SWIIT
SWIFT
ncers for the Atlantic cocost, April 21, 1817; eliief
of the engineer bureau at Washington, D.C,
April 3, 1817, and inspector of the Jlilitary acad-
einy. April 7, 1818. He was Burvoyor of the U.S.
revenue for the jKirt of New York, 1818-27; niem-
l)er of the board of visitors to the Military acad-
emy, 1822-24; chief engineer of the U.S. harbor
improvements on the Groat Lakes, 1829-35, and of
the New Orleans and L;ike Pontchartrain rail-
rojid, 1830-31; was active in suppressing Canada
border disturbances, 1839, and in 1841 was ap-
jwinted by President Harrison U.S. commissioner
to the British provinces to negotiate a treaty with
Cfreat Britain. He was married in 1805, to
Louisa, daugliter of Capt. James Walker, of W^il-
mington, N.C., and of liis children, two sons died
in the service; Jonathan Williams, an officer in
the U.S. navy, was crippled for life on board the
frigate Brandywine, and IMcRea Swift became
a civil engineer. General Swift received the
degree of LL.D. from Kenyon college, Gambler,
Ohio, in 1843; was elected a member of La
Societe Frangaise de Statique Universelle de Paris
in 1839, and was a member of several scientific
and historical societies. He is the author of a
diary and of contributions to scientific publica-
tions. He died in Geneva, N.Y., July 23, 18G5.
SWIFT, Lewis, astronomer, was born in Clarkson. N.Y., Feb. 29, 1820; fourth son and last survivor of a familj' of nine children of Gen. Lewis and Anna (Forbes) Swift; grandson of Roland Swift, a Revolutionary soldier, who died in De Ruyter, N.Y.,
r
'i^-^^^y
^r^:
t/rlh'f;
in 1849, aged 96; and
a descendant of Will-
iam Swj^ft, who emi-
grated from England
and settled in Sand-
wich, Mass., in 1638.
Gen. Lewis Swift
moved from W^ind-
ham, Conn., to Clark-
son in 1809, and set-
tled in a dense forest
eighteen miles west
of Rochester, which
was then a settle-
ment consisting of
five log houses and
one log prist mill. Dr. Lewis Swift was ed-
ucated at Clarkson academy. At the age of
thirteen he broke the bone of his left hip, which
made him permanently lame. On leaving school
he took up the stu.ly of electricity, electro-mag-
netism, and later, without a teacher, astronomy.
His first honor in this science was achieved in
JIarathon, N.Y., where from a platform on the
gable end of his barn he discovered the great
comet of 1862 (iiaving a period of 123 years), re-
o/^r^^ y<fu^*^
markable as having elements identical with those
of the star shower of Aug. 10-11. In 1872 he
moved to Rochester, where he was a hardware
merchant by day and a comet seeker by night.
From the roof of a large cider mill, he in five
years discovered six new comets. In 1903 he had
discovered eighteen comets, several being
periodic, ranging from 5^ to 8J to 123 years. He
saw in all its indescribable glory the great star
shower of Nov. 13, 1833, and two years later in-
dependently discovered Halley's comet, having a
period of 75^^ years, and the great comet of 1843.
He had in 1903 observed three total eclipses of the
sun, and the return of the November, 1833, star
shower in 1806. In 1882 he received $13,000 from
the people of Rochester to purchase a 16-inch tel-
escope, a spectroscope and sidereal clock, and Mr.
H. H. Warner built for their use one of the finest
observatories in the world, of white sand-stone.
W^lnle its director, Dr. Swift discovei'ed 900 new
nebulte, and at the Lowe observatory. Echo Moun-
tain, Cal., 242 more, and several comets. For his
discoveries he received in prizes $1000 in cash,
and nine medals (three of gold) from Austria;
the Lalande prize of 540 francs and a silver medal
from France; the Mrs. Jackson Gwilt bronze
medal from England (being its first recipient),
and four bronze medals from the Astronomical
Society of California. In 1880 the University of
Rochester conferred on him the degree of Ph.D.,
and in 1879 he was elected a fellow of the Royal
Astronomical society of England. In Ai^ril, 1903,
he was elected a F.R.A.S. of Canada, and an
honorary member of the Astronomical Society of
Mexico. Because of failing sight he sold his
astronomical equipment to the Lowe observatory,
Cal. He was twice married, and was in 1903 a
widower, with four children living.
SWIFT, Zephaniah, jurist, was born in Ware- ham, Mass., Feb. 27, 1759; son of Roland and Mary (Dexter) Swift; grandson of Jireh and Abigail (Gibbs) Swift; great-grandson of "VVilliam and Ruth Swift, and a descendant of William Swyft, born in England, who settled at Sandwich in 1638. He was graduated from Y^'ale college, A.B., 1778, A.M., 1781; was admitted to the bar and began practice at Windham, Conn. He was a Federalist representative from Connecticut in the 3d and 4th congresses, 1793-97; served as secretary to Oliver Ellsworth, U.S. minister to France, 1800; was judge of the state supreme court, 1801-06, and chief justice, 1806-19. He was a member of the New England Federalists' convention at Hartford, Conn., Dec. 15, 1814; and of the committee on the revision of the state stat- ute laws. He was married to Lucretia Webb, by whom he had seven children; their daughter, Mary A. Webb, is the author of "First Lessons on Natural Philosophy " (about 1843), transhited
