History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/Albert W. Swalm
ALBERT W. SWALM was born at Womelsdorf, Berks Cdunty, Pennsylvania, on the 30th of November, 1845. In 1855 he came to Iowa and learned the printing business at Oskaloosa. When the Civil War began he enlisted but was rejected on account of his youth. Later he joined Company D, Thirty-third Iowa Infantry and served through the war as a private. Just before the Rebellion ended he was recommended for promotion. Upon his return home he was employed on the State Register and was soon promoted to city editor. In January, 1870, he became the editor of the Grand Junction Headlight. A few years later he removed to Jefferson and took editorial charge of the Jefferson Bee. In 1873 he, with his wife, purchased the Fort Dodge Messenger, removed to that city and published that paper. Selling that establishment after a few years he returned to Oskaloosa and bought the Herald establishment. Here he held many official positions, among which were postmaster, four years; Indian Land Commissioner, member of the State Prison Commission, of the Republican State Committee, Regent of the State University from 1885 to 1897, and for thirteen years an officer in the Iowa National Guards, attaining the rank of colonel. He was for some years on the Governor's staff. In 1897 he was appointed Consul to Montevideo, in Uruguay, South America, by President McKinley. In March, 1903, Colonel Swalm was by order of the President transferred to Southampton, England.