Background on Sarah Swift
A Quaker and philanthropist from Worcester, Mass., Sarah J. Swift was a noted supporter of Friends' foreign missionary activity for over half a century. Born in North Dartmouth, Mass., on Nov. 16, 1846, Swift was the last of six children born to Isaac Rushmore Gifford (1787-1878), an investor in whaling, and his second wife Phebe (1803-1903). The deep attachment to the principles of the Society of Friends that Sarah inherited from her parents, both of whom were ministers associated with the Dartmouth Monthly Meeting, were strengthened by her education at the Friend's Boarding School in Providence, R.I.
On Dec. 26, 1872, at the age of 26, Sarah Gifford married Daniel Wheeler Swift, a Quaker from West Falmouth, Mass., and an innovator in the envelope making industry. Wheeler Swift had moved to Worcester in 1864 to work under James Greene Arnold, a pioneer in the industry. Ambitious and with an aptitude for mechanical things, he lured his brother Henry to join him in Worcester, and together the two began experimenting with improvements to the equipment they were using, developing their own designs and revolutionizing the industry in the process. Within a few short years, the brothers had secured a string of patents for innovations in envelope making, including for embossing valentine envelopes and, most importantly, for an inexpensive, high-volume envelope-folding machine (1871) and a self-gumming machine for sealing envelopes (1875). The Swifts became manufacturers themselves in 1884, and even though many of their patents were controlled by their previous employers, the firm of Logan, Swift, and Brigham Co., grew to become the largest envelop-making firm in the United States. By the end of the century, Swift had consolidated several companies into his own United States Envelope Company and was considered among Worcester's moneyed elite. He left an estate of nearly $300,000 at his death in 1910.
Sarah Swift's philanthropic activities rose with her fortunes. Always possessed of a strong social conscience, she supported a range of causes, especially in education, and served on the Board of the Worcester Children's Friend Society and as Trustee of the Obadiah Brown Benevolent Fund, among other organizations. Within the Society of Friends, she served on the Permanent Board and School Committee of the New England Yearly Meeting, as an elder and Clerk in the Worcester Meeting, and on a full slate of committees, including the Finance Committee, Building Committee, Cemetery Committee, and General Care Committee.
Foreign missions, however, were a particularly favored cause for Swift, especially the missions and schools in Ramallah, Palestine (then Syria) and Buff Bay, Jamaica. In Ramallah, Swift became a primary benefactor of the school in 1869 by Eli and Sybil Jones, the aunt and uncle of the great Quaker writer Rufus M. Jones. Though never numbering more than five at a time, the missionaries there established a regular meeting, were involved in the work of translating, printing, and distributing Bibles, and most importantly, they maintained a girls' school (founded 1869) and Boys' Training Home (founded 1901 and opened in 1918) that continue to the present. The mission in Jamaica dates back to 1898, and included a school for instruction in domestic arts and home keeping for both Jamaican and East Indian girls.
Sarah Swift died on Nov. 20, 1942, and is interred at the Friends Cemetery in West Falmouth, Mass. A building at the girls' school in Ramallah was named in her honor.
