162 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 
FROM BARNSTABLE BUTCHER TO WORLD MEAT 
MERCHANT 
62. One of the pioneers of Packingtown was GusTavus 
FRANKLIN Swirt. Of English descent from the earliest Colonial 
times, Mr. Swirt’s birthplace was at West Sandwich, Mass., out 
on Cape Cod. He was born June 24, 1839, the grandson of 
Captain WILLIAM SwIFT, a figure in both the Revolutionary war 
and the war of 1812. Through his mother he traced to ELDER 
Wituram BREwsTER of the original Plymouth colony, and to 
THomas PRINCE, second Governor of Massachusetts. Mr. SwIFt 
came of a large family, eight boys and four girls, and early 
decided to relieve the home pressure by taking up an occupa- 
tion other than the parental one. He took the step which con- 
trolled the trend of his later years by obtaining employment 
with the town butcher of Sandwich. After mastering the details 
of the business, he opened a retail butcher shop at Barnstable, 
Mass., in 1862, and within a few months established a small 
slaughter house. His success was such that in 1869 he went to 
Brighton, a suburb of Boston, at that time the principal live- 
stock market in New England, and in 1872 formed a partner- 
ship with James A. HatHaway. The new firm prospered and 
the headquarters were moved to Albany, New York, Mr. Swirr 
making regular visits to the Chicago and Buffalo cattle markets, 
where he was a large but conservative buyer. In 1875, HaTHa- 
way and SwirT transferred their operations to Chicago and 
embarked in the business of buying and shipping cattle. Two 
years later, Mr. Swirt began to slaughter cattle at the Union 
Stockyards, and with the advent of cold weather, shipped his 
first dressed beef in ordinary box cars from Chicago to the 
eastern markets. The economy of this method so impressed 
him that he began to experiment with a refrigerator on wheels, 
recognizing its possibilities in the opening of new and expan- 
sive markets. After considerable pioneer work that drew heav- 
ily on his limited capital, he sent the first car of perfectly 
