Thomas Swann

Thomas Swann (July 21, 1765 – February 2, 1840) was an American lawyer, businessman and politician who twice served in the Virginia House of Delegates and for more than a decade served as the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Early and family life Swann was born in Prince George's County, Maryland to the former Nancy Ann Naylor and her husband, Edward Swann Jr. He had several brothers (some of whom fought in the American Revolutionary War and William T. Swann who would follow him to Alexandria) and sisters. He received a private education suitable for his class. In January 1789 he settled in Loudoun County and on April 2, 1795 married Jane Byrd Page (1774-1812), who was descended from the First Families of Virginia. Her father Mann Page of Gloucester County had died in 1779, when she was a child, but left her 2000 pounds if she reached adulthood, as well as a personal estate including many slaves. The new Swann family settled in Alexandria by the end of the year. Although three children died as infants and are buried (as is their mother) in the graveyard of Christ Church in Alexandria, theirs sons Wilson Cary Swann, Thomas Swann Jr., Edward Swann, John Swann, William Page Swann and Robert Page Swann and daughter Mary Swann survived their mother. W.C. Swann and Thomas Swann Jr. followed their father's path into politics, and the latter eventually became president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then Baltimore's mayor before the American Civil War and Maryland's governor and a U.S. Congressman after the war. Their mother's legacy, several children and interconnected family relationships led this man to file a deed in 1818 dividing property among their children, as well as considerable additional probate litigation in the 1830s. Although not listed in tax and census records for northern Virginia counties, the Swann household owned enslaved people, at least 40 when this Thomas Swann died in 1840. Career The elder Thomas Swann studied law, was admitted to the Virginia bar, and practiced in northern Virginia and what became the new federal city, Washington, D.C. In 1794, Loudoun County voters elected him as one of their two (part-time) representatives in the Virginia House of Delegates, where he served alongside fellow Alexandria attorney Charles Lee.