Person Sheet


Name William Moseley SWAIN, GGGG Uncle
Birth 12 May 1809, Manlius, NY61
Death 16 Feb 1868, Phila. PA.61
Burial Woodlands Cemetery, Philadelphia Pa. See http://www.libertynet.org/uchs/Woodlands/woodlandscemetery.html#q32
Occupation CLICK NAME TO SEE NOTES One of the founders of Philadelphia's newspaper Public Ledger.
Father *William SWAIN (1781-1812)
Mother *Phylura DUNHAM (1783-1861)
Spouses:
1 Sarah JAMES
Birth 5 Feb 1812, England
Death 24 Jun 1891, Phila., PA.
Burial In Swain family plot at Woodlawn Cemetery in Philadelphia, listed as Sarah Swain.
Occupation CLICK NAME FOR NOTES
Marriage 9 Nov 1837
Children: Charles Moseley (1849-1902)
William James (1839-1903)
Notes for William Moseley SWAIN
In an email dated 22Oct2010 Peter Blood told BJ Peters, "It might interest you to know where William Moseley Swain may have gotten his motivation to become editor of the Philadelphia Ledger. His step father, Walter Blood co-owned with his brother Daniel Otis Blood the largest private mail delivery service in Philly. When the government invented post office, it was patterned somewhat after Blood's Penny Post. The family spent something like $100,000 in the 1840s fighting the US for the right to continue mail delivery. They lost. Look for Blood's Penny Post on EBay. You can still buy envelops with their stamp on them. I met an older cousin of mine who own one of their mail boxes. There are many write ups of their business from city histories to stamp catalogues."
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He co-founded the Philadelphia Public Ledger newspaper in Philadelphia, Pa. in 1836 and the Baltimore Sun paper in 1837.
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In 1836, Messrs. Arunah Shepherdson Abell, Azariah H. Simmons and Wm. M. Swain established a penny newspaper in Philadelphia called the "Public Ledger". Most newspapers of that time charged 6 cents a paper. A year later Mr. Abell was selected to represent the three men, and supervise the establishment of a similar newspaper venture in Baltimore, Maryland. This new paper was called "The Sun". On Sept. 13, 1851, the first issue rolled off the presses.
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168Wm. and Amos Kendall of Kentucky, were founders of the National Telegraphic Network. As a result of using the telegraph, newspapers were able to disseminate the news events closer to the time of their occurrence. Polk's presidential message in 1846 was the first to be transmitted by wire.
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"In June 1846 Philadelphia was connected to New York and Washington by telegraph. When Amos Kendall had organized the Magnetic Telegraph Company in May 1845 to build a line from New York to Philadelphia, prominent on the first board of directors had been William M. Swain of the Public Ledger, who had editorialized a year earlier on behalf of Samuel F.B. Morse's plea that the federal government control the telegraph. Swain and his partner's, Arunah S. Abell and Azariah H. Simmons, contributed $3,500.00 of the $10,000.00 raised to carry the line from Philadelphia to Baltimore and Washington." In april 1848 their NJ telegraph competitor did the same, and by June of 1849 yet another competitor followed." Source: "Philadelphia: a 300 Year History" by Russell Frank Weigley, Nicholas B. Wainwright, Edwin Wolf ; Pub 1982
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One of my Swain/Todd cousins, Walter E. Smith sent this to me via email in June of 2009:
I recently discovered this story about our ancestor William M. Swain, published in the book "Anecdotes of Public Men" by John W. Forney, pub 1873, Harper & Brothers Publishers, NY. William Swain was one of the founders of the newspaper, The Philadelphia Public Ledger.

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I quote the example of 1858 to show how history repeats itself in 1872. That remarkable man, remarkable in almost every sense, the lamented William M. Swain, one of the proprietors and founders of the Public Ledger, always liked to relate the incident from which I took the idea that excited the risibilities of my Camden audience. The story is so much better told by my friend J. D. Stockton, of the Philadelphia, Morning Post, that I use his words :
" By his course in regard to some public matter he had offended a number of his readers, one of whom met him on Chestnut Street, and thus accosted him :
"' Mr. Swain, I've stopped The Ledger.'
"'What is that, sir?'
"' I've stopped The Ledger was the stern reply.
"' Great heavens!' said Mr. Swain ; ' my dear sir, that won't do. Come with me to the office. This must be looked into.' And taking the man with him, he entered the office at Third and Chestnut Streets. There they found the clerks busy at their desks; then they ascended to the editorial-rooms and the composing-rooms, where all was as usual; finally, they descended to the press-rooms, where the engineers were at work.
"' I thought you told me you had stopped The Ledger said Mr. Swain.
"' So I have,' said the offended subscriber.
"' I don't see the stoppage. The Ledger seems to be going on."
"' Oh ! I mean to say-that is, that /-ah-had stopped taking it.'
"' Is that all!' exclaimed Mr. Swain. ' Why, my dear sir, you don't know how you alarmed me. As for your individual subscription, I care very little. Good-day, sir, and never make such rash assertions again.'"
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According to Walt E. Smith, another direct descendant of William M's father: "Photos and a detailed obit from the Philadelphia Public Ledger (Feb. 16, 1868) are on file." He made the Ledger the first daily to use a pony express, and one of the first to use the magnetic telegraph. He was a director of the Magnetic Telegraph Co." He is included on the list of distinguished people buried in the Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia.
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In the 1860 Census for Philadelphia, PA William's real estate had a value of $110,000.00. In year 2002 that would have been equivalent to $1,294,700. His personal estate had a value of $50,000, a 2002 value of $588,500.00. His age is stated as 50 yrs. of age, and occupation as Publisher. Also living in the home were his wife, listed as Sarah J., age 47; son, Wm. J., age 21; son, Charles M., age 11; and a English domestics named Ann Bluney(?), age 25 and Mary Canon age 30.
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His will was administered by his son, Wm. J. and is on file. Time of death according to a Wm. Elliott Todd diary entry was 2AM. According to Walt E. Smith, Wm. M. died extremely wealthy, leaving an estate of over $6M in 1868. According to the inflation calculator, the comparison to today's values would have left him an estate worth $139,620,000.00 by year 2000 standards.
Last Modified 22 Oct 2010 Created 23 Feb 2017 by EasyTree for Windows95

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