Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

As he was brought to the United States
at the very early age of three years,
Christian Swartz grew up an American,
on American soil, and was educated in
American schools. His school education
consisted of attendance at the grammar
schools, in Newark, New Jersey, until the
age of fourteen, and several winter terms
at the district schools in Ohio and Minnesota,
a course at the high school in Hast-
ings, Minnesota, and at Eastman's Business
College in Poughkeepsie, New York,
where he graduated in 1866. In the summer
of 1867, he removed to Danbury,
Connecticut, to accept a responsible posi-
tion with Jeremiah Bernd, a prominent
cigar manufacturer, and the following
spring opened a small cigar store in South
Norwalk, Connecticut, in company with
his former employer. Mr. Bernd afterwards
sold his interest to Reed Haviland,
a cigar jobber, and the business was continued
under the firm name of C. Swartz
& Company, until 1880, at which time it
was incorporated under the name of The
Old Well Cigar Company. The growth
of the business was continuous, and the
United States Revenue Department, in
renumbering the factories in the district,
recognized it by awarding to the factory
the honor of being Factory No. I.
In 1882 the business of South Norwalk
had grown to such large proportions that
another bank was deemed a necessity. In
company with Hon. R. H. Rowan, Hon.
John J. Ferris, Hon. Talmadge Baker,
and other prominent men, he was one of
the organizers of the City National Bank,
and has continued as a director of said
bank since that time. In the reorganization
of the Norwalk Lock Company, he
became one of the directors and has con-
tinued as such. Christian Swartz's public
services began before he entered business
life. At the age of eighteen years he
enlisted in the Union cause in the Civil
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
110
War and served until peace was estab-
lished, a period of ten months. Since that
time his public services have been political
rather than military, and to him
politics has always meant service to his
fellows of the best and highest kind. He
has followed the tenets of the Democratic
political body and became a Gold Demo-
crat. He was city councilman in 1878,
mayor of South Norwalk in 1880, and
again in 1882, sheriff of Fairfield county
from 1884 to 1887, and a member of the
State Shell-fish Commission for twelve
years. He served as chairman of the
city water commission, president of the
board of estimates and taxation of the
town of Norwalk, and president of the
Norwalk Hospital. He has been in many
other ways a strong factor in local politics
and civic growth and prosperity. A man
of deep religious convictions and training,
Mr. Swartz is a devoted and regular member
of the South Norwalk Congregational
Church. He is a member of the business
committee of that church, and a member
of the Christian Inquiry Club connected
with that body. He has many fraternal
and social ties, and is a Mason and a
Knight Templar. He was elected grand
commander of the Knights Templar of
Connecticut, in 1892. He is a member of
the South Norwalk Club and the Norwalk
Country Club.
On February 4, 1875, Mr. Swartz mar-
ried Adora M. Flynn. Two children,
Charles C. and Helen M., were born of
this union. The family home is at No. 68
West avenue, South Norwalk, Fairfield
county, Connecticut.
McLELLAN, William Lincoln,
Manufacturer, Merchant.
The McLellan family of which William
L. McLellan is a worthy scion was
founded in America by the paternal