William's immediate relatives including parents, siblings, partnerships and children in the Swaim family tree.

William's Family

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William Swaim Partner Child Partner Child

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Mamie Swaim and family

Lisa K. (Swaim) Horrocks/ Cercy

Merwin Evans & Bobbie Swaim

Isabella Swaim gravestone

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Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during William's lifetime.

In 1889, in the year that William Swaim was born, on May 31st, the South Fork Dam collapsed. Located in western Pennsylvania, the dam failed - sending more than 20 million tons of water into the towns below it. The flood killed more than 2,200 people in and around Johnstown. The newly formed Red Cross responded to the disaster.

In 1896, at the age of just 7 years old, William was alive when on January 28th, the first ticket for speeding - called "furious driving" - was issued. Walter Arnold of Kent England was fined 1 shilling plus costs - for going 8 mph. The speed limit was 2 mph.

In 1914, at the age of 25 years old, William was alive when in August, the Panama Canal opened to traffic. Begun by the French in the 1880's and abandoned, the United States undertook further construction in 1904. After 10 years, and the elimination of malaria carrying mosquitoes (which caused immense delays for the French and the Americans), the 48 mile long artificial waterway - a series of locks - created a shortcut for ships traveling between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

In 1957, when he was 68 years old, on October 4th, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the first man made earth-orbiting satellite - and triggered the Space Race. Sputnik I was only 23 inches in diameter and had no tracking equipment, only 4 antennas, but it had a big impact.

In 1978, in the year of William Swaim's passing, on November 18th, Jim Jones's Peoples Temple followers committed mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana - where they had moved, from San Francisco, as a group. Jones was the leader of the cult and ordered his followers to drink cyanide-laced punch, which they did. Whole families (women and children included) died - more than 900 people in all.