William D. Swart (1856 - 1936)
Born at Margaretville (NH); died at Nashua (NH).
Businessman and manufacturer; state legislator.
Portrait by Frank French, 1912.
Presented to the State before 1921.

Swart (1856 - 1936) was born at Margaretville (NH). After graduation from Wesleyan Academy (Wilbraham, MA), Swart worked for the New York City dry goods firms of Evans, Peak & Company (1874 - 1879) and Bates,Reed & Cooley (1879 - 1881). Then he moved to Newark (NJ) and the "decorative art business" (1881 - 1888).

In 1888 Swart took two years off and traveled around the country. He reappeared at Nashua (NH), where in 1890 he joined Charles A. Roby in the retail lumber business. In 1892 Roby & Swart purchased the only edge tool works in Nashua, as well as a woodworking plant. Two years later (1894) they consolidated their retail business with F. D. Cook & Company, while retaining their manufacturing and wholesale business as Roby & Swart Manufacturing.

Swart served as President of the Nashua Board of Trade (1893 - 1895) and as a member of the city's Common Council (1893 - 1895; president 1894 - 1895). He served on the staff of Governor Ramsdell (1895 - 1897), and became Nashua Fire Commissioner in 1895. Swart served as a State Representative (1909, 1910), and as President of the State Senate (1911, 1912). He was a member of the Executive Council with Governor Keyes (1917 - 1919), and was a delegate to the 1916 Republican National Convention.

Reference: H. H. Metcalf, ed., One Thousand New Hampshire Notables (1919); Richard Herndon, ed., Men of Progress...in...New Hampshire (1898).