Denver-Pueblo County CO Archives Biographies.....Swain, Alva A. 1874 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/co/cofiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 December 24, 2008, 6:20 pm Author: Wilbur Fiske Stone (1918) ALVA A. SWAIN. Alva A. Swain, secretary and treasurer of the Colorado Editorial Association, and financially interested in the publication of several Colorado newspapers in various parts of the state,—which he manages from his office in the Ernest & Cranmer building, Denver,—was born in Bartholomew county, Indiana, March 25, 1874. His father is John R. Swain, an oculist, born in North Carolina and who traces his ancestral line back to the Albemarle settlement in North Carolina, which was made in the seventeenth century. He is now living in Memphis, Tennessee. Mr. Swain's mother, who bore the maiden name of Sarah A. Wheeler, was born in North Carolina and is now deceased. Alva A. Swain is one of a family of four children. He pursued his early education in the common schools of Dana and of Newport, Indiana, but left school at an early age and became self-sustaining. In 1895 he went to Terre Haute, Indiana, where he was shipping clerk in a wholesale hardware store. His health broke down and he came to Denver in 1897. For three years and a half he was confined to his bed, but he won the fight with the aid of Colorado's wonderful climate and his own will power. During this time he did nothing that would retard his recovery and eventually regained health and strength and was once more able to start out in the business world. He then worked on various newspapers in humble capacities, even carrying a newspaper route at the age of twenty-five years and soliciting subscriptions for the same. He was connected with the Denver Republican in 1899. Sixteen years after this humble start, however, he was one of the large stockholders of the paper, copies of which he had carried. On the 23rd of March, 1900, he opened the Denver office of the Colorado Springs Gazette and on the 1st of March, 1903, he became one of the purchasers of the Pueblo Chieftain, Pueblo, Colorado, which is one of the strongest and most influential papers of the state, and at the present writing in 1918 he is one of the principal stockholders of the Pueblo Chieftain and other leading newspapers of Colorado. His advancement has not been made by leaps and bounds but by orderly progression, resulting from the wise utilization of time, talent and opportunity. He proved his fitness for newspaper work, especially in the field of executive control, and he is today one of the most prominent representatives of journalistic interests in the state. On the 2nd of July, 1900, Mr. Swain was united in marriage to Miss Flora E. Bague, of Terre Haute, Indiana, and their children are: Albert Carlisle, fourteen years of age, and Newton Ruel. twelve years of age, both in school. Mr. Swain had one child, John Frederick, who died at the age of twenty-two months. In fraternal relations Mr. Swain is a Mason, having membership in Henry M. Teller Lodge, No. 147, A. F. & A. M. He is also identified with Union Lodge, No. 1. I. O. O. F., of Denver, and with the Knights of Pythias Lodge. No. 41, of Denver. In newspaper circles he figures prominently and is the secretary and treasurer of the Colorado Editorial Association, a member of the Denver Press Club and a member of the board of directors of the National Editorial Association. It was the Colorado Editorial Association which originated the action for the investigation of print paper price conditions and the regulation of price, a movement which later became national in its scope. The Colorado Editorial Association, largely through the efforts of Mr. Swain, has grown from a small organization to one of a membership of more than four hundred. Aside from his newspaper interests, Mr. Swain has land holdings and is also interested in mine and oil properties. In politics Mr. Swain is an active republican and has reported every political, religious, industrial and other public convention held in Colorado since 1900 and is the oldest reporter in service in the state. He has also reported nine regular and six special sessions of the Colorado general assembly. He has attended many national conventions and was publicity agent for the republican party for twelve years. He has traveled over the entire United States, studying new laws in other states and either endorsing or discouraging their adoption by Colorado as his judgment dictated their value, or otherwise. He has been on the secret advisory board of every governor of Colorado since 1901. He was the author of the first story ever written on the subject of government control of natural resources and he made the first newspaper fight in Colorado for local option and for prohibition. He has been influential in the choice for appointment of more men to public office in this state than perhaps any other resident of Colorado, but he has never received one cent from the public treasury and he has been offered a place on nearly every board and republican state ticket. He is now director of publicity for the entire state of Colorado outside of Denver for the Liberty Loan campaign and the War Savings work and other phases of war work. Mr. Swain is an active member of St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal church, South, and is serving as chairman of its board of directors. He was secretary of the building committee that erected the new house of worship at Sixteenth and Ogden streets, which is one of the most beautiful churches in Denver. He is lay leader of the Southern Methodist Episcopal church in Colorado. Mr. Swain is a picture of robust health and of splendidly developed physical and mental power. Getting up from a sickbed on which he had lain for three and a half years, he has in the intervening period of eighteen years accomplished great things. He is a firm believer in the gospel of hard work and usually spends the hours from nine A. M. until midnight at his office and yearly makes many trips throughout the country. His manner is keen and decisive; his face, framed in its iron-gray hair, is kindly and affable, and his character has ever been such a one to which the world instinctively pays deference. He is actuated by high and honorable motives in his business life and his public service, and the value of his opinions, as held by his fellow-men, is indicated in the fact that he has been a regular attendant at all conferences of the governors of western states. He has studied broadly and deeply the questions which are to the business man and the statesman of vital import and his insight is all the keener from the fact that he has no personal interest as an office seeker, to be promoted. The range of his activities and the scope of his influence has reached far beyond' his special field of business. He belongs to that class of men who wield a power which is all the more potent from the fact that it is moral rather than political and is exercised for the public weal rather than for personal ends. Unselfish and retiring, he prefers a quiet place in the background to the glamour of publicity, but his rare aptitude and ability in achieving results make him constantly sought after and often brings him into a prominence from which he would naturally shrink were less desirable ends in view. Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF COLORADO ILLUSTRATED VOLUME III CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1918 Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/co/denver/photos/bios/swain118nbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/denver/bios/swain118nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cofiles/ File size: 7.9 Kb