Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Franklin SWAYNE
Franklin was born 25 Jan 1844, in Philadelphia, PA, and died Jan 1924, son of Huson Swayne and Sarah Tryon of Philadelphia. He married about 1900 Dorothy Clifford or Clifton or Chandos, an English woman, but they were soon divorced. After graduating from high school, Franklin was a financial clerk for three years in the Ordinance Dept. of Bridesburg Arsenal, then became a receiving teller in the National Bank of the Republic. Franklin devoted his leisure time to law study in the office of Charles E. Lex, and was soon admitted to law practice. He was an atttorney with an office in Philadelphia, to which he went one or two days a week from his 700-acre estate in Hibernia, north of Coatesville, PA., a long, slow trip by train and trolley. He said that he had been to England many times. No doubt he got his wife on one of these trips. The first two guesses at her surname are from memories of others, the third from a deed to part of his Hibernia estate. Dorothy has long been remembered in Coatesville for driving about the town with an English coach and four.
The Hibernia mansion was renovated by Franklin and stands today much the way it looked when he lived there. He and his wife Dorothy(Dolly) resided in the house. Many of the furnishings are original. His hunting jacket is on display. Each year there is a candlelight tour of his mansion (late November). The 2000 tour theme was "Holidays, Horses, and Hounds," as Franklin and many of the mansion residents were fox hunters.
Visitors always ask about Dolly. We understand that she was redhaired. We also understand that during WW I she served with the Red Cross as a nurse in England and returned to Hibernia to visit. Oral history says that she was not recognized, even though she was well liked. The reason was, when she came back, her hair was blond or white (conflicting info).
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