James Swan (financier)

James Swan (1754 – 31 July 1830) was an early American patriot and financier based in Boston in the 18th and 19th centuries.

He was a member of the Sons of Liberty, participated in the Boston Tea Party,[4][5] and served in the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775.

[7] "On the site of Temple Place a colonial house surrounded by a brick wall and a grove of trees was built in 1684, and here dwelt General James Swan.

He bonded or owned numerous vessels with his Boston associates such as Mungo Mackay, Elias Parkman, Paul Dudley Sargent, Thomas Adams.

After various ventures in finance and real estate, and years of living in high style, in 1787 or 1788 the indebted Swan moved to France.

Swan was successful in his business activities related to the millions of dollars owed by the United States to France.

He travelled to Philadelphia and while there posed for portraitist Gilbert Stuart; the finished painting is now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Portrait of James Swan by Gilbert Stuart , 1795. Part of the Swan Collection, bequest of great-granddaughter Miss Elizabeth Howard Bartol (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
Portrait of Hepzibah Clarke Swan by Gilbert Stuart, 1808 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
Tremont Street in 1798 (shows the vicinity of West Street and Haymarket Theatre , looking south) [ 6 ]
Notice from Swan about property for sale in the Boston area (Contintental Journal, 1785)