Swan, James G., 1818-1900

James Swan was a lawyer who specialized in admiralty law. He immigrated to Washington Territory from Boston, Mass. in 1852 and developed an interest in Northwest Coast Indian culture that is reflected in many aspects of the records. Throughout his life at Neah Bay and Port Townsend he served as Notary Public and Judge, Pilot Commissioner, Hawaiian Consul, Collector of Customs, and Collector for the Smithsonian Institute and the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries.

From the description of James Swan fonds. 1852-1900. (University of British Columbia Library). WorldCat record id: 606462266

Samuel J. Parker was the son of the Reverend Samuel Parker, a Presbyterian missionary who traveled extensively in the Oregon Country. Like his father Samuel J. Parker also traveled extensively, including stints in South America and the west coast of North America. Parker was an avid reader and scholar of Native American studies. As a result, he penned these three letters to James G. Swan on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. Swan was one of the author of several books, including contributions to the Smithsonian Institution's series of studies in ethnology.

From the guide to the James G. Swan / Samuel Parker Correspondence, March 24, 1887-June 15, 1887, (Lewis & Clark College Special Collections and Archives)

James Gilchrist Swan (1818-1900) was an early settler in Washington, working a wide variety of jobs, spending much of his life between Port Townsend and Neah Bay. Originally from Massachusetts, born on January 11, 1818, he moved to the Washington territory, eventually working as a translator for treat negotiations with local tribes, under Washington Governor Isaac Stevens. He also worked as a writer publishing works based on his time in western Washington. During the 1860's he worked as a teacher at the Makah Indian Reservation at Neah Bay, and produced illustrations (sketches and watercolors) of a variety of subjects (natural history and anthropology) that are housed at the Smithsonian Institution. He died on May 18, 1900.

Smithsonian Institution Archives Field Book Project: Person : Description : rid_476_pid_EACP473

James Gilchrist Swan lived one of the most varied and colorful lives in the early history of Washington Territory. He was born on Jan. 11, 1818 in Massachusetts. In 1850 he joined thousands that came to the West Coast for the gold rush days. His wife and two children remained in Massachusetts and he never lived with them again. After two years in San Francisco, he settled in Washington State. From 1855 to 1859, he returned to Washington, D.C. While he was there, he wrote a book and newspaper articles about the West Coast. In 1857 he became the secretary to the Congressional delegate Isaac Stevens. When he returned in 1859 to the West Coast, he settled in Port Townsend, WA. This is where he lived the rest of his life except for a few years at Neah Bay. Swan had a pattern of working in many various fields without settling down to one position. He passed the bar exam, practiced admiralty law, served as United States Commissioner, probate judge, justice of the peace and school superintendent. At the time of the 1886 letter to Mrs. Willoughby, he was the Registrar and the City Clerk for Port Townsend. Swan lived to see Washington become a state. He was the vice-president of the Washington Pioneers, which he mentions in the 1886 letter. Mr. Swan remained active, writing articles and collecting artifacts well into his 70's and keeping diaries until he passed away. His last entry was just two days before his death on May 18, 1900.

Charles L. Willoughby was born in Connecticut in 1882. He came to the Puget Sound in the early 1860's. He was a captain in the service of the Coast Survey, until 1865. Willoughby met Sara Cheney in Port Townsend, WA where they were married in 1865. Sara had been born in 1841 in Massachusetts. She came to Washington Territory in 1862 to teach art at the University of Washington. She left there and established a private school at Port Townsend, WA. Mr. Willoughby became Indian Agent to the Neah Bay reservation in 1877. After charges were filed and dropped in his favor about his administration of agency affairs, he assumed the agent's position at the Quinault Reservation. In 1885 the ethnology curator from the Smithsonian Institution contacted him for information about the Northwest Coast Indians. Their correspondence continued Mr. Willoughby's death in 1888. Mrs. Willoughby maintained her interest in the arts, and while the family was living on the reservations she sketched native scenes and transcribed Native American legends. Her letters to her son chronicled the day-to-day events of life on an Indian reservation. In the 1886 letter from James G. Swan, the tone is friendly and conversational discussing events of the day. She passed away in Port Townsend in 1913.

From the description of James G. Swan's letter to Mrs. Willoughby, 1886 June 24. (Washington State Library, Office of Secretary of State). WorldCat record id: 209908532

James Gilchrist Swan -- anthropologist, judge, political advisor, artist, schoolteacher, and promoter of Port Townsend (to mention just a few of his occupations) -- was one of the most colorful personalities of Washington State's territorial period (1853-1889). Swan was born in Massachusetts in 1818 and married Mathilda Loning in 1841. He left his wife and two children in 1850, heading to gold rush San Francisco. In 1852 Swan departed for Shoalwater Bay (now called Grays Harbor). He learned the Chinook jargon, and this knowledge led Washington Governor Isaac Stevens to pick Swan as one of several translators for treaty negotiations with the Indians of Western Washington during 1854 and 1855. Swan then returned east and wrote a book, The Northwest Coast; or, Three Years' Residence in Washington Territory . He later worked as Isaac Stevens's personal secretary when Stevens served his first term as the Washington Territory's delegate to the U.S. Congress in 1857 and 1858.

When Congress adjourned, Swan returned to Washington. He spent the next three years shuttling back and forth between Port Townsend and the Makah Indian Reservation at Neah Bay, supporting himself by writing for a variety of newspapers. In 1862 the local U.S. Indian agent appointed Swan the first schoolteacher at the Makah Reservation. Swan supervised construction of the school while convincing Makah parents to send their children there. Believing in acculturation yet still valuing native ways, Swan taught English, farming, and sewing in his school. He was well liked and respected by the Makah. Swan, who was probably the first white person to learn the Makah language, spent his spare time writing an ethnography of the Makah, later published by the Smithsonian Institution. Under criticism for failing to teach Christianity to the Makah, Swan resigned in 1866 and moved to Port Townsend.

Swan was admitted to the bar in 1867 and began practicing admiralty law. The following year he was appointed to the Pilotage Commission of Puget Sound, the agency which examined sea pilots and issued licenses. In 1882 he became a U.S. commissioner (district court judge). He also took the postition of Hawaiian consul to the United States at Port Townsend in 1882. Swan held these jobs for the rest of his life, but he was not particularly fond of them. They paid poorly, and Swan frequently took leaves of absence to go in search of adventure. He worked as a special agent for the Northern Pacific Railway from 1867 to 1871, surveying potential terminuses. (Not surprisingly, he recommended Port Townsend). The Smithsonian Institution hired Swan to collect Indian artifacts for the 1876 world's fair in Philadelphia, the 1884 fair in London, and the 1893 exposition in Chicago. The Smithsonian thus funded Swan's collecting trips to British Columbia and Southeast Alaska in 1875 and 1883. Swan published two articles on the Haida Indians from the notes he took on these trips. An appointment as deputy customs collector for Neah Bay allowed Swan to live at the Makah reservation from 1878 to 1881. The U.S. Fish Commission asked Swan to write a series of reports on the fish and fisheries of the northern Pacific, permitting him to visit Neah Bay intermittently between 1882 and 1891. Swan spent the rest of his life in Port Townsend, dying there in 1900.

From the guide to the James Gilchrist Swan Papers, 1833-1909, (University of Washington Libraries Special Collections)