Swann, Thomas
lawyer, banker, governor, United States senator, was born in 1805 in Alexandria, Va. He was appointed secretary of the Neapolitan commission, and in 1834 settled in Baltimore, Md. Two years afterward he was chosen a director of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad company, and in 1847 was chosen president of the same, which office he resigned in 1853. He was also president of the Northwestern Virginia Railroad company, disbursing in behalf of the two roads about thirteen million dollars. In 1856 he was elected mayor of Baltimore; was re-elected in 1858. He was the originator of the Druid Hill park in that city. He emancipated his slaves before the rebellion, and continued a union man during the war. In 1863 he was elected president of the First National bank of Baltimore. In 1864 he was elected governor of Maryland. In 1866 he was elected a senator in congress, but declined to leave the executive chair. In 1868 he was elected a representative from Maryland to the forty-first congress, and was re-elected to the forty-second, forty-third, forty-fourth and forty-fifth congresses as a democrat. He died July 24, 1883, in Leesburg, Va.