Alexander Swan

Alexander Hamilton Swan (November 24, 1831 – 1905) was an American businessman and politician who served as a member of the Iowa House of Representatives from 1870 to 1872 and founded the Wyoming-based Swan Land and Cattle Company among other Wyoming livestock-related companies. He served as a Republican member of the legislative assembly of the Wyoming Territory. After having amassed vast wealth through his ventures in Wyoming, Swan lost his fortune in 1887. He relocated to Odgen, Utah, and died in 1905.

Early life Swan was born on November 24, 1831, in Carmichaels, Pennsylvania, in Greene County near Pittsburgh.

In Iowa, he met and married Ann McCollough. Swan amassed a significant fortune in Wyoming, but ultimately squandered it. His main partners were his brothers (Henry, William, and Thomas “Black Tom”). By the year 1882, the herd he managed for the company numbered 33,000.

In 1877, Swan was elected as a Republican to the council in the fifth Wyoming legislative assembly. He established the aforementioned ranch after being persuaded by his associate George Morgan to import hereford cattle from England. Swan was the first rancher in the to introduce purebred hereford cattle from England to the United States. In 1880, Chicago businessman Frank had become a new business associate of Swan's, which had led to the 1881 establishment of the Swan & Frank Live-Stock Company. Around the same time that Frank began doing business with Swan and his brothers, Joseph Rosenbaum also became involved as a shareholder and associate of their ventures. Clay had been among the harsh critics of Swan and Swan's practices as a manager. The Swan Land and Cattle Company Headquarters remains standing, having been added in 1964 as a National Historic Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places.

The hereford ranch that Swan founded continues to operate, and is now the oldest known continuous breed operation in the United States.