Swayze, Addison W.

The following data is extracted from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans.

Addison W. Swayze. During the working out of an honorable and worthy career Addison W. Swayze had been the master of his own destinies. When he started life independent of family connections or influences he had only the capital with which nature had endowed him, but his self reliance was of such a sturdy nature that it enabled him to develop to the utmost his native talents, which included the characteristics of determination, enterprise and practical ambition. His inherent judgment pointed out the way for him to succeed, his keen insight discerned opportunities, his native powers developed new fields, and the ability which he possessed had allowed him to make each venture a profitable one. Today he is president of the First National Bank of Barnard and occupies an established position in banking and business circles of his community.

Mr. Swayze belongs to a family that, originating in Switzerland, immigrated to Massachusetts prior to the Revolutionary was, and from that locality went as pioneers to the Western Reserve of Ohio. He was born on a farm near Robinson, Brown County, Kansas, September 17, 1861, a son of S. W. and Louisa (Compton) Swayze. His father, who is now a resident of Willis, Kansas, was born in 1839, at Zanesville, Ohio, but as a child was taken to Columbia City, Indiana, where he was reared, educated and married, and where he engaged in farming until 1860. In that year he became a pioneer of Brown County, where he homesteaded 160 acres of land, and throughout the remainder of his active life devoted his energies to agricultural work. He became successful and substantial, and when he reached advanced years was able to retire upon the competence which he had gained by a long period of well-directed labor. Mr. Swayze is a republican, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a Mason, while his military record is found in his captaincy of an infantry company in the Kansas Home Guards during the Civil war, when he succeeded in assisting to repel Price's raid into the state. Mr. Swayze married Louisa Compton, who was born in 1841, at Churubusco, Indiana, and died at Willis, Kansas, in 1898, and they became the parents of children as follows: Addison W.; Alice, who is the wife of Edward B. Stewart, a carpenter and contractor of Hiawatha, Kansas; David M., who is a railroad conductor residing at Salt Lake City, Utah; Libbie E., the wife of J. M. Crowdus, a fruit grower of Gridley, California; and Kate E., the wife of Henry J. Bryan, a fruit grower of Long Beach, California.

Addison W. Swayze attended the rural schools of Brown County, Kansas, and graduated from the schools at Hiawatha in 1878, following which he remained in agricultural pursuits on the home farm until he was twenty-one years old. At that time he began traveling for an implement company of Kansas City. In 1884 he removed to Ottawa County, Kansas, where he resided until 1907. During this time he served two terms as sheriff of Ottawa County. From 1907 until 1917 he made his home at Bonner Springs, although he continued to travel for his company, his territory being the northern half of Kansas, and in the latter year came to Barnard and became associated with the First National Bank in the capacity of president, an office which he had retained to the present time. This institution was established in 1890 as the Bank of Barnard, and became nationalized in 1916, its present capital being $25,000 and its surplus $16,000. The bank building is situated on Main Street, and the officers at this time are: President, A. W. Swayze; vice president, W. R. Blanding; and cashier, B. E. White. Mr. Swayze is widely and favorably known in financial circles of Lincoln County and belongs to the Kansas Bankers Association and the National Bankers Association. He is essentially a man of business, with large interests which make heavy calls upon his time and attention. However, he had been unselfish; he had appreciated the needs of his community, and had not been slow to answer the demands that are always made upon prominent men for the display of good citizenship. Politically a republican, he is one of the strong men of his party here. He is a member of the Commercial Club, and his standing in business circles may be deduced from the fact that he is now serving in the capacity of president of this body. Mr. Swayze is also well known in fraternal life, being a member of Saltville Lodge No. 59, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Minneapolis Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and Salina Commandery, Knights Templar; Abdallah Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Leavenworth; and Barnard Lodge No. 374, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is past noble grand. His commodious home is located on Smith Street.

Mr. Swayze married, in 1901, at Delphos, Miss Dora G. Welsh, daughter of George W. and Louisa (Stout) Welsh, both deceased, who were farming people of that community. One child had been born to this union: Boyd W., born March 4, 1903. A son of Mr. Swayze by a former marriage, Fred C., is engaged in merchandising at Barnard.

Source: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans

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