Thomas Swarthout’s biography, Ovid, Clinton County, Michigan

Copyright © 1999 by Jan Sedore. 
This copy contributed for use in the USGenWeb 
Archives.  

 

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PAST AND PRESENT OF CLINTON COUNTY
Page 118
THOMAS L. SWARTHOUT

Few men are more familiar with the history of pioneer life in Clinton County than 
Thomas Lonsbury Swarthout, of Ovid, whose mind bears the impress of the early 
historic annals of this section of the state for he has been a witness of the 
growth and progress of the county as it has emerged from frontier conditions and 
taken its place with the leading counties of the commonwealth, having all of the 
advantages and improvements known to the older east. He was born in Romulus, 
Seneca County, New York, October 6, 1831, his parents being William S. and Betsey 
(Willett) Swarthout, in whose family were seven sons, Thomas L. being the fifth in 
order of birth. At the age of five years he accompanied his parents to Michigan, 
the family home being established in Victor township, St. John's county.

It was in 1837 that his father and six other heads of families left New York and 
started to the west. They had to make roads in St. John's county for none had as 
yet been laid out and the father built the log house into which the family 
removed. Dr. Laing at that time was the nearest neighbor, his home being three and 
a half miles away. In the summer of 1836 Rev. Isaac Bennett came to the Swarthout 
home to preach as a missionary sent out by the Ohio conference of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. Many settlers came to the county in 1838, 1839 and 1840, which 
years constituted a period of rapid pioneer growth. All kinds of wild game was to 
be had in abundance, the fish were plentiful in the rivers and there were wild 
berries, all of which proved useful to the pioneer settlers, many of whom were in 
limited financial circumstances. Mr. Swarthout well remembers the Chippewa Indians 
and their chief, who would visit at the Swarthout home and dine with the family. 
He was a tall, well-formed Indian and lived to the advanced age of one hundred and 
five years. In those early days wheat and other grain were threshed on the ground 
and winnowed by hand. The produce of the farm was taken to Detroit or Pontiac and 
the trip to the former place required a week. Few are as familiar with the pioneer 
history as is Mr. Swarthout and his reminiscences are very interesting, showing 
the conditions of things that existed in the early days before the white man had 
carried forward to any extent his work of reclaiming this district for the purpose 
of civilization.

        In his youth Mr. Swarthout assisted his father upon the home farm. He was 
reared amid pioneer influences and surroundings, spending his boyhood, youth and 
manhood upon the farm in Victor Township. At the age of sixteen years he began 
teaching in the subscription schools and was thus employed during the winter for 
fourteen years, receiving from seventeen to twenty dollars per month. He took up 
his abode on a farm on section 12, Victor Township, in 1854 and there continued to 
reside for nearly a half century, or until 1903. His farm, which he still owns, 
comprises two hundred and fifteen acres of rich and valuable land, which he 
developed from a wild tract. In 1903, however he put aside agricultural pursuits 
and removed to Ovid, where he is now living retired in a comfortable home. In 1872 
he built fine buildings upon his farm, including a substantial residence. He was 
an extensive raiser of and dealer in sheep and also gave some attention to cattle, 
but for a long period was known as one of the most successful sheep raisers of 
Clinton County.

On the 5th of April 1854, Mr. Swarthout was married to Miss Mary Parker, who at 
that time was living in Victor Township, Clinton County. Her parents were John and 
Sarah (Cronkite) Parker, and she was born in Romulus, Seneca County, New York, 
December 21, 1834. She became the mother of a son and daughter: Edson, who is now 
living in Ovid; and Nora E., the wife of Charles E. Warner, a farmer and prominent 
citizen of Falkton, South Dakota. They have three daughters, Marjorie Swarthout, 
Gladys Mildred and Mary Geraldine.

In his political views Mr. Swarthout has long been a stalwart republican and has 
served his fellow townsmen in various official capacities, acting as town clerk 
many years, township treasurer and school inspector several years. Since the age 
of seventeen years he has been a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
to which his wife belongs, and they are widely recognized as earnest, consistent 
Christian people. He has gained a valuable competence through well-directed effort 
and untiring enterprise and is now enjoying the fruits of his former toil in 
honorable retirement from further labor.



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