John Swift
John Swift, of Pleasant Ridge, was born in Heage, England, June 6, 1830. His grandfather, John Swift, owned extensive coal fields in which he employed a large force of help. He died at the age of seventy-seven, February 14, 1859. His wife, Miss Sarah Harvey, died March 22, 1863. Thomas Swift, his son and father to John, was born in Heage, England, June 19, 1810. He was a manufacturer of edge tools. He married a Miss Ann Simpkinson, and by her had nine children six of whom are living, the eldest and youngest dying in infancy, and Charles, after he had made a brilliant record in the army, died in the year 1871. He was born in 1837; enlisted in the service and became brigade adjutant in the Fourteenth army corps. He was first lieutenant, then captain, in the Fiftieth Ohio regiment of volunteers. He afterwards served on General Cook'S staff, and was also one time brigade inspector. The family left England in 1850 for America, but before the water was crossed the mother died. They landed in New Orleans, and from there came to Cincinnati, where John Swift clerked in the store of J. & A. Simpkinson, on Lower Market street, and afterwards opened on the same street in the boot and shoe trade for himself. He went to Clermont county to superintend his farm, but after a three years' stay he came to Pleasant Ridge (1864) and settled down to a retired life. He married Miss Euretta F. Williams, of Walnut Hills, in 1859. Her parents were old settlers of the city. Her grandfather kept store and also manufactured buckskin breeches, the Indians supplying the material. Her father owned much valuable property in the city.
From History of Hamilton county, Ohio, Henry & Kate Ford, L. A. Williams & Co., Publishers, 1881