10) Fletcher Swayze: Elected mayor for the Town of Welland in 1879, 1880 & 1884

Vital statistics

Birth: December 23, 1842 at Elcho, Niagara, Ontario

Death: October 1, 1892 at Welland, Ontario, Canada (age 49)

Burial place: Fonthill Cemetery (Find a Grave)

Parents: Samuel / Mary Ann (née Haney)

Spouse: Elizabeth Jane (née Church)

Children: Helena Mildred / Charles Fletcher / George B. / Alice G. / Frank L. / Kenneth D.

Occupations: School Teacher / Merchant / Insurance / Bailiff / Accountant

Religion: Wesleyan Methodist

Political affiliation: Reform

Community affiliations: Public School Board / Town Councillor / Justice of the Peace / Welland Literary & Debating Society

Profile

Fletcher Swayze was born on December 23, 1842 at Elcho, in the Gainsborough Township of Niagara. His parents were Samuel and Mary Ann (née Haney).

When he was sixteen he obtained a first-class teaching certificate, and the next year he began teaching which lasted him several years. He decided to change his profession and began doing mercantile business in St. Catharines, Fonthill and Fenwick, and eventually Welland. In 1875 he was appointed official assignee by the federal government (managing the estates of bankrupt or insolvent debtors). After that he was appointed bailiff for the Welland County court, but after a short while decided to resign and he opened an office in Welland as an accountant. He then purchased an old established insurance business and took his son into partnership with him, the firm of F. Swayze & Son. The public was confident in his honesty and ability and they did extensive business. It must have put him in the public eye because he was elected several times to important municipal offices. He was mayor of Welland for 1879, 1880 and 1884.

His election as mayor in 1879 is especially impressive as he had not spent any time as a councillor, but he decided to run for mayor against the incumbent Abraham Hendershot, who was the subject of our previous profile. As was mentioned in that profile, the public may have become tired of Abraham’s combative personality, and Fletcher provided a fresh face. He was of the liberal political stance as compared with Abraham’s conservatism, and Fletcher was credited with possessing considerable executive ability. Fletcher’s win was impressive: 242 to 107. It was the most votes a mayoral candidate ever received at that point, and the record stood until 1895 when Dr. Sinclair Holden Glasgow received 252 votes (which was also against Abraham Hendershot).

Fletcher was elected again in 1880 over John Dunigan, 214 to 92. He was elected in 1884 as mayor for the final time, over Adolphus Williams, 211 to 181. He never lost a mayoral election. He also was elected as a councillor in 1891 and 1892 (the year he died while in office).

Tragically, he died at only 49 years old in 1892, otherwise he may have decided to run for mayor again in his later years. If that was to happen Welland missed out on his aforementioned executive ability. His obituary stated the town was startled that he was in a dying condition, despite him not being well for months, suffering from a terrible pain in the head and general prostration. His symptoms had improved but a blood vessel burst in his brain and he sank into a coma, then death that same evening.

From his obituary in the October 7, 1892 edition of the Welland Tribune: “Mr. Swayze was one of Welland’s best, ablest and most prominent public men, doing his duty fearlessly and honestly in all the positions held by him. He leaves a spotless record, and the history of his public and private life will ever remain in the grateful memory of his fellowmates.” The town flag floated at half mast until after his funeral, and the day of his funeral all schools and business closed. His funeral was one of the largest and the attendance the most representative in years. “…residents of the town turned out very generally to pay their last tribute of respect to a citizen whom all loved and honored. Nearly fifty carriages followed to the cemetery at Fonthill. In the funeral procession were all the members of the town council and school board… By request of the family flowers were omitted, and the only floral tribute placed on the grave was a beautiful pillow of flowers from the sons and daughters, bearing that endearing word, “Father.””

The house the family lived at is today known as the Church-Swayze House, at 18 Merritt St., where it still stands. It is not designated as a heritage property, but the house received a plaque from the Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee in 2004. It was built in 1874 for William Gould Church, who then gifted it to his daughter Elizabeth Jane in 1877, Fletcher’s wife. The house is today still the property of Swayze descendants.

Another lasting reminder of Fletcher that can be found today in Welland is the old Town Bell, currently situated at the front of Civic Square, East Main Street, between the Billyard Insurance Group building and Welland Public Library’s fiction room window. It was procured by the town in 1884 after the Fire Hall was destroyed by fire, and the mayor was “authorized to correspond with different manufacturers of bells with a view to providing one for this Corporation.” A 1,200 pound bell from Jones Troy Bell Foundry Company of Troy, N.Y., was ultimately decided upon, and Fletcher’s name was engraved upon the bell along with other town officials.

Sources

Allenov, Mark. “Generations later ChurchSwayze House in family’s hands.” Niagara Falls Review, April 18, 2026.
Barrett, David G. “The Town Bell.” 1981.
“Late Fletcher Swayze.” Welland Tribune, October 7, 1892.
Welland Tribune Printing House, “The History of Welland County” (1887), 577-578.