CHARLES OLOF SWANBERG

Charles Olof Swanberg.  A master mariner, a masterful executive, with unsurpassed energy and resourcefulness of mind and character, Charles Olof Swanberg during more than half a century of residence on the Pacific Coast has become one of the notable figures in industrial affairs in that district.  His enterprise has taken on an international scope.

     He was born at Kalmar, on the Eastern Coast of Sweden, April 5, 1846, son of Charles Frederick and Anna Maria (Rosenlund) Swanberg.  His father spent his life on the sea, was a ship captain, and took his son with him at every opportunity.  When the boy was nine years old he was accomplished in many of the arts of the mariner, and at the age of thirteen he had made great progress in the technical arts of navigation.  His father was one of the old-time sea captains whose discipline was derived from a sense of dignity and from ambition for the highest proficiency on the part of those under him.  Charles Olof Swanberg developed powers of mind and body with astonishing rapidity.  His knowledge was that which supplements action and which put him thoroughly at ease in all emergencies.  At the age of seventeen he was regarded as one of the most expert of sailors.  He sailed out of England, Germany and other European ports for over two years, and then shipped to Brazil and spent seven years cruising around South America.

     He served in the army and navy of Brazil as an officer.  His experiences enabled him to converse fluently in ten languages.

     It was on May 20, 1870, that Mr. Swanberg arrived in San Francisco.  In the fall of that year he was employed by the Morgan Oyster Company, and subsequently was in business for himself as one of the leading oyster dealers along the bay.  Some sixteen years later he consolidated his own with the enterprise of the Morgan Oyster Company, and continued in business for thirty-six years.  In his business activities he proved his real ability as administrator, never being satisfied until his affairs were reduced to complete system.

     Many years ago Mr. Swanberg used some of his fortune to engage in agriculture and dairying on a large scale in Sweden, his investments running up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  He made his first venture in this direction in his native country in 1887, and in 1893 he imported the largest shipment of thoroughbred Jersey cattle ever made into that country, this being also the largest single exportation ever made out of Jersey.  As an individual probably no one has done more for the substantial advancement of dairying in Sweden that [sic] Mr. Swanberg, and this fact was recognized some years ago when King Gustaf V of Sweden knighted Mr. Swanberg for his wonderful success as a dairyman.

     Mr. Swanberg in 1891 started the Merchants' Ice and Cold Storage business at San Francisco, and has continued in that industry for a third of a century.  He also has financial interests in the Acme Brewing Company, the Acme Ice Cream Company, the Cereal Products Refining Corporation, the Golden Sheaf-Remar Baking Company of Oakland and Hotel Granada Company of San Francisco.  At all times Mr. Swanberg has been satisfied to work, and he has not made his wealth a matter of ostentation, and much more publicity has been given men of lesser bulk in business enterprises.

     He married, June 28, 1879, Julie Aimee Schoenmakers.  In politics he is a republican, a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Olympic Club.  In all matters of citizenship he has exercised a liberal public spirit.  This was particularly manifested following the great earthquake and fire in 1906, when he turned over the facilities of the plant of the Merchants' Ice and Cold Storage Company as a haven and refuge to many firms and individuals.  The temporary offices of the Daily Evening Bulletin were established on the top floor of the plant.  Mr. Swanberg was one of the men of courage and resources in that time of disaster when an entire city was tottering on the fringe of destruction.

 

Transcribed 8-10-04  Marilyn R. Pankey.