Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 785 - 787

WLLIAM SWANEY, proprietor of a good farm on section 26, in Gypsum Township, came to Kansas in September, 1870, and pre-empted a quarter-section of the finest bottom land in the State. Upon this he has effected first-class improvements, having the whole under fence and brought to a high state of cultivation. The farm buildings will compare favorably with any of the kind in the township. Mr. Swaney takes pride as a stock-grower, and has attained an enviable reputation as a breeder of Percheron horses; he also keeps Jersey and Short-horn cattle. Four acres of land adjacent to the residence are devoted to a fine apple and peach orchard, and Mr. Swaney also raises grapes, the finer varieties of prunes and apricots, with strawberries and blackberries.

            Our subject was born March 11, 1835, and is the son of William and Margaret (Dining) Swaney, the former a native of Delaware, born in 1795, and where he learned the weaver's trade, and later operated a farm, of which he was owner, in the vicinity of Freeport. He was educated at Freeport, Ohio, and took an active part in politics, being one of the most earnest workers in the Democratic party in that section. In religious matters he had been reared in the Society of Friends, to the faith of which he closely adhered all his life.

            The mother of our subject was born in Nashville, Tenn., about 1795. Her parents removed from that State to Harrison County, Ohio, in its pioneer days, where the father entered a quarter-section of land, and with his excellent wife built up a good home, where they lived for a period of twenty-five years and until after all their children were married. The mother belonged to the Christian Church. Their children were named respectively: Nancy, John, Eliza, Alexander, Rebecca, William and Timothy. The latter was the namesake of the paternal grandfather, who served as a drummer boy under Gen. Washington in the Revolutionary War. Alexander, Eliza and William are still living, and residents of Kansas and Ohio.

            The father of our subject was called from earth when, the latter was a little lad five years of age. He made his home for a short time with a Mr. Hill in his native county, and subsequently with Mr. Hartman. Upon becoming of suitable age he secured the position of clerk in the dry-goods store of A. G. Lawrence, in Washington, Guernsey Co., Ohio, with whom he remained for a period of seven years. Thence in 1856, he came to the Territory of Kansas, and remained in Johnson County nine months, during which he was engaged in farming. Then returning to the Buckeye State he was for eighteen months employed as a clerk for R. J. Clark, in Washington, after which he again crossed the Mississippi and the plains to the Pacific Slope, and for three years worked in the mines of California with fair success.

            March 20, 1859, Mr. Swaney was married in Senecaville, Ohio, to Miss Martha J., daughter of J. H. Anderson, of that place. While in California he had left his wife in Ohio, and upon his return from the Golden State he settled in Guernsey County, Ohio, where for eight years he was superintendent of a farm. At the expiration of this time he made his second trip to Kansas, where he has since remained. Of his first marriage there were born four children, namely: John W., Oello, Harrison and Jane. Mrs. Martha J. Swaney, who was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, departed this life at her home in Gypsum Township, on the 16th of September, 1871. Her parents were natives of Virginia, the maiden name of her mother being Nancy Anderson.

            The present wife of Mr. Swaney, formerly Miss Jane Paisley, and to whom he was married on the 20th of January, 1872, was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, in 1838, and is the third child of Robert and Mary (McCullough) Paisley, also natives of the Buckeye State. Her father had been reared in the Quaker faith, to which he adhered all his life. About 1870 he came to Kansas, and died in Sumner County, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. The mother, who was a United Presbyterian, died in Ohio, when fifty years old. Of this marriage of our subject there were born Albert, Mary, Robert, Frank and Emily. Mrs. Swaney, like her mother, is a United Presbyterian in religious belief. In this faith also our subject was reared, but later joined the Methodists with his first wife. Socially, he belongs to the Masonic fraternity.

            Mr. Swaney, politically, votes the straight Republican ticket, and while in Ohio held the offices of Township Trustee and Justice of the Peace. He was the first Treasurer of Gypsum Township, this county, and also Treasurer of School District No. 4, which office he still holds. He has given to his children the advantages of a good education, so that they are amply fitted to take their places as good and useful members of society. The eldest son, John W., was married in January, 1887, to Miss Minnie Crawford, of Gypsum Township, and is engaged as a teacher in Winfield, this State. He has followed this profession several years, having been thoroughly educated for this work in the State Normal School, at Emporia. He is very successful in his chosen calling, to which he seems specially adapted.

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