Gustavus Swift, an astute cattle-buyer, had followed…

Gustavus Swift, an astute cattle-buyer, had followed the market steadily westward.

On his recommendation, he and his partner James A. Hathaway had moved once more in 1875, this time to join the influx of meat packers setting up shop in Chicago's sprawling Union Stock Yards.

Gustavus Franklin Swift was the second of three boys born to William Swift and Sally Crowell, descendants of British settlers who went to New England in the seventeenth century.

The family (which included Gustavus’ brothers Noble and Edwin) lived and worked on a farm in the Cape Cod town of West Sandwich, Massachusetts (present-day Sagamore), where they raised and slaughtered cattle, sheep, and hog.

This is where he got the idea of packing meat.

As a boy, Swift had taken little interest in his studies and consequently left the nearby country school after only eight years.

During that period, he was employed in a number of jobs, finally finding full-time work in his elder brother Noble's butcher shop at the age of fourteen.

Two years later, in 1855, he had opened his own cattle and pork butchering business with the help of one of his uncles, who had loaned him four hundred dollars.

Swift purchased livestock at the market in Brighton and drove them to Eastham, a ten-day journey.

A shrewd businessman, he purportedly followed the somewhat common practice of denying his herds water during the last miles of the trip so that they would drink large quantities of liquid once they reached their final destination, effectively boosting their weights.

Swift had married Annie Maria Higgins of North Eastham in 1861.

Over the years, Annie has borne a total of eleven children, nine of whom will reach adulthood.

In 1862, Swift and his new bride had opened a small butcher shop and slaughterhouse.

Seven years later, Gustavus and Annie had moved the family to Brighton (near Boston), where in 1872 Swift had become partner in a new venture, Hathaway and Swift.

Swift and partner James A. Hathaway (a renowned Boston meat dealer) had initially relocated the company to Albany, then almost immediately thereafter to Buffalo.