BIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM FREDERICK SCHWIND
 

1865 - 1940
 

From the
Nebraska State Historical Society





The picture at left is believed to be
Mr. Schwind.

William F. Schwind, a native of Missouri, was born in 1865. His wife, Laura, also a Missouri-native, was a school friend of Mary (Baird) Bryan. According to family history, the Schwinds accompanied the Bryans to Nebraska in the late 1880s and both families settled in Lincoln.

Upon their arrival in Lincoln, W.F. Schwind undertook the study of law in Bryan's law office. When Bryan entered congress in 1891, Schwind was appointed as his secretary. Schwind also assisted in Bryan's campaign for the presidency in 1896.

During the Spanish-American War, Schwind served under Col. W. J. Bryan in the 3rd Nebraska Regiment. Commissioned as captain, Schwind served as quartermaster to the regiment. He resigned his commission on the same day that Bryan quit military service.

During the next several years, Schwind concentrated on his law practice in Lincoln. Around 1913, however, he became heavily involved in colonization efforts in Texas. With John G. Maher, he organized the Valley Fruit Farm and Garden Company. Through the efforts of this company and Schwind, some 2750 Nebraskans were resettled on 60,000 acres of land at Francitas, Texas. Schwind was personally responsible for relocating hundreds of Nebraska farmers on Texas land that had previously been used as cattle range.

Bryan, meanwhile, ascended to the position of Secretary of State in 1913. After three different men served as his private secretary during a two year period, Bryan appointed his old friend Schwind to that position on May 7, 1915. At the time of his appointment, Schwind had been serving as the president of the lst State Bank of Francitas.

Schwind's tenure as Bryan's private secretary did not last long--he was appointed as secretary on a temporary basis, until the permanent appointee could accept the position a few months later--and Schwind afterwards returned to Texas to look after his business interests.

However, he and his wife, Laura, remained among the closet friends of the Bryans. The affection continued among their children as well as Helen Schwind and Grace Bryan were lifelong friends and correspondents.

Perhaps the degree of the Bryans' special esteem for the Schwinds was expressed best when Bryan wrote to W.F. Schwind in a July 3, 1925 letter, "It is not often that we find a family where Mrs. Bryan thinks as much of the wife as I do of the husband." Laura Schwind died in Francitas, Texas in 1939. William F. Schwind died there in 1940.

[Note: According to Mr. Schwind's obituary included below, he died in Nacogdoches, Texas.]

The picture above is also believed to be Mr. Schwind in his Spanish American War uniform.
 

OBITUARY OF W. F. SCHWIND FORMER C. W. C. STUDENT

William Frederick Schwind passed away at the Memorial Hospital, Nacogdoches, Texas, early Saturday morning, October 25, 1940. He had been seriously ill less than three weeks, first in his hotel room in Houston, then his daughter, Faith, took him to her home at Nacogdoches. When his case was diagnosed as acute myologenous leukemia, he was removed to the hospital, where his daughter, Faith, and niece, Mary Young, were at his bedside. He was conscious up to a few hours before his death.

Mr. Schwind was born at Canton, Mo., October 1, 1864, one of a family of eight children, son of a German Methodist minister. His father was born at Baden, Germany, and his mother at Basel, Switzerland. He was graduated at Central Wesleyan College at Warrenton in the class if 1884 with a B. S. degree and received an M. S. degree in 1887. He was a member of the first class in law graduating from the University of Nebraska in 1889. Thomas S. Allen, a lawyer still practicing in Lincoln, brother-in-law of the late W. J. Bryan, was also a member of this class.

In January, 1889, after establishing a home in Lincoln, Will came back to Missouri for his bride, Laura E. Strother, her mother and niece, Mary Young. The Dryden, Parker and Strother families lived in the early days on the hill north of the Warrenton depot. He and his family resided in Lincoln until 1913, when Mr. Schwind founded the town of Francitas, Texas, and built his home on Lakeland Farm, where he lived until his death.

Funeral services for Mr. Schwind were held at the Branch Patton Funeral Home at Nacogdoches, Texas, Saturday afternoon, October 26, Faith's pastor, Brother Crawford of the First Presbyterian Church, officiating. His daughter, Faith and husband, J. H. Summers, accompanied the body to Washington, D. C., where they were met by his eldest daughter, Helen. Interment took place in Arlington National Cemetery at 10 a.m., October 29, with full military honors. He was laid to rest beside his wife, who preceded him in death January 8, 1939.

There was a close friendship between the Bryan and Schwind families which continued until the passing of Mr. and Mrs. Bryan. Mr. Schwind served as Mr. Bryan's secretary in the campaigns of 1896 and 1900, as quartermaster in the Third Nebraska Regiment of which Mr. Bryan was colonel in the Spanish-American War. He was also secretary of Mr. Bryan at the time he resigned his position as Secretary of State under President Wilson. Mr. Schwind was an active, energetic and optimistic citizen, always working for the good of his community. He was an ardent reader and a student of politics. He had a wonderful gift of story-telling and always had an appropriate story for every occasion.

Mr. Schwind was survived by two daughters, Mrs. Allen P. Cowgill, 519 Allen Street, Syracuse, New York and Mrs. J. H. Summers, 815 Raguet Street, Nacogdoches, Texas; three grandchildren, Mary Allen, Louise and William Cowgill, also of Syracuse; one niece, Miss Mary C. Young, 5906 Grand Avenue, Kansas City, Mo.; three brothers, Dr. W. E. Schwind, Evanston, Ill., Milton Schwind, Kansas City, Mo., and John Schwind, St. Louis, Mo.; also two sisters, Mrs. Thomas J. Hudson and Mrs. Joseph of St. Louis, Mo.--Contributed

Warrenton (Mo.) Banner, November 15, 1940
 

Additional Biographical Information From The Francitas Bee

Laura E. Schwind

Mrs. Laura F. Schwind, age 77 years, 8 months and 5 days, expired Jan. 8th. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. R. E. Connell under the direction of Taylor Brothers.

The following survive: her husband, Wm. F. Schwind; two daughters, Mrs. Allen P. Cowgill of Syracuse, N. Y., and Mrs. J. H. Summers of Nacogdoches; three grandchildren, Mary Ellen, Louise and William Cowgill of Syracuse, N. Y., one brother, Henry M. Strothers, of Bowling Green, Mo., and one niece, Mary c. Young, of Kansas City.

The Herald extends sympathy.

The Edna Herald, January 12, 1939
 

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