Wilbur F. Swayze (ca. 1846-1906)

SWAYZE, MCLAIN, JOHN, DUTTON

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 10/31/2010 at 16:46:40

From the Nevada Representative February 21, 1906

OBITUARY

DEATH OF W. F. SWAYZE

W. F. Swayze for many years cashier of the First National Bank of this place and until his removal to California on of the most prominent business men of this county, died on Saturday in a hospital at Los Angeles. When he was here last summer he was recognized to be in very poor health; and it had recently been reported that he was so ill at Los Angeles as to make desirable his removal to a hospital. His general condition after his removal there was indicated by the statement of Clark McLain who called at the hospital a few days before starting for Nevada and was not permitted to see him. As a consequence of such advices there was no surprise among Mr. Swayze's friends and acquaintances here when a report of his death was received on Sunday afternoon. From brief messages received by telegraph it is known that he had a paralytic stroke on Thursday of last week, and that he never rallied from the same but died as stated on Saturday, February 17. His funeral was to be conducted at Los Angeles today (Wednesday) by the Rev. Dr. J. A. M. Zeigler, former pastor of the Lutheran church in this city.

Mr. Swayze was a native of Canada, and he was reared, we think, in that portion of Ontario which lies immediately north of Lake Erie. He started out for himself as boy; and one of his earlier ventures was to bring a shipment of horses to the United States, crossing the straits at Detroit. His story for the next few years is fragmentary, so far as his friends here are now able to tell it, but he got out west somewhere and took a grading contract on the Union Pacific railroad and broke himself up at it. A little later he started a small bank at Victor in Iowa county of this state; but he did not remain there very long, and soon after he became interested with Marshalltown parties who were branching out in the banking business. Before or about this time they bought out the bank of O. B. Dutton in Nevada; and in the summer of 1882 Mr. Swayze came here to take charge of this institution as a newly organized national bank. In this position and work he continued for nearly twenty years; and upon the record which he made during this time he is and will be estimated as a man. He sold out a portion of his interest in the bank to Edgar John in November, 1901, and he later disposed in the same way of other portions of his stock, finally closing out his interest in the bank last summer. After the first sale of stock, however, he retired from the active management of the bank; and soon after he went to California, where the ill health of Mrs. Swayze had caused her to spend the most of her time for some years previously. After he was free here, however, they soon became definitely located in Los Angeles, and he tried to live there for a time in quiet retirement. He was not so constituted, however, as to be content in any condition excepting active business occupation; and a year and a half ago he organized at Los Angeles a new bank known as the "Home Savings Bank." To the building up of this institution he devoted his skilled energies, and the bank rapidly grew in business and standing. In this work he was still engrossed, when the condition of his health during the past season really compelled him to quit. He made a trip back to Nevada to conclude his interests here and substantially did so; but it appears to have been about the end of his work. He returned to California in exceedingly poor health; and his decline since that time seems to have been steady.

Mr. Swayze was a man of most exceptional business ability; and he was in all his years here recognized as one of the men most interested in the general development of the community and in the improvement of the city. He made money, and the people at whose expense he made it did not always approve; but the men who were closest to him and who knew most about his relations to the bank and to the general business deals that touched the bank are the ones most prompt about certifying to his integrity and business reliability. He not only managed the National Bank; but he also was instrumental in the founding of several other banks in the county and elsewhere; and all of the institutions with which he was identified, as well as the present institution, were uniformly properous and through their success testified to their stock-holders the soundness of his management and advices. The business reputation which he gained here he appears to have accentuated after his removal to Los Angeles; and the opportunities of the golden region were of the sort to lure him on to greater and more successful efforts so long as his strength lasted for the work. His age is not definitely known here; but it was a little above sixty, probably sixty-three; and it may be said with entire confidence that he wore himself out by doing for many years more hard and wearing mental work than almost any man can do without undermining his strength and constitution. It all showed, however, the real capacity of the man, and evidenced the appreciation in which he was and should have been held by those who knew and understood him.

He leaves his wife in delicate health, but, it is understood, in better health than she has been in recent years, and he also had a sister living at Victor, Iowa, and a brother W. W. at Floring, California. He had no children, however, and no other relatives who were known to his friends here.