Granville Perry Swift (May 1, 1821 in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

– April 21, 1875) was a

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and de ...

who participated in the Bear Flag Revolt in 1846 and who was highly successful at

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface ...

. His

great-uncle An uncle is usually defined as a male relative who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent. Uncles who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. The female counterpart of an uncle is an aunt, and the reciprocal rela ...

was

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...

. He came to California at the age of 19 in 1840. Records indicate he was active in the

Sacramento Valley , photo =Sacramento Riverfront.jpg , photo_caption= Sacramento , map_image=Map california central valley.jpg , map_caption= The Central Valley of California , location = California, United States , coordinates = , boundaries = Sierra Nevada (ea ...

, hunting and trading rawhide and

fur Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...

s. During the rebellion of the

Californio Californio (plural Californios) is a term used to designate a Hispanic Californian, especially those descended from Spanish and Mexican settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries. California's Spanish-speaking community has resided there sinc ...

s in 1844–45, Governor

Manuel Micheltorena Joseph Manuel María Joaquin Micheltorena y Llano (8 June 1804 – 7 September 1853) was a brigadier general of the Mexican Army, adjutant-general of the same, governor, commandant-general and inspector of the department of Las Californias, then ...

asked

John Sutter John Augustus Sutter (February 23, 1803 – June 18, 1880), born Johann August Sutter and known in Spanish as Don Juan Sutter, was a Swiss immigrant of Mexican and American citizenship, known for establishing Sutter's Fort in the area th ...

to form a troop of

riflemen A rifleman is an infantry soldier armed with a rifled long gun. Although the rifleman role had its origin with 16th century hand cannoneers and 17th century musketeers, the term originated in the 18th century with the introduction of the ri ...

, of which Swift was one. By 1846, however, Swift would later favor independence from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. He was one of thirty-three Americans who captured the town of Sonoma. He was elected sergeant of the party and even helped design the

Bear Flag The Bear Flag is the official flag of the U.S. state of California. The precursor of the flag was first flown during the 1846 Bear Flag Revolt and was also known as the Bear Flag. A predecessor, called the Lone Star Flag, was used in an 183 ...

. He served until the spring of 1847, after which time he settled in Colusi County, where he ran an extensive cattle operation. It was during this time that he constructed a

corral A pen is an enclosure for holding livestock. It may also perhaps be used as a term for an enclosure for other animals such as pets that are unwanted inside the house. The term describes types of enclosures that may confine one or many animal ...

made of flat stones, as there was no timber in the surrounding country. This corral, still standing, became known as Swift's Stone Corral and is now registered as

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...

br>#238
In addition, his

adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...

from the ranch is registered as CH
#345
(the two are listed in different counties because Colusi County was later split into Colusa, Glenn, and Tehama counties). After the discovery of gold at

Sutter's Fort Sutter's Fort was a 19th-century agricultural and trade colony in the Mexican ''Alta California'' province.National Park Service"California National Historic Trail."/ref> The site of the fort was established in 1839 and originally called New Helve ...

, Swift took a party to Bidwell's Bar in 1848 and struck it rich. A fellow miner recalls, "Swift was one of the best miners I ever knew. It seems as if he could almost smell the gold. He made an immense amount of gold." With his newfound wealth, Swift, his brother William, and his cousin Frank Sears first purchased the ranch they had been working, and later purchased 15,000 acres (61 km²) of

Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo Don Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (4 July 1807 – 18 January 1890) was a Californio general, statesman, and public figure. He was born a subject of Spain, performed his military duties as an officer of the Republic of Mexico, and shaped the trans ...

Rancho Petaluma :''This article refers to the land grant. For the Rancho Petaluma Adobe, see Rancho Petaluma Adobe'' Rancho Petaluma was a Mexican land grant in present-day Sonoma County, California given in 1834 by Governor José Figueroa to Mariano Guadalup ...

, located near

Sears Point Sears Point is a prominent landform that juts into the San Pablo Bay in Sonoma County, California, United States. This hill is the southernmost peak of the Sonoma Mountains and forms the southwestern ridge above Tolay Lake. Starting with Europ ...

. In 1858 he constructed his three-story Southern

antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern United States ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum ...

-style mansion, called Telemec, on the rancho. The first two floors had 14 rooms, while the dining room could seat as many as 50 guests and featured a fireplace of imported Italian

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

. It also had an encircling balcony supported by great stone columns. Swift also buried an estimated $100,000 in gold. The list of his burial locations (in his handwriting) still survives, with notations like "1 tin box & 1 Little Bottle Boath in the saim hoal." He was later unable to identify many of the hiding places; gold believed to have been Swift's has been found several times, including in 1914 by A.W. Lehrke, who dug under his ranch house after a dream. Rich and famous, he married 16-year-old Eliza Jane Tate of Sonoma. Together they had three sons before their divorce in 1869. However, his fortunes would soon take a turn for the worse. He suffered serious financial losses in the so-called Comstock Swindle, forcing him to sell off his ranch and Telemec to pay his debts. In 1850, $80,000 in gold that his sister had panned was washed away by the creek near which Swift had buried it. The family then moved to

Solano County Solano County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 453,491. The county seat is Fairfield. Solano County comprises the Vallejo–Fairfield, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is ...

in 1864, settling in Green Valley. The stone mansion they purchased today houses th
Green Valley Country Club
Swift returned to prospecting, this time for quicksilver in the mountains between

Berryessa Valley Rancho Las Putas was a Mexican land grant in present-day Napa County, California given in 1843 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to José de Jesús Berreyesa and Sexto "Sisto" Berreyesa. The name ''Las Putas'' came from Putah Creek, which ran thro ...

and

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's ...

, but on April 21, 1875, at the age of 54, he was riding on a mule and suffered a fatal fall on a steep mountain path. He is buried at Rockville Cemetery in Suisun.

References

*Dowd, Katie
"A settler forgot where he buried $100,000 in gold around the Bay Area. It might still be out there"
''San Francisco Chronicle'', June 9, 2019 *Goerke-Shrode, Sabine,

, ''Vacaville Reporter'', April 23, 2000 *Hobart, Billie, Ed.D. ''Captain Granville Perry Swift, California Pioneer and Sonoma Bear'' (2001).

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Swift, Granville P. 1821 births 1875 deaths Landowners from California 19th-century American landowners Accidental deaths from falls Accidental deaths in California American people of the Bear Flag Revolt 19th-century American businesspeople

See also

References

External links