THEODORE WELLS
SWIFT
Contributed by: Bonnie Wilcox
Theodore Wells Swift was the son of Elisha Swift. Elisha was born May 1827 in the Henrietta Township, Lorain County, Ohio. Elisha’s wife was Margaret. Theodore was the fifth off Elisha and Margaret’s eight children. All except the last two were born in Henrietta. His sisters, Grace and Frances, were born in Grass Lake, Jackson County, Michigan.
Theodore Wells Swift who was born in June 1863 married Mary L. Miller
who was born Dec 1873 in Indiana.
Together they had three
children. Leland Miller Swift, Gertrude Swift and Josephine Swift.
Theodore Wells Swift born Jun 1863 and died 24 Oct 1925 married Mary L.
Miller 28 Feb 1895 in LaPorte County, Indiana
Leland who was
born 12 May, 1896 in Union Mills, LaPorte County, Indiana, would name his only
son: Theodore Wells Swift II.
Theo the second was born Jun 1928 and died
Feb 2000. The following tribute appeared in the Battle Creek, Michigan
newspaper following Theodore Wells Swift’s death: It is dated October 25,
1925.
A USEFUL LIFE ENDED In Detroit today
there ended the life of a useful and lovable man, Theodore W. Swift, who,
though for several years past a resident of the state metropolis, will always
be remembered for the part he played in developing Battle Creek during the
period of his local residency.
Mary L. (Miller) Swift born 1873 and died 23 Jun 1947 daughter of George and Hanna (Hendrick) Miller Theo Swift worked in a store, sold lumber and went to Michigan Agriculture College (now MSU) for one year. He carried the mail to pay tuition. He was offered a job by Mr. McClane of McClane Department stores in LaPorte, Indiana to manage a store in Union Mills.
The McClanes were relatives of Mary Miller who was school
teacher in a country school three miles from Union Mills. Theo and Mary married
and lived in Union Mills where he had a grain elevator. They moved to Battle
Creek around 1898. He had several grain elevators on the Grand Trunk line,
controlling almost all the elevators from Battle Creek to Chicago.
He was also involved with breakfast cereal and related
products. The grain elevator in Battle Creek burned in 1911and they moved to
Detroit investing in an elevator on the water—details taken from the
recorded memories of their only son, Leland Miller Swift, who died in the
Meridian Township, East Lansing, Michigan, 17 Oct 1989, husband of Frances
Field Brewer whom he met in Battle Creek and married Oct 6, 1920.
“T. W.,” as he was known to even his closest associates, was a quiet, businesslike man, a man who understood his trade and delved deeply into its possibilities. Quietly and even reservedly he carried on his grain and cereal food activities in this community, accepting the losses with the gains without protest nor evidence of discouragement. And he had losses, too, not the least of which was the total destruction by fire of the grain elevator he had developed, and reverses that came with the back-wash of a flood of cereal food over-production. Possibly he was glad to leave his local field for his new and larger one, in Detroit, but successes there never entirely wooed him from this community, with which he maintained many pleasant contacts. Those who knew Mr. Swift intimately cherished the acquaintance and will revere the memory. He was a gentle soul, modest and unassuming, the possessor of a mental background that was worthy a more liberal display than he ever permitted. His circle of friends was not so large, perhaps, for he was quiet and of unusual reserve, but those who became his friends felt that they were in social communion with one of the finest men who ever lived. T. W. Swift did business in Detroit unobtrusively, yet successfully. He was an asset to a community too large, perhaps, for a lavish appreciation of real men, but those who had business contact with him felt the same wholesome pleasure as those who had done business with him in Battle Creek. It was a loss to this community when he left us for a new field; it is a loss today to the city of his adoption. But the family of “T.W.” can bear his body to the grave with a full realization that the soul it contained was of finer gold than the average, and the heart one that throughout a long and busy life beat to noble impulses.