Biographies - S through U

SEWARD, William Henry, a Senator from New York; born in Florida, Orange County, N.Y., on May 16, 1801; after preparatory studies, graduated from Union College in 1820; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Auburn, N.Y., in 1823; member, State senate 1830-1834; unsuccessful Whig candidate for governor in 1834; Governor of New York 1838-1842; elected as a Whig to the United States Senate in 1849; reelected as a Republican in 1855 and served from March 4, 1849, to March 3, 1861; unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 1860; Secretary of State in the Cabinets of Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson 1861-1869; while Secretary of State concluded the convention with Great Britain for the settlement of the Alabama claims and the treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska; died in Auburn, Cayuga County, N.Y., October 10, 1872; interment in Fort Hill Cemetery. 

SMITH, George William (1762-1811) Governor of Virginia, 1811. Perished in a theater fire in Richmond, Va., December 26, 1811. Interment at Monumental Church, Richmond, Va.

STEVENSON, Andrew, a Representative from Virginia; born in Culpeper County, Va., January 21, 1784; pursued classical studies; attended the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va.; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Richmond, Va.; member of the State house of delegates 1809-1816 and 1818-1821 and served as speaker 1812-1815; unsuccessful candidate in 1814 and 1816 for election to Congress; elected to the Seventeenth Congress; reelected to the Eighteenth through Twentieth Congresses and reelected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-first through Twenty-third Congresses and served from March 4, 1821, until his resignation, June 2, 1834; Speaker of the House of Representatives (Twentieth through Twenty-third Congresses); Minister to Great Britain 1836-1841; engaged in agricultural pursuits at "Blenheim," Albemarle County, Va.; in 1845 was elected a member of the board of visitors of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, and in 1856 was elected rector; died at his home, "Blenheim," January 25, 1857; interment in Enniscothy Cemetery, Albemarle County, Va.

STORY, Joseph, born in Marblehead, Mass., September 18, 1779; attended Marblehead Academy; was graduated from Harvard University in 1798; He married first, Mary Lynde Oliver, 9 December 1804 (d. 1805) and second, Sarah Waldo Wetmore 27 August 1808. Story was admitted to the bar in 1801 and commenced practice in Salem; member of the State house of representatives 1805-1807; elected as a Republican to the Tenth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Jacob Crowninshield and served from May 23, 1808, to March 3, 1809; was not a candidate for renomination in 1808; again a member of the State house of representatives in 1811, and served as speaker; published commentaries on the Constitution, and also other works; appointed by President Madison as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The youngest appointee at 32, Story soon became one of the court's leading justices and served from 1811 until his death; elected as an overseer of Harvard University in 1818 and as professor of law in the same institution in 1829, a position which he also held until his death; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1820; declined the position of chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court in 1831; died in Cambridge, Mass., September 10, 1845; interment in Mount Auburn Cemetery.

SWEM, Dr. Earl G., 1871-1965, Librarian, College of William and Mary, compiler of the Virginia Historical Index, Roanoke,Va., 1934-36, 2 vols. A complete index of the Calendar of State Papers, vols. I-II; Henings Statutes, vols. I-13; Lower Norfolk County Antiquary, vols.I-5; Virginia Historical Register, vols.I-6; Tyler's Quarterly, vols.I-10; Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vols. I-38 , William and Mary Quarterly, 1st series vols.I-27, 2nd series vols.I-10.

Dr. Swem's achievements as a historian, bibliographer and librarian earned him praise and gratitude during his long career, which started in high school at the Iowa Masonic Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. After graduation from Lafayette College, he moved on to the Library of Congress, serving there as chief of the Catalog Division until 1907, when he was named assistant state librarian. He not only built up the collection of the Virginia State Library in his twelve years there, but also began his crucial work in Virginia bibliography, compiling finding lists and bibliographies of the State Library's books, manuscript materials, and historical records.

Swem continued this work at the College of William and Mary, at which he served as librarian from 1919 to 1944. Under his direction, the William and Mary library collection grew from twenty-five thousand books and twenty thousand manuscripts to more than two hundred forty thousand books and approximately four hundred thousand manuscripts. Swem also used his position to make the library more accessible to its patrons, by offering classes on library use to students and library assistants and, in a practice almost unheard of at that time, opening the stacks to students and the public.

Swem's achievements as a bibliographer reached their peak during his years at William and Mary, when in 1936 he completed the Virginia Historical Index, an invaluable source for historians of Virginia. After his retirement from William and Mary in 1944, Swem served as librarian emeritus and continued to edit books and manuscripts on Virginia history. He died aged ninety-four in 1965, a year before the completion of William and Mary's new library, designated the Earl Gregg Swem Library in honor of his contributions to the library collection and to historical research. See also Swem Library

TYLER, John, a Representative and a Senator from Virginia, a Vice President and 10th President of the United States; born in Charles City County, Va., March 29, 1790; attended private schools and graduated from the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va., in 1807; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1809 and commenced practice in Charles City County; captain of a military company in 1813; member, State house of delegates 1811-1816; member of the council of state in 1816; elected as a Republican to the Fourteenth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John Clopton; reelected to the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Congresses and served from December 16, 1817, to March 3, 1821; declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1820 because of impaired health; member, State house of delegates 1823-1825; Governor of Virginia 1825-1827; elected to the United States Senate in 1827; reelected in 1833 and served from March 4, 1827, to February 29, 1836, when he resigned; served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Twenty-third Congress; chairman, Committee on the District of Columbia (Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Congresses), Committee on Manufactures (Twenty-third Congress); member of the State constitutional convention in 1829 and 1830; member, State house of delegates 1839; elected Vice President of the United States on the Whig ticket with William Henry Harrison in 1840; was inaugurated March 4, 1841, and served until the death of President Harrison April 4, 1841; took the oath of office as President of the United States April 6, 1841, and served until March 3, 1845; did not seek reelection; Tyler was the most prolific of all American President: he had 15 children and two wives. In 1813, Tyler married Letitia Christian, the daughter of a Virginia planter. They had eight children. She was an invalid when Tyler became president and made only one public appearance, at her daughter Elizabeth's marriage in 1842. Letitia Christian Tyler, the President's first wife, died in the White House in September, 1842. A few months later, Tyler began courting 23-year-old Julia Gardiner, a beautiful and wealthy New Yorker. When they were married in New York City on June 26, 1844, Tyler became the first president to be wed while in office. He was 30 years older than his bride. [See Table of Partiicipants]

Tyler was delegate to and president of the peace convention held in Washington, D.C., in 1861 in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war; delegate to the Confederate Provisional Congress in 1861; elected to the House of Representatives of the Confederate Congress, but died in Richmond, Va., January 18, 1862, before the assembling of the Congress; interment in Hollywood Cemetery.