Robert Sherson Swanston was born on December 16, 1825 in Qaylon , Madras Presidency, India, and arrived in California on September 14, 1849 on the barque "Harriet Nathan." He notes his arrival in California as coming "from Van Diemenland now Tasmania." At the time of his writing the Society's Archives Record, Swanston listed his present address as Levuka, Fiji, and his profession as "unemployed at present - of no trade nor profession." Swanston worked the mines around Sonora. He spent the years 1853-1854 in Vancouvers Island. In 1856 he left for Samoa with the U.S. Consul for those islands. There is no record of his death date or place.
From the description of Autobiography and Reminiscence of Robert Sherson Swanston, 1901. (The Society of California Pioneers). WorldCat record id: 55979223
