CHARLES W. SWAIN. This enterprising young farmer is industriously devoting his life to his chosen occupation, is doing well financially, and bids fair to become a man of means, and one of the substantial citizens of his native township. He is a son of Thomas Swain, a pioneer of Morgan County. He was born Jan. 20, 1862, and was reared to the life of a farmer, on the home farm in this township, receiving a sound, practical training in the calling that he afterward adopted when he arrived at years of discretion. He gleaned a substantial education in the public schools, as he was a bright and faithful scholar, and early entered upon his career as an agriculturist. His farm of fifty-six acres, with a fine growth of timber on it, is under excellent tillage, and its soil of exceeding fertility yields abundant harvests in repayment for skillful labor expended on it by the owner. The buildings are well built, and in good order, and everything about the place indicates thrift and method in its management.

For the success that he is sure to achieve if he continues to prosper, Mr. Swain will be greatly indebted to his intelligent, capable wife who gladly co-operates with him in his work, and makes their home the centre of comfort and ease, attractive alike to their many friends with whom they often share its generous hospitalities, and to the stranger who for the first time crosses its happy threshold. Mrs. Swain's maiden name was Mary E. Standerford, and she was a daughter of John and Mary E. (Manchester) Standerford, of this township, and a granddaughter of Mrs. Ethia Manchester, the widow of the well-known pioneer of Morgan County, the late David Manchester. She was born in Richardson County, Neb., of which her parents were early settlers, having removed form here to that place in the early days of its settlement. Mrs. Swain's mother died when she was a small child, and her father subsequently married Miss Mary A. Pursell, of Nebraska. By his first marriage he had three children - Maud, Thomas (deceased), Mrs. Swain. The latter was tenderly cared for after her mother's death, and reared to womanhood by her grandmother Manchester, and from that happy home she went forth to be the light of another, her union with our subject having been duly solemnized Sept. 9, 1885. Their marriage has been blessed to them by the birth of one son, whom they have named John.

Mr. and Mrs. Swain are both representatives of leading pioneer families of this county, and they stand high in the social and religious circles of their community where they are so well-known, and are regarded with great esteem as possessing those fine traits of character that render them desirable as friends and neighbors. Mr. Swain is identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church, as one of its most consistent members, and in him the Republican party finds an earnest supporter.