The Loose Cannon – Granville Perry Swift and Jeff Clark
When my stepson Pete was in his teens and 20s, he made it clear to his friends that they could not date his sister, Lyzzy. Of all Pete’s friends, Pete’s mom and I thought he should make an exception for his friend Jeff.
Jeff was a really good kid with a great attitude, great manners and great values. Of course, there was the possibility that Jeff was fooling us all, but I don’t think so.
So, I have now known Jeff for 30 years. Jeff, with his wife and two sons, has one of the few young families in Yountville. As a testament to Jeff’s character, he has been one of a handful of dads and moms to dedicate himself to keeping the Yountville Little League going. At one of their more recent games, I chided him about his greying hair. Always gracious, Jeff just chuckled.
Jeff’s great, great-great-grandfather was Granville Perry Swift who had participated in the Bear Flag Revolt.
This sent me off to the Internet where I found cited on Wikipedia:
“Granville Perry Swift (May 1, 1821 in Lexington, Kentucky – April 21, 1875) was a California pioneer who participated in the Bear Flag Revolt in 1846 and who was highly successful at gold mining. His great-uncle was Daniel Boone. He came to California at the age of 19 in 1840. Records indicate he was active in the Sacramento Valley, hunting and trading rawhide and furs. During the rebellion of the Californios in 1844–45, Governor Manuel Micheltorena asked John Sutter to form a troop of riflemen, of which Swift was one. By 1846, however, Swift would later favor independence from Mexico. He was one of thirty-three Americans who captured the town of Sonoma. He was elected sergeant of the party and even helped design the Bear Flag.”
Swift also had a real talent for gold mining and with his earnings, he bought a 15,000 acre ranch with his brother William, and his cousin Frank Sears… yes, of Sears Point between Sonoma and Novato.
Over the years, Swift suffered some financial losses and returned to doing what he did best.
Again from Wikipedia: “Swift returned to prospecting, this time for quicksilver in the mountains between Berryessa Valley and Knoxville, but on April 21, 1875, at the age of 54, he was riding on a mule and suffered a fatal fall on a steep mountain path.”
But enough about Swift.
Quoting from one of my earlier columns:“Some of my recent columns have painted a rather negative image of Yountville prior to, and even after incorporation. While my readers seem to enjoy those stories, I feel the need to remind folks about how Yountville came to be such a great little town. It was the people!”
With his hair getting some grey in it, Jeff is no longer the teenager I knew 30 years ago. Now, he is the embodiment of the Yountville spirit that made Yountville what it is today. He’s not just a spectator at the ballpark, like the rest of us. Jeff is passing on his values to those two sons and all the kids he coaches. People like Jeff restore my faith in humanity and give me hope that we’ll be able to overcome the divisions we are currently experiencing in this country.
If you run into Jeff, please introduce yourself and thank him. He could be our mayor someday.
Stay the course, Jeff. Yountville needs you and your family!
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