William Swift Papers 1794-1864 Guide to the Collection

Table of Contents Collection Summary Biographical Sketch Collection Description Acquisition Information Detailed Description of the Collection Preferred Citation Access Terms

Collection Summary

Biographical Sketch

William Swift was born in Dorchester, Mass. on September 11, 1779 and graduated from Harvard College in 1809. He was an instructor at the Latin Grammar School in Lancaster, Mass. from 1809-1810 and graduated from the Harvard Medical School in 1812. In that same year, he entered the United States Navy as a volunteer and sailed to the coast of Africa on board the ship Chesapeake and was commissioned by President Madison as a naval surgeon upon the ship's return to the U.S. He was also on board the Chesapeake during its engagement with the British man-o'-war Shannon in Boston Harbor in June 1813. He was sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia as a prisoner and was returned to the U.S. with the wounded.

Dr. Swift was a naval surgeon for the remainder of his medical career. He served aboard the brig Syren on her voyage to Africa, at which time (1814) he was made a prisoner for six months on the Cape of Good Hope. In 1820, he served on the U.S.S. Ontario on its voyage to the Barbary Coast, and in 1821 he was commissioned as acting U.S. consul at Tunis. He held this position for sixteen months, at which time he returned to service in the Ontario. He also served aboard the frigate Erie in 1827 and on the Constellation in 1829 on her voyage to England, France, and the Mediterranean.

Dr. Swift was stationed at the Naval Hospital in New York from 1833-1836 and witnessed the cholera epidemic there. Upon his return from his voyages in 1839, he was stationed at the naval bases in New York, Boston, and Newport, R.I. In 1850, he married Martha Elizabeth Phelps and had three sons, William Jonathan, John Baker, and George Montague. He retired in 1862 and lived the remainder of his life at Brooklyn, N.Y., his residence of several years. He died on December 30, 1864.

Collection Description

This collection consists of the papers of U.S. Navy surgeon William Swift, including commissions, passport and appointment as acting U.S. Consul at Tunis, Tunisia. Topics covered in his letters, primarily written to his brother Nathaniel Swift, and diaries include his lifelong career as a naval surgeon and subsequent voyages, including one during the War of 1812 in the brig Chesapeake, which was defeated by the British ship Shannon in June 1813 outside of Boston Harbor; Swift's subsequent imprisonment at Halifax, Nova Scotia; a voyage in the brig Syren in 1814, which was defeated by the British ship Medway; and subsequent temporary prison term on the Cape of Good Hope. Swift's diary (1821-23) includes entries on his term as U.S. consul at Tunis and sailing along the Barbary Coast of Africa in the U.S.S. Ontario; and brief diary entries of his services in Boston and other ports (1845-64). Also, a notebook kept 1819-59 recording geological and other natural observations.

Acquisition Information

The collection was donated to the Mass. Historical Society by Mrs. Julian DeF. Hills of Albany, New York, September 1989.

Detailed Description of the Collection

Preferred Citation

William Swift papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Access Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.