By Damien Cregeau
James Swan played an important role as a financier of the American Revolution, though he is largely forgotten today. While not as famous as financier Robert Morris, Swan led a colorful life as an Army colonel, merchant, real estate magnate, investor and international liaison. His marriage to socialite Hepzibah Clarke in 1776 only enhanced his social standing and investing opportunities in both the United States and France.
Swan’ s life might be oversimplified as rags to riches— and rags to riches again. He immigrated to Boston from Fife, Scotland in 1765. His first known employment was at Thaxter and Son, an accounting and book-binding company, where he became friends with Benjamin Thompson, later knighted Count Rumford( by the King of Bavaria), and Henry Knox, who became famous as a major general in the US Continental Army.
At the age of 18, Swan wrote a well-read pamphlet challenging the African slave trade in Great Britain and its colonies, entitled,“ A Dissuasion to Great Britain and the Colonies from the Slave Trade to Africa.” He argued against slavery on moral, religious and business grounds. Publishing such a pamphlet was quite intrepid, as several notable Boston families were involved in such trade.
Swan took great interest in the rising discontent with the various British acts intended to raise revenue to repay debts incurred to defeat the French in the Seven Year’ s War( known in North America as the French and Indian War). The young Swan got swept up in the patriotic fervor, joining the Sons of Liberty and participating in the Boston Tea Party.
Years later, after the Revolutionary War had erupted in 1775, Swan put his local militia training to the test and fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill, where he was twice wounded. In 1776, he was promoted
1795 portrait of James Swan painted by Gilbert Stuart. Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. to captain in Colonel Thomas Craft’ s regiment of artillery. That March, he and his friend Colonel Henry Knox were present on Dorchester Heights among the patriot artillery batteries that shocked and intimidated British General William Howe into evacuating British forces from Boston.
Also in 1776, Swan courted and married Hepzibah Clarke. The daughter of a wealthy merchant, she was considered among the most cosmopolitan, intelligent and erudite ladies in Boston. Her peers considered her quite charming, and she was life-long friends with Henry Knox and Henry Jackson, as well as architect Charles Bulfinch and Harrison Otis. The couple had four children: Hepzibah, Christiana, Sarah and James.
The Swans invested in privateer enterprises during the war, co-owning the ill-fated schooner Bunker Hill, commissioned in August 1777 with six cannons, but captured by the Royal Navy in May 1778. Swan also owned the privateer sloop America and was an investor in the Boston, one of the largest privateers ever commissioned— a hefty 300-ton, three-deck ship that had been captured in 1776 as the British merchant ship Zachariah Bayley.
Once the war ended, Swan began to speculate on land in many locations, often buying the confiscated property of Tories in Boston. He owned a considerable amount of lucrative property in Boston, including an estate on Tremont Street once owned by Governor Thomas Hutchinson, which became valuable real estate. Swan also bought the former estate of Colonel Estes Hatch, who upon his death had left it to his son, Nathaniel. The property included 60 acres in the most valuable part of Boston— on the southern side of Dudley Street, near Dorchester.
Swan also became one of the largest landowners in present-day West Virginia. His largest acquisition there was a 500,000 acre tract that straddled the current counties of Logan, McDowell, Mingo and Wyoming, which he had acquired from Philadelphia banker and financier Robert Morris. Swan also bought many tracts of 20,000 to 50,000 acres; it is estimated that he eventually owned six million acres.
Following the American Revolution, the Swans lived at the corner of West and Tremont Streets. This property was later sold and converted into a garden theatre. The house he owned on Dudley Street was one of the old pre-war mansions in the fashionable part of the city. Their equally-fashionable French style home in Dorchester was built in 1796.
The Swans provided lively entertainment at their Tremont estate. Among those who visited were Marquis de Lafayette, their close friends Henry and Lucy Knox and other socially-connected couples visiting from New York and Philadelphia.
On February 25, 1785, Swan bought a large island off the coast of Maine that still pays homage to its early owner with the name,“ Swan’ s Island.” He also purchased each of the small islands within three miles of any part of what was then called,“ Burnt Coat Island.” Swan had acquired approximately 12,800 acres for £ 1,920.
Swan’ s acquisition of islands off the coast of Maine might well have been suggested by his good friend, Henry Knox, who owned a vast swath of millions of acres of land along the coast of Maine, with his house located in Thomaston, not far from Swan’ s Island. Hebzipah’ s friendship with young architect Charles Bulfinch resulted in his design and the erection of a fine mansion for the Swans on Swan’ s Island that was done in the French-Neoclassical style. The Knoxes were inspired to emulate the style and size of this mansion with their famous Montpelier, built in 1794 and named in honor of France’ s support during the Revolutionary War.
Some of these land speculations were apparently not favorable for Swan, and he became deeply indebted during the postwar economic depression, which was at its worst in 1786. However, despite his financial setbacks, one scholar asserts that Swan helped suppress the great manifestation of the financial frustrations of 1786: Daniel Shays’ Rebellion in Massachusetts.
The same week that Swan bought his islands, his close friend Knox wrote to George Washington, asking him the favor of sending letters of recommendation and
www. MoAF. org | Fall 2017 | FINANCIAL HISTORY 25