Imperial County, CA Biographies

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, January, 2007.

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm



HERMAN C. SWINK
 
                  In recording the names of the pioneers of Imperial Valley 
prominent mention should be given to the name that heads this review. Herman C. 
Swink is progressive of spirit and each year has found him adding to and 
improving his ranch, until now he has one of the best appointed places in the 
county. He was born at Lexington, Virginia, September 3, 1883, a son of Daniel 
and Virginia Swink, both natives of Virginia. Herman C. was one of eight 
children and acquired his education in the public schools of his native state 
and the Polytechnic Institute. After finishing his education, in March, 1904, he 
came to California and located in Los Angeles. He found employment at ranching 
for a time, and the spring and summer of 1904 he spent at Point Conception, 
California, on a ranch. In October of that year Mr. Swink came to Imperial 
County and at once rented 160 acres of land which he operated up to 1907. He 
then took up 160 acres, which he leveled and fenced and put under cultivation, 
and raises large crops of alfalfa. November 30, 1906, Mr. Swink was united in 
marriage with Miss Bessie E. Iliams, a native of Missouri. Her parents are also 
pioneers in Imperial Valley, coming here in 1904, and at present are located 
near Calexico. To Mr. and Mrs. Swink have been born five children: Carl, Helen, 
Clyde, Howard and Richard. Mr. Swink has 110 acres of highly-cultivated land. 
Owing to the flood of 1905-06, a portion of his land was washed away, and twenty 
acres is separated from his main ranch, which is in the northwest corner of his 
holdings. Mr. Swink's life has been spent in hard, faithful labor, and he is now 
enjoying the reward of well-ordered living. The family have many friends and 
acquaintances in the community in which they live. Mr. Swink is surely a 
self-made man.
 
Source: "The History of Imperial County, California," Elms and Franks Publ. Co., 
1918, pp. 468-469.