Silas Swallow
Personal details
Born	Silas Comfort Swallow (1839-03-05)March 5, 1839 Wilkes-Barre,Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	August 13, 1930(1930-08-13) (aged 91) Harrisburg,Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political party	Prohibition
Spouse	Rebecca Louise Robins
Parents	George Swallow (father) Sarah Thompson (mother)
Education	Wyoming Seminary Taylor University[1]
Military service
Allegiance	United States of America
Branch/service	Union Army
Rank	First lieutenant
Unit	18th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars	American Civil War

Silas Comfort Swallow (March 5, 1839 – August 13, 1930) was aUnited StatesMethodist preacher andprohibitionist politician who was a lifelong opponent of slavery. He was theProhibitionist presidential nominee in1904.

On March 5, 1839, Silas Comfort Swallow was born inWilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to George Swallow, a trustee ofWyoming Seminary, and Sarah Thompson. He was named after Methodist preacherSilas Comfort (1803–1868), an anti-slavery member of the Genesee, Oneida and Missouri Conferences.

While serving in St. Louis, Missouri, Swallow admitted as evidence in a church trial the testimony of a Negro, a practice which was forbidden in public trials in Missouri at the time. He was censured by his Conference, but that censure was overturned by the 1840 General Conference. TheGeneral Conference then bowed toSouthern pressure and passed a resolution prohibiting the testimony of Negroes in church trials within states that forbade such testimony in public trials. That resolution was rescinded in 1844. Before entering the ministry, Silas was employed as a school teacher from the age of 16 to 21 and later studied law.

In 1862, he enlisted into the Union Army and served as aFirst lieutenant in the18th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment during theAmerican Civil War.^[2]

He entered the Baltimore Conference in 1863 and became a charter member of the CentralPennsylvania Conference upon its organization in 1869. On January 20, 1866, he married Rebecca Louise Robins.^[3][4] He worked a church builder, presiding elder, and editor ofThe Central Pennsylvania Methodist. As editor he attacked alcohol, spiritual indifference, and political corruption in the state government that led to him being prosecuted and convicted of slander and fined $500 (~$18,898 in 2024) in 1897, but the verdict was later reversed by the State Superior Court.^[5] In 1901 he was criticized for a recent editorial critical ofWilliam McKinley that was released shortly after his death.^[6]

He was theProhibition Party's candidate for Mayor of Harrisburg, state legislature, State Treasurer, andGovernor of Pennsylvania. When he ran for governor of Pennsylvania in 1898 he received the nomination of the Prohibition, People's, Liberty, and Honest Government parties and received 13% in the general election. In 1901, he received a single vote for Senator from state representative L. D. Brown.^[7]

During the1900 presidential election he ran for the Prohibition Party's presidential nomination, but was narrowly defeated byJohn G. Woolley afterHale Johnson withdrew before balloting and endorsed Woolley.^[8] During the1904 presidential election it was initially believed that GeneralNelson A. Miles would be the Prohibition Party's presidential nominee, but one hour before the convention was to vote he sent a telegram refusing to allow the delegates to vote for him.^[9] Swallow, who was supposed to serve as an at-large delegate for Pennsylvania, but was unable to attend due to his wife's poor health, was voted on instead and given the nomination by acclamation. It was speculated that he might not accept the nomination, but after his wife's health improved he accepted it and appeared on the ticket with his running mateGeorge Washington Carroll. In the general election he received 259,102 votes which is the second highest popular vote total for the party.

Swallow died at his home inHarrisburg, Pennsylvania on August 13, 1930, from old age and was interred at Paxtang Cemetery near Harrisburg.

Dr. Swallow's official conference service record lists the following appointments:

• 1863–1864 Milton circuit.
• 1864–1866 Berwick.
• 1866–1868 Catawissa.
• 1868–1871 Newberry.
• 1871–1873 Williamsport Third Street.
• 1873–1875 Milton.
• 1875–1877 Altoona Eighth Avenue.
• 1877–1881 presiding elder, Altoona District.
• 1881–1884 York First.
• 1884–1886 Williamsport Grace.
• 1886–1887 agent, Dickinson College.
• 1887–1892 Harrisburg Ridge Avenue.
• 1892–1902 superintendent, Harrisburg Methodist book room.
• 1902–1908 no appointment, by request.
• 1908–1930 retired.

Being an editor, Swallow made certain that his life story was recorded for posterity. Upon reaching his 70th birthday in 1909, he published a 482-page hardback autobiography:III Score and X – Selections, Collections, Recollections of Seventy Busy Years.

This proved to be so successful that he came out with periodic updates as follows:

• Toasts and Roasts of III Score and X, 1911.
• Then and Now – Some Reminiscences of anOctogenarian, 1919.
• IV Score and More, 1922.

Other booklets and pamphlets by Swallow, all of which are preserved in the archives of the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church, range in date and content from his 1879Camp Meetings and the Sabbath to his 1917A Sermon onThanksgiving and Thanksliving.

• Silas C. Swallow atFind a Grave
• Works by Silas C. Swallow atLibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

• 1839 births
• 1930 deaths
• 19th-century American Methodist ministers
• 20th-century American politicians
• American abolitionists
• History of Methodism in the United States
• Pennsylvania Prohibitionists
• People of Pennsylvania in the American Civil War
• Politicians from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
• Politicians from Williamsport, Pennsylvania
• Prohibition Party (United States) presidential nominees
• Candidates in the 1904 United States presidential election
• Writers from Pennsylvania
• Methodist abolitionists

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from April 2020
• Articles with LibriVox links