Joseph Gardner Swift, USMA 1802

Born: December 31, 1783 on Nantucket Island.

Died: July 22, 1865, Geneva, NY, age 82. He is buried in the Washington Street Cemetery along with several relatives. Visited the grave on 20 March 2009.

Portraits: 

• The portrait of Swift in the mess hall is by John Wesley Jarvis (1780-1840). [Assembly, 1951-53]

Genealogy:

Joseph Gardner Swift was the son of Dr. Foster Swift, a surgeon in the United States Army, and Deborah Delano. They had several other children, including:

• John Swift, BG of the NY militia. Killed July 12, 1814 near Fort George, Canada.
• Sarah Delano Swift Adams, who married Eli Adams (born 1770). Their children included Julius Walker Adams, born in Boston in 1812. USMA x1834.
• William Henry Swift (November 6, 1800 - April 7, 1879), graduated from USMA, last in the class of 1819. Cullum # 231. Married, first, Mary Stewart; married, second, Hannah Howard.
• Mary Robertson Swift (died 1827). George W. Whistler (the father) married J. G. Swift's "beautiful sister" in 1821. They had a daughter, Deborah, nicknamed "Debo," who was painted by her half-brother James McNeill Whistler.

Swift married Louisa Walker in 1806 while in North Carolina.

• One child was named McRae Swift.
• Alexander Joseph Swift graduated first in the class of 1830 (Cullum #587). He died 24 April 1947, Age 37.

Books Owned by Swift:

Traite de Fortification Souterraine, suivi de Quatre Memoires sur les mines; par le chef de bataillon du genie, Mouze, Ancien commandant de mineurs. Paris An XII (1804). The USMA copy has a Thayer binding, but has not yet been entered into the computer.

[Dupuget] Essai sur l'usage de l'artillerie, dans la guerre de campagne & dans cell de Sieges. Par un Officier du Corps. Amseerdam: 1771. Not entered into WP computer. The USMA bookplate is glued over another, which is probably "Presented to Hobart College Library by Mrs. J. W. Swift, Geneva N.Y., A.D. 1890." SPEC UF144 D929e WPT.

[Alexxandro Vitorie Papacino d'Antoni] Examen de La Poudre, traduit de l'Italien par m. le Vicomte de Flavigny. Amsterdam, Geneva and Paris, 1773. USMA 3-1802-0044914-7. Spec: UF 860 .P3614 1773. Clean copy. Bookplate: "Presented to Hobart College Library by Mrs. J. W. Swift, Geneva N.Y., A.D. 1890."

Duane, William [LTC US Army]  The American Military Library; or Compendium of Modern Tactics, . . . Philadelphia, 1809.  Clean copy. Bookplate: "Presented to Hobart College Library by Mrs. J. W. Swift, Geneva N.Y., A.D. 1890."  Title page bears signature of W. McRee.

Jackson, Robert, A Systematic View of the Formation, Discipline, and Economy of Armies, London, 1804. Title page bears the signature of "Joseph G. Swift / U. S. Army". USMA: 3-1802-00470697. WPT Oversize U102 .J15 1804. Rebound by J. .Desmonts.

There are probably other books in the library that Swift owned, but this is all that Suzanne brought out when I asked about the Mouze.