SWANSTON. One of the
veteran cattle buyers of the Pacific coast is Charles Swanston,
a well-known resident of Sacramento,
where, as a member of the firm of Swanston & Son,
butchers and wholesale dealers in meat, he is proving an important factor in
the business life of the city. Mr. Swanston was
born in 1833, a son of William and Elizabeth (McCurdy) Swanston,
both of whom were natives of Ireland. The
father immigrated to America in an
early day and became a prosperous farmer of Ohio,
where he remained until his death in 1888. His wife, who survives him, is
still living and makes her home in Ohio
on the old homestead, enjoying good health at the advanced age of one hundred
and one years.
Reared to
young manhood upon the paternal farm, Charles Swanston
remained in Ohio until 1865, when he came to California. For
a time following his arrival in the state he was employed in buying stock for
other parties, but finally with his accumulated earnings he began business for himself. He
established a butchering business and first began supplying local parties with
meat, and from this modest beginning built up his present lucrative
trade. He purchased two hundred acres two miles from Sacramento,
and upon this property erected suitable buildings for the conduct of his large
and growing business, his slaughter house being supplied with the latest
machinery and appliances to facilitate the work. The business is now
conducted entirely on wholesale lines, the office in Sacramento
being at Nos. 27 and 28 Stoll Building,
this branch being looked after by George Swanston, a
partner and general manager. His years of experience have given to Mr. Swanston an unerring judgment in the selection of bullock,
sheep or hogs, and although he is advanced in years he is active in the buying
and collecting of stock for the business. He is also a large feeder of
beef cattle both in Oregon and Nevada.
In
1861 Mr. Swanston was united in marriage with Nancy
M. Powers, a native of Ohio,
whose death occurred in 1882. She left two children, Lillian, the wife of
John A. McCaslin, of Oakland,
Cal., and George, now in business with his
father. The latter has a beautiful residence on his country property,
considered one of the finest in the country. Mr. Swanston
is a Republican in his political convictions, but has never cared personally
for official recognition. He is an intelligent, high-minded gentleman and
a citizen whose worth has been tested in the many years in which he has been a
resident of this section of the state.
Transcribed 11-7-07 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: “History of
the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley,
California” by J. M. Guinn. Pages
1632-1635. Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1906.
© 2007 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Sacramento County Biographies