Listed in various directories as a “contractor and dealer in all kinds of timber, ties, telegraph poles, cedar posts, tan bark, etc.,” Swanton was in business for about ten years. In an ad dated August 7th, 1889, he announced a “new firm” to be called, Swanton, Brandon & Co. that was “to be continued on a much larger scale.” “Mr. Swanton thanks his numerous customers for their liberal patronage during the past ten years, and begs to solicit a continuance of the same for the new firm.” J.H. Brandon of Fenelon Falls was the new partner.
Swanton left the village for Toronto in March of 1890 [FFG 21 March 1890; 5]. He continued to do business in the village for his total wage bill per week was about $300.00 in September 1891, and his name remained in the directories until 1893. Although the business did not survive under the name of Swanton, Brandon & Co., it was probably absorbed into the other J.H. Brandon interests.
744 Ontario Directory (1888/89)
745 [FFG 6 Sept 1889; 1]
746 We had no idea, until we heard it a few days ago, that Mr. Samuel Swanton was paying wages to the amount of $300 per week to men employed in handling the wood, ties, etc., he buys along the line of the Victoria railway, though we knew he was doing a large business. … Mr. Swanton … is, incidentally, a public benefactor as far as Fenelon Falls is concerned, as a very large proportion of his employees have their homes in the village, and naturally spend their earnings where they live [FFG 11 Sept 1891; 4].
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