Arthur Swift

Arthur Swift was born on December 17, 1810, in Louisa County, Virginia. He moved to Tennessee as a young man, but walked all the way to Texas when the real estate market turned sour.[http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth48320/m1/3/zoom/?q=swift The Texas Democrat, 5/20/1846, pg 3] He ended up in Gonzales, Texas, in 1837.Sowell (2010), p. 414.

In 1838, Swift became one of the founders of Walnut Springs,Sowell (2010), p. 415. a new town in Gonzales County, Texas.{{cite web|first=John|last=Gesick|title=Seguin, TX|work=The Handbook of Texas Online|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hes03|access-date=June 2, 2011|publisher=Texas State Historical Association}} During this time, he was able to purchase large tracts of land in the area. In Gonzales County, he assisted in legal matters and represented clients and was soon appointed Tax Collector, Constable and Clerk in 1841.[http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/gonminutes.htm Gonzales City Officials 1836-1841] He was performing surveys as early as 1838 and later was Gonzales County surveyor from 1840-1844.[http://www.gvec.net/txsurvey/surveyor.html Gonzales County Surveyors 1825 to Present] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402085629/http://www.gvec.net/txsurvey/surveyor.html |date=2012-04-02 }}

In 1841, Swift would serve under James Hughes Callahan,{{cite web|first=Russell|last=Woodall|title=Callahan, James Hughes|work=The Handbook of Texas Online|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fca16|access-date=September 30, 2011|publisher=Texas State Historical Association}} as a Gonzales RangerMoore (2007), p. 337. during the Texas-Indian wars and again with Benjamin McCulloch's volunteers the same year.Moore (2007), p. 67.

His partner James Campbell, had been killed by Indians the previous year.Moore (2007), p. 222. Caldwell would go on serving the city of Gonzales, while Swift, although serving Gonzales, concentrated his efforts in Seguin; purchasing the lands of his partners. In 1842, San Antonio would be overrun twice, by Santa Anna's forces. During March 1842, the citizens of San Antonio would seek refuge at Manuel Flores Ranch in the city of Seguin, Texas.de la Teja (1991), p. 116. Here, a counterattack was planned and Arthur Swift was a captain of the party that pursued the army of Ráfael Vásquez.{{cite web|last=McKeenan|first=Wallace L.|url=http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/innerresidents3.htm|title=Gonzales Town Residents, Surnames O—Z|work=Sons of DeWitt Colony Texas|publisher=Texas A&M University|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110228055504/http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/innerresidents3.htm|archive-date=February 28, 2011}} In 1842, when Adrian Woll invaded Texas, Arthur Swift would participate at the Battle of Salado Creek as a second lieutenant in Mathew Caldwell's resistance forces.Moore (2010), p. 63.

In 1846, Guadalupe County was organized through efforts by Swift.{{cite web|first=Vivian Elizabeth|last=Smyrl|title=Guadalupe County|work= The Handbook of Texas Online|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcg12|access-date=September 8, 2011|publisher=Texas State Historical Association}} Swift would serve in the First State Legislature in 1846 and 1847,{{cite web|url=http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/legeLeaders/members/memberDisplay.cfm?memberID=5484|title=Arthur Swift|work=Texas Legislators: Past & Present|publisher=Legislative Reference Library of Texas}} for the Gonzales district and had introduced the bill that organized the new county.Sowell (2010), p. 430. He was married to Margaret Baker on July 2, 1845, daughter of Judge James McCulloch Baker,Boothe, Jr., Ross. [https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbaev "Baker, James McCulloch"] The Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved September 21, 2011. and they soon had four children. They had a limecrete style home built in Seguin, Texas, operated a ferry on the Guadalupe River and ran a general store in the town. He was also influential in the organization of the schools and First Baptist Church of Seguin.[http://www.seguintx.net/heritage/gesicktree/gesicktreech5.html Gesick, Under the Live Oak Tree] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150718024543/http://www.seguintx.net/heritage/gesicktree/gesicktreech5.html |date=2015-07-18 }} In 1855, his real estate and merchandise holdings were estimated to be worth around $250,000.

Swift's first wife died around 1853 and in February 1855, Swift would marry Philadelphia Borden, the daughter of Gail Borden, however tragedy struck again and a month and ten days later, in April, his life was taken by a fever. James McCulloch Baker was appointed as administrator of Swift's estate, by the Guadalupe County Court.[http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth180519/m1/3/zoom/?q=%22ARTHUR%20SWIFT%22 Portal to Texas: The Texan Mercury, 1855 newspaper] The Baker family would care for and raise the Swift children. Arthur Swift was buried in the Northwest corner of Vaughan Cemetery, in Seguin, Texas.Weinert (1976), An Authentic History of Guadalupe County

{{Reflist}}

• {{citation|last=del la Teja|first=Jesus|title=A Revolution Remembered: The Memoirs and Selected Correspondence of Juan N. Seguin|publisher=State House Press|location=Austin, TX|year=1991|isbn=0-938349-68-6}}
• {{citation|last=Gesick|first=E. John|year=1995|title=Under the Live Oak Tree: A History of Seguin|location=Seguin, TX|publisher=Tommy Brown Printing}}
• {{citation|last=Hardin|first=Stephen L.|authorlink=Stephen L. Hardin|year=1994|title=Texian Iliad – A Military History of the Texas Revolution|location=Austin, TX|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=0-292-73086-1|oclc=29704011}}
• {{citation|last=Moore|first=Stephen L.|title=Savage Frontier: Rangers, Riflemen, and Indian Wars in Texas, Volume II, 1838-1839 |publisher=University of North Texas Press|location=Denton, TX|year=2006|isbn=1-57441-206-X}}
• {{citation|last=Moore|first=Stephen L.|title=Savage Frontier: 1840-1841, Volume III |publisher=University of North Texas Press|location=Denton, TX|year=2007|isbn=978-1-57441-229-1}}
• {{citation|last=Moore|first=Stephen L.|title=Savage Frontier: Rangers, Riflemen, and Indian Wars in Texas, Volume IV|publisher=University of North Texas Press|location=Denton, TX|year=2010|isbn=978-1-57441-294-9}}
• {{citation|last=Sowell|first=Andrew Jackson|title=Early Settlers and Indian Fighters of Southwest Texas|orig-date= 1900|year=2010|version=reprint|publisher=General Books LLC|isbn=978-1-4590-6750-9}}
• {{citation|last=Weinert|first=Willie Mae|title=An Authentic History of Guadalupe County|publisher=Seguin Conservation Society|location=Seguin, TX|orig-date=1951 |year=1976 |version=reprint |asin=B0006YNCNC}}

{{S-start}}

{{s-par|us-tx-hs}}

{{succession box

| before=State Legislature Established

| title=Member of the
Texas House of Representatives
{{nowrap|from the Gonzales district (Seguin)}}

| years=1846–1847

| after=John D. Anderson

}}

{{S-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swift, Arthur}}

Category:1810s births

Category:1855 deaths

Category:People of the Texas Revolution

Category:Texas–Indian Wars

Category:People from Seguin, Texas

Category:Members of the Texas House of Representatives

Category:American city founders

Category:19th-century members of the Texas Legislature

Category:19th-century American merchants