Sailors of the United States Navy
Lds William Swan
Born: October 1842, Preston, Connecticut
Died: March 17, 1906, Windsor, Connecticut
Burial: Riverside Cemetery, Windsor, Connecticut
Occupation: Farm Laborer
Enlisted: August 15, 1864, Brooklyn, New York
Unit: United States Navy
Company: N/A
Rank: Landsman
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William Swan was born in Preston, Connecticut, in October 1842. His parents were Brewster and Olive Swan. William spent most of his childhood growing up in North Stonington, Connecticut. The youngest of four children, he had three brothers—Brewster Swan Jr., Calvin Swan, and Philip Swan. In the 1850 census, two of William’s brothers, Brewster Jr. and Calvin, are listed as sailors. This may have influenced William’s decision to enlist in the Navy during the Civil War.
On August 15, 1864, William enlisted at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, boarding the USS North Carolina with the rank of landsman. The North Carolina was docked in New York as a receiving ship and floating barracks for sailors, so William would not remain there long. He also served on the USS Vermont, a 74-gun warship that was likewise used as a receiving ship, and on the USS Memphis, a Confederate blockade steamer armed with seven guns that had been captured and recommissioned into the Union Navy on October 4, 1862. William was honorably discharged on August 15, 1867.
After serving in the Navy during the Civil War, William Swan returned to Connecticut. In the 1870 census, he is listed as living in Preston in the same household as his father, Brewster Swan. Sadly, William’s mother, Olive, appears to have passed away either shortly before or shortly after his return from the war.
William Swan was not the first in his family to serve this country. His paternal grandfather, Phillip Prince, served in the 6th Connecticut Regiment during the Revolutionary War, enlisting in the spring of 1777. Phillip may have been using his father’s first name as his surname—Prince having been an enslaved man of Elihu Chesebrough in Stonington, Connecticut. In 1800, Phillip decided to adopt the surname Swan. It is not clear why he made this change, but over the following four decades he appears in census records both as Phillip Prince and Phillip Swan. This decision led his son Brewster to also adopt the surname Swan, which is why Brewster’s son came to be known as William Swan.
On September 30, 1880, William Swan married Josephine Gilbert of New Britain, Connecticut. Their marriage took place in Stonington. Over the next thirteen years the couple had six children. Sometime after 1900, the family moved to Windsor, Connecticut.
On March 19, 1906, the Hartford Courant reported the death of William Swan. He had died two days earlier at his home in Windsor. His funeral was held on Wednesday, March 21, 1906, and he was buried at Riverside Cemetery in Windsor.
Although William Swan died in 1906, his family’s connection to military service continued. His son, William Henry Swan Jr., served during World War I as part of the 93rd Division, 372nd Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army. This all-Black regiment was sent to France to serve alongside French troops. While they were there, the U.S. Army sent the French a memorandum portraying American Black soldiers as inferior, warning French officials against commending them for fear of undermining the morale of white soldiers.
Three generations fighting in three major wars—and in each case, they were also fighting to prove their worth to a country that too often saw them as less valuable than white men.
Photo credit: Library of Congress
https://www.loc.gov/item/2010648851/