Swante (Svante, Sven, Swen) Magnus Swenson (Svenson) (1816-1896) was the first
Swedish immigrant to Texas and the founder of the SMS Ranches of West Texas. He came
to America in 1836, where he worked as a store clerk in New York and a railroad
bookkeeper in Baltimore, Maryland, before settling in Texas in 1838. Swenson worked
for John Adriance, who operated a large-scale carriage delivery service of general
merchandise. It was during this employment that Swenson met Dr. George Long who, due
to his poor health, requested that Swenson tend to him and his plantation. The
doctor died in 1842, and Swenson took control over the estate, and one year later
bought a neighboring plantation as well. In 1847 Swenson began a crusade to bring
more Swedish immigrants to Texas, possibly because of his disapproval of slave
labor, and footed the bill for several immigrants to move, in exchange for one year
of work on his plantation. Swenson continued this venture for the rest of his life,
and with the assistance of his uncle, Swante Palm, and brother, created what became
known as the
Swenson, who had moved to Austin by 1850, opened a mercantile business, invested in the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railway, and soon became a wealthy landowner. He founded the SMS Ranch on West Texas lands in 1851. He served two terms (1852 and 1856) as county commissioner and became the first treasurer of the State Agricultural Society (1853). He aided Governor Sam Houston in an attempt to stave off Texas secession by forming an independent Texas army. Despite his unionist tendencies, Swenson continued to help sell Texas cotton abroad. Eventually, fearing for his life, he fled to Mexico. He remained in Mexico until 1864, when he visited his mother in Sweden.
Swenson returned to the U.S. and by 1865 had set up a mercantile business in New Orleans and purchased a sugar plantation. He moved to New York City in late 1865, where he founded a finance firm, Swenson Perkins Company. Later he started S. M. Swenson and Sons banking company, and became a large stockholder in the First National City Bank of New York. Swenson kept deep ties to Texas, however, maintaining his land, cotton, and mercantile interests there. He died in New York in 1896.
Source:
Correspondence, legal documents, a deed, account papers, and clippings comprise the
Swen Magnus Swenson Papers, 1858-1896, and relate to Swenson’s work as a merchant,
banker, financier, and cattleman. The collection pertains to the founding and
operation of the SMS Ranches and the activities of the
The collection is open for research.
Swen Magnus Swenson Papers, 1843, 1858-1896, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
See also the
This collection was processed by Joe P. Smyer, September 1961. Subsequent revisions were made by Walter H. Richter, December 1966 and Sara Rumbo, April 1972.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s