Part V · Chapter 1

Ancestor Spotlight · Swift line · maternal

Leroy E. Swift (1836–after 1874)

The Long brothers' 3rd great-grandfather.

How they’re connected
  1. Leroy E. Swift
  2. ↓ Le Roy Warren Swift
  3. ↓ Rachel Winter Swift
  4. ↓ Francis Swift Perry
  5. ↓ Carol Perry Long
  6. ↓ John, Perry and Patrick Long

A Falmouth mariner’s son who served as a Navy officer in the Gulf, married in New Orleans, and left a son who found his way back to New England.

Appears in: The Family Tree · The Swift, Winter & Peckham Lines

← Back to the Swift line

Relationship

Leroy E. Swift is the 3rd great-grandfather of John, Perry, and Patrick Long, via the Swift maternal line.

FamilySearch PID L1VB-5P9↗

Warren-Winter Collection: Leroy E. Swift, Civil War era portrait. Acting Ensign, U.S. Navy (volunteer), 26 Oct 1864 – 12 Oct 1868; served on the gunboat USS Mahaska, Gulf Squadron. Remembered in the family as ‘a Navy Capt.’

His Story

Leroy E. Swift was born 7 June 1836 in Massachusetts, the second son of Solomon Swift and Huldah (Hinckley) Swift, [1] [2] into a Falmouth family that had lived by the sea for generations. His grandfather, Nathaniel Swift, is called Captain on his gravestone; his 1849 death record calls him a farmer. [3] [4]

In October 1864, at twenty-eight, he was appointed Acting Ensign in the U.S. Navy, a volunteer commission given to experienced seamen during the war. He served in the Gulf aboard the gunboat USS Mahaska and remained in the service until October 1868. [5] [6]

On 16 June 1868, still in the Navy, he married Rachel T. Warren at Mt. Olivet Church in Algiers, across the river from New Orleans. [7] Rachel’s family had come from Philadelphia. [8] Their son, Le Roy Warren Swift, was born 19 March 1869. [9]

Rachel does not appear in the records after her son’s birth. By 1874 Leroy had married again, to Emma F. H. Richard of Louisiana; [10] their daughter, Cora Rachel, was born in 1875. [9] Leroy died in New Orleans before 1880, when the census lists Emma as a widow raising Le Roy, then eleven, and Cora. [11]

Le Roy came north as a young man. In 1894 he married Fanny Harrison Winter in New Bedford, and the line continued in Massachusetts. [12]

The family kept one portrait of him: a tintype in a pressed case, showing him in an officer’s frock coat with shoulder straps. A label in red ink, written decades later, reads “His Father, a Navy Capt.” [13]

Timeline

  1. 1836Born 7 June, Massachusetts●Sourced
  2. 1864Appointed Acting Ensign, U.S. Navy, 26 October●Verified
  3. 1868Married Rachel T. Warren, Mt. Olivet Church, Algiers, 16 June●Sourced
  4. 1868Honorably discharged, 12 October●Verified
  5. 1869Son Le Roy Warren Swift born, 19 March●Sourced
  6. 1874Married Emma F. H. Richard, Algiers, 12 August●Sourced
  7. before 1880Died, New Orleans●Sourced

Still Unknown

  • When and how Rachel died.
  • The date and cause of Leroy’s death.
  • What he did between leaving the Navy and 1880.

Descent to the Long Brothers

Every generation, from the recorded chain. Each link shows its confidence; “record pending” marks a link that rests on the FamilySearch tree, with no record attached yet.

  1. 3rd great-grandfatherLeroy E. Swift1836 – after 1874L1VB-5P9●Verified
    link●Verified
  2. 2nd great-grandfatherLe Roy Warren Swift1869 – 1919LW29-V4G●Verified
    link●Verified
  3. great-grandmotherRachel Winter Swiftb. 18969JGN-43B●Verified
    link●Verified
  4. grandfatherFrancis Swift Perry1923 – 2011L1V1-8D2●Verified
  5. Carol Perry Long
  6. John, Perry and Patrick Long

Descended from Rev. John Robinson, pastor of the Pilgrims, through the Weeks and Swift families.

Sources

  1. George H. Swift, comp., William Swyft of Sandwitch and Some of His Descendants, 1637–1899 (Millbrook, NY: Round Table Press, 1900), 105, 150. archive.org●Sourced
  2. “Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639–1915,” database, FamilySearch, Laroy Swift, 7 June 1836, Falmouth, ark:/61903/1:1:FZ37-9JK.●Sourced
  3. “Find a Grave Index,” database, FamilySearch, Capt Nathaniel Swift, d. 22 September 1849, Bay View Cemetery, Waquoit, ark:/61903/1:1:QVLR-FTXD; Find a Grave, memorial 106704034.●Sourced
  4. “Massachusetts Deaths, 1841–1915,” database, FamilySearch, Nathaniel Swift, 22 September 1849, Falmouth, ark:/61903/1:1:N7GS-PQL.●Sourced
  5. Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War, vol. 7 (1933), 517.●Verified
  6. Edward W. Callahan, ed., List of Officers of the Navy of the United States and of the Marine Corps, from 1775 to 1900 (New York: L. R. Hamersly, 1901), 531. archive.org●Verified
  7. “Louisiana Marriages, 1816–1906,” database, FamilySearch, Leroy E. Swift and Rachel T. Warren, 16 June 1868, Mt. Olivet, Algiers, ark:/61903/1:1:F4CR-65G.●Sourced
  8. “United States Census, 1850,” database, FamilySearch, Isaac Warren household, Cedar Ward, Philadelphia, ark:/61903/1:1:M4CN-JJQ.●Sourced
  9. “Louisiana Births and Christenings, 1811–1830; 1854–1934,” database, FamilySearch, Le Roy Warren Swift, christened 1878, Mt. Olivet, Algiers, ark:/61903/1:1:FWGX-F91.●Sourced
  10. “Louisiana Marriages, 1816–1906,” database, FamilySearch, Leroy E. Swift and Emma F. H. Richard, 12 August 1874, Algiers, ark:/61903/1:1:F4Z3-62Q.●Sourced
  11. “United States Census, 1880,” database, FamilySearch, Emma Swift household, New Orleans, ark:/61903/1:1:MDXH-JNK.●Sourced
  12. “Massachusetts Marriages, 1841–1915,” database, FamilySearch, Le Roy Warren Swift and Fanny Harrison Winter, 13 June 1894, New Bedford, ark:/61903/1:1:N47R-CJG.●Sourced
  13. Tintype in a pressed case, with red-ink label, Warren-Winter collection, family archive.●Inherited Evidence
← The Swift lineThe Winter-Swift Connection

Photographs

Hinged case: Leroy E. Swift in uniform, tintype, and his son Le Roy Warren Swift
Leroy E. Swift and His Son · tintype ~1864–1868; the son’s portrait laterHinged pressed case, two images. Left: a tintype of Leroy E. Swift in an officer’s frock coat with shoulder straps, from his Navy service as an Acting Ensign, 1864-1868. Right: a seated youth, his son Le Roy Warren Swift. The red-ink label on the case names them both.
Civil War case label, the inscription that identified Papa
The Label That Changed Everything · label written decades laterThe inscription on the case, in red ink, reads “My Father Le Roy W. Swift Sr. / His Father, a Navy Capt.” It identifies the boy as Le Roy Warren Swift Sr. (b. 1869) and the uniformed man as his father, Leroy E. Swift. Navy records confirm his service as an Acting Ensign, 1864-1868. Leroy E. Swift: Acting Ensign, U.S. Navy (volunteer), 26 Oct 1864 – 12 Oct 1868; served on the gunboat USS Mahaska, Gulf Squadron. Remembered in the family as ‘a Navy Capt.’
Papa’s Father, Ad Vivum studio
Papa’s Father (Leroy E. Swift) · undatedCabinet card, Ad Vivum studio, Hastings Building, New Bedford. Full beard, bow tie. Acting Ensign, U.S. Navy (volunteer), 26 Oct 1864 – 12 Oct 1868; served on the gunboat USS Mahaska, Gulf Squadron. Remembered in the family as ‘a Navy Capt.’ The annotator labeled the back: “Papa’s father.”
Back of the Papa's Father portrait
Papa’s Father. Back · undatedReverse of the Ad Vivum cabinet card. Handwritten: “Papa’s father.”

Source: Warren-Winter photo collection, family archive. The full collection is on Photos.

Life

Military service:
Appointed Acting Ensign, U.S. Navy, in October 1864; served in the Gulf aboard the gunboat USS Mahaska until October 1868.[1][2]
Residence:
Married at Algiers, across the river from New Orleans, in 1868 and again in 1874; died in New Orleans before 1880.[3][4][5]
  1. Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War, vol. 7 (1933), 517.
  2. Edward W. Callahan, ed., List of Officers of the Navy of the United States and of the Marine Corps, from 1775 to 1900 (New York: L. R. Hamersly, 1901), 531. archive.org
  3. “Louisiana Marriages, 1816–1906,” database, FamilySearch, Leroy E. Swift and Rachel T. Warren, 16 June 1868, Mt. Olivet, Algiers, ark:/61903/1:1:F4CR-65G.
  4. “Louisiana Marriages, 1816–1906,” database, FamilySearch, Leroy E. Swift and Emma F. H. Richard, 12 August 1874, Algiers, ark:/61903/1:1:F4Z3-62Q.
  5. “United States Census, 1880,” database, FamilySearch, Emma Swift household, New Orleans, ark:/61903/1:1:MDXH-JNK.

Family

Parents:
Huldah Cobb Hinckley (1808-1856) K6QR-BYQ; Solomon Swift (1804-1885) MYBT-VP3
Spouse:
Rachel T. Warren (1843) M3PX-PV2
Child on the line to the brothers:
Le Roy Warren Swift (1869-1919) LW29-V4G

Mentioned On